8:00pm
Any 'A Monster In Paris' fans out there?? Such a good movie
Au
—
"Mom, she has stage fright! She can't do this!" Roman harshly whispered to his mother once he finally caught her alone away from their father, hoping he could try and persuade her without his presence, but in the end she was just as bad as him, and Roman was fighting a losing battle. She turned to him sharply, eyes narrowed, hands straightening out the last few kinks in her dress.
"Roman, we have been through this" she began, "once on stage, 'stage fright' doesn't exist"
Roman wanted to groan at her ignorance but kept it concealed, knowing his sister will absolutely freak out on stage and not be able to do this. It was a tradition in their family, the youngest daughter sing on stage for their grand, hosted annual party. It consisted of the most famous celebrities, most wealthiest families, and very, very influential people. Not just anyone could rock up to these parties - it was a high honour to be invited to one, Roman and his sister, Nyx, would never understand why, for they would much rather go home, but apparently Nyx was the first daughter to ever do this and know she won't be able to do it, for her anxiety that apparently 'doesn't exist' prevented her from it.
He loves his parents but sometimes he hated them.
And he offered, many times, to take her position but because he was a boy, he couldn't, which he found bullshit. Traditions were nice but not if it meant it forced someone to do something against their will!
Roman found himself glaring at his mother who ignored her son and left the room. From the corner, Nyx emerged from behind a mirror, sitting beside her brother and resting her head on his shoulder. "What am I gonna do?" Roman winced, she sounded so scared, vulnerable. Roman wrapped his arms around her and held her close, unable to get over the fact her face was coated with makeup, and she wore a dress not at all suitable for a sixteen year old girl! It made his blood boil knowing there will be many people in the audience not just staring at her face.
Roman thought and thought until an idea came to his mind. It would end with the two probably being grounded for at least a few years, if that, but if it meant saving his sister from standing in stage alone in front of thousands of people - which is practically torture for her - he would do anything.
The older sibling kissed the younger's head, rubbing her bare arms reassuringly. "I have an idea"
Later that evening, Nyx was standing behind the curtain on stage, shaking, trying to listen to Roman who murmured her breathing technique into her ear.
"Roman, move it" his father hissed, he whipped his head to glare at him, "look at her!" He hissed back, gesturing to his sister, "she's going to have a panic attack! You can't force her to do this!" His father's eyes darkened and he grabbed Roman's arm, yanking him away from his sister who gasped, watching with tearful eyes.
"Are you sure you want to speak to me like that, boy?" He growled, and Roman faltered, trying his best to keep head strong, but he knew his father wouldn't hesitate to hit him. "Can't you see she's doing this for attention? She is singing on this stage and it'll will go perfectly, like every year" with that, Roman was forcefully dragged off of stage, desperately trying to get to his sister who was positioned by a few producers.
This was the first year Nyx was performing, last year it was their cousin who nailed it, but Roman knew Nyx wouldn't. Not because she was a bad singer, on the contrary she was beautiful at singing, but she couldn't in front of a crowd, not like this, only before the people she trusted and loved.
Roman watched from the sidelines as the curtain was pulled back and the room fell to silence. The spotlight lit up Nyx who tensed, quivering, lips shaking as she tried, tried to make herself sing, but the only noise that came out were faltered, incoherent whimpers. A murmur rang across the crowd and Roman guessed he had no other choice but to execute his plan.
Slipping away from his parents, he rushed to where the instruments were kept and grabbed a guitar, rushing on stage and glancing up at the other people who were ready to use their instruments as soon as Nyx spoke the first word of the song. A gasp elicited from the audience as they watched Roman throw off his jacket and wrap around Nyx who tugged it on gratefully.
"You can do this" Roman whispered into her ear, "I won't leave you, I'll be right here" he promised, and with that began to strum the guitar in a more up-best version of the song that hadn't changed for centuries, apparently.
Roman knew she wouldn't sing until he began, meaning this song was about to have to turn into a duet. "Elle sort de son lit tellement sure d'elle, la Seine, la Seine, la Seine, tellement jolie elle m'ensorcelle, la Seine, la Seine, la Seine, extralucide la lune est sur, la Seine, la Seine, la Seine, tu n'est pas seul Paris est sous, la Seine, la Seine, la Seine" Roman began, and as he did the musicians began to join in, adding the up-beat tone into their tune, too, along with Roman who twirled around on stage, sending them a wink.
With the jacket buttoned up, Nyx crossed her arms over her chest and watched with a smile and watery eyes as Roman danced around, happily singing on his own, even with the burning eyes of his parents from the side of the stage, and some disapproval murmurs from the crowd.
"je ne sais, ne sais, ne sais pas pourquoi c'est comme ça, la Seine et moi je ne sais, ne sais, ne sais pas pourquoi on s'aime comme ça la seine et moi" Once Roman finished the line, he turned to Nyx with a wriggle in his eyebrows, and the girl ducked her head shyly, with Roman on stage it wasn't nearly as bad, and with the fact his voice was louder, and she couldn't be heard as much, she decided onto join in with him on the next line, although quite shyly and timidly, still very closed off while Roman sprung about, because truly he was connected more with the stage then she ever would be.
"extralucide quand tu est sur la Seine, la Seine, la Seine extravagante quand l'ange est sur la Seine, la Seine, la Seine" Roman brightened up tenfold when he heard his sisters voice, sending her a beaming smile that made her straighten with a burst of confidence mixing with her panic. People in the crowd hushed up to listen, and actually found themselves enjoying it? Roman and Nyx even heard a few people beginning to clap! Which only fuelled them on.
"je ne sais, ne sais, ne sais pas pourquoi c'est comme ça, la Seine et moi je ne sais, ne sais, ne sais pas pourquoi on s'aime comme ça la seine et moi" Nyx, along with Roman, found herself following his steps as best she could, moving around with him as the two fell into a harmony of singing and dancing, grins unable to be removed as the crowds cheers became louder and louder, and their parents slowly vanished from their mind.
"sur le Pont des Arts" Roman paused to let Nyx sing, "mon cœur vacille" she blushed lightly when she realised she sung on her own, but then found, with Roman there, she didn't mind, and the two went back and fourth, one singing one line, the other singing the next, "entre les eaux, l'air est si bon, cet air si pur, je le respire, nos reflets perchés sur ce pont" And by the end, they both harmonised again to make the song more angelic than it had been with anyone else before.
"on s'aime comme ça la seine et moi, on s'aime comme ça la seine et moi, on s'aime, comme ça la seine et moi, on s'aime comme ça la seine et moi" they both ended, dancing around each other more playfully than anything else, Nyx's dress flaring around bee as she twirled and darted around with Roman, in the end the two laughing as the song drew to a close.
Putting down the guitar, Roman wrapped an arm around Nyx's waist, turned to the audience and bowed with the girl who was still giggling, flushed, out of breath, and happy. Roman was, too, but when the curtains closed and the crowd was too loud to hear whatever could occur, both parents walked over in a flurry, eyes burning a cold rage neither had seen before.
Roman let out a yelp when his father clutched his arm so tight his skin whitened, their faces inches apart. "You've done it now, boy" he snarled, pushing Roman to the floor. He sprawled about, almost tripping up Nyx who gasped and covered her mouth, drawing a step back in fright. Their mother didn't do anything to stop as their father picked up Roman again, backhanded him across the face and dragged him off stage.
Nyx felt her breathed labour, and as she turned to her mother, she felt resentment mix with her tears. "I hate you" she whispered to the woman who leant back in shock, watching her daughter run off stage, picking up the guitar Roman dropped, kicking off her high heels as she went. Holding up her dress as she ran, she found them walking down a hallway to the back doors of the building.
Nyx let out a yell as she lifted the guitar and landed it down on her fathers head, the man collapsing to the ground, groaning. She dropped it, grabbed Roman's hand and the two raced away, out the building, to the front where crowds of people stood outside. They mixed through so their father wouldn't be able to find them and ran all the way to the cars.
"What do we do now!?" Roman turned to his sister who grinned and held up the set of keys she nabbed from her fathers pocket. Roman sent her a breathless grin back and took the keys - as he could drive - and the two got into their car, leaving the venue as fast as possible and down the street.
Nyx scrolled through her contacts, stopping when she found the person she needed to call, knowing he wouldn't be at the party, he never is.
She called, holding the device up to her ear. A few rings later, it answered and she sighed in relief.
"Patton..." she whispered, slumping in her seat.
"Nyx? Kiddo? What's wrong?" He asked, suddenly very concerned from her tone of voice, it sounded frightened. He knew the stage performance was tonight, he also knew of her anxiety, but he couldn't do anything about it, so he guessed straight away the phone call and the performance were linked.
"He did it again" she admitted, glancing at Roman who had a bloodied noise and lip, the rings their father wore had cut his skin.
Patton instantly knew what she meant. "Oh, gosh, shit"
Nyx was surprised; she had never heard her uncle swear before. "Come here. Come here right now, okay? Where are you?" His voice had a sudden urgency to it, and Nyx couldn't be more glad they had such an amazing uncle as he. "We're coming, we'll be there soon" she reassured.
"Okay, good, let me talk to my brother, okay? And do not get into contact with him, understand? Don't answer any phone calls"
"We won't, I promise"
"Thank you, drive safely, Kiddo" with that he hung up and Nyx turned off her phone, placing it in her lap. The two were silent for the drive, but Roman hovered his hand in the air between the two, and Nyx reached out to grab it, the two not letting go until they were parked outside of Patton's house ten minutes later.
They climbed out and hurried up the pathway, Roman rubbing his hands up and down his sisters arms to keep her warm, for she was only in a dress and a jacket, and it was a very cold evening. After ringing the doorbell, the front door opened in record timing and Patton gasped at the sight of his nephew. They both saw raw rage flash through his eyes, but he managed to shove it all aside for his niece and nephew, ushering them in and closing the door.
"Logan! Come help me, quick!" Patton called to his husband as he led Roman to the bathroom on the bottom floor. Not a moment too soon a man Nyx and Roman had both met a few times appeared in the doorway, his own anger curling into his eyes at the sight of what happened to Roman, but like Patton he managed to hold it back in favour of helping the boy clean up.
"Nyx, are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Patton turned to his niece after Logan took over for Roman, placing his hands on her forearms and kissing her forehead. "I'm fine, cold, but fine"
Patton nodded, "we still have some clothes for you two upstairs, you know where they are, right?" Nyx nodded and hurried over to Roman, giving him a quick hug before she disappeared upstairs, changing out of her dress to put on a pair of pyjamas she had left over here in case emergencies like this were to arise.
The bottoms were a dark purple with black accents, while the top was black with purple accents. She absolutely adored them and knew her mother would never allow her to wear such a thing. Really, she didn't like wearing such fancy, extravagant clothing. She certainly didn't need to wear silk to bed - although she liked dresses, she hated the ones that revealed too much, but apparently her parents don't care about that. Nyx shook her head in disbelief and sat down on the guest bed that she used as her bed whenever she would stay over - that wasn't frequent, in fact it was quite rare, but they always let her stay in this room, always.
Awhile later, she found her brother sitting in the living room, no longer bleeding and holding a tissue to his lip. Nyx sat beside him and gave him a side hug, sniffling and resting her face on his shoulder, not having to worry about staining his clothes with her makeup for she washed it off beforehand. Another thing she did like was makeup, but not too much like the way her mother does it.
"How did the performance go?" Logan asked, sitting on the armchair across from where the two sat on the couch. Even though they only met a few times, Roman and Nyx both liked Logan - he was practically perfect for his complete opposite, Patton, and the two were obviously infatuated by each other from the start. The siblings were more than happy they were there for the first time they met.
"It went well" Roman nodded, "I sung with her, however, which was why..." Roman grit his teeth together, "he didn't like it" and he spat the word 'he' like a curse. Logan nodded in understanding, feeling the same level of resentment for their parents as they did at that current moment.
"I feel as if Patton will not allow you two back with them again" Logan continued, sitting up to pick up his coffee, sipping from it quietly.
Roman breathed out a chuckle, "I'm sure Nyx here won't let him get close to me again, either" Nyx rolled her eyes fondly, glancing the other way, knowing he was referring the fact she hit him with the guitar.
Patton remerged in the doorway with one glass of water, the other a cup of tea. He knew Roman disliked warm drinks while Nyx adored them, so he handed them over and they both thanked him, taking large gulps from their respectful drinks.
"I love you two" Patton began, sitting on the coffee table before them and holding each of their free hand. "And I'm sorry I didn't try and take you away sooner. He's hurt you before and I feel terrible I didn't try and do anything to stop it-" his breath hitched and quickly his niece and nephew were beside him, their drinks placed on the ground in favour of wrapping him in a hug from both sides.
"It's fine, Pat" Nyx murmured.
"Really, we know you care" Roman added.
"I won't let him or her take you back again" Patton spoke determinedly, holding them tight.
"I promise"
And, with the help of witnesses, statements and security footage, he managed to keep that promise forever.
—
Well that took a fucking wild turn
8:55pm