Holding the small flashlight in his mouth was uncomfortable at best. The hard plastic made his teeth hurt. He was thankful it was waterproof, but the location of the key chain was awkward and hung out of his lips oddly. But it was better than trying to sketch in the dark. Roman doodled in the holographic notebook, just sort of trying to put the things in his brain somewhere. He couldn't sleep, and laying in bed under the blanket with a light in his teeth was better than lying there and letting his brain run free to his regular late hour awful shit.
He'd drawn Remus as a minotaur, Virgil as some kind of slender-type demon, and a sketch of his mom already on this page. He just sketched the gun he used to carry now. He couldn't get the image out of his head since Patton brought it up last week. He'd already drawn his old .380 with the weird gash on the side and the serial number scratched off. He had a few bullets for it in his things, but Jet was hiding it while Roman's leg was broken, so he had no idea where the gun itself ended up. His brain could never figure out if that was the best thing that happened in that mess or not.
There was a sound in the hall and Roman jumped and instantly turned off the flashlight with his teeth on the button and dropped his head flat to the bed under the blanket. He laid motionless, keeping his breathing even in case someone came to check on him. Thomas only had once, when he made a loud noise, but he was wired to do it after so long. He was terrified of getting caught staying up, even though he knew the worst they would have him go to bed early and make disappointed noises at him. Those theoretical disappointed sounds were menacing despite the lack of danger.
After a few moments where nothing happened and the muffled sound of something metallic clinging together on the stairs piqued Roman's interest. People rarely went down the stairs in the heart of the night here. It was pitch black in the hall still, so it wasn't Thomas or Patton taking the stairs to get water in the kitchen. That meant it was Virgil, and that was interesting and new.
Roman slipped silently out of bed and cracked open his door, watching Virgil descend the stairs with a backpack gently, likely trying not to make another noise from whatever was shifting in his bag. Roman grabbed his keys, a dark shirt he threw on over the one he was wearing, and slid on his shoes hurriedly, wanting to know where Virgil was headed in the middle of the night.
Roman followed him down the hall and out the door without Virgil noticing until Virgil turned to close the door and jumped when he saw Roman. Roman grinned and shut the door behind him, working the latch deliberately so it wouldn't click. He reached into his pocket to pull out his keys, and Virgil's hands shot up and motioned rapidly to not do that.
"Why would we leave the door unlocked?" Roman whispered, unsure Virgil could even see it if he signed.
Virgil backed up into the dim light of the street and signed 'dog hearing,' with an angry face. Oh, she hears the lock. That explained why Lita threw a bark-fit and woke up the entire house when Roman ran. He thought it was odd Lita started barking when he left last time since she normally sleeps in Thomas and Patton's room.
'So what are we doing?' Roman came out into the dim light to sign to Virgil.
'I-' Virgil put extra emphasis on signing me, 'have something to do,' Virgil glowered at Roman.
'I'll be your lookout,' Roman signed back with a smirk, positive Virgil couldn't even see his expression. Virgil sighed and nodded, heading out into the road. If he threw a fit would have gotten them caught, so conceding was a smart move. Roman was happy to use that to his advantage for once. Roman followed along, very curious about where he was going. Virgil went off into the opposite direction of the school, so Roman had no inkling where he was intending to go.
Virgil tried to cut too close to a fence and Roman jumped in front of him in a panic, making a big X with his arms. 'Dogs,' He signed hastily and Virgil gave a quick nod, backing off from the area. After that, if Roman steered away from something Virgil followed with no prompting. He seemed to understand that Roman knew what he was doing. They dodged fences, streetlights, eye lines from windows, and avoided getting too close to cars. No one else was out to avoid right now, but walking confidently was the best way to avoid second glances and Virgil already walked as if he had somewhere to be.
Roman hadn't brought his phone to check the time, nor would he because of screen brightness, but they had been walking at a fast pace for at least ten minutes. They finally made it to a skate park, which must have been Virgil's destination, since he pivoted towards it. Roman made a confused expression as Virgil skirted the outside, avoiding the lights and slipping down into a skate bowl. You couldn't see it from the pavement and it was largely unlit, so it seemed like a good place to be. Roman slid down into the pit with Virgil, who was unzipping his backpack.
Virgil slipped on a gas mask and Roman blinked a few times in confusion until Virgil withdrew a spray paint can. Ah. He did not understand how Virgil got a hold of spray paint, but he was incredibly down with this. Roman took off both of his shirts and put the dark one back on, then flipped and tucked the one he had under it into a face mask promptly. Virgil raised an eyebrow at him but shrugged and motioned to his backpack and then the pit.
It was dark in here, but he was pretty certain Virgil said 'go for it'. Roman dug through the backpack and picked out a few colours. It was difficult to tell what he pulled out while his eyes adjusted, but Virgil had a decent collection. He ran across a pair of disposable gloves in the backpack and happily adorned them. Spray paint on his hands was damning evidence.
He chose to do the dragon with the green flames that kept ending up in his daydreams. Virgil had the entire rainbow and beyond in here, it could be achieved. Before he started on that, though, he grabbed the blue and made a big dot and drew a gold trident inside of it. He used to paint it everywhere when Jet brought him spray paints to mark alleyways for his incomprehensible code system.
Roman put down a base of green and blue for the flames first. He wasn't sure what Virgil sprayed, but he hadn't seen him leave the basin yet, so he figured he was good. Roman made a rainbow of colours as a base for the dragon to spray black paint over to try to make the iridescent effect on the dragon's scales, but he couldn't be sure how it looked in the dark. Without the right tools, Roman couldn't pull off fine details, so he just focused on making the overarching concept rather than fretting over the things he couldn't pull off.
He was adding smoke to the village when he heard the cans clink in the sack. He hurriedly added his tag, a swirling sun, and rushed over to return the paint to the sack. Virgil left the pack on the ground after zipping it up and got a running start to climb out of the skate bowl. Roman handed up the pack and stepped back to try to run, but Virgil shook his head and held out his gloved hand. Roman blinked in surprise but accepted the help out of the bowl. A hard landing or a slip would have been bad with his… battle damage, so he appreciated the gesture and signed thanks before Virgil turned off to his next location.
Virgil moved to the backside of the half-pipe next and plucked out a can. It was bright enough here to see what he was up to, and Virgil was writing a particularly… glowing… review of his ex-teacher. Roman snickered and pulled out a can to do a quick caricature of him vomiting shit, which Virgil seemed very amused by, since he doubled over laughing silently as Roman used brown and green spray paint to make the teacher spew chunks.
They put all the cans back in the backpack and Virgil took off his mask and gloves, so Roman followed suit. He took the shirt off his face and held it while they walked off into the night again. They didn't head back the way they came, but farther down the lane towards a corner store gas station. There were no cars there this time of night, and Virgil walked in confidently. Roman didn't want to draw any attention to himself, so he hung out in the shadows near the ice cooler for Virgil to come back out.
Virgil returned with two bags of candy and tossed one towards Roman. He fumbled catching it at first, completely not expecting this outcome. Not that he expected to head out in the midst of the night and commit crimes with Virgil, but life was weird like that. Virgil opened up his package right away and started eating. He had gotten himself gummy sharks and tossed a pack of Skittles at Roman. It had been a while since he'd eaten them, and Roman was completely delighted to get a pack. He opened up the package as he followed Virgil away from the station. Roman only had a few pieces so he could save the rest for later.
This must have been the return journey since Roman recognized the way back. He still had to steer Virgil a bit and was curious if this was his first time walking the roads at night or if Roman was just hyper-aware of the rules out here. He assumed it was the latter with the easy confidence Virgil strode through the streets at night. Virgil was much less self-assured in the daytime. Maybe Virgil was just happy about getting out some anger. Roman could relate. As far as all the crimes Roman had committed went, graffiti was so harmless he could barely consider it one. He was aware the other things he had done perhaps skewed his concept of what crimes were actually bad, but he didn't prefer to think about that.
Virgil and Roman discarded their gloves in the outside dumpster before going inside silently. Virgil pivoted right upstairs, but Roman headed into the pitch-black kitchen to wash the sweat from his hands and grab a drink of cold water. Roman was skilled at moving silently and headed back upstairs to his room with barely a creak.
He tossed both shirts into the laundry basket and grabbed a new one to wear in bed, thankful for all the new clothes for once. Roman deposited his Skittles bag upright in the desk organizer before kicking off his shoes, putting away his keys, and lying back down in bed.
There was a message on his phone from Virgil saying that he had fun and would go to the skate park tomorrow to get photos of what they did in the daylight. Roman was secretly excited about that, shaking his fist soundlessly in the air. He looked forward to seeing how the dragon turned out in the daylight. He also had no idea what Virgil painted in the bowl. It was already full of tags and designs and he was extremely focused on the dragon, so Virgil pointing out what was his with a photo would be helpful.
It had been a long time since Roman had broken laws of any sort, and ending the streak with Virgil was fun. There was no bonding experience quite like committing crimes together, but he did also have fun and get to do something he used to enjoy doing without it having to be a whole fucking deal. He wished more things in his life didn't have to be a massive event. Roman rolled over into his journal on accident and picked it up to put it back on the nightstand. He already felt creatively fulfilled and in a decent mood, so he had hoped he could just lay there and get some sleep instead of just wasting time until he passed out again.
"Roman?" Thomas asked quietly and Roman recoiled, looking at Thomas as he rubbed his eyes while he stood in the doorway.
"Uh, yeah?" Roman replied nervously, having absolutely no idea how much Thomas saw or if he had caught Roman sneaking out and further vandalizing a skate park.
"Sorry. I heard a noise and Lita was up, so I got worried," Thomas sighed, leaning against the door frame. "Trouble sleeping again?" He asked after a long yawn.
"Always," Roman shrugged.
"Did… you change shirts?" Thomas asked incredulously after a moment of confused blinking and rubbing his eyes.
"I got sweaty," Roman lied dismissively. It didn't seem like Thomas knew.
"Huh," Thomas yawned again. "Well, good luck getting some sleep. I'll talk Pat into letting you have another hour this morning," Thomas waved and turned to leave.
"Um, thanks," Roman replied sheepishly. He felt bad for lying to Thomas and worse, he was being rewarded for it in a weird way. Thomas closed Roman's door behind him and Roman sighed as he sunk back into the bed.
He was in a good mood and then he remembered his foster parents were clearly not pro-crimes and he had just lied to possibly one of the nicest people he ever met. He had fun with Virgil, and he couldn't feel bad about that. He also wouldn't out Virgil as much as he craved to come clean. Being conflicted was the vibe lately, it seemed. Well, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, and Roman was trying to fucking sleep. He needed to focus on something else before his overtired brain made things worse.
Thomas's two yawns must have been contagious since Roman yawned and settled back into bed. He was curious where Virgil hid the backpack full of tagging supplies. Did Thomas and Patton not search the rooms? That bag was too big to hide from a thorough search, they would have found it easily. They hadn't searched Roman's room yet, so maybe they didn't. There wasn't much to find, since Roman didn't have much.
Most of his less-than-savoury things were already hidden, and not somewhere obvious like a sock drawer or under the mattress. Roman's fall-back was usually an old pair of shoes, but he had a fake book with his things. He had turned an old copy of Pride and Prejudice into a secret box, but he also had a bin of art supplies in the closet with the bullets hidden in it. The battery compartment from one of his old toys on top of the dresser was another nice spot. Parents never checked books or toys, though they would take them away. Roman had to be careful of that, but he picked Pride and Prejudice because the book was so 'school reading' that no one ever bothered taking it from him. He picked that book because no one would bother touching it and it was the right size.
Other than the bullets and the contents of the fake book, he didn't have much to withhold, however. The list of old phone numbers of drug connections wasn't particularly suspicious. His sketchbooks were possibly worth hiding, considering some of the things he drew, but people didn't go out of their way to check them so far. He was protective of people flipping through them, but it just didn't normally happen. He wouldn't mind a locking box to put them in, though. He generally just mixed them in with his books to keep them out of sight. He'd had foster siblings get bored and flip through them before if he left them out. He was shit at remembering to protect things sometimes.
Roman considered getting up to look for something to shelter them now, but he was finally tired. His body was feeling kind of heavy and he didn't want to move. Nobody had mentioned going through any of his journals or anything and there was no way Patton or Thomas wouldn't be like 'blah-blah-concerning-imagery' with the stuff in there, so they weren't messing with them tonight if they even intended to do so. They let him close the door and everything, so they might have understood the concept of privacy better than other houses he'd stayed at. When Roman realized that he involuntarily sighed in relief. It felt like a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He shifted to make himself more comfortable and closed his eyes on the pillow. With any luck, he'd be asleep soon.
— ✪ —
"Boys, are you sure that's a good idea?" Thomas asked with his palms on his hips. Roman and Virgil shot each other a look as they laid upside down on the couch with their feet in the air while they played video games. Roman's hair was shaggy and everywhere, but Virgil's bangs contended with the poof-levels occurring as gravity pulled at their hair. Oh, fuck, Virgil nearly got Roman while Thomas and gravity distracted him.
"Double handicap," Roman offered in explanation and tried to combo Virgil's character, but he had blocked. Roman made a face at the screen.
"It's not safe to let all the blood run to your head for a long time," Thomas shook his head and stared them down.
"Fine, after this match we'll get up," Roman supplied, rolling his eyes.
"I'm holding you to that," Thomas held up two fingers and motioned between his eyes and them, heading into the kitchen. Virgil snickered with a quiet hiss and had tossed Roman's character into a breakable part of the stage. Roman didn't expect Virgil to be so kick ass at fighting games, but he enjoyed the challenge even if it frustrated him. Roman couldn't stand button-mashers, but otherwise tolerated fighting game-related anger easily.
Virgil had won, out of sheer luck, and slithered off the couch to lie down flat on the floor. He looked up at the TV instead by shoving his hoodie up under his neck to angle his head towards the TV. That way they were still upside down, but this way won't incite Thomas to make annoyed dad noises. Roman scooted down as well, taking the throw pillow and shoving it under his shoulders so he could see the flat screen. Roman refused to bunch up his awesome jacket to copy Virgil, and the pillow did the trick.
"Boys, what… um, where did you go?" Thomas called, coming back out from the kitchen.
"Floor," Roman replied promptly and chewed on his tongue, trying to dodge. He twitched his hands around while he played, sometimes jerking to the side when he jumped around on the screen.
"Should I even ask?" Thomas sighed, standing behind the couch with his hands on the back, looking down at the floor.
"We're being safer, it's whatever. What did you want?" Roman grunted when Virgil combo'd him and moved to retaliate right away, landing a combo right back at him.
"Um, thank you for listening, I suppose. What do you want for dinner?" Thomas nodded and looked a little confused, but pleased nonetheless. Virgil and Roman leaped to opposite sides of the stage in-game and paused it so they could talk.
'Chalupas,' Virgil fingerspelled.
"I kind of doubt Thomas knows how to prepare those, dude," Roman furrowed his eyebrows at Virgil who just shrugged. He didn't seem bothered by that.
'With pulled pork,' Virgil added. That did sound tasty, actually. Now he wanted them, too.
"Virgil specifically wants pulled pork chalupas. Do you know how to cook them?" Roman looked at Thomas curiously, hoping he did.
"I can't say that I do. I can make the pulled pork?" Thomas offered tentatively, looking to Roman and Virgil.
"If we have corn tortillas and salsa verde I can make the actual chalupa part?" Roman suggested. He hadn't made them in a long time, but he remembered how to do it. "But it does get a tiny bit smoky," Roman added sheepishly.
"I don't suppose Virgil wants anything that isn't fried?" Thomas looked to Virgil, who just shook his head. "Well, you don't ordinarily want something so specific. I think we have the stuff. It'll be about 45-ish minutes before you'd need to start cooking, so have fun murdering each other. Thanks for helping, Roman," Thomas grinned and Virgil smirked over to Roman.
'Smug bastard,' Roman glowered and signed to Virgil.
"Yeah, I'm going to assume you said something nice for my own peace of mind," Thomas chuckled and turned around to head to the kitchen.
'Thanks for chalupas,' Virgil signed before picking back up the controller and dropping his head again. Roman was happy to feel like he was doing something useful for once. But he still got to play video games. It was a nice compromise between being a worthless lump and actually contributing to the household.
Roman dropped his head back down and counted down before unpausing. Virgil came in hard, but Roman blocked and got in a toss and a combo before Virgil could retaliate. Virgil was especially unpredictable and capable. He fought like a wild badger and rarely had openings. Roman had to step up his game. He was used to cussing out Jet or something during fighting games, but Roman didn't think he was even blinking while they fought, he had to be so focused. That saved him from getting in trouble, at least.
He glared at the screen as Virgil nearly got the drop on him again. He had just barely won the match by a hair. They had a tie-breaker, now. It was always tie-breakers with Virgil. Roman either always fought chumps in the past or Virgil holed up playing fighting games in his room on the daily.
A few rounds further and they switched to playing on random characters at Virgil's suggestion. He wasn't letting Virgil have the satisfaction of beating Roman at his favourite fighters, and it was another obstacle they could impose. Virgil faux-yawned like the smug son of a bitch he was after he won the next round. Roman narrowed his eyes at Virgil, planning his downfall. He wondered if he could sneak down and play after Thomas and Patton went to bed before the next stage loaded, but he wouldn't take the risk. He was winning the next round, damnit. Something touched Roman's shoulder, so he flinched and accidentally jettisoned the controller at Virgil, looking around wildly to see Patton holding up his hands and looking guilty squatted down next to him.
"Sorry, Kiddo! You didn't seem to hear me!" Patton apologized quickly. Roman exhaled hard, trying to calm down. Yeah, that happened sometimes. Roman gripped his chest and held his breath before letting it go slowly, sinking into the pillow under him. Virgil chucked Roman's controller back at him, rolling his eyes.
"Shi-yikes, uh, I didn't hit you, did I?" Roman asked, sitting up again hastily. He only just barely caught himself cursing. Virgil shook his head and stuck out his tongue at Roman, still with an infuriatingly arrogant expression. Roman dropped back down and huffed. "What's up?" Roman asked shortly, shooting Virgil a sour look.
"I just wanted to remind you not to walk home tomorrow so you Thomas can get you for your appointment. I didn't think reminding you in the morning would be very helpful," Patton explained, looking with mixed interest between Roman and Virgil.
"Gotcha, find the roof access to hide from Thomas on," Roman deadpanned and held up his thumb sarcastically.
"Whoops, now that I know, I can just tell Thomas where to look for you," Patton said cheekily, tapping his chin with an airy smile.
"Drats, I should know better than to share my evil schemes by now," Roman snapped jokingly. "Can I go back to punching Virgil in the face now?" He asked hopefully. He was still raring to go.
"In the game, right?" Patton arched an eyebrow and Roman didn't know if the question was serious or not.
"No, in reality, where I can take the smugness down a notch," Roman replied both dramatically and incredibly sarcastically. Virgil twitched with a sudden silent laugh near him. Roman's eyes shot to the motion automatically, and he rubbed his burning eyes.
"Be nice, Roman," Patton smiled.
"That was the nice option," Roman grinned and pushed his tongue between his teeth. "Seriously, though, I'm in the zone," He nodded to the TV.
"Go ahead," Patton got up and waved to them cheerily. Virgil knocked with an even pace three times and put his hand back on the controller, and unpaused when he hit 'one' in his head. He had only lost about what he should have, so Virgil was particularly honourable about the game, even though most other people would have sunk a few more hits instead of dropping his combo right away. Or maybe it was another power move, and he was showing off his reflexes. Either way, Virgil was going down.