Golden

There were always things out there. Things that had once held the power of fear, of mystery and had only recently become cliche. They were always there, underneath it all, with fingers dipped into every aspect of society, and faces hidden in the shadows. Roman learnt this when he was very young, when he was taken in by people who seemed unnaturally cold. He learnt many lessons in a short span of time. Not to ask too many questions, not to dwell, and not to speak his fears out loud. At that age, he was young, and human, and when he went to bed at night, he feared the possibility of what was out there, and what he couldn’t escape from. A lot of things had changed since then.

He’d always preferred things at night. There was less hiding behind one’s own eyes, the cover of the literal shadows allowed most people to relax. They didn’t expect to be seen. Roman was still getting used to it, the way the neon lights of nearby bars nearly burnt his eyes with their intensity, or the sounds and scents all became one, painful blur. A lot had changed since he last snuck into the city, none of it good. Gemma had been announced as the Wests’ heir. There was less expectation and scrutiny on him now, but it didn’t change the fact that he hadn’t managed to make it out in time. The Wests had taken everything he had, and in the end, they didn’t even want him for their precious legacy. He was only important now because of what he meant to Gemma. They’d keep him around to keep her compliant, and that was probably the extent of his use to them.

He was lurking, and drowning in his own self pity, wandering around the city at night like the cliche he was turning into.

“You look like death.” Roman turned his head around slowly, already knowing who was there. His senses were mostly blocked by his own inability to sort through all the new stimuli, but he could still place voices.

Roman had befriended Will years ago, primarily to piss off his parents. Then he discovered how great Will was in bed, and their relationship stagnated at that point. They were friends, but not exactly close. Vampire usually hate werewolves because they viewed them as less civilized, and werewolves hate vampires because they were ‘pretentious rich fucks’. Roman couldn’t really disagree on that point.

Will winced when Roman faced him, his guess confirmed. Roman was no longer a member of the living, and Will knew he’d never have chosen that. If it hadn’t been for Gemma, Roman probably would’ve run away ages ago, and possibly even joined Will’s pack. It wasn’t that he was overly fond of the idea of werewolves, more just enamored with what Will had established. They were like a family; a weird slobbery family of dog people who had no qualms about showing physical affection. Basically the opposite of what Roman had grown up with.

“It’s not too bad,” Roman replied, shrugging. His voice was empty. Now that he had all the time in the world, he planned to mope for at least a few centuries.

“Do you wanna… talk about it?” Will looked like he really didn’t want to talk about it. Roman gave him a small smile and shook his head, shoving Will lightly. “Nah, you’re good man.”

It was freezing, snowing, and Roman was having a great time curled up into a burrito blanket and reading. It certainly wasn’t the time for Gemma to start bitching at him to come to the gym and practice kickboxing with him, but Gemma was the type of person who saw a challenge, and was then determined to sock it in the jaw. The shitty weather was one of these challenges.

“You’re going to lose your spot on the track team if you only exercise when the weather’s nice.” Her tinny voice came through the phone, which was malfunctioning because he recently dropped it in the school’s pond. Will had valiantly fished it out for him, but he was still in dire need of a new one. He had to steal Gemma’s for his last selfie, and she didn’t understand the point of cases with lights built in, or fancy additions to the camera. He had looked terrible, and that was something Roman West could not tolerate.

“Fine, but you owe me starbucks.” Gemma groaned on the other end, probably because she found Roman’s order of a caramelized honey cream frappe with extra chocolate sauce, caramel, and whipped cream to be a crime against humanity. Also, she knew Roman was trying to put off the actual exercise by meeting her in Starbucks.

Roman finally dragged himself out of his nice, warm, beautiful bed, and forced himself to get ready for the day. Gemma said she’d meet him in two hours, which would seem absurd, considering there’s a starbucks on campus, but Roman West was not one to take his appearance lightly, and 2 hours was almost cutting it close. His shower took 45 minutes, and included several hundred dollars worth of skincare products, then he spent around half an hour on his hair, which ended up looking the exact same as it did when he woke up that morning, and then his face took him another twenty. It was the twenty first century, and Roman was allowed to put on as much makeup as he pleased, even if it usually didn’t go beyond a natural look. He then took another half an hour picking out his clothing for the day, which gave him around negative five minutes to get to starbucks. Gemma was going to kill him, even if she was used to his chronic lateness.

Lastly, he called Andrew, because if he was going to convince Gemma out of exercising, he wasn’t going to do it alone.

“Dude, hey, meet me at starbucks. I’ll get you something sweet.” He took his time heading out the door, knowing Andrew wouldn’t take too long to get to the shop. He didn’t know if Andrew even brushed his hair in the morning. “Yeah, sure, you can bring Will. Just keep him off Gemma, you know how she gets.”

Twenty minutes later, Roman arrived at the local Starbucks, and Gemma looked pissed. She’d probably been there for half an hour, even though she knew Roman well enough to know he’d be late. He spotted empty and lipstick stained cup of coffee in front of her, and knew he was right. She took the Wests lesson of promptness to heart, whereas Roman always liked to do the exact opposite of what his adoptive parents wanted. Gemma was going to be a defense lawyer, and Roman was studying the useless combination of latin and classical history with a minor in English literature. Everyone always asked him if he wanted to be a teacher when they heard that, and grew confused when Roman happily told them he wanted to be a tattoo artist for a living.

“Is that a new shade?” he asked as he sat down, nodding at the lipstick marks on Gemma’s cup. She’d just finished her coffee and the cup was stained to all hell, but somehow, Gemma’s lipstick was still dark as sin, and perfectly applied. Gemma had probably sold her soul to satan for that power, Roman was still trying to figure out how she did it. Maybe Mrs. West taught her.

“You’re late.” She gave him a glare, but he knew it was with love. She hadn’t expected anything else.

“I may as well be early, considering how late I usually am.”

At that moment, Andrew bounded in, looking just as sunshiney and cheerful as he always did. Gemma looked between them, her expression darkening with realization. “You invited him so you wouldn’t have to practice with me,” she accused, taking another sip of her coffee to hide her frown from Andrew. Her lipstick was still perfect when she put it down. What the fuck.

Gemma wasn’t unhappy to see Andrew, but Will, who was always by Andrew’s side, was another matter entirely. Gemma fiercely insisted she hated Will, and wanted him nowhere near her, but both Roman and Andrew knew she secretly loved him. It was impossible not to, really, not with a face like that. Will didn’t seem to know that, though, as he was always chasing after Gemma’s attention.

“I would never,” Roman said, pumping his voice with enough offense to make it clear that was exactly what he did.

Andrew had gotten caught up at the counter, where the barista was probably trying to convince him to go back outside. “No, no, he’s trained, I swear.” His words were directly contradicted by Will tearing away from Andrew bounding over to Gemma, jumping up on her and greeting her enthusiastically.

“I hate dogs,” Gemma mumbled, trying to push Will away. Not very hard, though, Roman noticed. Will was not at all deterred.

“He just wants you to love him. It’s kinda sweet, really,” Roman commented as he reached over to pat Will’s head. He was adorable, and came as a package deal with Andrew. Andrew even brought him to class, and everyone had stopped questioning it. Occasionally, when the teacher was incredibly exhausted and overworked, they’d try to give Will homework.

Once Will had tired of annoying Gemma, he happily bounced back over to Andrew, picking up the squeaky football he always carried around. He wouldn’t play with any other toy, and wouldn’t leave that one alone. When tryouts for the school football team were on, Andrew brought Will and tried to convince the coach to pull an air bud. Will aced the tackling and the catching, but wasn’t very good at throwing.

The barista seemed to have given up and just resigned himself to being yelled at by his manager later, as Andrew happily walked over a moment later.

“Hey guys,” Andrew pulled up a chair, sitting down and grinning at them both. That grin froze when he saw how grumpy Gemma looked, and he glanced between the two West siblings for a moment before realization came over his face. “You used me again,” he accused, staring at Roman. Roman shrugged, this was a repeat of a scene that had happened a million times. “You’re getting some sugar out of it. And I know Gemma would die without her quality Will time.”

Hearing his name, Will perked up, trying to stick his head over the table to steal Gemma’s scone. Gemma pushed him away, but Roman knew she snuck him a small piece under the table. Will looked damn smug.

“Speaking of sugar, I’ll let the two of you catch up. I gotta go order.” He ducked out before either of them could get mad at him, knowing they’d be over it and talking about Harry Potter, or whatever it was they talked about, when he got back.

The barista was still eyeing them grumpily, but Roman was semi confident he wouldn’t spit in their drinks. Semi. He did look pretty annoyed. It was kinda cute, really.

“I’ll have one grande caramel macchiato, and a grande caramel caramelized honey cream frappuccino with extra chocolate sauce, caramel, and whipped cream, and a cake batter cake pop.” The barista looked at him like he was crazy, and Roman gave him a charming smile in return. “And your name, if that’s on the menu.”

He got the same look, most likely because the barista was wearing a nametag, which he obviously glanced down at, to make sure Roman caught the hint.

“Daniel,” Roman replied, trying out the name in his mouth with a grin. “Do you ever go by Dan? You look like a Dan.”

“Your total’s going to be thirteen dollars and seventy five cents.” That wasn’t promising, but Roman wasn’t deterred. He pulled out his credit card to pay, and when he got his receipt, he left his name and number on the back of it with a little heart.

Daniel made their drinks grumpily, which Roman was now convinced was his default. When Roman triumphantly brought them back, Gemma and Andrew were discussing something intensely, and Will was up on a seat, his head in Gemma’s lap. She was petting him absently, and he looked like the happiest dog in the world.

Gemma broke off her conversation with Andrew when Roman sat down, giving him another glare. “You’re coming to the gym with me tomorrow, don’t think you’re getting out of it.” Roman almost whined in reply, but the glare Gemma sent him shut him up.

“I got you a cake pop,” he said, still pouting as he handed Andrew the small baked good. At least Andrew would always love him, if he kept buying him sugar. He couldn’t say the same about Gemma and her damn love of exercise.