neighbors || prinxiety & logicality

20

Chapter Twenty: A look into the daily life of the prince twins.

January was coming to a close faster than anticipated, leaving Remus to think desparately about his life. It had changed so drastically within the last year,  it almost felt like he was living a different life.

Sometimes if he closes his eyes, Remus still sees life like it was before he met Janus. Doing everything with his brother, occasionally waving to Thomas and Joan in the hallway, coming home and not even bothering to greet Dad. Dad hadn't  been a big part of his life up until this past year. More often than not  his dad was hunched over in the living room, eyes glossed over with no life, stubble on his chin. Dad had dark brown eyes, like his and Roman's, except they stayed still, never moving, never lighting up with life.

He didn't remember the last time he saw Dad get up off the couch. Except when he had hit Roman. That day had almost terrified him. He had been trying to leave to get to the Thanksgiving party, that was all they wanted. He remembered Roman, stupid, cares too much, brave, Roman.

"Remus are you even listening to me?" Roman mumbled around his toothbrush. A pink tooth brush hung betweem his lips as he talked with foamy toothpaste all around his mouth. His hair stuck up in 17 different directions and he wore a faded grey t shirt.

Remus, who was upside down on the flooring, making eye contact with Roman's pink socks fell over, rubbing his eyes, "Oh- Yeah. Duh. Totally listening, Just uh- repeat it again?"

Roman rolled his eyes before he spit out his toothpaste, "I asked if you were gonna come see Thom n' Joan n' Virgil's scene in Mr Foster's showcase."

Remus hummed, he almost forgot they had been working on that, "Wouldn't miss it for the world," He teased, "You guys have been working on that for a while."

Roman grinned as he wiped off his face with a towell, "Thomas is very excited."

Remus snorted,  "Of course he is, this is Thomas we're talking about." He stood up, wiping off his jeans, "You ready yet, princess Roman? I really want breakfast."

Roman ran his fingers through his hair, attempting to make the thick curls look  good, but eventually shrugged it off, turning to Remus, "Breakfast sounds good, are we eating here?"

Remus hummed, "Depends on Dad's mood." He admitted, before heading down the stairs. At the end of the hallway he saw the outline of his father. He looked slumped over in his seat, hand pressed against his cheek in pure boredom. He was tall and lanky, like the twins, but his eyes were sunken in with pain, his cheek bones prominent and the bags under his eyes were large.

"Morning, Dad." Remus called, deciding to test the waters before anything else. There was a pause, almost as if his words had caused his Dad's entire body to stop working. Then, he turned around in his seat to really look at him and Remus felt Roman grab his upper arm behind him.

"Goin' to school?" He asked gruffily. His voice came out harsh and sharp, like every word hurt his throat from lack of use. It almost made Remus laugh, it was such a casual sentence, something  a real Dad would say to his kids if he really wanted to know the answer.

Remus went to answer, instead Roman did, "We- uh- Remus and I  were gonna eat breakfast first." He explained slowly.

It felt like Remus was in some weird fever dream when his Dad actually stood up from his chair, and make his way into the kitchen, "Do you like cereal?" He slurred.

Roman turned to look at Remus, both eyes meeting with similarly confused expressions. They followed him into the kitchen, but not without Remus shoving Roman behind him in case he was going to try anything again.