Roman didn't know what he did wrong. This family was actually okay and they seemed to tolerate him, but he was still gathering all of his things in a damned garbage bag. He had been there long enough to get comfortable and have friends. There was always food to eat and they bought him the necessities sometimes. He had lots of chores, but they let him do whatever as long as the younger kids were happy. They even let him babysit other kids than their own for money so Roman could buy some of the stuff he wanted.
Now, Roman was at risk of ending up at another house that didn't always have food and wasn't willing to buy him clothes or school supplies. Maybe a house that didn't tolerate him and expressed it often. He knew he could be annoying. But he couldn't understand why they wouldn't put up with him any longer and they never gave him a straight answer. Who is even going to watch their kids now that they've given Roman the boot? He never broke their rules on purpose and he thought the kids liked him.
Roman sat despondently on the bed when the social worker came to pick him up. It was even an okay bed. He never minded the bottom bunk and they let him pick out the sheets and everything. They weren't the nicest or the most considerate people, but that didn't mean Roman wanted to take his chances. They kept their gripes verbal. What was so wrong with him they were willing to throw him to the sharks?
"Come on," Mr. Hartley said, motioning with his hand and standing in the doorway. Roman sighed and grabbed his bag and followed the social worker out the door. "You don't have to be like that, Roman," Mr. Hartley tried to sound compassionate, probably but Roman could tell he was a little annoyed.
"I think I do," Roman growled bitterly. They walked in silence to the car, and Roman dumped himself and his trash bag of things dramatically in the backseat.
"This new family is already fostering a boy a year older than you. They seem nice, passed inspection with flying colors," Mr. Hartley offered in a pretty weak consolation. Lots of them already fostered. Roman's had so many foster siblings in his past he had lost count.
"But what does the kid think about them?" Roman asked sourly, placing his elbow on the car door and propping up his head in his hand.
"Well," Mr. Hartley didn't seem to know how to start. "He's still grieving the loss of his parents," He tried to explain or maybe excuse something.
"Aren't we all," Roman grunted and exhaled aggressively. He stared out the window, watching the other cars go by as they pulled out of the neighborhood into the uncertain city streets. The caseworker seemed to want to start again, but couldn't find the words, so they rode in silence for a while. Roman appreciated the time to quietly fume. He pictured himself all the places he'd rather be as he stared blankly at his own reflection in the window.
"So your new foster Parents are the Sanders family. Their names are Patton and Thomas. You'll be in a new school district so you get a chance to start fresh there if you really focus and try your best this time," Mr. Hartley explained. Roman groaned and didn't respond. He was trying in school. It's not like he intended to fall behind and get bad grades.
"Your new foster brother only recently lost his parents this year, so try to be nice to him. He refuses to talk to his social worker. But Thomas asked that we tell you beforehand that he needs space," Mr. Hartley pleaded.
"How'd they go? So I don't have to bother him," Roman asked, never glancing away from the window.
"Car accident with a drunk driver. He was in the car. So, be sensitive and don't bring it up," Mr. Hartley explained. Okay, that was pretty rough. They rode in silence for a little longer, and the curiosity eventually overwrote his anger at the social worker. He hadn't gotten to see him much, and there was a question he'd been dying to ask.
"I know you had to take me away and all, but you know this fucking sucks," Roman started.
"Roman, we've talked about your language, don't use that word," Mr. Hartley interjected. Roman groaned again.
"Can you at least tell me where my brother is?" Roman asked, finally looking at the caseworker, briefly meeting his eyes in the rear-view mirror.
"I'm not his caseworker. I don't know for sure," Mr. Hartley said, sounding defeated.
"Please? I'll take anything," Roman begged desperately, trying to catch his eye in the rear-view again.
"The last I heard, he was in JDC. I don't know if he's still there or not," Mr. Hartley gave in with a sigh.
"Remus is in Juvie? Why did nobody tell me? What did he do?" Roman sat upright, leaning forward against his seatbelt and gripping the seat in front of him.
"Sit back, Roman," Mr. Hartley said firmly. "He started a fire in his foster parents' house,"
"Holy shit, Remus wouldn't do that!" Roman shot, sitting back and gesticulating widely.
"Roman, language. His foster parents at the time insisted there was alcohol involved. His blood alcohol was zero when they caught him, but maybe he was drunk," Mr. Hartley explained coolly.
"Remus wouldn't drink!" Roman objected loudly. They promised each other they wouldn't before being separated. They would not be in this mess if it weren't for their dad's drinking problem.
"Roman, it happens sometimes, even if people have reason to hate it," Mr. Hartley probably tried to sound compassionate, but they were clearly getting frustrated. "I'll try to get his contact information for you when I come back to see how you're settled next week, okay?" Mr. Hartley offered.
"We're 15, how did he even get alcohol?" Roman growled. Roman could guess pretty easily, but he'd always hoped Remus didn't end up in the kind of situations Roman did. Maybe it was too much to ask for.
"You have to know I can't answer that question," Mr. Hartley groaned. "We're almost there. You're in the Anderson school distinct going to the public high school. It's within walking distance. I have given the school councilor a heads up about your history. You'll have a long weekend to settle in and go in early on Monday. I'll be back next Friday night to see how you're settled and then we go to mostly monthly as usual if that's how things pan out," He meant if his new foster family didn't give him the boot. Roman groaned again and returned to staring out the window.
They pulled into a house with slate blue roof tiles and gray bricks. There was a small garden in the front yard and a decorative hedge against the front of the house. It looked kind of nice. The garden looked like it had food mixed in with the flowers. Roman knew looks could deceive, but if they could keep those green beans alive, maybe they could care for a kid. The caseworker came around and opened the car door when Roman didn't get out right away.
"We're already here, Roman, there's no point in trying to delay any longer. Thomas and Patton took off work and are waiting for you inside. You can meet your foster brother when he gets off school in the afternoon," Mr. Hartley insisted and motioned for him to get out. Roman huffed and pulled himself to standing and grabbed his garbage bag of things.
The house had a security door over the pristine white front door. The doormat said 'wipe your paws', which Roman rolled his eyes at. The case worker knocked and Roman could hear an excited shout before the door burst open to reveal a tall man in a pale blue polo and sandy brown curls beaming at the two of them. Another man with a dark brown long top haircut in a red floral button-down shirt jogged up behind him.
"Hi, Kiddo!" The man in the blue polo shouted, beaming.
"Patton, don't scare him!" The other man chided him. Roman would have been amused if he wasn't in such a bad mood from all this shit. Roman gave a weak wave and shrugged.
"Roman, welcome home," The man in the red floral shirt said. "I'm Thomas Sanders and this is my very excitable husband Patton Sanders," The man smiled and stepped out of the way for Roman and the caseworker to enter. Roman smiled weakly at him. Mr. Hartley started on his preliminary walk around with the checklist and left Roman standing in the entryway holding his bag of things.
"It's nice to put a face to the name, Mr. Hartley," Thomas said brightly, holding out his hand. Mr. Hartley took it and shook with a small smile. Patton smiled at Mr. Hartley then looked down at Roman and his face dropped slightly.
"Is everything okay, champ?" Patton asked with concern in his eyes. Roman just shrugged. Patton gave a compassionate smile. "Kind of overwhelmed? It's okay, we can take it slow today," Patton offered. Roman nodded.
"Do I have to call you guys anything specific?" Roman asked mildly, trying to figure out his boundaries early so he wouldn't get in trouble.
"Whatever makes you comfortable," Thomas said. "Would you like a tour? Patton can talk with your caseworker,"
"Sure, whatever," Roman said complacently and shrugged. 'Whatever's comfortable' is a good sign. Unless it's just posturing for the Social Worker. Or some kind of test. Roman frowned and followed Thomas.
"Let's start with your bedroom so you can put your stuff down. Come on, it's the first door at the top of the stairs," Thomas said and motioned him to follow down a hall and up some softly carpeted stairs. The white banister was dust free and there were nice photos of Thomas and Patton on the wall, along with various landscape and nature photos.
The bedroom looked nice at first glance. There was a bookshelf with a wide variety of books, a desk, a full-sized bed, which is the biggest Roman will have ever slept in, and star LED lights hanging over the bed. Roman's back still hurt from the 'temporary' trundle he had a few years back and he was thankful for a real bed again. The window was large with wooden blinds on it, and the desk had a lamp. Roman stepped in and placed his garbage bag in front of a pale oak dresser.
"Do I have to share this room?" Roman asked, thinking maybe this room was too big for just him. Maybe there was a trundle under the bed for him. The thought gave him an involuntary shiver.
"No, your foster brother has the next room over. You don't share it with anybody. I'd show you his room, but he isn't comfortable with people in his space at the moment," Thomas said soothingly. "You can decorate your own room. It's kind of plain right now,"
"Really?" Roman's face lit up. He never got to decorate his room much before. He wasn't sure how he'd earn the money, but opportunity was exciting either way. It was supposed to be a nice neighborhood, so he could probably find babysitting jobs again. Rich parents love the idea of teaching 'social responsibility' or whatever by giving teenagers eight bucks an hour to watch their kids while they went out and did rich people things.
"Yeah, we want you to be happy here. Are you ready for the rest of the tour?" Thomas asked, looking down to Roman gently.
"Um, yeah, sure," Roman replied, trying to quell his excitement. He shouldn't get his hopes up. Maybe they won't let him pick up odd jobs or something. It could be one of those 'technically you can' scenarios.
"Great. This door across the hall is your bathroom. You're sharing it with Virgil, but you'll have your own shower kit," Thomas motioned to the bathroom door.
"Virgil?" Roman stopped in the hall, confused.
"That's your foster brother," Thomas clarified. Roman nodded. "Like I said, this door next to yours is his room. The room across to his is Patton's office. The next room over is mine and Patton's. You can come to us any time if you need something," Thomas said. He turned around and headed back downstairs. "Let's head downstairs,"
Thomas and Roman descended the stairs and turned into the living room. There was a big fluffy brown L-shaped couch and a nice flat screen in the corner of the living room. They even had some game systems hooked up to it. The windows were huge, and there was a sliding door behind some vertical blinds to the backyard.
"This is the living room. If you like games, we can set you up as a user on the systems. We've already got an account for you on this laptop," Thomas motioned to a metallic white laptop on a side table next to the couch. Thomas looked around at the games hopefully. "You can use it any time it's free, though you will have to share it. Nothing unsavory on the family laptop, please," Thomas added. Roman crinkled his face in disgust. Roman hoped they didn't have such a low opinion of him already. Thomas laughed brightly.
"I'm glad we agree," Thomas stated humorously. "This next room over is another office. I work from home at this one. I'm a writer so I keep weird hours, if you can't find me, I'm probably be holed up in here. I don't mind if you want to just sit on the small couch in there and read quietly while I'm working if it's lonely in the house," Thomas explained. Roman smiled slightly, it was surprisingly considerate thing to offer. Thomas lead them through the living room to the kitchen.
"Here's the kitchen. You're welcome to anything you like, but don't spoil your appetite for meals. Patton's really determined to eat breakfast and dinner together. He gets very, very sad if you aren't hungry then," Thomas said with got an odd smile when he explained Patton's emotional reaction. Thomas lead them through the kitchen to another door.
"Here's the laundry room. You'll be doing your own laundry, but we're happy to help you with it and show you how to use the machines. Through the next door is the garage. There's a treadmill and some weights in there. There's a mini-fridge in there, as well. It's just drinks for exercising," Thomas finished and held out his arms. "That's everything! I hope you like it. Let's see if the social worker needs anything else," Thomas said, and they headed back into the living room. Mr. Hartley was standing near the entranceway, talking with Patton. Patton was extremely animated when he talked.
"Ah, Roman. Would you two gentlemen excuse us for a moment so I can ask him some questions?" Mr. Hartley asked. Patton smiled and nodded, heading to the kitchen. Thomas nodded and joined Patton. "Roman, do you feel safe and comfortable here?"
"Um, yeah. They really do seem nice," Roman said dismissively.
"Great! Because you would have had to stay in one of those awful holding centers while we found a new placement for you. You didn't like it there last time," Mr. Hartley smiled cheerily. Roman groaned. He really hated those damned centers. "I know this sucks, but we have to try to make the best of things or we'll just waste away. You have your own room here, I found nothing shady, and this area is safe. I'll see you next week, okay?" Mr. Hartley said, starting for the door with a wave.
"With some way to contact Remus?" Roman asked hopefully.
"If I can get a hold of it, I'll bring it. If he's in the middle of placement, I won't be able to get anything," Mr. Hartley replied, trying not to sound too positive. Probably trying not to get Roman's hopes up. Roman sighed and waved.
"Goodbye, Mr. and Mr. Sanders," Mr. Hartley called from the front hall. "I'll see you next Friday at 6 PM," Thomas and Patton emerged from the kitchen around the corner.
"Bye!" Patton called after him, walked excitedly over to Roman.
"So, I know you've had a long morning. What do you want to do?" Patton asked with a warm smile.
"What I want to do? It's your house," Roman said incredulously. "I do whatever you want me to,"
"You live here now, too, kiddo! We know it's rough to start over like you did. We'll understand if you want to be alone. But if you're hungry or want to decorate your room, we can head out." Patton offered sweetly. "We'd like to be here when Virgil gets home, though, so if you want to go shopping we should leave pretty soon," Patton added.
"I've only got like 5 dollars, guys," Roman said dismissively. That must have been the wrong thing to say because Patton looked affronted. Shit.
"We never said you'd have to pay, champ!" Patton insisted, looking concerned and leaning down slightly to meet Roman's eyes.
"Roman, you're still a kid, don't worry about money. It's the only time of your life you don't have to. We'll let you know what we can do or not, okay?" Thomas said mildly. Roman couldn't help but regard him suspiciously. Adults always say things are fine until they're not and never clarify the line.
"Okay. I wouldn't mind going out," Roman said. He'd rarely gotten to go out before, and it could be cool. Better than staring at the wall and letting his mind wander, anyway. Anything to keep his mind of Remus being in juvie, anyway.
"To eat or to shop?" Thomas asked, pulling a pair of keys out of his pocket.
"Both!" Patton said excitedly, holding open his arms. "Fast food!" Thomas rolled his eyes.
"That stuff is terrible for you, Patton. Sometimes I'm worried you don't like my cooking," Thomas said admonishingly but didn't seem actually annoyed. Roman couldn't be sure though. It wasn't pointed his way, but Roman knew first hand that it was very easy to get punished for somebody else's mistakes. He backed up slightly and kept his distance just to be safe.
"I love your cooking, Thomathy, but it's just a treat! What would you like for lunch, kiddo?" Patton asked with a mischievous grin, leaning down to talk to him again.
"Um, I don't know. Tacos?" Roman suggested, feeling a little confused. He was a little surprised by being put on the spot and just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. He at least liked tacos.
"The boy wants tacos, and you would deny him such pleasures?" Patton whined, standing up again to face Thomas, fluttering his eyelashes. Thomas rolled his eyes.
"Fine, we can have fast-food tacos, as a treat. But I don't want to see any food crumbs in my car tomorrow," Thomas conceded. "Do you want to grab anything from your things before we go?"
"No," Roman said, half smiling at how easily Thomas gave into Patton. Thomas headed into the kitchen, probably towards the interior garage door. Patton smiled widely and skipped along after him. Roman stuffed his hands nervously into his pants pockets and followed them out, continuing to keep his distance.
The Sander's and Roman had pulled into the drive-through Mexican food place a short while later. One wasn't too far from their home. Roman didn't really recognize this area, but it seemed mostly suburban with lots of strip malls. They told Roman he could get whatever he wanted, but he knew from experience that didn't always mean whatever he wanted. Roman asked for the cheapest taco combo just to be safe. He wouldn't have said no to an apple empanada but he didn't want to push it.
Patton had ordered an orange empanada for himself and Roman was a little jealous as carefully he ate his tacos. He got a soda with the combo, though, and he relished the pick me up. He was already kind of exhausted as much as he wanted to be out doing things instead of sitting home being bored like he usually was, even if he was working. He was still a little in shock that the Sanders seemed like nice people and didn't impose a ton of rules as soon as the caseworker left the house.
"Patton, you're making a giant mess. You'll be vacuuming out the car when you get home," Thomas said, sounding a little frustrated as he pulled back out on to the road.
"It's a fair tradeoff, love," Patton cooed and Thomas blushed slightly. "Are there any clothes you need while we're at the department store, kiddo?" Patton asked.
"I, uh, could use some new shoes and a jacket," Roman stuttered out, shaken from his thoughts and tacos.
"Sounds good!" Patton declared and returned to his food. They asked him pretty directly, but it made Roman nervous. You're not supposed to have wants in the foster system. You're supposed to just pretend you don't exist and survive on your own. It was nice being asked if he needed anything, though.
But if Roman could pick anything he wanted, it'd be having his brother back. He heard Juvie was bad. There's no way Remus did anything they claimed he did. Roman fumed quietly in the back seat, slowly sipping his soda. He really tried to focus on the music coming from the radio, but he couldn't stop his brain from going back to Remus and the shitty situation he was stuck in.