I̴̤̫̿̕ņ̵̺͔̱̮̈́̈́̋ş̸̠̠͍̈́̽̒̕͝e̷̔͌́͜c̷̫̗͚͛u̷̧̨̺͇̞̍̋͠r̵̫͑ì̷̡̳͔̓͜t̶̛̬͎̔̎y̵̹̬̥̒̍̃ Ch 2
Ao3! Link!
I figured that after my fist chapter, some fluff was needed.
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Remus wasn't expecting the sudden and faint sound of crying. He didn't even expect to be able to hear it over the sound of him destroying things. Maybe it was because he was destroying things in a place he usually wasn't allowed to destroy things. The living room.
He summoned copies of photos and other 'sentimental' objects and was violently destroying them, locking the originals in a spare room. He was in the middle of a mental break down, crying and destroying things. He was all alone now and angry. He didn't do ok alone...
He rubbed the tears out of his eyes as he summoned his morning star as he quietly stalked closer to the noise. The crying got louder and louder as he got closer. He turned down a corner and dropped his morning star in shock. Huddled in the corner of the hallway, was a crying and sobbing Roman. With his head tucked into his knees, a gasp of pain escaped his lips every now and then.
"...R-...Roman?" Remus asked hesitantly.
Roman gasped and sat back, snapping his head towards Remus. "Re-" he gasped in pain.
Remus gasped as he saw the large black stain covering most of Roman's shirt. "No..." Remus whispered in horror. "No no no no..." Remus rushed over to Roman's side. "No no no! Oh, fuck! Oh god! No! Ro! What happened!" Remus asked as he held Roman close to his chest.
Roman didn't answer. Instead, he whimpered in pain. "R-re... It hurts..." A few tears spilled from his eyes silently as he shook.
Remus hushed him quietly, whipping the tears from Roman's eyes. "I know. I know. It will hurt for a little while longer..." He ran his hands threw Roman's hair. "It will stop soon. It's ok... It's ok..." He comforted.
"Hurts... Stop... Want it to stop..." Roman muttered in pain.
Remus placed his head on top of Roman's as he held him close to his chest. "I'm sorry, it's too late Ro... I'm so, so sorry... This was never supposed to happen to you, Ro. You were supposed to be the good one... God Ro... What happened..." Roman didn't seem to process anything Remus just said. He just tucked himself closer to Remus. Whimpering and crying in pain.
After a bit of time, Roman became silent causing Remus' heart to practically stop. He had passed out from the pain... Well... At least he wouldn't have to be awake for the rest of it...
Whoever pushed his brother to this was going to pay...
His head hurt. His body hurt. His everything hurt. And he just felt so damn exhausted.
Still, he managed to peak his eyes open. The ceiling was a darker color that his bedroom ceiling or the ceiling to the living room. And there was a suspicious dark red stain in one of the upper corners. He managed to sit up slowly to look around. It looked almost exactly like the light side living room. Just a darker color scheme. There were destroyed and unrecognizable pictures an objects scattered around the floor. Another thing that was on the floor, sleeping right up against the couch, was Remus.
Roman felt so... Confused. What happened? He was so... Disoriented... He lifted his arm to rub at his head but froze when he noticed the color of his sleeve. It was a deep black color. Looking down at himself he finally noticed his different wardrobe.
Carefully he maneuvered himself off the couch without waking Remus and quickly left to find the bathroom which wasn't too hard considering the dark and light side had similar layouts. The bathroom, like most of the other dark side, was dark. Black tiles, dark brown painted walls, dark accessories. It had more differences from the light sides bathroom than just color. Instead of having a bath and shower, it just had a large tub that, on any other occasion, looked quite appealing. It also had quite a few faint bloodstains littered about.
There was a wooden shelf built into the wall that was used for storage. The bottom-most shelves were used for various sanitary products like toilet paper, shampoo, body wash, conditioner, and other miscellaneous products. Plus a lot of deodorants. Then there was a shelf or two filled with towels and wash rags.
And the final sheld just had three little baskets in it. The purple basket looked like it hadn't been used in a long time, covered in cobwebs, and nearly pushed to the back of the cabinet. There were very few things left abandoned in it.
Then there was a yellow basket. It was still full of stuff, but it looked like it hadn't been touched it a little while, from the thin layer of dust that was starting to form.
And then a clean green basket that was full and had a few mysterious red stains littered about. It held som normal bathroom supplies and the rest was filled with half-eaten deodorant.
Then there was the sink, which sat on a long countertop that was decorated with the usual bathroom supplies, and the large mirror that Roman was stuck staring at. He looked so... Different.
The bags in his eyes had become a more permanent feature of his face, witch only showed off how pale he had gotten. His hair was slightly darker and was strewn about. Then was his clothes. His normal princely outfit was stained a dark back color, and the accessories attached to it that used to be a rich golden color had darkened to a sad and dim bronze. His sash was no longer to be seen. Instead, being replaced by a large medium-orange-colored cloak that hid a good majority of his outfit unless it was directly moved out of the way.
When he leaned in closer to the mirror to get a better look at himself, he noticed that the palms of his hands were lightly scarred from where his nails had dug into his palms.
He should have been freaking out. He should have. But after everything that just happened, all he felt was numb. Like he was too emotionally stunned to acknowledge the situation.
Eventually, Roman found himself moved from in front of the mirror to sitting in the oversized bathtub, pulling the cloak close to his body with the hood of his cloak pulled up over his head, hugging his knees.
He wasn't really thinking of anything... Just existing. And feeling like he was floating in space. He could hear the faint sound of frantic running from somewhere else in the Dark side, along with the occasional sounds of opening and closing doors. And eventually, the door to the bathroom opened. He faintly heard Remus' voice. He was talking but Roman kept hugging his knees and staring out into space. He wasn't ignoring him. He just... Didn't feel all too present at that moment.
Roman flinched slightly when a hand lightly, but firmly, gripped his shoulder. Remus' voice became slightly more prominent. "-o? Can you hear me? Ro?" Remus asked quietly. Hesitantly, Roman nodded. "Ok... That's good... How are you feeling?" Remus asked.
"... Tired," he answered in a faint, scratchy voice. It must have been from how much crying earlier.
"Alright. That's ok. Do you want to go back to the living room and nap on the couch?" Roman shook his head. He honestly didn't feel like even moving. "Ok. You want me to summon some pillows and blankets so we- you can just nap here?" Remus asked, "Then I can leave if you want. There's no one left here who will be bothered by you sleeping in the bathtub, anyway." He said as a joke, but there was something sad far off in his voice.
Roman nodded, then in a soft voice, "Stay...?"
Remus looked shocked by this, bit was glad to accommodate for his brother. "Alrighty!" He said happily, summoning his ratty pillow and blood stained blanket for himself and a nicer and softer set for his brother. God, he loved his ratty pillow and bloody blanket...
When they both laid down, Roman had fallen asleep quickly and in his sleep, he ended up clinging closer to Remus. And right before he passed out, Remus couldn't help but think that his brother had to have been pretty badly hurt to find comfort from being in close proximity to him... It was a strange feeling. Not unwelcome. Just strange.
The next time Roman woke up, he felt more aware. Like if the shock had started to slowly wear off, slightly. He rolled over lightly in the tub. Remus was gone. Panic started to rise in his chest. Were was Remus? Why was he gone? Did he hate him? What did he do wrong?
Roman shook slightly as he made his way out of the tub and out of the bathroom.
What if Remus left him? Did he say something wrong? Could he apologize? Would Remus forgive him!?
He quietly made his way into the living room. The living room was cleaned now. No more broken objects strewn around the room. And Remus could vaguely be seen in the kitchen, humming while doing something. Maybe cooking? Can Remus cook?
Quietly, and nervously, Roman tiptoed into the kitchen just in time to see Remus slip two pans into the oven. He chewed on his thumbnail slightly, shifting from foot to foot. He wanted to get Remus' attention, but he didn't want to possibly upset him...
Remus turned around and looked shocked to see him for a moment but then, "Hey Ro! I see you're up! How are you feeling?" Remus asked.
"Fine." He said, quietly.
"That's good!" Remus smiled, bouncing on his heels, slightly. "I made pizza. I had no idea if you were hungry or not but I sure was!"
Roman tilted his head slightly, "You can cook?" He asked. He paused once he realized that that could be considered rude. He rushed to apologize but Remus beat him to it.
"Yeah! J- I was taught in case I ever needed to cook for someone else. I still make weird food, but most of the weirder shit is for me." Remus answered.
Roman nodded slightly and awkwardly sat down at the kitchen table. The room was filled with an uncomfortable silence. Or well, Roman felt uncomfortable. Remus just sat, perched upon the countertop, swinging his legs as he hummed.
Roman didn't know what to do. Should he say something? What would he say? What if he said something stupid and made Remus mad. He didn't want Remus to hate him. Bit he also didn't know how long he could stand the silence. Just as he got the courage to open his mouth, Remus spoke. "You seem to be thinking pretty hard over there. Wanna tell me what's on your mind?" He asked.
"I'm sorry!" He blurted out.
Remus looked confused. "Sorry? What are you sorry about?" He asked.
Roman shifted a bit. "You... You weren't there when I woke up..." Roman answered, "'I was afraid I made you mad..."
"Oh... Oh!" Remus exclaimed. "No, I wasn't mad! I was just hungry, after everything that just happened I figured you would be hungry too!" He said. "Now that I think about it I maybe should have left a note or something. Sorry!" He explained.
"No, no. It's ok..."
They both sat in silence for another minute before Remus spoke up again, "Ok, so. About what just happened. Were going to have to talk about it eventually. Maby after we eat." Remus said. Roman just shrugged. he didn't want to talk about it but Remus was right. It would be better if they did. "But that can wait. I'm just curious. Do you know what you are now?" Remus asked.
"What?" Roman asked confused.
"Like, what do you represent? Most of the time, sides know it immediately. If not, I can always help you figure it out."
Roman was quiet for a moment. He had a good idea of what he represented, but what if he was wrong? And Remus got mad at him and kicked him out? He didn't think he would be able to stand seeing the others yet. What would the others even do if they saw him? Would they yell at him? And call him a traitor? A hypocrite?
"Ro?"
Roman flinched, slightly. Jumping when Remus had spoken. "S-sorry..."
"Hey, no, it's ok," Remus reassured, "You don't have to talk now if you don't want to." He said, "I know that shits confusing right now. But whenever you're ready, I'll be here to talk."
Roman stared at Remus in shock. He was just being so... patient... "Oh, come on. Don't cry, Ro." Remus said. Roman gasped as hot tears rolled down his face, he didn't even know he was crying. Remus hopped off from the counter and pulled his brother into a hug. "Its ok, Ro. It's ok..." Remus sat there, comforting his emotionally vulnerable brother until his tears slowly stopped. "Better?" Remus asked. Roman nodded. "That's good." The oven dinged. "Pizzas done!" Remus cheered, hopping up to grab the pizza from the oven.
He didn't even bother with oven mitts, just reached his hands in the oven, and grabbed both pizza pans. Roman cringed at the sound of sizzling that came from Remus' hands. Remus seemingly didn't even notice, just sitting the pans down on the stove. Roman could clearly tell which one was his. His was a normal pepperoni a Remus' was fucking disgusting. The sauce was a mixture of normal pizza sauce and blood, the cheese was shaved deodorant, and it was topped with sliced eyeballs and fucking pineapple. Pineapple. "Did you seriously put pineapple on your fucking pizza?"
Remus looked stunned that that's what Roman's issue with his pizza was. For a moment, they both stared at each other in silence before bursting out in hysterical laughter. They just laughed and laughed and laughed. After everything that just went down, Roman really needed a good laughed.
After they finally managed to calm down, they settled into a comfortable silence as they ate. After a few minutes, Roman quietly spoke up, "Hey Re..."
"Yeah?"
"... I'm Insecurity..."
Remus gave him a supportive smile and held out his hand, "Welcome to the dark side, Insecurity."
@romanvirgil