Work Text:
It all started a beautiful autumn day, the trees outside were slowly shaking their leaves off of themselves and every day had a gentle wind every time Remy would step outside.
Plus? Pumpkin spice latte season? Yass!
But that day, Remy’s roommate, a cute raven-haired man named Patton, had stayed in his room a bit more than normal. It had Remy concerned for his friend, did something bad happen? Was he crying in secret so not to burden Remy like he had done before?
No.
The truth was even worse.
Remy had hovered at the door for what at the time had felt like an eternity that was probably only five minutes, agonizing whether he should bother Patton until he finally pushed the door open to see Patton bent over a piece of paper, smiling at it like it was a a close friend.
“Remy? Is everything alright?” Patton had asked, glancing up and halting his writing to focus on Remy.
“Oh, sorry Patton. You were in your room a bit longer than usual, so I wanted to make sure you hadn’t dived out the window to go down to the local Starbucks or...” Remy had trailed off, trying to be his sassy self but the worry had worn him enough that he would need another coffee if he was going to be himself again. The words hung in the air, the reminder of that night running through both of their minds.
“Oh, no worries, kiddo! I’m just starting the conversation with my new penpals!” Patton had assured Remy with a smile, but Remy could see it didn’t completely reach Patton’s eyes. Remy had kicked himself for bringing the night up, Patton didn’t need to feel worse if he was actually feeling bad.
“You have a penpal? Babes, we do have internet, and it’s much faster than snail mail and you could see each other’s faces.” Remy had said, trying to drink from his cup, forgetting it was empty, grimacing at the sound he made sucking air through the straw.
Patton had giggled at that, “I know, silly, but it’s so much more fun to do penpaling the proper way!”
Remy had rolled his eyes, leaving Patton to continue writing to his new friends.
“Whatever babes, I’m gonna put the casserole in the oven, you think think you’ll be done then?” Remy had said, gripping the side of the doorway as he had stepped towards the kitchen before looking back.
“For sure! Kiddo!”
That night, Remy had tossed and turned, and it wasn’t from the casserole.
His mind had let him get the fact that Patton had a new penpal (penpals? plural) out of his mind. Eventually, the source of the fixation came out as Remy raged at himself for being so fixated on Patton’s penpals.
Come on, brain! Patton is his own person and him getting a penpal doesn’t make him less of my friend.
Another voice in his head had countered, I know babes, but who’s to say they won’t hurt Patton? We gotta make sure they never want to hurt Patton EVER.
Remy’s eyes had flown open at the thought, the sowing of the seeds of Remy’s distrust for Patton’s ‘penpals.’
It wasn’t for about another week that a response came (because, ya know, snail mail,) Patton had beamed when he entered the living room with the letter, making a beeline for his room. Remy was reminded of his late night convictions and lazily followed Patton into his room, as if he was simply interested in Patton’s excitement.
Patton smiled up at him as he entered, eyes full of excitement.
“Oh, Remy? You wanna hear what my penpals wrote? I’ll read it first just so I don’t read something personal, okay?”
Remy had forced a slight smile, feigning slight disinterest, but stayed put, sipping his coffee. It had took him a minute or two to realize his hands had begun to shake from the boiling anger he was feeling at the idea of Patton’s penpals upsetting him in anyway.
Remy had gripped his coffee cup tighter as Patton finally read the letter to Remy. It was the general penpal letter, telling them about themself and what their interests were. The penpal’s name was apparently Emile, and his roommates were Janus and Logan, which had caught Remy off guard, who just tells their name when they could give a fake, plus telling Patton their roommates didn’t exactly matter.
Remy smelled something fishy, and he didn’t like it.
That was why when Patton told him to put his letter into the mailbox to send back to them, Remy impulsively added his own message.
If you upset, hurt, or tell Patton of this message, I will personally track you down and break all the bones in all of your hands so that you can never write ever again. That is a promise, don’t test me. -Someone you don’t want to mess with
Only then did Remy send off the letter, patiently waiting for the next week when the response came back. His mind was almost a constant whirl of what Emile’s response would be.
So when Patton again bounded in, clutching the letter to him with a boundless smile Remy felt an envious jolt on seeing, he waited for the moment he knew he would have to track down some bitches. Instead, he watched Patton’s eyebrows furrow, confused.
“Huh, they put a bunch of random letters and numbers at the bottom of the letter,” Patton shrugged, “I think they probably wrote this on a scrap, and that’s fine.”
Remy couldn’t resist takin a sip of his coffee, “Well if they aren’t gonna take the time to get a fresh piece of paper, maybe they aren’t putting as much thought as you are, maybe they don’t deserve you as a penpal.”
Patton gasped, surprised expression fading into a stern one as he spoke, “Remy! Be nice! We have no idea what’s going on other than what they write, it’s rude to assume the worst! For that, you don’t get to hear what they wrote back!”
Remy nearly yelled out, but instead he replied, “Whatever babes, leave me bored and not in the know, that’s fine.”
Before Patton could speak and reply, Remy was already gone.
It was later when Patton was out that Remy finally go the chance to see the ‘random letters and numbers.’ Immediately, Remy recognized the familiar format of Base 64.
Q29mZmVlIHNob3AgYmVzaWRlIHRoZSBsaWJyYXJ5LiBUb21vcnJvdyBhdCBub29uLCBsZXQncyB0YWxrLg==
Remy brought out his phone quick, painstakingly copying the string of letters and numbers, pressing
Coffee shop beside the library. Tomorrow at noon, let's talk.
Remy’s heart jumped, but he knew that if they were going to hurt Patton, he would be there to fulfill his promise threat. He had forgotten their address wasn’t far, and they knew Remy and Patton’s, but it was still jarring to see.
Patton was none the wiser, happily coming in and putting away the groceries. Remy was outwardly unfazed, but inside his feelings were a mix of anger and anticipation mixed with fear. He tossed and turned that night, thoughts of them hurting Patton, of them hurting him and then hurting Patton.
His morning coffee didn’t even put a dent in the swirling feelings in his gut, but he put on a blasé face to hide the turmoil.
The clock seemed to move at two speeds at once, ‘not at all’ and ‘way too fast, god bitch slow down will ya?’
Suddenly, it was time and Remy slinked the apartment, Patton was already gone to work, so it was easy.
Remy’s mind, which been already spun with everything that could, kicked it up a notch, so much so that Remy nearly passed the coffee shop despite going to it religiously for all the time Remy had been in the town.
But when he pushed the door open, the sight before him finally halted everything in it’s tracks.
“Oh Remy! Glad you could join us!” Patton’s clear voice rang out among the rumbling din of the coffee shop.
Patton was sitting at a coffee table with 3 other men, who Remy supposed were, Emile, Janus and Logan. They all looked non-assuming, the one that had a similar outfit to Patton, soft and cardigan, was Emile, and by Emile’s anecdotes, the stiff one in a collared shirt and tie was Logan. That left Janus as the last one in a dress shirt and a bowtie, an absurd bowler hat to complete his look.
He caught each of their looks, and even though they looked so... nice, Remy just knew it was a facade, but he couldn’t do anything with Patton there...
Remy.... was doomed.