"Wakey-wakey quiche and meat patties!" Patton chirped with two quick taps on the door. Roman slapped around blindly for an alarm clock until he realized that was Patton outside the door. Roman groaned and rubbed his face. Fuck, it was too early for chipperness.
"I'm awake," Roman called to the door, just to be safe. He didn't want to get regaled with depressing pet facts this morning. He had a rough enough night after Thomas left. "Give me a sweet animal fact," Roman added, not really trusting himself to stay awake if Patton left and wanted to hear something nice.
"Oh! Ocean or river dolphins?" Patton asked through the door.
"There are river dolphins?" Roman asked sleepily while he rubbed his eyes.
"River dolphins can sometimes have pods of primarily males or females, instead of more heterogeneous pods that are typical for the species. That means there might be pods of queer dolphins out there, living their best lives together!" Patton said through the door, sounding excited.
"Thanks, Patton," Roman called back. He yawned and crawled across the bed to get up.
"Anytime, kiddo! I'll be back in 10 minutes if you're not up," Patton warned him cheerily.
"I'm getting up, dude, it's fine," Roman grunted as he got off the bed. Roman stumbled around his room for some clothes.
"I'll still be back, just in case," Patton said cheerily. Roman rolled his eyes. If there was any fault to Patton and Thomas Roman found so far, it's that they were morning people and Roman didn't even feel like he fully woke up until like 2 pm. Who wakes up at this hour on weekends? Who wants to wake up at this hour in general? If Roman even got 6 hours of sleep, it'd be a generous assumption.
Roman changed and went to the bathroom to handle his morning business. Virgil was in there again, though. Roman yawned again and sat down on the wall near the door to wait for him to come out.
The next thing he knew, Virgil gave him a swift kick in the thigh while he slept on the floor. Roman bolted upright and hit his head on the wall. He groaned and rubbed his head, flipping off Virgil with this other hand. Virgil just fingerspelled 'ha ha' slowly and headed downstairs.
"Everything okay up there? What was that noise?" Thomas called up the stairs, climbing up fast. Thomas looked down at Roman on the floor with concern.
"What happened?" Thomas asked, holding out a hand to help Roman up. Roman shook his head, and Thomas backed up.
"Nothing. I just found the wall," Roman grumbled and got up and headed into the bathroom.
"It sure didn't sound like nothing," Thomas stated through the bathroom door. "Virgil didn't hurt you, did he?" His voice was dripping with concern.
"Of course not, he couldn't hurt me if he tried," Roman chuckled bitterly through the door. "Like I said, just found the wall," Roman didn't hear Thomas walk away. "I'm tried and an idiot. I promise I'm fine and Virgil did nothing to hurt me," It was barely a kick. If anything, it'd be weird if he didn't kick him awake. What was he supposed to do? Suddenly being able to talk? Roman didn't think he could handle regular contact either, Virgil had leaned away from the others and kept at least 3 feet of space normally. A quick kick was the most reasonable thing. It was surprising enough that Virgil got close enough to kick him.
"You're not an idiot, Roman," Thomas said firmly. "All right. I didn't think he did, but the circumstances seemed a little concerning," Thomas sounded really relieved. "My brothers and I certainly got into a few scuffles when we were kids, at least," He added. Roman rolled his eyes and started brushing his teeth. Roman just met the dude, and he wasn't dumb enough to get into fights with Virgil. He'd never throw himself or another foster kid under the bus like that.
Roman came down to Patton, dancing around slightly as he served up portions of a quiche and breakfast sausage. Roman sighed and rubbed his eyes. It was too early for this much energy. Patton was powered by the sun or something. Roman grabbed a glass and got some water, sitting down dramatically at the table.
"Something got your goat, kiddo?" Patton asked, placing the rest of the quiche back down next to the stove and grabbing two pieces of toast, which he slid on Virgil and Roman's plates.
"Bridge troll," Roman mumbled and picked up his fork to try to eat, though his stomach definitely wasn't awake yet.
"Oh, no, did it not have enough money for the toll troll?" Patton asked actually sounding kind of concerned. Roman was mostly just surprised he was playing along.
"It paid the toll, but it was too tired to run and the troll grabbed it anyway," Roman said sourly. It was still too early for anything either way.
"Well, that's not fair of him," Patton pouted.
"He's a bridge troll. They're not exactly known for fairness. Maybe a dragon will come save it before it's eaten, it's too early to say," Roman offered, sleepily stabbing at his quiche.
'You are weird,' Virgil signed at Roman.
'Glass houses,' Roman signed back. He was one to talk, Virgil was wearing all that eye makeup on the wrong side of his eyes again. Thomas huffed a little.
"Please tell me you two are at least being friendly," Thomas said.
'So fucking friendly,' Virgil signed with an over-the-top fake smile.
"Very friendly," Roman said, and signed 'Complete fucking gentlemen,' to Virgil. They better get it out before Thomas and Patton notice, anyway. Roman would love to make a cock-sucking joke, but that sign was probably way too obvious. Virgil smirked and got up, grabbing a thing of hot sauce out of the fridge. He liberally doused his quiche in it and went back to eating.
'Are you a masochist?' Roman fingerspelled the last part, not knowing the word. That smelled like death.
'Afraid of heat?' Virgil signed back and passed the bottle over. Roman knew this was a trap, but wasn't one to back down from a challenge. He couldn't stop himself from dumping some hot sauce on his breakfast, probably even a little too much. It was actually pretty tasty until he needed to down his glass of water. 'Wimp,' Virgil fingerspelled when Roman got up to get a refill.
'Bitch,' Roman signed back, panting slightly. He was fucking awake now, that's for sure.
"Roman, are you okay?" Patton asked. "Virgil likes things pretty spicy,"
"Of course I'm fine, I just was surprised. It's delicious," Roman huffed, half-lying. It was delicious until it hurt, anyway. Roman refilled his water glass with milk. He still had to finish that quiche. He took a deep, somewhat burning breath, and went back at it.
Lita was bumping at Roman's feet as he finished his quiche from hell, eating his toast like mana from heaven. Toast didn't burn. The toast was everything.
"Give me a minute, Lita," Roman said, sipping at his milk.
"I can take her out today, Roman, you don't have to," Patton offered. "I could use the j-o-g,"
"No, I like it. I'd like to go," Roman said, picking up the pace with the rest of his breakfast. He really did enjoy going for a low-stakes run. For a while running at all used to stress him out more, but there were extenuating circumstances with that, after all. A cute dog in a safe neighborhood made it all much more relaxing.
"How about I go with you, then?" Patton said. "I don't enjoy using the treadmill in the garage as much as getting some fresh air," Roman was a little confused that Patton wanted Roman's permission to go outside his own house and walk his own dog.
"Sure?" Roman said, looking oddly at Patton. Roman finished the last of his breakfast sausage and milk and downed another glass of water before rinsing up his dishes. Lita was happily trotting around at his feet while he rinsed up. He took Patton's plate when he got up and stood behind him, too.
"You don't have to do that, kiddo," Patton said with a compassionate smile.
"I'm already here with wet hands," Roman shrugged and finished them off. He dried up and Patton grabbed two water bottles from the fridge for them. "You ready to go, Lita?" Roman asked as he grabbed the leash off the hook. Patton put his glasses on the counter. Lita bounded around at his feet before Patton did a pushing-down hand motion that made Lita settle down at once. Virgil got up to get seconds while Roman hooked up Lita to her leash. Shit, he didn't know he could get seconds. Well, whatever, it was enough. Lita yanked him to the door, and they headed out of the house.
Lita sprinted out and Roman started running along with her with long strides. Roman kept pace while she ran her heart out. When Lita finally stopped at the fire hydrant at the street corner, Roman took a long sip of water for the heat still lingering in his throat from the hot sauce. The deep breaths he took while running kind of hurt. Damn that Virgil and his demon tongue. Roman took a burning breather.
Some panting noises came up behind him while Lita sniffed around at what were probably other dog markings. Roman turned to see Patton jogging up, looking pretty winded.
"You… are really fast… champ," Patton panted, jogging up and stopping to catch his breath.
"Running fast is how I survived this far," Roman said flippantly, distracted by Lita tugging at the leash. Roman didn't let her move forward yet while Patton was holding his knees and catching his breath. Patton looked up and made a concerned face. Shit, what did he say? Did he say too much again? "Um, what did I say?" Roman asked with worry. God damnit, did he fuck up again?
"It's fine, Roman… don't worry," Patton panted and put his hand on Roman's shoulder. "Let's walk-walk for a bit," Patton added. Roman nodded and started walking forward. Lita started happily moving along, sniffing things every few feet at this leisurely pace. "It's no wonder she likes going with you already. You'd do well in track or something,"
"Extracurriculars take time and money," Roman said dismissively and took another drink of water.
"That they do," Patton said. "But if you're interested, you shouldn't let that stop you,"
"You didn't tell me what I said," Roman changed the subject back. "I get that it's fine or whatever," Roman added under his breath.
"You don't know what you said, kiddo?" Patton asked with confusion.
"Stuff just slips out sometimes and I don't always remember what I said," Roman offered, slightly sheepishly.
"You implied you… wouldn't be here if you weren't a good runner," Patton said.
"Oh, well, yeah, we'd still be half a block back if we were going at this pace," Roman chuckled while Lita sniffed a mailbox.
"I'm pretty certain that's not what you meant. Do you maybe need to talk to somebody? Like a therapist?" Patton asked gently.
"What? No! Of course not," Roman shot quickly. "I'm fine, I don't need therapy," Therapy was way too expensive, and they'd probably tell Patton and Thomas he was a bad kid and then they wouldn't want him anymore and then the state would know he had problems and then he'd be harder to place because he'd be a problem child with special needs and he'd have to dig up all this stuff he didn't want to think about and would rather just forget and it would be even harder to ever-
"Woah, kiddo, breathe!" Patton said loudly, interrupting Roman's train of thought. Roman realized he had stopped and was holding his hair, Lita circling nervously around his feet. Roman slowly lowered his hands and passed off Lita's leash to Patton, who seemed to be holding his hand out for it.
They already had a kid with problems, real ones, they didn't need two. Virgil needed them more. Not talking when spoken to wouldn't fly with other foster families. Roman had already fucked up a few times. He probably wasn't making it long, anyway. They wouldn't actually bother setting an appointment. This was just posturing or something like parents do when the social worker is there. Roman breathed deep and tried to stay centered. Shit, he'd made another scene in public. He needed to get away from here.
"Are you okay, Roman?" Patton asked gently.
"Yup. Just… thinking," Roman tried to excuse himself. "Lita probably wants to speed up again," Roman tried to change the subject.
"She can run more later, I'm more concerned about you," Patton said softly. It had to be posturing, right? They were good foster parents, they wouldn't want a fuck up like Roman around. They'd want a good kid with good grades who can pay attention and be pleasant. Roman wasn't the right fit. He couldn't be a good kid no matter how hard he tried. He'd had plenty of people tell him that, so he knew it by heart. Roman took a long drink while Patton looked expectantly at him.
"I'm fine," Roman said with a smile.
"Lita sure doesn't think so," Patton said, pointing at Lita, who was sitting at Patton's feet and staring at Roman as well, looking very nervous.
"Splendid thing she's a dog, then," Roman said cavalierly. Patton looked slightly sour at that comment. "It's getting hot out, let's get a move on," Roman tried to get out of this situation again, seeming to have made it worse. He really felt like he needed to get out of here.
"Roman, I'm not moving from the spot until I get an honest answer out of you," Patton said firmly. Did they really have to do this right here, in front of some stranger's house? Making the scene worse?
"I'll be fine, then," Roman said. He'd figure it out. His current caseworker was okay. He actually listened when Roman said the parents were awful. He was almost old enough to get a job if he could walk to it, and then he could buy his own food and things. He took another deep breath and smiled again.
"That's a more honest answer, but you're still not being completely honest," Patton said, starting to walk forward again.
"A run will clear my head," Roman offered, holding out his hand for the leash. Patton looked speculatively at Roman for a moment and passed the leash back. "You ready to run, Lita? Run fast?" Roman asked sweetly. Lita looked confused for a moment and kept trotting along. Stupid vibes-sensing powers dogs had.
"If you count down from three, she'll probably start running," Patton offered, starting to jog, possibly trying to get a head start.
"3, 2, 1, let's go!" Roman shouted and Lita took off like a freaking rocket ship, Roman barely keeping pace with her. He focused on the feeling of his burning throat and lungs instead of the stupid thoughts as he pushed himself to keep up with this speed demon dog. Lita slowed as they rounded the block corner, but they kept running all the way home. Roman had checked behind them, and they had lost Patton again. Lita had lost steam by the time they had gotten back to the house, and Roman appreciated the cool-down jog. When they got inside, Roman unleashed Lita and collapsed against the wall just outside the entryway, taking deep breaths of the cooled air inside.
"Where's Pat?" Thomas asked, looking up from a book on the couch.
"Almost… here," Roman said breathlessly, finishing off his water bottle and leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. Holy shit, his throat. He needed to remember to never eat anything Virgil gave him.
"You guys let that dog run you ragged, huh?" Thomas asked, getting up from the couch. "Let me refill that for you," Roman opened his eyes for Thomas, reaching out for the water bottle. Roman was too tired to care and held up the bottle for Thomas to take.
Patton came huffing in as Roman was chugging water from the refilled bottle. His throat burned even more than it did when he first had the damn hot sauce.
"Roman… is very fast," Patton said between breaths, slowly laying on the living room floor. "Require ice cream," Patton groaned.
"God, yes, please," Roman croaked against the wall.
"Language… Roman," Patton panted.
"It's not even 9 AM, Patton," Thomas said chidingly.
"I don't care," Patton sighed.
"Will you settle on yogurt?" Thomas offered.
"I will fight you," Patton moaned, fanning himself.
"I'll get you two some yogurt. You can have ice cream after lunch," Thomas said humorously, heading into the kitchen.
"We're making sundaes at lunch," Patton said, starting to catch his breath.
"Kickass," Roman exhaled, his eyes fluttering closed again.
"Roman, no swearing," Patton scolded Roman weakly. Whatever, he wasn't staying, anyway. Thomas pushed a cool bowl against Roman's hands a few moments later, and Roman accepted it gratefully.
"Thank you," Roman said and started eating yogurt appreciatively on the floor.
"You will have to sit up, Patton," Thomas said, offering a hand to Patton. Patton took it and slowly sat up, shifting to sit against the couch to eat his yogurt.
"I'm going to get back to work," Thomas said, heading into his office and closing the door behind him. Virgil came down the stairs holding a purple laptop. He stopped and stared at Patton and Roman and put his laptop down on the ottoman.
'This isn't the weirdest thing I've walked in on. But yogurt party is weird,' Virgil signed.
"What's the weirdest thing?" Roman asked, unable to sign back with his hands occupied. He probably couldn't stop eating the yogurt if he tried.
'Patton crying while eating tacos,' Virgil signed, having to fingerspell tacos when Roman looked oddly at him.
"I'm not sure that is weird for him," Roman exhaled in relief, finishing the yogurt. His throat felt leagues better.
"What's not weird for who?" Patton asked.
'Thomas juggled fruit while singing,' Virgil signed another weird thing he'd walked in on.
"Phenomenal," Roman exhaled and put the bowl down on the floor, leaning back against the wall again. He focused on breathing for a few more moments. Roman reached down for the yogurt bowl and stood slowly, collecting Patton's bowl as he passed to wash them in the kitchen.
"Thanks, kiddo. I still need some air," Patton groaned. Roman rinsed their dishes and grabbed Patton's glasses from the counter before going back to the living room. Virgil was showing something to Patton on his laptop, squatting a few feet in front of him.
"I'm sorry, bud, I can't make out what that is without my glasses," Patton apologized, squinting at the laptop screen. Virgil looked up to Roman, put down his laptop, and signed towards Roman.
"He wants to buy a book," Roman translated.
"Oh, how much do you need?" Virgil held up 8 fingers. "That's no problem, hand me the laptop," Patton smiled and dragged himself up to sit on the couch. Virgil nodded and picked up his laptop and passed it over, barely close enough to hand it off. "Thanks for translating, Roman. Will you get my glasses from the kitchen, Virgil? I've got to be able to read for this," Patton said and started typing.
"I've got them," Roman said, sitting down on the couch with his freshly refilled water bottle. He handed Patton his glasses and leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes again. God, he hated waking up this early. Every glance at the clock was a sadistic reminder that he's not asleep at this ungodly hour.
"This book's got a few mature themes, kiddo. I don't know about this," Patton said warily.
"The foster care system is mature themes, I'm sure he'd be fine. He can always text you or whatever. Maze Runner is on that shelf in my room and that book has, like, literal bladed murder monsters killing children in some convoluted humanity survival scheme. I doubt it's much worse than that if he's read it," Roman said dismissively, leaning back and stretching his legs out. His calves burned a bit still. Patton made a distressed noise. Roman opened his eyes and looked back over to Patton, who looked dismayed.
"Oh, that was a best seller! It said 13+, I didn't know," Patton gasped. "Would you text me if any of this book freaks you out?" He asked Virgil with heavy concern. Virgil rolled his eyes dramatically and nodded.
"Okay, I'll buy it for you, then," Patton said, sounding slightly defeated. He diligently clicked through and handed Virgil back his laptop. Virgil took it and basically skittered out away and went up the stairs two at a time. Man, that kid had long legs.
"Did you want to play that game again? You wanted to play it later yesterday, but you were napping most of the afternoon," Patton asked. Roman paused, considering it.
"Would that be okay?" Roman asked carefully. He was a little conflicted about getting far in a game he might never finish, but also by never getting a chance to play it again. He also kind of wanted to avoid any further conversations with Patton right now.
"Of course it would! I'll stop you for lunchtime this time, though," Patton added. Maybe Patton would drop it. Roman wanted to play more than run off, now that he was staring at the TV and had permission.
"Cool," Roman smiled and got up to set up the game. He was feeling less upset after the run. Even if he could never finish this save, he'd just have to play as far as he could. Maybe when he was old enough, he could buy it himself. It wasn't that long until he was no longer a ward of the state. A couple more years was nothing, he'd made it 5 already.