Supers of Arcantia - Sanders Sides

Chapter 2

A faint beeping accompanies the morning light shining through the window. Roman stirs and begins to wake up. He reaches up with his free hand to rub away his sleepiness. He would get up but he doesn't want to scare Virgil who is curled up against his side and holding onto his arm. From experience he knows to wake Virgil slowly. 

"Virgil. Time to wake up," Roman says as he places his free hand on Virgil's shoulder. Virgil slowly opens his eyes. With a yawn he releases his hold on Roman and the two of them sit up. As they start to stand up Patton pokes his head into the room. 

"Oh good. You're awake. We need to get going. It's the last shower day of the week and we want to be there before the line grows too long," Patton tells them.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday the local shelter opens up their shower doors for the homeless. All you have to do is show up. It's a public building with separate male and female showers that are open from 5am to 9pm. The shelter also serves breakfast for those who get there before 10am. 

"Oh thank the gods," Virgil says. 

"Right? I love shower days," Roman says.

Patton reminds them to bring their dirty clothes from this week in addition to their last set of clean clothes. The reason is that for Virgil and his friends, Friday is also when they wash their clothes at the nearby laundromat. It's a pretty cheap place but they still only wash once every two weeks. Each of them has three sets of clothes that they got from the shelter.

Virgil and Roman gather their dirty clothes up and put them with the others in a bag. With that done they gather and carry their clean change of clothes with their toiletries baggy that has their toothbrushes with a small toothpaste. 

"Alright. Let's head out," Patton says. Remus grabs the dirty clothes bag after handing his stuff to Janus. They take turns climbing out of the window. Once they're all out Virgil closes the window behind them. With a nod from Virgil they all start to walk the four blocks to the shelter. Leaving is always a risk for them because there's always the chance that someone else will find their house and claim it for themselves. Then again they were lucky to find this house by pure chance. 

It takes them 20 minutes to reach the shelter. When they arrive there's already a line forming with about 30 people. Men, women and even children. A few families too. Virgil and his friends quickly get to the end of the line to start their relatively long wait.

As they wait in line they talk quietly among themselves. Slowly the line starts to dwindle down. Almost an hour passes before they are able to go in and shower. They have to go in groups of three because that's how many working showers there are. In two baskets by the door are a bunch of travel size shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and even razors. Remus, Roman and Janus go first. When they finish then Patton, Logan and Virgil go. 

Once they're all done and carrying a new deodorant they leave the showers and head inside the shelter to get some breakfast. Patton and Logan stay outside with the bag of dirty clothes while the others get them some food. It's not much, just a breakfast burrito. 

"Here you go Patton. Logan," Virgil says as he hands them each a burrito wrapped in foil. They thank Virgil and settle back on the curb. 

"Remus? Where's your food?" Roman asks his brother.

"I ate it," Remus says in return. 

"We literally just got it. What'd you do? Inhale it?" Roman asks. Remus shrugs with a smile. Everyone shakes their heads with amusement. When they're all done eating Remus grabs the dirty clothes bag and they all begin their walk to the laundromat. Once there they spend an hour waiting for their clothes to wash and dry.