I thought about making a strict schedule for when I would update the story. But then I realized I wouldn't follow it anyways, so here's a chapter for ya.

Enjoy and all that good shit.

Day 6/30

Some people just want to see the world burn. Roman Torchwick is one of them.

Well, not in the literal sense. He needs somewhere to live, and a burning wasteland isn't exactly prime real-estate. No, what Roman enjoys is chaos for the sake of chaos. People fighting over things just makes him all giddy inside, especially when he is the cause of it. And while they're fighting, he can sneak into their homes and take what rightfully belongs to him. It's the way of the world. Those who want things always get what they want; all it takes is a bit of lying, cheating, and…

Uh, something else. Survival? Stealing?

Eh, he'd remember it one day. Hopefully not when it's too late that it doesn't even matter.

But that wasn't Roman's problem right now. It was this house. This God-forsaken house filled with people he could tolerate, people he hated, and people he hated working for. Even though this house was full of the chaos he should enjoy to its fullest, something was… missing. The substance was there, but there was no payout from any of it.

Yeah, a comatose Taurus got shoved into a dog house. Whoop-dee-doo. Didn't benefit Roman that much. Only one less voice to hear, but at least it was a particularly obnoxious one. It was something, but not enough.

There was a reason he stuck around with Neo. Aside from her smug charm, the young woman always listened to his every word, and never talked back to him.

Get it? Because she never talks.

Whatever. Roman thought it was funny, so it must be funny.

Lately though, Roman was beginning to think she might be attributing to his current boredom. She still gave him that special 'Just Desserts' treatment every afternoon; he would never complain about that, he'd be a goddamn lunatic to do that. It was just that when they weren't busy doing that, she did… whatever the Hell it was she's doing now.

"Buttercup?" he asked, using his pet name for her, "Will you please put that ridiculous game down for one minute?"

Roman was sitting at his desk resting his hand on his chin. He had taken off his hat for once, feeling it might clear his head a bit. The small woman's heterochromatic eyes peered at him from behind her phone. Two days ago, Nora had shown her some stupid Pay-As-You-Play game that she enjoyed, and Neo started playing it herself because it involved ice cream and candy. Since then, she had barely put down her own phone, having caught the addiction.

"Seriously, you're gonna screw your pretty little eyes up looking at that screen all day. Not good for ya."

Neo blinked, her irises changing to pure white.

"Hey, don't get mad at me! Just wish you'd pay a bit more attention to me than that game you're playing. Starting to think you're using my money on your power-ups or whatever they're called. I don't need you addicted to something else."

Roman joined her on the bed, leaning back on the cold wall. Setting her phone down, Neo sighed as she began unbuttoning her shirt.

"No, not now! That's not what I meant by paying attention to me," Roman closed his eyes, twirling his hat on his finger. "I just feel like I'm just talking to myself lately, you know? You're the only one in this house that really gets me. Cinder's a bitch, and so is Emerald. Mercury's a prick. Not even gonna touch on Taurus and his boy toy. And I sure as hell ain't too anxious to chat it up with those Beacon brats."

Neo put her hand on his shoulder, feigning comfort as her other hand slowly inching towards her phone.

"You remember the old days, right? When we just did petty thefts and lived in the sewers? I'd honestly rather have that right now than this. At least we had fun then- Put the phone down, Neo. I know you're holding it."

He felt the phone plot down on the bed, and heard Neo make a small pouting noise. He opened one eye and smirked at the woman.

"Aw, come on Buttercup. Don't be like that. Look, we both need something new to do. How about we do something I used to do back in the day?"

Roman slid off the bed and opened up his desk drawer. He pulled out a plastic baggie, waving it in front of Neo.

"How about we go find some glue and zone out for a couple hours? It'll get you off that game, and make us forget about the rest of these people around us."

Neo raised a judgmental eyebrow at him. She knew all of Roman's habits, and this was his worst.

"Oh, don't give me that look. I know you used to enjoy this."

Neo shook her head in strict denial, beckoning with her finger to bring her the bag.

"Hey, if you can enjoy that game I can enjoy huffing out of this. I promise I won't make you have to revive me this time. I'll be back soon. Try not playing that game for ten minutes, will ya?"

Roman liked to think that she would listen to him, but knew she wouldn't. She was just as distrustful as him. While Neo returned to her phone, Roman made his way down the staircase in search of the best glue this place had to offer.

Cinder peered through the cracks of the shed doors one last time to make sure nobody was outside. Seeing nothing but trees and grass, she smiled and set her speakers on a cluttered shelf. She dusted the filthy cobwebs from around them before scrolling through her song list. There weren't many tracks on there she felt comfortable practicing loudly, and even less that she'd want any unexpected intruders hearing her trying to sing.

After a couple minutes of careful decision she settled on one particular song, a favorite of hers titled "The Stars Weep For Us". Cinder sipped water from a small cup to clear her throat, letting the cool liquid flow down slowly. Taking in a deep breath through her nose, she reached down and pressed play. As the music began to rise up and accelerate, she prepared herself for the opening line-

*WHAM!*

"AIIEEEE!" Cinder's voice cracked as she yelped in the middle of a high note, the shed door slamming on the nearby wall as Roman stepped in. His boss spun around, instinctively trying to form her glass bow to murder the intruder. Realizing that wasn't an option, she quickly turned off the music and faced Torchwick.

"What are you doing in here?" Torchwick asked, trying to get a look at the object behind her, "Kind of an odd place for you of all people to be."

"I should ask you the same thing," Cinder snapped back, doing her best to stand in front of her speakers as Roman began searching the room.

"Just after some glue, that's all," he said, opening up an old cabinet, "You seen any in here?"

"…Why do you need glue?"

"A man's gotta have his pastimes. Mine is robbery, spreading chaos, and huffing glue. Sometimes paint, if available… Oh! Jackpot!" Roman reached back behind some gardening supplies and tools and pulled out a sticky old jar of rubber cement. He pulled one hand off the jar, not realizing it was coated in a thin layer of the adhesive. "Now this stuff will take you places!"

"No wonder you are the way you are," Cinder retorted, bending over to pick up her bag. It was time to pack up and find somewhere else to practice. "You've got permanent brain damage."

Roman smirked. It had just hit him that he was in power here. Without her Semblance, Cinder was just a woman with nothing to make him fear her. Why waste such an opportunity to screw with his 'boss'?

It was then he caught sight of her speakers and figured out what she had been doing in here. Apparently Miss Fall didn't want anyone to know about her secret passion, fearing it would ruin her ruthless reputation. Seeing her bent over and exposing her rear end was the perfect position for some psychological torment.

Casually striding by and pretending to leave, Roman swung his hand down and smacked her right on her cheek. "Keep practicing those high notes, boss. You'll hit 'em eventually!"

No.

He did not just do that.

Fire in her eyes (not literally for once), Cinder wrapped her finger around Roman's neck, digging her nails into his skin as she tightened her grip. The crook was soon regretting some of his life choices, especially when he tried to move his hand off of Cinder. Her eyes widened in shock as she felt the rubber cement tugging at her skin.

"No…" Cinder breathed, frantically looking over her shoulder. She released Torchwick as she spun around, pulling his stuck hand with her. "No, no, no… This isn't happening! This isn't happening!"

"Hey, don't think I'm enjoying this!" Roman snapped, still trying to remove his hand from her ass. He received a fist to the face for a response.

"I'm going to kill you!" Cinder snarled, looking for something to stab him with. Grabbing hold of a gardening spade, she held it like a dagger and swung at Roman.

"Stop! Stop!" Torchwick pleaded, raising his hand in defense, "There's a way to get out of this without killing me!"

"Spit it out, or this is going through your goddamn heart!"

"Okay, okay!" Roman breathed a sigh of relief as Cinder lowered the tool, "Slight problem with it though."

"What?"

"We gotta get in the house first."