falling /// sanders sides soulmate au

Chapter 18 - - Virgil

I had spent the first part of Sunday making soup, then the second feeding it to Roman as he cried. He cried less when I made a cheese toastie to dip into the soup, so I assumed he really liked grilled cheese.

Sometimes, Roman would cry so much he dribbled soup down his chin, and as gross as it was, snake dad would glare at me to make me mop it up, so I did.

Eventually, his voice tired of crying and he helped me and snake dad shove a mattress into my room, which miraculously worked. I hauled Roman's duffel bag up the stairs then dropped it on his mattress for him, and we changed into our pyjamas with our backs turned.

"Thank you so much," Roman rasped, his voice hoarse from crying. We were finished changing at that point so I went and hugged him again. He clung onto me like a toddler (or a sloth). We stayed like that for a while, just two guys being dudes. He broke off after a while and motioned brushing teeth, so we went to the bathroom to brush them.

It was then that I'd realised I hadn't eaten anything all day making sure Roman didn't dehydrate himself from crying, but I brushed my teeth regardless.

When we got back to our room, we climbed into our respective beds and Roman turned off the light.

Then there was a knock at the door, and snake dad walked in.

"Hey Roman, could I talk to you a minute," he asked softly, turning the light back on. Roman nodded and sat up.

"Obviously you can't stay here forever, but there's only a few options on where you could go," snake dad gave him the hard reality.

"I'd quite like to rent an apartment," Roman rasped, "But I can't, I'm too young."

"There are several ways to get around that. One is emancipation, which means being considered an adult by a court before you turn eighteen. As a lawyer, I have seen many of these unfold, and it hasn't always come out with the person getting what they wanted, so I will propose to you the second option.

I understand you are getting an allowance each month, do you mind if I see? Thanks. Now, this is about enough for food and basic needs for a month, but not rent, so I'm afraid you'd need to pick up a job or two. And not many landlords would lease to minors, so I'm offering to co-sign. This basically means an adult co-signs the papers to promise that if the minor misses rent or damages the apartment, they'll pay for it," snake dad explained, trying to keep it simple for the emotionally drained Roman but still going into lawyer mode. I listened on, feeling twitchy and useless, wanting to help Roman but not being able to. Then I had an idea.

"I can take up some jobs too. We're teens, so we can only work a certain number of hours, but if I also get money I can contribute it towards getting you an apartment," I offered.

"Or," snake dad started, "you could find a cheap two-person apartment near your school and move in together. If you both picked up jobs, and Roman continued to receive money, and I co-signed, I'm sure it's possible. I know a few strings I could pull."

I slid off of my bad and sat next to Roman, taking his hand. He looked at me with a mix of sadness and thanks, which I understood. It had been a hard day for him.

Next we looked up open jobs for minors, because we'd have to save up a bit of money to get an apartment, so we were getting a bit ahead of ourselves with all the planning.

There were availabilities at warm hug, Starbucks, the cinema and a small stationary shop near the school.

The pay wasn't masses, but from a minimum wage job you couldn't expect much. Roman expressed an interest in warm hug and the stationary shop, so he bookmarked the websites and planned to get help filling out the application with snake dad and moustache dad tomorrow after school.

I bookmarked Starbucks and the cinema and asked to join their application party, then snake dad left and closed the door behind him.

"Your family is so amazing," Roman sighed, wrapping an arm around my waist. I leant into his shoulder and smiled, hoping things would look up from here.

"Do you mind if I sleep in your bed tonight," Roman asked. I understood that this wasn't to get me to sleep on his lap or to have any 'shifty business' going on, he just wanted some warmth and comfort after spending yesterday night sleeping on the sofa and the night before under a bridge. I nodded and we climed in.

It will be of no surprise to anyone that I'm the little spoon. As bitter as I may have been to be the little spoon, it melted away as soon as he fell asleep, and suddenly I was praising any and all deities for being Roman's little spoon.

I found it hard to get to sleep, though. I usually do. That one night where Roman was playing with my hair was an exception, because usually I just lay awake and stare at whatever's in front of me, which this time was the wall. Instead, I decided to focus on the arm hanging over my waist and the warmth behind me. It was quite comforting, and when I focused on that I found it relatively easy to drift off.

~~~feeling naughty with a time skip~~

When we woke up the next day, I'd turned around and we were inches away from each other. I woke up first again, because that's just what I do best, and tried to unpick myself from his arms without waking him up. It wasn't easy, but I managed it.

I slid on my usual clothes then realised I was wearing Roman's jeans. I'd forgotten about the whole 'this half is mine, this half is yours' arrangement with the wardrobe and grabbed the first pair I saw. They were still black, which was good, and they were skinny, which was double good. They just had rips in.

"Are you wearing my jeans?" asked a voice from behind me, his voice raising a couple octaves as he noticed.

"It was an accident, I'll take them off," I blushed.

"No, they fit you really well, you might just need to cuff them a bit," he advised. Wow, ok. I didn't know how they fit him, him being very tall, but they were a bit too long. I cuffed the ends and sort of liked how it looked. Roman crawled out of bed and looked in the wardrobe for his clothes, eventually finding some ones that worked for him and taking them into the bathroom to get changed.

~~~~gal's getting lazy with the skips~~

We were walking to school, when we passed the stationary shop. It had a sign in the window that read, 'Workers needed, contact (website) for more details'

Roman noticed this and said, "It says workers, plural. We could work together!"

"We'd probably take different shifts, though," I reasoned, and we continued on our way. Working in a stationary shop didn't exactly sound riveting, but then again neither did the cinema or Starbucks.

We got to school and saw Patton and Logan by the fountain.

"Hey guys," Roman greeted them as we walked over.