Roman's phone buzzed while he was checking out at Forever 21. He found two pairs of jeans and a shirt with a red pattern on the sleeves. Remy had good timing to meet up to go back into the suburbs. He swiped his card and paid for his new clothes with a bright smile to the clerk.

"Have a nice day," The cashier said as she slid his bag of purchases towards him.

"Thanks, you too," Roman nodded and grabbed his sack and stepped out of the way to check Remy's text.

'Got a ride home
Thx for the ride
Had fun last night' Were the texts Remy sent. Got a ride home from who?

'Last night was awesome!
Who did you get a ride from?' Roman relayed back and headed out into the parking lot. It was kind of hot today and the sun was warm on his skin.

Remy still hadn't responded when he got to his car. It was only a two-minute walk, but it wasn't like Remy to not reply quickly. Maybe he was talking with whoever gave him the ride and didn't want to be impolite. No, Remy wants to be rude, he seemed to enjoy being bitchy. Roman stared at his phone for a moment. Remy also hated using his phone as a phone, but something felt weird about this. Roman called Remy's cell, but it went straight to voicemail. That's even more unlike Remy.

Roman got out of his car again and checked the Starbucks. Maybe he returned for more coffee? He seems to have a big fucking problem with a caffeine addiction. Roman walked through quickly and scanned around outside near the Starbucks. He didn't see Remyanywhere. Roman sighed and headed back to the car.

Well, it wasn't the first time Remy had been cagey or dodged him. It was unusual recently, but if Remy was hanging out with Virgil or Remus, he wouldn't always answer texts or things like that. Though that made this radio silence even weirder. Roman had no inkling who would give Remy a ride home. He didn't get along with people easily and couldn't think of anyone in town he knew to even get a ride from. Unless his dad caught him or something. Roman really hoped that wasn't the case. Remy was already in trouble when he headed home. Roman couldn't imagine anything good coming out of being caught in town. It was a good thing Remy was nearly 18.

Roman climbed into his car and started the engine to head home. Even after the coffee and cake, he'd kill for a nap. He wasn't sure how late he and Remy were up together, but he probably only slept like 4 hours tops. He and Remy had meant to go to sleep, but they just got caught up chatting. Not to mention Roman had a little trouble sleeping with him right there. It wasn't fair.

Roman pulled up to the curb outside of his house and checked his phone again. Still nothing. He shot Patton a text checking on if he was okay. He nearly texted Logan but thought better of it. His phone probably got taken when he got grounded, and Roman didn't want to accidentally give Logan's dad evidence of wrongdoing. Roman would have to wait till Monday to talk to him. Hopefully, Logan had enough fun last night to sustain him while he was being punished. It was a rough gig to have such tight-handed parents. Roman's parents didn't restrict him much as long as he kept looking and acting like they wanted him to. It was easy to manage, as much as it frustrated him.

"Mom, Dad, I'm back," Roman called as he entered the house and locked the door behind him, sliding his keys back in his pocket.

"Roman, darling, good to see you. Where have you been?" It sounded like his mother hailed from the kitchen. Roman headed that way to meet her and get a drink.

"I was with Pat," Roman said nonchalantly. He knew she wouldn't push it as long as he didn't let her know what he was up to.

"Oh, he's such a good boy. I like that Patton. Did you eat while you were out? I can have Steve whip something up for you," She offered distractedly. She was sitting at the table eating a small plate of fruit and working on her tablet.

"I ate. I'll be fine until dinner, thank you though," Roman sighed, getting himself some juice to drink from the fridge.

"Have you heard from Remus, yet, dear? The school called about him yesterday," She sounded distant while she spoke.

"No, he's still missing, mom," Roman responded dourly. Not this again. He wasn't sure he could tolerate it today.

"Oh, he's not missing, don't be dramatic. He's surely off with that Virgil boy like he always is," She waved her hand dismissively. "Those plays make you so fatalistic sometimes, life isn't some Shakespeare play with tragic endings for everyone involved. You can be so histrionic," She said dismissively, waving Roman off and picking up another piece of fruit.

"We checked Virgil's house and nobody has been there, still. You don't find it suspicious at all?" Roman asked, too tired to mask the testiness in his tone.

"Maybe they're camping or something. It's not the first time he wouldn't answer our calls or disappeared, Roman," She huffed shortly.

"It hasn't been just a few days. It's been over two weeks," Roman crossed his arms and glared at her.

"Oh, has it? Oh, that boy is in so much trouble. He's such a disappointment. He's going to have a lot of explaining to do. He's losing his car privileges for sure, don't let him drive if you see him," His mother shook her head and daintily ate a piece of cantaloupe. She didn't take her eyes off the tablet.

"Mother, don't you think two weeks is enough time to maybe consider filing him as a missing person?" Roman suggested shortly. She didn't acknowledge him glowering at her.

"No, darling, there's no need to involve the police and make a mess of things. He's just a delinquent. Stop overreacting," His mother furrowed her eyebrows, but otherwise didn't react. She was completely distraught about her missing child, surely. Roman groaned and left the kitchen before he said something he regretted, because holy shit, he had some choice words for her right now. He was even more tired after that fustercluck of a conversation.

Roman flopped down on his bed, staring at the ceiling in his room. He checked his phone uselessly again. He already knew he hadn't gotten a text back from Remy or Patton yet. He should just take a nap. Somebody will probably text after an hour or two and help quell this unsettled feeling in his stomach. Though, maybe that feeling was because he got to be so close last night and he was all alone again. Roman always got the worst crushes. Why couldn't he ever like a boy who liked him back? Stupid gay curse of getting crushes on your friends. Stupid romantic heart getting attached at the slightest attention.

He buried his face in his pillow and fought the urge to scream. He knew he was being dramatic, but it fucking hurt, damnit. To fall asleep in Remy's arms and get ghosted the next day? It was a nightmare scenario, and he just lived it. Why did Roman do this to himself? He knew Remy wasn't interested. He knew Remy wasn't in a good enough or safe enough place to even consider dating anybody. He knew Remy's dad might actually kill him if it got back to him that Remy started seeing Roman. He knew all of this and still followed him into Virgil's room like a lovesick puppy, anyway. Neither of them was even out to their parents. But that stupid amazing kiss and the way his heart felt and-

"Ugh!" Roman shouted into his pillow and buried himself under the covers. What was the point? Remy never showed a flicker of interest. Never even a single furtive glance. Roman was only half considering asking Patton out, but maybe he really should. Roman deserved somebody who might like him back and wasn't trying to drink himself to death out of grief. Not that Patton deserved a lovesick puppy pining after someone else, either. Oh god, Roman left that vodka in his trunk. He just wanted to get it away from Remy for the most part. He did actually like the bottle, it was very Hamlet. But Roman was more concerned Remy would just finish it by himself if Roman didn't take it.

Roman grunted and got up to go get the extremely illegal alcohol out of his car. Open containers and under-aged drinking and all that good stuff his parents would through a snit fit over. It was exceptional vodka, at least. It was a win-win scenario. Roman doesn't have to drink piss-beer, and Remy doesn't die of alcohol poisoning all alone at Virgil's house. It seemed like a good idea at the time, at least.

Patton said he hid most of the rest of the alcohol in the house while he and Remy went to bed. Remy could find some of it, but Patton and Logan were very crafty about it. If Remy wanted to drink again, he'd have to get Patton to pull out a bottle so they could watch him. Remy could assuredly find a house party, but at least he couldn't drink himself to death alone. Somebody would hopefully help him at a party if Roman wasn't there. And maybe Remy would be willing to come to hang out again for more of the hundred-dollar vodka and- God damn it, Roman, stop it. Stop doing this to yourself.

Roman reached in and pulled the bag out of the far end of his trunk. Remus might have a flask in his room Roman could steal and put most of this in so he could clean and display the bottle. Fill it with glitter goo and make it ominous, or maybe just paint the inside to look more realistic. Remus liked to drink tic-tacs out of a flask for some reason, and he had a few different ones. Roman took the sack inside and buried it under some winter sweaters in his closet. Roman steeled himself as he left his room and went down two doors to Remus's room.

It was the first time in a while he'd stepped in here. He mostly avoided it because Remus's idea of organization was a nightmare, but lately, it just reminded him Remus wasn't here, he didn't enjoy being here, he possibly wasn't ever coming back. And Roman didn't need that reminder shoved in his face, that he fell for his parents shit and pushed his twin brother so far away that they had barely shared twenty words of conversation before he disappeared. Roman started digging around in a drawer near his bed. It seemed like a reasonable place to start.

There wasn't a flask anywhere near Remus's bed. Roman found three flasks in Remus's closet of all places, stored with some old toys and what looked like mementos. That location made sense, weirdly? But not in a normal way. There was a wide variety of decorative knives in his bedside table, which kind of worried Roman. They were mostly dull, but some weren't. And he hadn't seen Remus outside of a jacket in a while, although it was getting warmer. Patton's worry was probably just rubbing off on him.

Patton was so freaked out on Friday about Remy hurting himself, spouting all of these facts his mom told him in a mad ramble. Remus showed no signs of doing that kind of thing. He just enjoyed playing with knives. Remy wouldn't do that either. At least Roman didn't think Remy would. He knew Remus was adamantly against it for other people. He didn't even like people joking about it. But maybe that was because he did it? Roman couldn't be sure, and he kind of felt like an ass for not knowing.

Roman took the three flasks back to his room. It felt weird in Remus's bedroom and was glad he found what he was looking for so he could get out of there. Maybe it was just Roman's guilt, but he swore that room felt haunted. He combined all the tic-tacs into a coffin-shaped one and placed the other two on his desk. There was a big one with a dragon motif on it that would probably fit most of the vodka, but he probably needed to clean out the minty-dust before putting nice vodka in it.

He laid back on his bed with a sigh, curling back under the covers. Patton had been freaking out about Remy a lot lately. Roman would have wanted to go party with Remy regardless because he was a hopeless idiot, but Patton practically begged them both to come over. But Remy honestly seemed fine last night. He didn't drink too much, at Patton's behest, and cackled freely all night. Nothing like he had been acting lately, where he never laughed unless it was sarcastic and he wasn't interested in doing anything.

All the house parties 'bored' him and he wouldn't even take free food, which Remy normally was all over. Roman knew Remy was spending way too much time at Virgil's place, partially from Patton's reports, but also the bruises all over Remy's arm when he took off Virgil's jacket to go to bed. Roman didn't want to imagine how he got those, but Remy hadn't bothered side-stepping anything about his home life lately, so he didn't have to do much to connect the dots. He used to be very cagey about it.

When they went to Virgil's room together to chat, he seemed so normal. Not give-it-all-away or uncharacteristically cheery or any of those things Patton said. Remy was his normal chatty, kind of bitchy, secretly worried about everything, and his high-energy self. Though maybe the energy part was all the coffee he drank. And he even offered to share the bed with Roman instead of Roman sleeping on the floor or Virgil's parents' bed, which everybody agreed was kind of weird. Somebody who was depressed and suicidal was supposed to push people away. Remy cuddled against Roman as if it was the most natural thing to do. And maybe it was with his brother. Which Roman was admittedly very jealous of. But there was nothing he saw that screamed 'in danger', not from Patton's horrible warning sign list or just any gut instinct. Remy seemed okay, emotionally. Elated, even.

Though he was acting very oddly today. Why did he take a backpack into town for some secret errand? Was he pawning stuff for money? Remy told him his dad didn't buy much food for him, mostly just stuff for sandwiches. He also didn't get an allowance. Roman was relatively certain Remy made money by placing bets with drunk people. But he spent like twenty bucks at Starbucks like it was nothing and bought his own food for lunch. Maybe he'd just been stealing things from Virgil's parents to piss them off. Roman wouldn't put that past him. It was petty enough for him to want to do, Remy loved being a petty bitch. Roman was also extremely frustrated that neither of their parents was willing to do anything.

Remy was nervous about something, though. He kept checking the time and looking out the window. But Remy didn't prefer to talk about it and pushing Remy to do things he didn't want just involved him running off, and Roman didn't want to risk that. It was hard enough that Remy was struggling and Roman couldn't help him. It was nearly impossible to be so hopelessly into someone you couldn't help. It would be completely unbearable if Remy ran off. Remy always came back after a bit, he usually needed a few days to cool down if you pissed him off. He was sensitive to that kind of stuff because of his dad or something. But Roman really didn't want to wait through those days. Especially not when he could still remember how Remy felt in his arms.

Roman came here to sleep, damnit. He needed to stop freaking agonizing. Remy seemed okay yesterday. He was probably being the petty bitch he always was in town yesterday and selling Virgil's parents' belongings or something. Remy could have made friends at house parties, too, and maybe ran into somebody and got a ride home. Not that anybody Remy hung out with at parties seemed to talk to him at school… but maybe that's just the way Remy liked things. Roman could see him soon and maybe even hang out again soon. Maybe get drunk and cuddle again- god damn it, fucking idiot! Roman would not be an enabler, Roman would not be an enabler-