Chapter Text
Remus hated his brother. Everything was just so unfair. Roman was the perfect golden child that everyone looked up to. He heard it from teachers, kids at school, even his parents.
"Why can't you just be more like your brother?"
Roman was perfect. He was a good student, athletic, popular, and an amazing writer. Remus was none of those things. Remus was a troublemaker, he only had two friends, and all his writing freaked people out.
Roman was put on a pedal stool in their house. He was the example of who to be and how to act. Remus hated it. He didn't want to be a carbon copy of his brother, he wanted to be himself. He wanted to be free
At some point, his parents just gave up and he got his wish. No matter what they did it was like Remus was determined to be the opposite of his brother, so they let him.
Remus thought he would be relieved when his parents gave up their control. He thought, maybe they could start to love him for who he is, weird quirks and outbursts, and all. But really they just took any attention they previously had on him and put it on Roman. They all but ignored him. He was left to his own devices, left out of the picture of their perfect family.
******
"Yo, pass me the green, Rem," Declan asked from the other end of their current masterpiece.
"Coming your way," Remus exclaimed, throwing the canister of spray paint at his friend. Much to the dismay of Virgil, who was currently acting as the lookout.
"Will you two quiet down," He whispered, pacing back and forth from one end of the ally to the other, swiveling his head around at the slightest hint of any noise. "We're gonna get caught if you guys keep this up."
"Chill, Vee. You're more uptight than usual," Declan cast a sidelong glance at his panicked friend. "What's got you so worked up?"
"In case you forgot, Remus just turned 18, meaning, he could totally go to jail if we get caught. And if he goes to jail, then he'll be forced to drop out of school, so he'll never go to college, never get a job, and he'll probably just live off of us for the rest of his life."
Declan's face made a sour look at that last part. "Oh, come on guys," Remus joined in, "We won't get caught."
*****
"I can't believe we got caught," Remus announced.
"I can," Virgil replied. The boys were currently at the police station. Sitting in a line of chairs against the wall.
"Aw don't be like that Vee Vee." Remus gave his friend a dopey grin, one that just received a scowl in response.
"We wouldn't have been caught if you hadn't been so loud."
"I don't know," he replied again with a smirk, turning his attention on his other friend, "We probably would have been harder to catch if we did it later in the day and not immediately after school."
Declan huffed, averting his eyes, "I told you I had something else going on tonight."
"Hmm..." He hummed, swinging his legs back and forth in front of him. "Sounds to me like scarface is telling a lie." He said in a sing-song voice.
"I don't know what you're talking about, my fair-weather frustration." Declan rolled his eyes and looked past Remus to Virgil, "Besides, it wouldn't have been a problem if our lookout was doing his job."
"Well, I'm sorry -"
"Alright, that's enough boys." Both Declan and Virgil snapped to attention and turned to see who had just entered the station. While Remus just turned with the same dopey grin from earlier. It was a short woman with pixie-cut pink hair. She had two-toned eyes, one of which matched the green of the young girl on her hip.
"Oh hey, mom," Virgil said sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.
"Don't you 'hey mom' me." She said with a scowl. "You boys are getting far too old to keep acting like this. You're lucky they didn't throw you in a cell." She thrust her head in Remus' direction.
"Eh, it'll be fine," Remus waved his hand in dismissal. The only response he got was an elbow to the ribs.
"Well, boys, it was fun knowing you," Virgil stood up and waved goodbye with a two-handed salute, following his mother to the desk so the trio could officially leave.
"Wonderful, now I'm alone with the psychopath."
"You love me and you know it." He cheered throwing an arm around Declan.
"Get off'a me," He exclaimed, trying to fight Remus off of him.
"Not until you proclaim to the world how much you love me!" He wrapped both his arms around Declan, practically pulling himself onto his lap.
Declan tried to defend himself by pushing and squishing Remus' face, but the officer who had been tasked with watching over them clearly was unamused by the friendly wrestling and split the boys up, putting two seats between them.
Not soon after a tall woman with sleek, long, caramel-colored hair walked in. She wore professional business attire and looked both extremely pissed and posed at the same time.
"And that's my queue," Declan said, standing up and throwing a wink Remus before turning to his mother and throwing his arms open wide, "Momma, it's wonderful to see you! Are those new sunglasses? They look beautiful on you."
His mother just raised a brow at him and dipped her head slightly, giving her son a 'are you really gonna try that on me now?' look.
"Not buying it are you?"
"Declan, sweetheart," She placed her hands on his shoulders in, what appeared to be a comforting gesture, "You're teachers may fall for your tricks, you may deceive your classmates, but I," She stressed, "I'm not an idiot."
Declan tried to hold back a snicker, Remus, on the other hand, unabashedly burst out laughing, much to the displeasure of the officer.
Soon Declan was on his way out of the station. As he and his mother passed through the door, one other entered.