Tw: Therapy, Physiatrist, Medication
October 28th | Eight Months Since Remus Died | Roman's Parents Meet His Future Boyfriend(s)
It had been three weeks since Roman and Remus had told everyone how Remus had passed away. In those three weeks, Roman had begun to improve. His parents gave all the credit to his therapist, whom he visited twice a week, and currently wanted him to get a check-up with a psychiatrist to prescribe him medication. Roman credited his new friends.
They didn't let him run any more. If he ever started showing signs that he was gonna do so Deceit was usually the first to notice and would tell everyone to shut up, sometimes bluntly, sometimes subtly. If that didn't work, or Deceit didn't notice, and Roman actually ran, Patton was the one who ran after him and would bring him back. They also usually gave him food after a crying session, which Roman appreciated.
Anxiety helped too. In his own ways. The two of them bantered a lot which could sometimes turn into a real fight since both could be a bit sensitive. They both had the tendency of saying stuff they didn't mean when things got too intense, and they didn't always like to apologize. But he did help, Anxiety helped him with the times when all he wanted to do was cry and scream and yell and just feel. He knew how those feelings felt and how to help with them. Sometimes he would help Roman himself, other times he would have to have Logan or Patton do it. It was good to have someone there during those times, Remus and his parents didn't know how to help during times like those and so would just let him do it and sometimes that would just make him feel more alone.
Remus had made friends with the others too. He got along best with Dee and Patton but had recently made friends with the ghost of an old lady who lived in the house next door. So the twins weren't always together anymore, but in some ways that was good. It was more like it had been when Remus was alive, yes the two were very close, but they also had their own things going on. It was refreshing for Roman to be away from Remus and know that his twin wasn't avoiding him because of Roman's feelings.
And then there was Logan...
Logan helped him a lot, like more than anybody else. Roman had learned that the nerd had a bit of a sweet spot. He helped out with his homework, quite a bit actually. The first time they met to study upon Roman's return he had dropped a large stack of papers onto the table, claimed it was everything Roman had missed while he was gone then threw the papers off his desk and told him he lied and it was just to give them both perspective. He was good at pulling Roman out of the library and towards the others. And he liked to talk, it distracted them both and Logan knew that sometimes that was what Roman needed, that was something Roman really liked about him.
They both really liked to talk. Logan would talk about all sorts of things, science, stars, animals, books, math, and plants. Boy did he like plants, it was adorable, really. Logan also didn't mind it when Roman talked about his own things either. He didn't mind when Roman would speak excitedly about his interests, specifically about the books or screenplays he liked to read.
Roman was pretty sure he was falling for the nerd. But that wasn't his fault, it was hard not to fall for such a smart, handsome, kind, and adorable nerd like him. In fact, it was probably impossible not to fall for him, Roman reasoned. Yes, anybody who could resist this cupid's arrow was insane for sure.
They were all on the way to his house now. It was the first time Roman had invited anybody over since moving in. Until now, his excuse had been that the house wasn't fully unpacked yet, but this last weekend his father had unpacked the last box and they were 'officially' moved in so that wasn't an option anymore. Well, he supposed he could lie but Remus would call him out in an instant, Deceit might too, he was pretty good at telling what was a lie or not.
So, Roman had invited them over to hang out. He wasn't really sure what they were going to do yet but they'd find something. There were a couple board games in the garage or maybe they could watch a movie. Worst case scenario they leave the house and go to the park again or something.
Roman and Remus led the way up the driveway, and showed the others inside, "Wow," Patton said as soon as they got inside, "Your house is so nice Roman, it feels so cozy in here."
"Definitely gives off a safe vibe," Anxiety agreed with a nod, "I like it, nice and warm."
"Oh," Roman smiled, "Thanks, that's my Mama's doing. It's her superpower."
"She even made the hospital seem like home when we had to live there," Remus added, "She did everything she could to make it feel nice. She even got in a fight with this one nurse about putting up my old horror movie posters."
"Oh yeah! Nurse Rana! Oh, she was the worst, I swear she came straight from hell." Roman laughed as he let everyone in and took his shoes off.
"I mean seriously, I was dying. What was her deal?" Remus complained with a roll of his eyes. No one missed how Roman flinched slightly and they let the conversation trail off.
"Do you two want something to eat?" Roman offered to the two other humans in the room, "I usually have toast and jam but there's other stuff. I can make something too if you want."
"Toast and jam sounds nice," Patton said.
"Sounds healthy as well, much better than the snacks others like to enjoy after a school day." Logan glanced over at Patton and they laughed slightly as Roman got their snacks ready.
A few minutes later Logan, Patton, Deceit, and Anxiety were sitting at the bar stools while the twins sat on the kitchen counter. Those who were still breathing were enjoying their mid-afternoon snack as they all talked between themselves. Logan really seemed to be enjoying the snack, already on his third slice. Nobody else but Roman understood why the jam was so special and extraordinary. According to Patton and Remus, Crofters were just like any other jam you buy at the store.
"It looks like jam, it can't be that special" Anxiety said as Roman wrote down his favorite flavors so Logan would know what kind was good or not. The nerd had now sworn to never let another spoonful of jelly touch his lips unless it was this specific jelly brand.
"Oh how wrong you are my dear Anxiety," Roman told him, "Crofters is the best thing to put on or between sliced bread since sliced bread itself. It is the king of all jams. Compared to all the other jams in the store, Crofters is royalty. Only a peasant would enjoy anything else."
Anxiety rolled his eyes again as he muttered something about wishing he could still taste so he could prove just how big of an idiot these two were being.
"Have either of you gotten a hang on touching things yet?" Roman asked after he and Logan had finally stopped fawning over a bread spread. Remus had been trying to teach Anxiety and Dee how to do ghost stuff since they first learned Remus could pick things up. So far, they had only noticed more differences between the three of them.
Like Anxiety and Dee could interact with technology much easier then Remus could, but still really struggled to pick anything up. It was a real struggle for both of them and drained them easily. Or how they could interact with water and liquids, like writing on a foggy mirror or carrying water in their hands as if it was a cup. Water passed right through Remus though. There were all sorts of things they had noticed, enough so that Logan had begun to write it all down and keep track of it.
"Nah, they're still awful at it," Remus said with a shrug.
Deceit hummed as he examined his gloved hands "Just like how you're awful at video games? I seem to have a wonderful memory of Anxiety beating you at Mario Kart without even having to hold the controller."
"He was cheating! He was controlling the whole game, not just Yoshi."
"Why would I need to cheat when I'm already so much better than you?"
Remus didn't have a chance to respond when the door clicked open and his mother came into the room, "Roman!" she called, not noticing that he and f̶i̶v̶e̶ two others were already in the room.
"Aqui Mama," Roman said with a wave, laughing slightly when his mother jumped at the proximity.
"Oh, we have company? Roman, la casa es un desastre, ¿no podrías haber limpiado para nuestros invitados?" (Roman, the house is a mess, you couldn't have cleaned up a bit for our guests.)
"A ellos no les importa, Mama" Roman told her with slight annoyance in his voice. (They don't care Mom). The house wasn't even that big of a mess anyway, just a few items in places they weren't supposed to be.
"Importa a me," (I care) She placed her purse on the dining room table, "Get off the counter, there are two perfectly good chairs right there," Roman's mother didn't notice how they all glanced at the two ghosts sitting at the seats.
Roman rolled his eyes as he slid off the counter and cleaned up the small mess they had made while eating watching as his mother turned to Patton and Logan, "I'm Roman's mom, Laura. Are you friends of his? He hasn't mentioned you, he's been very shy this year and is really struggling."
"Mama!" Roman complained from his spot.
Anxiety laughed slightly, "Ashamed of us Princey?"
"And here I thought we were all getting along so nicely," Deceit added with a smirk.
Logan and Patton didn't answer their friends as they introduced themselves to Roman's mother, "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Garcia, I'm Patton!"
Logan held his hand out to her, "Salutations, I'm Logan."
"Oh!" His mother said as if in realization, "You're the tutor! Roman's told us about you, yes. He says you're very smart and enthusiastic about learning."
Logan smiled at the compliments and nodded, "Well that's very nice of him. Roman is smart as well, and once he's interested in something it's very difficult for him to not be enthusiastic. His issue was he didn't know how to study, we are working to rectify that. I'm not a tutor, I don't teach him anything. I just how to study. The rest is him, he's very smart. He really seems to enjoy his English class"
Laura hummed as she glanced over at her son with a smile, Roman stood scrubbing at the dishes harshly, face red with embarrassment.
"And you?" she asked Patton, "How do you know Roman?" Laura interviewed Roman's friends for a few more minutes before she finally took Roman's clues and allowed them to head off to his room.
Roman sighed as he collapsed onto his bed and watched the others walk around and explore it. Every once in a while they would ask questions about whatever knickknack they had found interesting or whatever and Roman would explain and that was how it went for a good three to five minutes. After a while, though they settled down to play a board game and listen to some music.
They took turns moving the pieces for Anxiety and Deceit, Remus opting to attempt to move them on his own. They chatted idly and lazily about all sorts of things for hours, a few conversations getting loud and intense enough that his mother had to tell them to quiet down a few times but for the most part they were quiet enough that she left them alone.
His Dad got home a little bit later and came up to ask if Patton and Logan were gonna stay for dinner. It was a nice meal and for the first time in months Remus didn't spend it lingering around, he got to continue hanging out with Janus and Virgil in Roman's room. By the time dinner is over, Remus had invited the other two to spend the night. It was the first time he ever did so without asking for permission from his parents, but seeing as his parents would and could technically never know he had seen no point.
Patton had to be picked up, they had to help their mother in the bakery before school the next morning and needed to get to bed early. But Logan was able to stay long enough to watch a couple movies on Roman's computer. Surprisingly, they chose to watch the Borrowers, it was Virgil's choice. He had liked the art on the cover and ended up loving the movie so much so that Roman promised him the next time they all came to his house they could have a Studio Gibli marathon, just as long as plans to have a Disney marathon were made as well. And then of course Remus threw in a comment about horror movies, to which Janus adamantly agreed.
At that point, Roman and Logan had started texting in the group chat so Patton could in some way be included in the conversation as they got ready for bed. And Patton of course had their own group of movies they wanted to watch, Avengers. And finally, Logan eventually admitted that he'd just finished rereading LOFR and wouldn't mind rewatching the series as well. So, after all that, they made plans to have a couple of 'Movie Binging' days.
Once he was getting picked up, Roman walked Logan to his father's car to wish him goodnight. By the time he had gone back upstairs, Remus had dragged the other two ghosts to go meet his old lady friend across the street, and Roman started to get ready for bed. Crawling under his blankets and turning out the lights, he allowed himself to admit that today had been a good day.
Word Count: 2425