Chapter Text
creativitwins fluff with a side dish of roman angst for the soul?? – anon
hiiii would you write about parental janus and big protective brother remus over roman?? I've been rereading quiet brain corner and I NEED more of our duo being protective over our smol prince – anon
Hey there! Recently I've been rereading some of your sanders sides works, and I apsolutely love them! While I was reading them I got a thought about Roman being in love with all the other sides (-Remus obviously) but not being able to tell if it's platonic, familial or romantic. Could end up with aro, ace, aroace, or demi Roman, and it could end up with a relationship of some type, or everyone just being friends. If you don't want to write this, that's completely fine! But I'd love to see your take on this if you have the time and energy for it. – anon
Might I request some platonic prinxiety? Their dynamic is very special to me – anon
If you asked Roman what he thought would happen after he finally, finally reconnected with his brother after their parents did their level best to make sure the 'good son' and the 'bad son' never spoke again, the last thing he would've said is 'I get adopted by his new friends' family.'
And yet, that's a remarkably accurate description for why he currently finds himself in the middle seat, driving towards an abandoned ghost town, rumored to be the most haunted place within a five-hour drive.
That requires a little more explaining. First, words can't describe how good it felt just to see Remus again. For a long time, his last memory of his brother was a memory with his mother's too-sharp nails digging into his arm under the guise of a loving touch, chest heaving and tears blurring his eyes as his father shut the door on a mirroring face trying to scrabble back inside, to get to him, to get to his brother, why did they make him leave, and his parents trying to soothe him by saying that Remus was older, he knew better than to do what he was doing, and if he couldn't see that they were just trying to help him, then he could face the consequences on his own. Roman had never believed his parents when they scoffed at the TV or rolled their eyes at news articles and he knew he couldn't trust them when they kicked his older brother out just for being him, but he was young and scared and didn't know what to do if they kicked him out too, and so he searched for Remus at school and at the park and at all the places they would go because Remus needed to know that he hadn't wanted to kick him out. Never.
Remus knew. Remus always knew. And when Roman's parents relented to his aunt's insistent pleadings for Roman to come spend the night at her house, he'd walked into the living room and seen Remus sitting on the couch with the biggest grin on his face and he hadn't left his brother's arms for three hours. Remus had run straight to the only other member of their family in town and she'd taken him in without question. Roman had to smother his tears in his brother's shoulder when Remus admitted, through a lump in his throat, that the very next thing he'd done after he'd cried out his relief that he had a place to stay was to ask how soon they could get Roman out too.
"I…I can come stay with you?"
His aunt's face had broken into a devastated expression as she wraps her arms around both of them, murmuring of course you can stay, baby, you're my baby too, I take care of my boys. And that was that. Roman's parents had put up a fight, of course, not wanting to lose their picture-perfect family image with Roman and Remus out of their lives for good, but his aunt threatened to take them to court over it and that wasn't something they wanted either. Nobody messed with Aunt Donna.
Roman did ask her once if they did go to court, if they would've won, and Aunt Donna just smiled and ruffled his hair, saying that one of her oldest, closest friends was the best lawyer in New York City, damn right they would win, and Roman never worries about it ever again.
Remus had been as proud as a peacock, introducing his 'baby Ro-bro' to his group of friends as soon as he could. And apparently, as Remus tells it, they'd taken one look at his 'adorable little face' and decided that nope, our baby Ro-bro now. Roman would like to point out that he is the same age as one of them and Remus waves his hand every time.
"You have little brother energy, Roro. Can't be helped."
He supposes that yeah, if the self-proclaimed 'baby of the family' agrees that he's got such strong little brother energy, he can't really do anything about it. Virgil might be his age—"I'm a month older than you, Princey, don't forget it!"—but he's gotten scooped into the role of 'younger person I get to tease and annoy' faster than he could blink. The nickname comes out of Virgil's mouth during their very first conversation—look, he hit the 'make Roman rant about fantasy' button, it's not his fault—and sticks like glue. Now every time they see each other, Virgil's throwing an arm over Roman's shoulders and asking him how his kingdom fares, ruffling his hair and teasing him for how red his face gets when he does. He's nearly as rough with him as Remus is, grabbing his sleeve or his arm to get him to notice something, even picking him up bodily around the waist if he needs Roman to move. Which—okay, Roman may be younger than all of them, but it's not like he's small and he's certainly not light. The first time Virgil picked him up like it was nothing he may have had to lean against him for a little longer because… whoa.
Logan, the one who's Remus's age, is also the cause of a fair number of whoas. Because—okay, and this isn't fair —Logan has this habit of calling people pet names when he's distracted by whatever he's doing, and he's always doing something, which means he's distracted a lot, which means when Roman says hello or grabs something for him, he gets called a pet name, and that's not fair because Roman's face is apparently a giant red button that says 'be nice to me' and Logan is—okay, Roman might have asked if he and Remus were dating when they first met and Remus just laughed, saying Logan was just like that with everyone. And it's true! Logan's always pretty polite and soft spoken and genuinely interested in what people have to say, but Logan doesn't call everyone my dear and darling the way he does with Roman, nor does he do the equivalent of getting in on Virgil's joke of pretending they're all part of this fantasy story running a kingdom, nor does tell them to sit next to him and wrap a protective arm around their shoulders when Virgil and Remus are being too mean to him. He doesn't do that with anyone else, and Remus, the jerk, just shrugs and grins and tells him he's got puppy energy too.
The oldest brother, Patton, is even less help. Because he may be the only one fully out of school, but that doesn't give him the right to call Roman kiddo and hug him like he's a proud dad. And Roman is convinced that Remus told them that Roman doesn't have the best relationship with their parents even though he wasn't the one who got kicked out, because every so often Patton will just look at him with a really soft expression and say I'm so proud of you, you know that? And then what is Roman supposed to do, not melt into a puddle of oh-God-am-I-about-to-cry and mumble some excuse to leave the room? There was one time Patton found him crying after a really stressful test and just sat down next to him, wrapped him in his arms, and held him until he felt better. Then he wouldn't let Roman apologize or be embarrassed or anything. They ended up having a movie marathon that night and he'd fallen asleep on him and he'd felt so bad about that because the couch was not the best place to sleep and Patton had just smiled and said you were asleep, kiddo, what was I supposed to do? It's like have a puppy fall asleep on me, I couldn't just wake you up.
Then there's their dad, Mr. Sanders, who'd taken one look at him and said call me Janus, sweetie, and his life was over. Because Janus is an actual dad, not like his father who sniffed and crossed his arms and said Roman was getting too old for silly games and make-believe, no, Janus is as big of a dork as his kids are, chasing after Virgil when he's getting too wild and spending hours talking with Logan about how stupid a plot point is in this show they're watching and baking with Patton like it's all he wants to do. Hell, he even makes a point of showing up to Remus's job just to grab lunch with him on really slow days. Sometimes Roman can't even be in the same room as him because he has this uncanny ability to know when Roman's stressing about something and he will sit down and say hey, sweetie in this really soft voice and sometimes Roman just doesn't have the energy for all of that emotional support.
Safe to say, Roman and Remus have quickly been scooped into this family and that would be totally, 100% fine, if said family were not really big on all things horror and if Roman were not secretly-not-so-secretly the world's biggest scaredy-cat.
They know. They absolutely know. There's no other reason why Virgil would sneak up behind him and scare him all the time. There's no other reason why Logan would describe the most horrifying thing with a pleasant smile on his face until Roman smacks him with a pillow to make him shut up. There's no other reason why Patton would say things like safety in numbers! all the time with a wink. There's no other reason why Janus will sometimes whisper boo right in his ear when he gives him a hug. And Remus is no help, because why would he stop other people teasing Roman for something he never lets Roman live down—that's not true, Remus has punched people in the face before for being mean to Roman, but these guys are at least nice after they make Roman jump out of his skin so he supposes that's it.
So. That's why, when Logan finds out that one of the most haunted locations in the country is right in the next zip code, Roman finds himself in the car, on the way, and maybe-probably-definitely more than a little scared.
"A word."
Four of the five heads in the car turn at the sound of Janus's voice. He keeps his eyes on the fifth in the rear view mirror for a moment longer; it had taken them all far too long to reassure Roman that it was alright if he napped for a little as they drove, and now that he was asleep, they all silently agreed to let him for as long as he could. Patton's hand cards gently through his hair, his head resting against Roman's where it rests on his shoulder. Remus has one of his brother's hands in his lap, Virgil holding the other on the other side of Patton.
"Roman is not to be abandoned, locked in, or made to believe he is so," Janus says firmly, "nor will he be made to feel ridiculous for being scared."
They all nod.
"I have no issue with being the no-fun dad and ruining a trick if it goes too far. Roman will not be made to feel as though he cannot trust his own feelings, senses, or judgement. If Roman asks you a question, you will answer it honestly. If he decides we're done, we're done. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Yep."
"I got it."
"How are you giving them the don't-fuck-with-my-brother speech before I can?" Janus just raises an eyebrow and Remus meets it easily. "Yeah, Janny, I got it."
Janus rolls his eyes fondly and glances at Roman's sleeping face one more time before returning his gaze to the road.
It's just around sunset when they pull up to the motel, sign flickering in the near-empty parking lot. The red light casts bizarre shadows on the car's hood as they clamber out, Remus and Patton grabbing backpacks out of the trunk as Janus heads to the office to check them in. Roman stares up at the sign. Clouds begin to streak across the darkening horizon. There's not supposed to be a storm tonight. Hopefully this will pass and they'll at least be able to see a li—
"Ah!"
"Sheesh, Princey," Virgil chuckles as Roman smacks his shoulder for grabbing him out of nowhere, "save it for the ghosts, won't you?"
"You're a menace, you know that, right? Ack—Re!"
"Don't you go giving my title out to anyone else," Remus declares as Roman tries to get away from his brother's tickling fingers, "I'm the only one allowed to be your menace."
"Alright, alright, leave him be," Logan says, scooping Roman out of harm's way and tucking him under his arm, "don't give them any ideas."
"Wait, who's 'them?'" Logan just smiles down at him. "Don't just smile coyly at me, Logan, who the hell are you talking about?"
"I have the keys," Janus says as he walks back over, not even raising an eyebrow at his snickering children. "Did you decide how you want to split up the rooms?"
"Me, Ro, and Lo in one," Remus says, taking one of the keys, "and then you three in the other."
"Wait, when did we decide that?"
"We decided it forever ago, Emo, it's not my fault you weren't there."
"Wha—hey! Why do you get to decide when we decide things?"
"Funny you mention that, we decided that too."
"Aw, don't pout, kiddo," Patton teases, ruffling Virgil's hair as he squawks, "it'll be just like when you were younger and used to ask—"
"Okay, we don't need to talk about that," Virgil grumbles, snatching the key from Janus and stomping off toward the room. Patton just rolls his eyes and follows, catching up just in time to trip Virgil as he goes to step up onto the curb. " Hey!"
"Just checking."
"If you don't shut the fuck up—"
" Language, kiddo."
"I'll fucking show you language—"
"Aren't you glad I don't do that?" Remus says as he snags Roman around the waist, dragging him into a partly consensual bear hug. "I'd never trip you, Roro."
"I don't know if you hauling me around like a sack of potatoes is better, Re, I gotta be honest."
"Semantics."
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Janus chuckles. "The manager said it's only about a fifteen minute drive from here. What's say everyone settles in for about half an hour, then we get back on the road?"
Roman nods. He takes his backpack from Remus and follows Logan into the motel room. Two twin beds, a small couch, a bathroom, and a chest of drawers he takes one look at and decides nope, living out a backpack for the night is gonna be just fine with him. Remus flops down on the bed near the wall and spreads out like a starfish, sighing in contentment. Logan sits on the other, checking something on his phone, before he looks up with a smile and beckons Roman over. Roman goes, sitting next to him.
"Hey," Logan says quietly, "are you alright?"
"Me? Yeah, 'm fine."
"Do you want to know more about where we're going, or would that make things worse?"
"As long as you're just gonna tell me what is actually true about this place and not whatever ghost stories there are about it."
Logan nods. "Well, it's an old trading post that stopped being used when the bigger railway systems got built closer to the river. There are still many of the businesses in the area because they were used by the locals, but as the nearby cities got more and more built up, they became more anachronistic than functional. They have seasonal tours and events in the summer and fall, that's their main source of income beyond the town's central population."
"So where exactly are we going?"
"One of the places rumored to have the most paranormal activity—I know, I know," he says softly when Roman glares at him, "I'm just telling you what they've reported, I'm not going to talk about the ghosts themselves, dear."
It is not fair that the pet name makes him sag into a little Roman puddle leaning against Logan's side, but it does, so he deals with it. "Sorry."
"It's alright, darling. What I was going to say is that one of the main stops on the ghost tours is this old hotel. It was one of the first buildings to be fully closed and boarded up, so it's sat mostly untouched other than brief periods of maintenance just to be sure it won't fall down or become a public safety hazard. Most of the rooms are still pretty well preserved, even some of the original furniture is still in there."
"Oh. That's…kinda cool."
"Mm, I thought so too." Logan puts a hand on his back. "Did that help?"
"Yeah. I think so. Can I—um—are you going to—"
Logan lets him stumble over his words for a few seconds before he chuckles. "Do you want to spend time with me admiring all the cool historical things while the others fool around and scare themselves with ghosts?"
"Hey!" Remus chucks a pillow at them and Logan catches it with one hand. One hand. "You won't be saying that when it gets dark in there."
"Don't terrify your brother, Remus."
"Again: my job to do the shovel talk for my Ro-Bro."
"Well, then don't scare him already. After all," Logan says in a low voice, slowly turning to stare right at Roman, "there will be plenty of time for that later."
Roman can't help it. His shoulders get all tense and he tries to scowl but he's pretty sure it just ends up a pout because Logan chuckles and gives him a hug and whispers it's alright, my dear, I'm only teasing you. He glares at Remus over Logan's shoulder and Remus just grins at him. He may or may not stay nestled into Logan's side as he and Remus start talking about something not related to ghosts and scary things until Janus knocks on their door, telling them it's time to go.
He takes one of the window seats this time, Remus squishing him a little against the door but that's fine. They pull out of the motel parking lot onto a now fully darkened road. A slight chill goes up Roman's arm as he watches the flickering red sign fade into the deep blackness of the clouded sky. He tries to lean subtly into Remus's side and feels Remus reach down to take his hand out of sight of the others.
"So," Patton says, "where're we going, Logan?"
"We're going to the Estie's Inn, the old hotel used by the trading post back when it was still active. The owner says it's one of the most haunted places in the town and that some people who work there refuse to stay past the end of their shifts."
"Really?"
"Yes. Apparently, even people who don't believe in the supernatural at all have reported weird feelings, things going missing in ways they really shouldn't, or thinking there was someone else closing the front when they knew for a fact no one else was in the building." Logan's face glows as his phone screen illuminates the front seat. "One of the managers reports that many times, she's texted the other managers to ask if they're upstairs because she can hear someone walking around even though there's not supposed to be anyone else up there, and every time, they've said they're not even in the building."
Roman squeezes Remus's hand. "Are they supposed to be there tonight?"
"Yes, they're going to let us into the building."
"But are they staying with us?"
"They're not going to come inside, if that's what you're asking," Patton says, "one of my friends at the Historical Society does conservative work here and convinced them to let us explore for a little bit on our own."
"O-oh."
"Don't worry," Virgil says in that tone of voice that does just make Roman worry even more, "at least we'll know we're the only people there, right, Princey?"
"That's not helpful. You know that's not helpful."
The car just snickers at Roman, collectively, because they're all actually the worst. Logan keeps reading stories from people who have been to the hotel and Remus keeps a tight hold of his hand. Roman stares out the window and tries not to think about how he hasn't seen another car the entire time they've been on the road, and they passed the last streetlamp about five streets ago.
When they pull up in front of the hotel, part of Roman wants to say actually, never mind, I would rather be anywhere else, thank you. The building is barely a shadow against the black sky, a monolith of blackness with strange bumps and protrusions that he knows would look like perfectly normal building features in the daylight, but now just give it a strangely ephemeral look that does the opposite of fill him with confidence. As the headlights die and everyone scrambles out of the car, the giddiness rolling off of the others in waves does nothing to dull the cocktail of anxiety building in Roman's gut. He clings to Remus's hand and Remus gives it one good squeeze before letting go. His eyes rove over the faded sign, cheeriness of Welcome to Estie's Inn cracking and peeling in the dim light of several flashlights. Distantly, he hears Janus and Patton talking to the person waiting for them in their own car— they weren't even waiting inside? I thought this place was safe— and watching the red taillights vanish up the road.
"Roman?" He startles, turning to see Janus holding out a flashlight. He frowns. "Did you bring another coat?"
"What? Oh, uh, no, I, um, I think I'll be fine. We'll be inside, right?"
Janus gives him a skeptical look, but he nods and gestures for him to follow the others inside. They've got the door open and—no. Oh, no. No, no, thank you, Roman is not going to go into a door that's just blackness. Even the others are hesitating, shining their flashlights in just enough to see stairs leading upwards to another door.
A breeze rustles the trees.
"Well, fuck it." Virgil strides inside, faltering only briefly at the threshold before going up the stairs to the second door. "Patton, which key is it?"
"It's the, um, the one with the red tag." Patton goes up the stairs after Virgil and now everyone's going in. Janus steps around Roman to get inside and now he's the last one on the stoop.
He glances behind himself. The night has fully settled over them. The car seems far more than a measly three paces away, out beyond the shadow of the hotel and in the clutches of the parking lot. The breeze rustles the trees again. Something flickers out of the corner of his eye and he flicks on the flashlight, trying to see what it was.
"Roman?" He turns at the sound of Janus's voice. "Are you coming in?"
"Y-yeah, yeah, I'm coming."
He closes the door behind himself and tries not to flinch at how he has to tug to make sure it closes properly. Janus has waited at the bottom of the stairs for him and gently encourages him up with a hand on his shoulder. He tries not to lean into the touch and fails miserably—he's starting to sense a theme here—and by the time they manage to get all the way up the stairs, everyone else has already split up to roam the rooms.
Great.
It's after Roman clings to the doorway with paint coming off under his fingernails that he sets his jaw and walks over. Patton raises his eyebrows in a silent 'you okay?' Roman meets his gaze for barely a second before he looks away, standing next to him and wrapping his arms around himself and…alright, he's not too proud to admit he goes soft when Roman keeps edging slowly toward him as though Patton won't notice if he moves slow enough.
"I won't bite," he says quietly, suppressing a chuckle when Roman startles anyway. He opens an arm and crooks a finger. "You need a cuddle?"
"I'm okay, but thank you."
"Do you want a cuddle, kiddo?"
Roman's head hangs for a moment before he leans into Patton's side. The chuckle comes out in full force at how much Roman's pouting about it. Of course, then a door bangs shut and he jerks, clinging to Patton's sleeve.
"Who the fuck did that?"
"Not me!"
"No, wait, I really didn't do that, who was that?"
Patton shakes his head and squeezes Roman closer. He steps away a moment later but shyly reaches back for Patton's hand with a truly worrying color red at the tips of his ears. The poor thing's been getting jumpier and jumpier as the night goes on. He takes Roman's and squeezes it tight. His dad glances over a moment later, gaze flicking down to see their joined hands. A smile touches the corners of his mouth and Patton shakes his head—don't—and his dad silently 'awws' and lets it be.
Roman's had enough of this, actually.
He's not going to tell anyone that, because he can see how much fun they're all having even though they're scared at shit too—and they don't even pretend that they're not scared, they actually enjoy being scared, which is wild— but he's…he's done.
The shadows keep moving. He swears there's something else here. He can feel it. The way your whole body just knows when there's something right behind you and he keeps turning around and there's nothing there. None of the others are even trying to scare him anymore, they're not sneaking up behind him, they're not jumping out from doors, no, they're all also terrified and this room that he's in right now is not helping, the darkness has a physical weight to it, pressing in on him until he feels like he's gonna stop breathing. He needs to leave. He needs to get out of this room. He goes and turns the knob and—
The knob doesn't turn.
The knob doesn't fucking turn.
"G-guys?" His voice comes out all thin and shaky. "Guys, can you let me out?"
"Roman? Are you in here?" The knob rattles. "Oh, it's stuck. Here, let me—stand back, okay?"
Roman takes a few steps back and the door busts open with a thud, revealing Logan on the other side with his flashlight. "L-Logan?"
"There, it must've gotten stuck, here, come out of there." He opens an arm and goes to pull Roman closer only to hiss in surprise. "Oh, you poor darling, you're freezing."
Is he? Roman's just sort of not been taking stock of his body for a little. But then Logan's hand brushes his face and he whimpers and then everyone hears it and they're already calling out to ask what's wrong and this was not the plan, but then Logan's calling out Dad, your baby's cold, and Roman wants to say no, it's fine, he's fine—
"What was that?" Janus is already walking towards them, undoing the front of his coat. "Baby's cold?"
Roman hangs his hand, hands shoved under his arms. "Y-you were right about the coat, I'm sorry, I should've listened."
Logan moves away and he tries not to flinch about it but then he sees something big and shadowy moving toward him and he does flinch at that only to realize that was Janus reaching for him and he looks up to see a hurt expression on his face and he's messed up, he's messed up—
"Come snuggle, sweetie," Janus murmurs, "I'm not going to hurt you."
"N-no, I know, I'm sorry, I don't know why I d-did that—"
"Shh-shh-shh, it's okay, sweetie, I'm not mad at you. Not about that, not about the coat…" Janus sweeps him into a cuddle and oh, he's so warm… "Even little space heaters get cold sometimes, let me warm you up a little bit, alright?"
Roman sniffles. He doesn't mean to, but he's cold. He's cold and he's scared. Janus lets out a soft noise and rubs his back.
"Hey," he whispers, too low for anyone else to hear, "are you doing okay? I know this is really scary, you're doing so well, sweetie."
"It's fine, 'm fine, 'm just…having a moment."
"That's okay, you can take as much of a moment as you need. You want to go have a moment in the car?"
"No, no, we can't split up, I don't want to leave them here."
Janus chuckles, kissing his forehead—wait, what? Janus—did Janus just kiss his forehead? Why? What—what's going on?
"Sweetie? Did you hear me?"
"What? S-sorry, no, I—no, I didn't, what did you say?"
Janus pulls back to look at him, concern playing openly on his features, letting out another soft noise as a gloves thumb brushes something from his cheek. Oh. He's crying. He's so scared he's crying. He opens his mouth to say something like it's fine again but all that comes out is a sob, and then Remus appears over Janus's shoulder like he's a ghost.
"Roro?" Ah. He's unlocked Remus's soft-and-protective-big-brother mode. "Oh, hey, hey, Roro, shh, c'mere—c'mere, Roro, I gotcha. I'm here, I'm right here."
He gets bundled into Remus's arms with his nose pressed into the crook of Remus's neck and he can't help it, he closes his eyes and lets himself sniffle into his brother's coat. Remus holds him with a fierce grip and Jnaus just rests his hand on his shoulder.
"Let's be done. We're done, okay? This place blows anyway, there's no WiFi and no way to see outside, right? Let's get out of here," Remus murmurs, warm breath blowing over Roman's cold cheeks. "Let's get to the car and I'll snuggle you all the way back to the motel, okay?"
Roman sniffles and nods, and only after he manages to pry his head up from Remus's shoulder does he realize that the rest of them are already gathered around, each with different worried expressions on their faces. Remus doesn't quite march him down the stairs, it's too tender for that, but he does practically haul Roman into his lap for the car ride home and keeps his arms around him the whole time. Remus is big and soft and warm and safe and Roman can't bring himself to feel too bad about the way he clings to him until that red light flickers over the car again.
He does manage to walk back to their motel room, just because he's not going to indulge Remus's desire to figure out if he can still carry Roman like that right now, and doesn't even manage to get his coat all the way off before Remus has all but tackled him onto the bed and kisses his hair.
"What happened?" he hears Virgil ask as they follow them in.
"He got stuck in one of the rooms," Logan says back, concern dripping from every word, "the doorknob was faulty."
"Oh, fuck, that's terrifying. Yeah, we should—Pat, do they know about that?"
"I'm texting my friend right now."
"Hey, Princey," Virgil says softly, coming to sit next to them, running his fingers through Roman's hair, "it's over now. We're outta there. And Pat's gonna make sure that doesn't happen to anyone else, okay? It's all gonna be fine."
"I'm s-sorry we had to—to go so early—"
"Shut the fuck up, Roro," Remus says sweetly, " you being okay is way more important than whatever fucking dickbag ghosts are in that place."
"Remus will punch through the veil to avenge you," Logan agrees, "this is true."
"Where's—where's—"
"Dad's just grabbing our stuff from the other room," Virgil says quickly before Roman gets all worked up, "we're all gonna stay in here tonight, figured that'd be a good idea. 'Cause then he doesn't have to feel guilty about waking up in the middle of the night and sneaking over here to make sure you're okay."
"I heard that," comes Janus's voice as the door opens again, "and just for that, Virgil, you get to help me with the mattress."
" Fine," Virgil grouses, heaving himself up off the bed like this is some huge chore as Roman frowns against Remus's shoulder.
"Mattress?"
"You didn't think Emo was exaggerating when he said they're all staying here, right?"
"B-but—are we allowed to do—to do that?"
"I spoke with the manager," comes Janus's gentle voice, "and told her my son got scared and if it would be alright. She said it was perfectly fine as long as we put the mattress back when we leave and let her know."
Roman's brain stutters to a halt.
My son.
My son.
My son.
"R-Re?"
"Yeah, Roro?"
"Did—did we get a new family and you didn't—didn't tell me?"
There's a pause, then Remus chuckles and squeezes him so, so tight. "Oh, Roro, you're so fucking precious, it's gonna kill me."
Because yes, it turns out. They've got a whole new family. A family that squeezes into a motel room and watches stupid cartoons on Logan's tablet until they all fall asleep, a family that makes a protective nest of blankets and bodies around their youngest when he gets scared and cries, a family that promises the next thing they do together will be to explore that new shopping mall that opened in the opposite direction.
"Just as long as no one stumbles into the Backrooms, we'll be fine."
"Remus, shut the fuck up."
"Language!"
"If someone could hit Patton with a pillow, that would be great, thank you…"