Apartment Mayhem

Lights Go Out in the City

      Studying my Psychology papers and notes, I hang off my desk. My head on the ground and feet on the desk. I hear the wind blow harshly outside as the rain pours. My, somewhat, favorite weather forecast.
      I hear the others chatting amongst each other in the living room as they play Mario Kart. Well, more like bantering at each other than 'chatting'. Just your average afternoon in the Loony Bin. Two studying guys and two playful dudes.
      Then the power snaps off. I blink and squint at my paper before it turns back on. The dudes groan in the loss of progress. The power shuts off again and doesn't come back on. I groan and climb down to see if it was just the breaker. I shove my papers aside and walk out to the other dudes. "What the hell happened?" I grunt as I head over to them.
      They are both hugging each other. I chuckle and cover my face. "Hey, don't make fun," Roman sternly tells me, "Patton is afraid of the dark,"
      "Seriously?" I look to the poor guy and see him clinging to Roman for dear life, "It's just a power outage. A transformer must've blew or something."
      He is shaking badly and looking to me with pleading eyes. I get locked into place and feel stunned. Is that how I look? I run down the hallway and knock on Logan's door urgently before running into Patton's room. "Ye- The lights..." Logan mutters and I hear him put something down before following me into Patton's room.
       "What does Patton like? He needs to be comfortable." I mumble to myself as Logan starts grabbing various items quickly.
       I snatch up his cat onesie but pause for a minute to look at Logan. He's wearing a unicorn onesie. I can't believe it. I shake my head and run out to Patton and Roman. "I got your cat onesie," I tell him as I push it into his lap, "Logan is getting some other things. Roman? Do you know where the candles are?"
        "There's a few in my room and some in the garage," Roman says as Logan walks out with an arm full of things.
        "Not one word," he scolds us then shoos Roman away, taking his place.
        I grab Roman's hand and pull him into the garage. "Help. Help, get the candles. I'll get the ones in your room," I pat his chest then run into Roman's room.
       I take it in. It smells of cologne and apple cinnamon. I take a deep breath then look for the candles. I pile them onto my hand then rush into the living room. I set them in various spots in the living room and wait for Roman. After a few seconds, I groan and run into the garage.
       "Hurry it up, Princey!" I yell, feeling the adrenaline course through my veins.
       "I got 'em, I got em!" He tells me and I push him into the living room.
       "Matches," I look him in the eyes and he looks back.
       There's a pause and he points to the bookshelf. I sigh and pull the coffee table over and climb on top to snatch up the box of matches. I light one match then go around lighting candles as Roman finishes setting them up.
       I blow out the match and take a deep breath. I let it out and lean into the closest thing, which just happens to be Roman. "That was marvelous, Virgil," He compliments me and rubs my back, "I think that's record time of us getting the place set up to keep Patton from being frightened."
       I groan and lean into Roman's chest, tiredly. He chuckles lightly and pulls me into the kitchen with him. I hear him making something, but I'm too breathless and worn out to ask.
      He turns and I see a cat being comforted by a unicorn. I smile faintly at the two. "Romano...can you keep a secret with that loud mouth of yours?" I ask him in hushed tones and he looks down to me.
      "I can try," He smiles to me, "what is it, Virge?"
      "you'd better not gasp, but Logan has love feelings for Patton."
      He goes to gasps but keeps his jaw unhinged, looking at the two cuddling on the couch. "That," Roman starts up again, "is so cute."
      I nod and feel myself falling with exhaustion. "Princey-Prince-" I peep out, gripping his shirt as I fall.
      "Wha-Virge!" He pulls me up and holds me close, "You're doing dead weight, right?"
      I shake my head and nod over to the couch. He grabs whatever he was making and leads me over to the others. Patton is clinging to Logan as he is covered in stuffed animals and blankets. Adorable. Roman hands Patton whatever is in a mug, "I should've made it when the power was on."
        Patton smiles a bit and nods to him. Logan looks pretty comfortable with his situation, though. "Ah, yes," He says, nudging his glasses back into place, "The power went out due to a tree falling on a power line. Predictable, the weather is just windy enough to blow down a tree,"
         Roman sets me down next to Patton on the couch and I nod to him in thanks. "Is Virgil okay?" Logan asks Roman as he puts his phone away.
        "He's just exhausted from running around," He jokes off and Logan furrows his brows at me.
       "Falsehood. What happened?"
      "It doesn't matter," I shake my head and push myself up on the couch.
      "I think it does," Patton pipes in, "What's the matter, my dark strange son?"
     "Nothing," I feel my heart start to rush faster.
     "Virgil-"
     "Stop pushing it-" I snap and force myself up and sluggishly storm to my room.
      I close the door behind me and climb into bed. Just sitting up in bed with blankets over me. Pulling my headphones over to myself, I put them on and play 'I'm So Sorry' by Imagine Dragons. I rest my head back and let out a sigh.
      I close my eyes as someone knocks on my door. I growl quietly and grab a pillow. My door opens and I launch the pillow at whoever enters. It's Roman. "Jiminy Cricket," He gasps then picks up the pillow, "Nice arm."
      I grunt, taking out my earbuds, and curl more into myself as he sets a lantern down on my desk. "So," He climbs onto my bed and sits beside me, "Psychology?"
      "Yeah," I say, not extending on why I choose it, "Im guessing something in the...arts for you, Christine?"
      He stifles a chuckle, "Is it that obvious?"
      "Yes. Yes it is."
      "Well, I'm taking the performing art of Acting. It is my dream to preform on Broadway one day."
      "Don't dream too far. You might fall as far as you dream."
      "Thanks, Poe."
      "Did Patton set you up to this?" I ask as he hands me a pillow to hug close.
      He sighs, "Can't I just be nice once in a while?"
      "No."
      "Well I can, but yes, Patton set me up. He wanted to come but..yeah."
     "Lights out, Patton breaks" I mumble and Roman chuckles lightly.
     "Honestly," He smiles then looks to me,"Why did you leave us out there?"
     "Pressure," I look at my wall instead of at him.
     It's not my favorite thing to talk about my anxiety. Getting diagnosed for it was hard enough because no one understands how you actually feel and I'm not a poet. "Was it anxiety? That gut or throat feeling of uncomfortableness?" He asks and I can feel his warm brown eyes piercing into me face.
         I toss my hood up and bring my knees closer to my chest, "I'm guessing you're thinking the pressure of stage fright or fear of not being accepted into something? That's your version of 'anxiety'."
          He hesitantly responds, "That's...true. Not stage fright but..not being accepted or.."
         He pauses and shakes his head, muttering , "No, no. No muy bien. No, no puedes decirle."
        "Excuse me?" I raise an eyebrow at him and he looks back to me.
       "Lo siento-Uh-Sorry, but yeah. I get that anxious feeling when judges judge me," he says as he fidgets with his fingers.
       I look to him then to his fingers before sighing. He looks up to me as I get up to grab something from my desk. I grab the lantern and stuff the things into my pocket before sitting in front of him. "Uhm," I set down the lantern as I try to remember 1st year Spanish, "¿La mano?"
        He looks at me with a sparkle of hope in his eyes. I roll my eyes, "Your hand, Prince Snoring."
        The sparkle fades and he rests his hand on my knee. I move back and hold out a bottle of red nail polish in a skull shaped bottle. "Nail polish..?" He says and takes it.
       "Yes, I'll tell you about my anxiety if...I get to paint your nails," I say with a smirk.
       He shrugs with a smile, "Sure, masculinity is overrated anyways."
       I let out a chuckle then cover my mouth quickly. Roman is looking at me with a warm smile. "Shut up,"
        "You should laugh more. It's cute."
        "Just let me paint your nails, Man in Tights."

       I finish Roman's nails and feel my exhaustion weighing on me, heavily. I don't remember telling him it's a long lasting nail polish.

{Author's note: Hey, y'all who are reading this story. I have written 15 chapters of this story and I was wondering if you guys want to keep it one chapter per five days or two chapters per five days? Thank you all for reading and leave your input below, if you'd like!}