Roman wakes to the sound of his phone ringing. He usually puts it on silent at night and curses himself for forgetting as he grabs it, seeing the time is half past two in the morning.

"What, dickhead?" he answers. "This had better not be one of your manic schemes to take control of the company."

"Romey?" Kendall sounds distant on the phone. There's traffic in the background.

"Dude, are you high?" Roman rubs his face, still half-asleep.

"No. No, I'm stone cold sober. Although not as stone cold as my wife." Kendall laughs shakily.

Roman sits up, a feeling of unease beginning to grow. "Where are you, man?"

"She says it's over. After I spent all that time in rehab for her. Over," Kendall repeats, sounding close to tears.

"Okay." Roman nods to himself. "What a bitch," he adds helpfully, although he's always liked Rava and thinks she probably has her reasons. "You wanna come over?"

"I've got nothing left, dude. Dad won't give me the company now. My wife won't even let me see the kids."

"Hey, quit being dramatic," Roman orders. "Can you drop me a pin, dude? Just so I know where you are."

"I—" Kendall's voice grows more distant, like he's looking at his phone. "Yeah, I don't know how to do that."

"Jesus, you're such an old man. How long were you in rehab for?" Roman is getting out of bed, pulling on the clothes he was wearing last night. "Okay, just describe to me where you are."

He listens carefully, thinks he can hear the rushing of water. "Are you near a river?" he asks, trying to keep his voice calm.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm by the Hudson."

"Right, I'm coming to you right now." Roman grabs his spare car keys from the lounge. There's no time to call his driver. "Stay where you are. Don't move. Stay on the phone. I'm coming to you, and then I'm teaching you how to drop a pin, okay?"

…

Roman barely ever drives. Connor taught him when he turned fifteen, same as he did Kendall, insisting that it was life skills that Roman needed to learn, even if he never needed to use it. The novelty had soon worn off. He doesn't have the attention span for long drives, and his father employed a regular driver for him as soon as he reached adulthood.

His phone lies on the passenger seat, on speakerphone, Roman getting Kendall to describe exactly where he is and giving a running commentary of his own journey. "Okay, I'm like, five minutes away from you. Stay where you are, okay?"

He finally pulls up right by the river, parks his car on the sidewalk — whatever, he'll pay the fine — and leaves it unlocked, his phone abandoned, as he races towards where his brother is standing.

Kendall is perched on the small wall facing the river, staring down into the icy depths below, his phone clutched in his hand. Roman can only remember being this scared once before, when he was trying to get into the bathroom Kendall had passed out in.

"Hey, Ken," he calls, keeping his voice light. He's good at talking to people. He's a good negotiator, unlike Kendall, who gets people's backs up. Maybe he should be a hostage negotiator.

"What are you doing up there, buddy?" he continues, keeping up the chipper tone.

"I, uh…" Kendall doesn't take his eyes off the water. "I'm not sure. I just came here."

"Right. Good night for a stroll." Roman nods. "Why don't you come back to my place and we can talk there?"

Kendall shakes his head. "There's nothing to talk about. It's over. It's over for me."

"Oh, bullshit. Because of Rava? Plenty of other women out there, dude. Plus you've still got your kids."

"She won't let me see them."

"Yeah, that's just now. She'll come around, you just have to prove that you can be a good dad again. Quit snorting coke off the kids' toys and she'll get over it."

"Dad says I'm not fit to run the company."

"Not yet," Roman stresses. He risks moving closer. "You just gotta give it time."

"I don't have time." Kendall moves closer to the edge.

"Hey. Stop. Look at me. Please." Roman hears his voice break as he begs. "Your kids need you. I need you. Who else is gonna make me look better, huh? You've turned fucking up into an art form." Kendall almost smiles at that. "And what about Shivvy, and Connor, and Stewy—"

"Yeah." Kendall nods. "I guess."

"If you jump, I'm gonna have to jump in after you. And you know I can't swim for shit. You wouldn't want to take me down with you, would you?"

Kendall finally looks at him, sadly. He shifts away from the edge slightly. "No. I wouldn't want that."

"Then, give me your hand." Roman holds out a shaking hand and after a beat Kendall takes it.

He yanks his brother away from the edge, down on the ground, almost tackling him.

"You — total — dick," he pants, relief and anger overwhelming him in equal measure. "Fuck you."

"Hey, hey," Kendall protests, putting up his hands as if to shield himself.

"Shut up. Get in the car."

The car is right where he left it, and so is his phone, surprisingly. Roman pockets it, glad he doesn't have the hassle of buying a new phone and car, and shoves his brother into the passenger seat.

Kendall is silent on the ride back to Roman's. Roman turns the radio on to drown out the sound of Kendall's occasional sniffs. When they get back to the apartment, which Roman had left unlocked, Kendall stumbles slightly as Roman leads him inside.

"Hey, hey." He puts a hand on his brother's back to steady him. "Are you sure you're not high?"

"I haven't taken anything in weeks," says Kendall, before adding. "Do you have anything?"

"No, dude. Sit down and I'll get you some water."

Roman fetches water and a blanket, which he throws over Kendall. He sits as close to him as possible without touching him.

"I need to know that you're not gonna do this again," he says.

"I won't," Kendall says. He sounds like he means it. Roman raises his eyebrows sceptically. "I wouldn't have called you if I really wanted to jump."

This does have a kind of logic to it. "I meant what I said back there. Rava will come around."

"It would be easier if she hated me," says Kendall. "I could work on that. But she says she still loves me, she's just not in love with me anymore. When someone says they're just not in love with you anymore, what can you do?"

"I'm sorry, dude." Roman wishes he could say something more useful, he's never had a relationship that lasted more than a few weeks. "I'm still in love with you, if that helps."

"That does not help."

They sit quietly, both sipping water until Kendall is ready to speak again.

"I think it was Iverson being diagnosed that did it," he says. "Or the way Dad reacted to it, anyway."

"Yeah?" Roman nods cautiously. It's basically illegal to speak ill of their father. It feels like Colin the bodyguard might come storming in pointing a gun at them.

"Do you think I might be," Kendall asks. "Like Iverson?"

This has never occurred to Roman. Kendall is just weird and awkward. That's not a medical condition. "Like… no? I mean, you're not obsessed with model trains. You're fine with yellow food."

"They gave us all these pamphlets to read when Iverson was diagnosed, and I kept thinking, 'this sounds like me'. They said that's it's like being born without the rule book that everyone else has. I've never had the rule book."

"I burned the rule book," says Roman. "Rules are overrated." He pats Kendall on the knee. "You're okay, dude. You're fine as you are."

For some reason that's what makes Kendall start crying.