“Ugh, Mom, would you stop! My hair looks fine, trust me. I wouldn’t have left my room if it didn’t.”

“Roman, I’m just trying to make sure you make a good first impression on Serina’s family! After all they’re going to be a part of ours soon.”

Roman rolled his eyes, but ducked away from his mother’s grasp. “Honestly, I think I spent more time on mine than you did on yours. It’s fine.”

The past six months had been hell. Ever since Roman’s brother and his then girlfriend Serina announced their engagement, it was like Roman’s life became wedding central. All he ever heard about was the wedding—the flowers, the cake, the dresses, the tuxes, the freaking stationary—so he was more than ready to be done with the whole thing.

He couldn’t say that he was surprised though. His family was full of control freaks and perfectionist. Everything had to be just the right way. That was why Roman was downright insulted with his mother still trying to fix his hair.

“Hey, I think I’m going to go help with the flowers!” Roman said. Anything to get him away from his anxious ridden mother. He was convinced she was more nervous than his brother.

He ducked out of the room before she could respond, double checking that he had his keycard before letting the door fall shut. Once he was in the silence of the hall, he let out a breath, enjoying it while it lasted. After a moment, he pushed himself off the wall to go to the elevators. Better to do when he said he was going to rather than risk the wrath of his mother.

As he got off the elevator, he bumped into a boy who had his head down. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” Roman snapped before he could stop himself.

The boy looked up, a sharp glare on his face. “Fuck off,” he growled before entering the elevator and hitting the ‘close’ button.

Roman rolled his eyes and went to find the florist.

“Logan, honey, will you be a dear and grab some bags?”

Logan did his best to drown out the screaming and giggling as he grabbed one of six mini suit cases, all of them a different shade of pink or purple. He couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to be talked into coming on this trip. The last thing he wanted to do on his only two days off school was help babysit his little sister and her friends. Sure, it was for her birthday, but that had nothing to do with him. He’d already given her the present he’d gotten her and attended the mandatory family dinner. This little surprise trip for her and her friends was…unnecessary for him to attend.

“Look at how bit it is!” Angel exclaimed, jumping up and down excitedly. “Logy, Logy, look! It’s taller than our entire house!”

“Yes, hotels are usually much bigger, since they have to house a lot of people,” Logan said, grabbing a few more bags and loading them onto a trolley.

Angel grinned, and she and her friends started talking about how exciting this was. Logan shook his head as he unloaded the las bag. His mother wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

“You’re a good brother for doing this,” she says.

“More like I can’t resist her puppy dog eyes,” Logan mutters.

His mother laughs. “That too. Come on, Let’s herd these girls inside. They said there’s a wedding going on tonight, so we should get them to the lobby as fast as possible. Go ahead and take the bags up.” She hands him a key card.

“Alright,” Logan says, pushing the cart inside and towards the elevators. The lobby was indeed crowded with wedding guests, all dressed in their funerary. He spotted one boy—a groomsmen, Logan assumed, since he was wearing an identical suit to a few other men hanging around—was attempting to carry a huge case of red roses, though he seemed to mostly be trying to get through the crowd.

Logan returned his focus to the elevators again and managed to make it to them without any of the bags falling, which he counted as a victory.

By the time he got on the floor the room was on, he’d already decided that he wanted to go home. There were too many loud wedding guests, most of whom seemed to already be drunk. Not to mention the too small elevators he had to wait an eternity for. Then when he finally got to the room, he couldn’t keep the door open and get the trolley in at the same time.

“Do you need some help?” a voice from behind the pile of bags asked.

“Just push the trolley in while I hold the door,” Logan responded, forgoing any kind of caution he had about a stranger he couldn’t even see offering help. He just wanted the damned bags inside.

The stranger did as Logan asked, and once the trolley was inside, Logan turned to see who the stranger was.

A boy, maybe Logan’s age, was smiling at him. He had on a light blue t-shirt and jeans with messy brown hair. He also had glasses that were not unlike Logan’s own. Behind him stood a boy with purple dyed hair and a purple and black patched jacket. He had his hands in his pocket and his eyes on the floor.

“Thank you,” Logan said.

“No problem!” the blue shirt boy said. “Enjoy your stay! The rooms are really nice.”

Logan crossed his arms, a mere habit more than anything else. “Do you work here?”

“Huh? Oh, no, just been staying here a while.” The boy smiled and turned towards his friend. “Come on, let’s get you on the right floor.” He looked at Logan and waved. “Bye!”

The two boys walked away, both of them wheeling a suit case. Logan shook his head slightly and shut the door. At least there was one nice person in the hotel.

Sighing, Logan left the bags on the trolley and flopped down on one of the bed, enjoying the silence while he could.

Patton hummed to himself as he slung his towel around his shoulders. “I’m off to the pool Mom!”

“Alright sweetie, have fun!” his mom called from the bed.

Patton patted Charlie—his cute little Charles Spaniel puppy—on the head before grabbing his key card and leaving, stilling humming under his breath as he made his way to the elevators.

At this time of night, there was no one down at the pool. Usually, anyway. Still, though, Patton liked to go down there to just enjoy the night, even if there were one or two people there. he never minded other guests anyway.

When he got to the pool, though, he could tell that it wouldn’t be a usual evening. At least, not with the two arguing boys and another boy sitting as far away from the other two as possible, headphones over his ears.

For a moment, Patton hovered by the gate, wondering if he should just go back to his room. Then he saw the boy with the headphones curl into a tight ball and he found himself moving before he could even think about it.

Gently, Patton put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. The boy jumped and looked up at him. Almost immediately there was a spark of recognition in his eyes. Patton only smiled. “Is it okay if I sit next to you?” He asked, motioning to the spot next to him on the lounge chair.

Slowly, the boy nodded. Patton sat down, giving him a gentle smile. After a few moments, the boy removed one headphone.

“Aren’t you the boy who helped me find my room?” he asked, his voice small and soft.

Patton nodded. “I thought you were the same person.” Earlier, Patton had found this boy wondering around his hall, looking for his room. He’d been struggling with carrying two suit cases and had looked about ready to scream. It’d turned out he’d been on the wrong floor, so Patton had shown him the right place to look, along with helping him with the bags.

“Thanks for that,” the boy said, clearly trying to distract himself, “I don’t think I ever told you.”

“No worries kiddo,” Patton said. “So, uh, how long have those two been at it?”

The boy shook his head. “I don’t know but it’s…” he shook his head again. Patton could see that his eyes were wide, and he seemed to be trying to keep himself from shaking. Clearly, the fighting wasn’t something he liked being around.

“Why don’t you go back up to your room?” Patton asked.

“Being alone is worse,” he said, his words almost inaudible.

Patton blinked. It was nearly midnight. Was this boys parent(s) not back yet? Why would they leave him in such a big place alone?

Patton nodded and stood. “Wait here,” he said to the boy, then walked over to the arguing ones. “Hey, what’s the problem here?”

“It’s none of your concern,” one of them said. Patton frowned for a moment before he realized that this was another boy he’d helped earlier, the one who had the same kind of glasses as him.

“Well, you’re kind of disturbing the others here, so maybe we can either keep it down or, even better! Settle whatever it is you two are arguing about?” Patton said, hoping that the boys would at least consider the other people at the pool. Even if those “other people” was just himself and the headphone boy.

“Don’t look at me, he started it,” glasses boy says, crossing his arms.

“You’re the one who had to comment on my tie!” the other boy said. He was dressed—rather disheveldly—in a suit. Patton assumed he was one of the wedding guests. It seemed that the reception was still going on, if the noise from the ballroom was anything to go by.

“All I said was that it was crooked!” glasses boy said.

“Okay, okay,” Patton said, holding up his hands. “Maybe go to your separate corners. Or better yet, why don’t you just take the tie off, that way it can’t bother anyone?”

Suit boy sighed, but he did as Patton had suggested.

“Good, now why don’t we all just enjoy our pool time huh? I’m Patton! What are your names?”

Glasses boy looked over at him. “Didn’t you help me earlier?”

“Yeah!” Patton said with a smile.

He sighed and stuck out his hand. “Logan.”

Patton shook his hand then looked at suit boy.

“Roman,” He muttered, rubbing his head. Patton frowned.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Why do you care?” Roman snapped.

Patton blinked, surprised by the tone. “Well you seem to be upset about something so I just…”

“Maybe it’s none of your business!”

“Hey! Don’t talk to him like that!” Headphones boy said, storming over.

Roman looked at him with a glare which only got worse once he saw the boy’s face. “You! You were in the lobby earlier. The one who couldn’t be bothered to watch where he was going.”

“Well you’re just as charming as you were then,” the boy said, matching Roman’s glare.

Patton shook his head and got between the boys. “Everyone calm down! Look, I don’t know what’s got you all so heated, but everyone just needs to go to separate parts of the pool to calm down.” He looked at both of them with a small glare of his own. “Go,” he said.

Surprisingly, they did. Roman huffed and marched over to one side of the pool, and the other boy to the opposite side. Patton sighed and looked at Logan, who had taken a step back with headphone boy had walked over.

“Perhaps this will not be as calm an evening as I’d hoped,” Logan muttered.

“Oh, well, it can be. I think everyone just needs some time to calm down,” Patton said.

Logan looked from Roman to the other boy. “Perhaps you are correct.” Then he walked over to headphone boy and sat across from him. It didn’t seem like they were talking, just sitting.

Taking his lead, Patton walked over to Roman. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, not really sure what to do. Roman’s back was to him and he seemed to be breathing heavily. “You know,” Patton said, “maybe dipping our feet in the water will help with cooling off? It’s such a pretty night, it’d be a shame to be angry the whole time.”

Roman glanced back at him, then sighed. “Maybe,” he muttered.

Patton smiled. “You should probably leave those shoes here, though, they look expensive.”

To his surprise, Roman let out a small laugh and took his shoes off, then his socks. He and Patton walked over to the shallow end of the pool and sat on the edge, Roman’s pants rolled up to his thighs. They didn’t talk, just sat next to each other, letting their legs float a little.

Roman closed his eyes and sighed, leaning back and tilting his head up.

For a while, the pool was completely silent. The only thing that could be heard was the fait music from the wedding reception and the slap of water against the side of the pool.

Eventually, there was a small splash across from them. Patton looked up and saw that Logan and headphone boy had joined them. still, though, no one said anything.

After a moment, Patton cleared his throat. “I never got your name,” he said to headphone boy.

“it’s uh…” he looked a little shy. “Virgil.”

“Virgil,” Patton tried out the name. “I like it. Very…dark ages.”

Virgil smirked at that and ducked his head, which only made Patton smile bigger.

“Is the pool always this empty?” Logan asked, filling the silence before it could grow again.

“This late, yeah,” Patton said. “Most people have turned in for the night.”

“You know this because…?”

Patton feels himself blush and he looks down. “I told you, I’ve been here a while.” Patton starts picking at his nails. “My uh…there was a fire, and my house burned down. So, we’ve been staying here. My mom knows the owner and they’re letting us stay until we can get a new house.”

“Wow, I’m sorry to hear that,” Roman said, speaking for the first time since they sat down.

Patton shrugs. “It’s not so bad. Our puppy, Charlie, made it out, and none of us were hurt too badly, so that’s what’s important. Besides, it’s interesting staying here. There’s always new people around,” Patton said with a smile at all of them.

“Still,” Virgil said, “it can’t be easy.”

Patton smiles and looks up at the sky, even though there was little to see with all the lights in the way. “I didn’t say it was easy, just interesting.” He stretched and looked around at the others. “So, what brings you three here?”

Logan groaned and rolled his eyes. “My little sister’s birthday present…her and her friends get to have a slumber party here. My mom dragged me with her so she didn’t have to deal with all of them on her own.”

“No wonder you want to hide down here,” Virgil said, shaking his head before looking back at Patton. “My aunt thought it’d be a good idea to come with my dad on his business trip.”

He didn’t give more detail than that, but considering he was at the pool and not with his father said enough.

“And Roman I assume you’re here for the wedding that happened?” Patton asked.

“Yeah,” Roman sighed. “Unfortunately.”

“Why unfortunately?” Logan asked.

Roman shook his head. ‘It was my brother getting married and just….ugh! the past six months have been all about this stupid wedding. It’s all I could hear about! No one cared when I made the lead in the musical or got a boyfriend or got my heart broken by said boyfriend.” His voice was shaking by the time he was done, and the other boys were staring at him, surprised by his outburst.

Patton scooted closer to him and put a hand on his back. “I’m sorry…your family shouldn’t ignore you just because of your brother getting married. Congratulations on the lead, though.”

Roman’s shoulders slumped, and he shot Patton a small yet grateful smile. “Thanks…sorry for the bit of tmi.”

“No worries,” Patton said with a smile. “It’s good to rant sometimes, you know? Gets frustration out.”

Roman nodded and took a deep breath. He looked across the pool at Virgil and Logan for the first time. “I’m sorry for snapping at you two. I guess I’ve just been on edge from all of this.”

“Eh it’s alright,” Virgil said, leaning back on his hands. “I think we were all holding in some pent-up frustration.”

“That’s an understatement,” Logan said.                        

“Yeah I just kinda want to forget about it for a while,” Roman said.

Patton smiled, glad to feel the atmosphere shift from tense to relaxed. He got up and then jumped into the pool, effectively splashing them all with water.

“Hey!” Roman exclaimed when Patton resurfaced. “This suit costs more than this hotel!”

“That’s highly doubtful,” Logan said.

“You said you wanted to forget,” Patton grinned and splashed Roman again. “So, jump in! Nothing’s better than a midnight swim, trust me.”

Roman glared at him for a moment, then smirked and stood, stripping off his suit.

“Wait you’re not even going to go change?” Logan asked.

“Eh, swim trunks, boxers, it’s all the same,” Roman said with a shrug. Then he backed up and jumped in the pool next to Patton.

“That is ridiculous,” Logan said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, won’t they shrink or something?” Virgil asked.

Roman and Patton exchanged a look, and both of them knew exactly what they needed to do. Logan and Virgil had turned their attention to each other, clearly with the intention of ignoring the two in the pool, so they swam over and then jumped out and splashed them.

Both boys yelped and leaned back, but now they were both soaked. Thankfully, Virgil had left his headphones and whatever they had been attached to on the lounge chair.

“The water’s great isn’t it Patton?” Roman asked, a big grin on his face.

“Oh, it’s amazing,” Patton responded, giggling.

Logan and Virgil looked at each other, then Patton and Roman. “Oh, you’re on,” Virgil said, already getting up and taking off his jacket and pants. He left his shirt on as he jumped into the pool, very clearly intending to splash Roman.

“Rude!” Roman exclaimed and started splashing him.

Logan wasn’t far behind, and he joined Virgil in splashing Roman, which of course meant that Patton had to help Roman in their splash war.

By the time they’d called it truce, all of them were breathing hard from laughing so much. Both Logan and Patton could barely see, not having thought about taking their glasses off before jumping into the pool. Roman’s hair was disheveled and a mess, a contrast to the perfect hair he’d had before. Virgil’s under eye makeup was nearly gone. None of them noticed or cared.

“Alright, boys, pool’s closing,” a staff member said, poking her head in. “Go dry off.”

Begrudgingly, they did as they were told. Logan, Virgil, and Roman all drying off as best they could before they put their clothes back on. Roman, Patton noticed, only put his pats and under shirt back on. Everything else he carried.

The four of them walked back into the hotel, all of them feeling a bit better than they had when they’d walked out.

“Aren’t you going to go back to the reception?” Patton asked Roman.

“Dressed like this? No, I think my mom would literally have a heart attack. Plus, I think my Aunt Jackie is officially drunk and that’s something that only needs to be witnessed once.”

They all chuckled a little at that and walked towards the elevators. They talked about nothing—school, annoying teachers, Roman’s drunk relatives—as they waited and as they got in. At the first stop, though—Roman’s—he paused and turned to them.

“Thanks,” he said, “for taking my mind off things for a while. Good luck with your sisters, Logan, and Patton I hope you can find a house soon. Virgil, hang in there alright? Sorry again for snapping at all of you.”

“You’re one for dramatic speeches aren’t you?” Virgil asked.

Roman shrugged. “Guilty.”

Patton smiled. “Maybe talk to your parents Ro, huh? Once they get over their hangovers.”

Roman nodded. “I think I’ll try.” He smiled at them. “Goodnight.”

He stepped out of the elevator and the doors closed.

Virgil was next. He had fewer words to give, but he did smile at them, which Patton took. For a moment, he wished that he could do more for the boy. Spending the night alone in a hotel room couldn’t have been fun.

Patton and Logan were on the same floor, so Patton walked with Logan to his room. He could hear the giggling of little girls inside, and Logan sighed.

“Hey,” Patton nudged him. “You’ve got this. Show them that you’re the cool older brother.”

Logan scoffed. “Cool would not be the correct word to define me.”

“I don’t know, I think jumping into a pool in your Spider-Man boxers and having a splash fight with three strangers is pretty cool.”

Logan’s face flushed but he crossed his arms and shook his head. “That’s…childish.”

Patton chuckled and patted his back. “Good thing they’re children, Lo.”

Something in Logan’s eyes sparked, and he nodded. Patton wasn’t entirely sure what was going on in that head of his, but Patton was pretty sure Logan just had some kind of revelation.

Smiling, Patton started down the hall on his own. “Goodnight!” he called over his shoulder.

When he got back to his room, Charlie wagged her tail and bounded over to him. “Hey sweetie,” his mother greeted. “Have a good time?”