#cc remus

His foot slipped, but before he could fall to the ground, he grabbed hold of the first rung on the ladder, letting out a short shriek. He heard Colin bark and whine in concern.

Remus dropped his cardboard weapons and ran over. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry! Here, grab my hands!”

Roman was able to get his footing on the ladder as Remus helped him climb back up into the treehouse. Remus gripped him in a tight hug once he was secure, and he numbly hugged Remus back, feeling Colin sniff him to make sure he was okay.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to murder you for real,” Remus apologized.

“It’s okay,” Roman murmured. “I’m fine.”

He sucked in air through his teeth when he felt a sudden sting in his knees. Remus sat back and Roman looked to see what it was. Two big scrapes on both his knees, presumably from the fall.

“We need Dad and Pa,” Remus said.

“No, it’s fine, just a little scrape.”

“Two of them, and they look bad!”

Roman was stubborn about it, but Remus managed to get him to go down the ladder, Colin following down the dog-safe stairs. Roman didn’t want to admit that it hurt to walk, but it did.

His pain didn’t seem to go unnoticed by Remus, who helped keep him stable on the way inside.

Pa was sat at the living room couch reading a book, looking up and doing a double take as the twins came in. He quickly set his book down and got to his feet kneeling in front of Roman.

“What happened?”

“Roman almost fell out of the treehouse and it was my fault!” Remus cried.

Pa paused for a moment. “Okay, Roman, sit down, I’ll get the first aid kit and get this cleaned up, okay?”

Roman nodded, trying not to cry. He got sat down on the couch, trying not to think about the pain too much.

Remus sat next to him and hugged him again. He seemed to be crying and Roman didn’t really know what to do with that. Colin jumped up onto Roman’s other side and rested his head in his lap.

Pa came back with the first aid kit and a wet washcloth. “Does it hurt, little prince?”

Roman sniffled. “A little.”

“I’m sorry. Someone should’ve been out there keeping an eye on you two,” Pa said, somewhat to himself, as he knelt down to gently touch the washcloth to Roman’s scrapes.

“Sorry. We got excited.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Pa assured. “I’m not upset with either of you.” He seemed to emphasize the word “either”, possibly to comfort Remus as well.

Pa got the scrapes cleaned, applied ointment, and bandaged them. He placed a kiss on both knees, which got a smile out of Roman.

“And don’t worry, Patton will be here soon to give you more healing kisses than you’ll know what to do with.”

Roman leaned forward to give Pa a hug, Remus finally letting go of him. Pa hugged him back, running a hand up and down his back.

“Let’s all watch a movie, does that sound good?” Pa whispered.

Roman sniffed. “Can we watch Cinderella?”

“Of course. Remus? Do you wanna watch Cinderella?”

Roman didn’t hear a response but Remus must have nodded, as Pa then got the movie started. Just as the opening credits ended, the front door opened.

“Honey, I’m home!” Dad announced in his usual exaggerative way, chuckling to himself.

Roman perked up the moment Dad walked in. “Dad, come watch Cinderella with us!”

“I need to put groceries away, kiddo!” Dad said, putting several bags on the kitchen counter.

“Please?” Roman asked, his voice breaking.

“Patton, there was a bit of… an incident,” Pa explained vaguely.

Dad’s smile faded into a look of concern, his attention pulled away from groceries and onto the family. “What happened? Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?”

“Roman scraped his knees, but—"

“Oh my gosh!” Dad quickly came into the living room to kneel in front of Roman. “I’m so sorry, kiddo! What happened?”

“Almost fell out of the treehouse. But I’m fine, Remus helped me.”

“No I didn’t,” Remus snapped. “I’m the one who almost killed you.”

There was a long pause, during which Pa paused the movie.

“Remus, whatever happened—"

“It was my fault!” Remus interrupted. “Roman barely grabbed onto the ladder! If he didn’t, he would’ve fell on the ground and broke all his bones and bled—!”

“Slow down, slow down,” Pa cut in. “Deescalate. None of that happened. Roman is safe.”

“What if he wasn’t?”

Pa paused and Dad jumped in. “Kiddo, you’re thinking too much about things that didn’t happen. You need to focus on what did happen, instead of focusing on worst case scenarios.”

“But Roman got hurt and it was my fault! That did happen!”

“It… it was an accident. You can’t blame yourself for an accident.”

“I forgive you,” Roman quietly spoke up. “I know you were just playing. You didn’t mean for me to fall.”

Remus scrubbed at his eyes with his fists. He looked away from everyone, sniffling quietly. “Okay.”

“You need a hug, kiddo?” Dad asked softly. Remus nodded, and Dad moved over to hug him close.

“It’s been an emotional day, huh?” Dad asked.

“More like an emotional hour,” Remus corrected, which got a laugh out of Dad.

“Can we all watch the movie now?” Roman asked quietly.

“Just let me put the milk away, then I can worry about everything else after the movie,” Dad replied.

Everyone sat on the couch, Roman between his dads and Remus on Patton’s left side. As always, it was a good movie.

This past week he had stayed with his Pa, and today he would be going to stay with his Dad until next Sunday, when he would come back here for another week. This was the process, and had been for the past five years. It had taken him some time to adjust, but nowadays he tended to look at it optimistically.

If he ever got sick of the dad he was staying with at any given week, he could look forward to Sunday when the swap commenced. If he forgot to do his homework he could tell the teacher that he left it at his Pa's house and he was currently staying at his Dad's house, which bought him an extra day nine times out of ten. Every week was like an exciting new adventure with amazing opportunities waiting just around the riverbend.

It had downsides, but at least his parents seemed happy.

He started smelling pancakes and his stomach growled. It had to have been close to eight in the morning. Pa was always on time for Sunday breakfast.

"Damn, Daniel, where'd you get those?" Remus suddenly muttered in his sleep. Roman couldn't help but roll his eyes.

After a few more minutes of Roman attempting to get some extra sleep, there was a sharp knock at the bedroom door. Roman loudly sighed, not surprised at his failure but nonetheless disappointed.

Pa opened the door just a bit and popped his head in. "You boys awake?"

"Regretfully," Roman replied. "Well, I don't know about Remus." He grabbed his pillow and chucked it at his brother, who jerked awake with a sharp inhale. "Hey Remus, you up?"

"Roman—"

Before Pa could reprimand Roman, Remus whined and threw the pillow back at him. It almost hit Mittens, who darted off the bed and out the door.

Roman scoffed offendedly. "You tried to murder my cat!"

"She was in the way!" Remus replied groggily, sounding rather annoyed.

"Boys," Pa spoke up again, mild amusement in his tone. "Breakfast is ready."

"I'm gonna astral project into the kitchen," Remus mumbled.

"I'm not sure how you'll eat without a physical form, but good luck with that," Pa pointed out. "I'll let you two get ready, just try not to murder each other while I'm not looking."

"If I do murder Roman, I want it to be on record that he started it."

Roman scoffed. "And if I murder you, I want it on the record that... nuh uh!"

"No deaths today, please," Pa insisted. "If I have to explain to Patton why he's only getting one of you today, I would honestly rather flee the country."

Roman stuck his tongue out at Remus, who mirrored the gesture. Typical morning routine.

Pa went back to the kitchen and let them get ready. Roman got out of bed first, grabbing the outfit he'd laid out on the ottoman at the foot of his bed. He was ready for today.

"Can't we just do breakfast in bed today?" Remus complained, Roman scoffing.

"That's a birthday exclusive and you know it."

"Well, it's almost our birthday."

Roman looked at him in confusion. "It's September."

"Your point being?"

"Our birthday's in June."

Remus scoffed. "Time is a construct, sheep."

Roman went to the bathroom to get dressed and brush his hair. He saw his reflection and unconsciously picked at his acne, which was a habit he had no control over. It was almost compulsive, something he had to do if he wanted to be at peace.

He put on his black jeans, white Mickey Mouse shirt, and red flannel. He smiled at his reflection, his braces glinting in the fluorescent light. He loved this flannel almost as much as Mrs. Fluffybottom.

He went to the kitchen table and saw the pancakes were blueberry. Blueberry pancakes were Roman's favorite, so he was especially happy with this.

He got a plate and piled on some pancakes and scrambled eggs and Pa sat down with him.

"Morning, Roman," he greeted. "Is your brother coming?"

Roman shrugged. "He was awake when I went to get ready."

As though summoned, Remus came into the room and plopped into a chair. He grabbed a pancake and tiredly shoved it in his mouth.

"Did you party all night or something?" Roman joked.

Remus grumbled as he chewed his pancake and swallowed it. "You kept me up all night with your snoring, jerkhead."

Roman scoffed. "I don't snore."

"How would you know? You're asleep when it happens."

Roman rolled his eyes. "I just know I don't."

Pa hummed. "Ah, well, you're not usually loud, but...."

Roman's heart dropped. "I hate it here."

"Oh, did you boys take your meds?"

Roman sighed. "I forgot. How many sticky notes do I need to put on that mirror?"

"I'm gonna," Remus murmured.

"Set reminders on your phones for nine, you can take them after breakfast. And remember to pack them for your stay at Patton's."

Roman nodded. "Got it. Did you take your meds?" he asked lightheartedly.

Pa grinned. "I did, yes. Oh, we need to stop by CVS before going to Patton's; Remus's Vyvanse refill is gonna be ready soon."

"Nice, can't wait to go to the drug deal," Remus joked.

Pa sighed. "You always call it that."

They all ate breakfast in relative peace. Today was going to be a good day.

The twins got their stuff packed and took their medication. They said goodbye to the cats as always, and they went with Pa to the car.

After the trip to CVS, Pa drove the twins to their Dad's house. Roman excitedly fidgeted to the sound of Pink Floyd and Pa's ancient car, affectionately named Tina, bumbling along. He flipped the sides of his Rubik's cube as a stim, recounting everything he packed and making sure he didn't forget anything.

They pulled up the driveway and Roman almost dove out of the car in his excitement. Once the car was in park behind Dad's minivan, Roman threw his seatbelt off and scrambled out of the car as Dad came to greet them.

"Hey, kiddos!" he exclaimed excitedly, Roman giving him a tight hug.

"Hi, Dad!"

Remus casually left the car, backpack lazily slung over his shoulder. "It's too early for me to express fondness."

Dad chuckled. "I get it, not everyone is into mornings every day. You stay up late?"

"Not by choice. I'll be more bushy tailed with some Mountain Dew."

"That stuff is so unhealthy," Pa commented as he stood by his door.

"Me too."

"Logan, you gonna come in for coffee?" Dad asked.

"I'd love to, but I still have to figure out what autumn themed projects to have my students do. Not to mention I'm sure you have things you need to get to."

Dad sighed softly. "Ah, yeah. Do you have any ideas for the kids so far?"

"Well, I could have them do something simple, some autumn themed crosswords and word association games. I wanna challenge them, though. Make it fun."

Roman thought of something. "You could maybe play a word association game involving autumn words, and like... so everyone makes a paper leaf in colors like red and orange and yellow, and you have them write words on them associated with autumn. Then they can put the leaves on the door."

"Ooh, I like that!" Dad praised.

Pa nodded his head. "That's actually a really good idea. Thank you, Roman."

Roman smiled, scratching the back of his head. "I mean... yeah, uh, thanks, I just... yeah."

"I should get going. See you boys next week."

This was Roman's least favorite part about Sunday's.

He ran up to Pa and gave him a big hug. "Love you, Pa."

"Love you too, little prince."

"I don't feel like hugs right now, but I'll regret it if I don't, ugh," Remus complained.

Pa turned to Remus. "You don't have to give me a hug if you don't want to. I understand you're not feeling your best at the moment."

Remus whined and wrapped his arms around Pa. "It's fine."

Pa got the boys' things out of the trunk, the two of them taking their respective suitcases. Dad gave him a hug before he left and the three of them went inside.

Dad's dog, Colin, was at the door to greet them. Roman smiled widely as he gave Colin lots of love.

"Hi, Colin! You miss me?"

"He sure did," Dad confirmed. "He slept in you guys' rooms all week, going back and forth every night."

"Aw, poor buddy," Roman cooed as he rubbed Colin's belly. "It's okay, Collie boy, we're here now. Oh, hey, Dad, can Thomas come over today? He's writing a song and he needed a bit of help, so I thought if he came over, we could figure it out."

Dad thought for a moment. "Uh, after lunch, sure."

Roman furrowed his brows. "Why after lunch? Just... curious."

"Oh, just... it would be nice if he got to eat lunch with his family, ya know? Plus it's still pretty early."

Roman thought that was a weird reason but hesitantly accepted it.

He brought his suitcase up to his room and sat on his bed, sending Thomas a text.

R: he said it was cool, just after lunch for some reason (he said it was because he wanted you to be able to have lunch with your family but it still feels weird)

T: I mean I'm cool with waiting! You guys have lunch at noon right?

R: yeah

R: am i overthinking

T: I have no way of knowing but knowing you I wouldn't be surprised 😂

R: ha ha, i just feel like he's acting weird that's all

R: i feel like somethings gonna happen but idk what

T: I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. Pattons a good dad, what's the worst he can do? Make a cringey pun? 🤣

R: lol true. maybe im looking into it too much. see u at like noonish or later ksjdk

T: Lol see you then 💜

Roman spent the next three hours playing Kingdom Hearts in the living room, Remus napping on the couch for about half that time. Once he woke up he was feeling more like himself, making dumb jokes about the game as usual.

Dad made some quesadillas for lunch, making them look like shark faces using black olives for eyes and cutting out a shark mouth and filling it with guacamole.

This worried Roman a little. Dad tended to make fun looking foods when he had to say something the twins wouldn't like.

As they ate, Dad spoke up. "So, I have something to tell you kiddos."

Roman knew it.

"What's up, Dadtron?" Remus asked around a mouthful of quesadilla.

Dad cleared his throat. "Well... I guess I'll just get it out of the way. I'm... uh, seeing someone."

A cold pit filled Roman's stomach.

"You are?" Remus asked in shock. "Who is it?"

"His name is Janus, we're both on the school board. He's a really nice guy, we've been hitting it off. It's still... a little early to say anything for sure, but... I really like him. It felt right to tell you two before we went any further, though."

Roman couldn't process this. Dad was seeing someone? Someone who wasn't Pa? This was unacceptable. He couldn't take this.

"That's so cool!" Remus declared. "Ro, we have three dads now! We're collecting them like Pokémon!"

"He's not our dad," Roman snapped. "I... I won't let him."

"Roman, I know this comes as a shock, but—"

"No! I don't want a... a stepdad!"

"Look, I get it, you're surprised, and maybe I could've... found a better way of telling you, but listen, kiddo. You do not have to think of him as anything you don't want to. If you just wanna think of him as... someone in my life that makes me happy, then that's all he has to be. We don't have to rush into anything."

"Yeah, Ro, give him a chance at least," Remus added.

Roman took a deep breath. "I need to... do something." He couldn't even think of a good excuse to get up and leave the kitchen.