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Roman sighed as he got off the bus, bags in tow. He looked around, only seeing fields upon fields of wheat and tall grass, with the dirt road the bus went on being the only thing to separate it, "Uh.. y'know where the farm is?" Roman looked at the driver, who looked back
"Which farm? There's gotta be about a hundred round 'ere,"
"I don't know, the one ran by some short dude? The one a guy named Remus-"
"Oh. That one. Down the road for bout a mile or two, it'll be pretty clear when you get nears it," With that, the doors shut, and the bus was gone
"Wait, can't you-?!" He sighed again, and started the walk, pulling along his luggage. "Stupid Remus, and your stupid want to be in the stupid south, and live on a stupid farm, with some idiotic bee-keeper," He trudged along, feeling the heat of the noon sun beating down on him, the humidity not helping him keep the energy he had, "Could've just moved to the city with me, get all those lovely comforts, but chose stupid, stinky, feathered pests over me! You're own bro-" He tripped over a rock, a small dirt cloud puffing up from underneath him, "Motherf-"
"Ro-Bro! I'm so happy to see you!" Remus hugged his brother tightly, smiling like it was Christmas morning, "I was starting to worry when you didn't get here by lunch, but don't worry there's plenty left still!" He actually took a look at his brother, and noticed the dirt, and sweat that caked his face, fancy white shirt now looking more so brown, and sticking to him
"Why.. didn't you tell me.. it was miles away?.." He panted out as the walked to the farm house
"I thought I did, my bad.. but, there's a nice tub in the house, and I think a cold bath will help get the pep back into your step! How about I just take these to your room, and you get cleaned up?" Remus picked up the luggage, Roman just nodding, following Remus to the bathroom, which was thankfully next to where Roman would be staying
"And who are you?" Roman grabbed a slice of the pizza, looking at the man sitting across from him at the table. He was short, probably the bee-keeper, with long hair that seemed pretty thin
"Roman Kalore, Remus' twin," He took a bite of his slice, "You?"
"Janus Alister. Haven't seen you on the farm today, you just get here?" He got a slice from his own pizza, Roman cringing slightly seeing pineapples on it
"No, got here little after one. Why would, of all people, I be working on your farm?"
"You seriously think I'm going to let you just stay here and not help around?"
"Who makes their guests work?!"
"Someone who needs more help than they can get,"
Not long after, the two heard the front door open, and the smell of chicken came into the house, along with the trash rat that it was coming from, "Sorry I'm late, Jessica was being bitchy to Arnold again, then Rosemary tried to sit on Petunia's eggs, that left some blood on the floor-" He kept talking as he walked over, going on about chicken drama, then, "Also, Jan your boyfriend's here, he may be a little bloody though-" He sat down, started eatin
Roman's nose crinkled up at the stench coming from his brother, who started eating with his gross hands, "Why??" Remus shrugged a little, eating happily
In came in a man, slightly taller than the twins, some blood on his shirt, hands covered in something. He had a basket of eggs, half moon glasses looking gross, "Got the eggs.." He walked over, placing the basket on the table, "I'm taking a shower then sleeping, night to you three," Janus blew him a kiss as he left
Roman groaned as he covered his head with his pillow, Remus jumping off the top bunk, shaking him, "Wakey wakey! Eggs and- well no bakey today, but waffles!" He smiled brightly at him, going to get dressed
"What time is it?" Roman sat up, curls going every which way
"Seven thirty, I think Jan was bein forging for once!" Remus smiled at Roman, dressed in a green flannel, and some old looking blue jeans. Roman groaned, hiding his face in the pillow
"So what am I doin?" Roman looked down at the bee-keeper, half wanting to squat down to just silently point out his height, the other half knowing he'd probably get socked in the face
"You're going to be helping me around the farm," He looked up at him, "First we're going to sheer the sheep that haven't been yet, check on Remus, then collect honey from the bees, by then it'll be lunch, and we're heading to town for it so you may want to change by then,"
"I.. can't help with the bees," Roman tried to phrase it such a way that it got what he needed to say, but didn't want to across
"Why?"
Roman took a breath before saying, "Bees.. freak me out, and I doubt having someone panic will help anything,"
He thought it over, "Then you can check on the cows when I go to the bees. They shouldn't be too much trouble for you, they mostly just lay around, now let's go,"
Roman sighed, pulling feathers out of his hair, even when he got to the cows. He looked at them from the fence, their food looking full, so did their water. Some were walking, some were laying around, a fluffy brown one looked back at him, laying down as she did. "Hey Little Lady, how you doin?.." Roman smiled a little at her.
"Moo!" Is the response he got, which was about all he expected.
"Same here, today's been rough, especially with Remus," He laughed a little, looking around before hopping the fence, heading over, "I love him, but he seriously couldn't pick a better place to stay?"
"Mooooo,"-"Sorry, didn't mean any offense to your home," He sat down, leaning against her. She rested her head on him, Roman petting her a little, "You're so cute.. got it real easy too, huh?.."
"Moo?" He could've sworn he heard the question mark
"Get to just lay around, get to eat, and drink whenever.. have people take care of you.." Roman snuggled her, "While most of us have jobs we don't like, with people we hate, with barely anytime outside of it for the things that we do like, and want to do.."
"Mooo,"
"Yeah, life sucks as an adult," He looked up at the sky, "Maybe that's why Remus still acts the way he does.. Probably why he chose here over the city in all reality," He laughed a bit, remembering how he'd cursed his brother for half the walk up to this farm
The cow snuggled Roman, who shut his eyes. He snuggled her back a bit, smiling softly as he started to fall asleep
"How's it goin Bee Boy?" Janus smiled hearing that voice, looking at his friend from where he was dealing with some weeds, having extra time before lunch
"Pretty well, how about you Virgil?" The much much taller sat down with him, moving some of his black hair out of the way
"Eh, as well as someone who likes black, and hoodies can be in the middle of a southern," summer,"
"So you're more miserable than usual?" He tugged up a weed, putting it in the weed basket for now
"Yee-up," Leaned back, using his arms to hold him up, "So how had it been with the city boy?"
"He's been.. disagreeable, but helpful, though I had to send hims to 'check' on the cows since he couldn't help with the bees,"
"Lucky bastard," Virgil laughed a little, "Nessi probably enticed him into napping with her,"
"Oh most definitely, why I sent him over there instead of to the horses," Janus looked at Virgil, "Speaking of which, have you seen Logan? Haven't seen him sense yesterday,"
"He's off in town I think, hanging out with the baker probably," Janus went back to plucking the weeds, the two falling into that familiar friendly silence. Soon, they heard the bell ringing from the barn, to announce it was noon to everyone around
Roman smiled at the bustling little town, smells from all the restaurants filling his nose, but were slightly messed up with Remus walking next to him, smelling a little like chickens still, "So where are we eating?"
"There's this cheap place next to the bakery, we can grab some food there, then head over and say hey to Pat?" Remus suggested happily, Roman noticing how his smile got a little bigger at the name
"Pat?"
"He's the baker, makes really good stuff, and he gives us a discount most of the time,"
"Cause he wants you to fall for him,"
"Shut it Jan!" Remus blushed at his friend's statement
The trio got into the bakery after their meal, Remus going up to the counter immediately, and started chatting with the man behind the counter. His smile seemed even brighter than when Roman arrived, as he got a laugh out of the man. Before long, Roman had a little cake stuffed into his mouth by his brother, who was telling him about how Pat had agreed to come to some bonfire that night
Roman wiped the sweat from his brow as he kept pulling up, and cleaning off the carrots, sleeves of his flannel rolled up to his elbows. He looked up hearing footsteps, seeing Janus walking over, "Oh, hey!" He greeted, before focusing on what he was doing-"Hey there, Roman. I wanted to talk with you,"
"About?"
"Why you seem suddenly so happy to do farm work, last night made it sound like you hated even the thought of it,"
"Oh.. well, I realized something, when I was with the cows, and it got me into a better mood about all of this," He got the last carrot, and stood up with the basket, "Eighteen carrots, where do I put em now?" Looked at Janus with a soft smile
"I'll take em, you can go get a break. Though before that, what was the realization?" He took the basket, counting the carrots just to be sure
"Nothing like, earth shattering or somethin like that, just that this is what makes Remus happy, and no reason to be a Debby downer about having to work here to get to see him, and possibly make him less happy,"
"You really care huh?"-"What? Did you think I came all the way here, walked almost three miles up hill, carrying almost a hundred pound bags, in the summer, in the south, at noon, and didn't care about him?"
"Fair enough," Janus said with a simple shrug, "Just don't want him to get hurt again, you can understand that," Roman nodded, saying a goodbye to Janus before heading over to the chickens to see Remus, who currently had near ten around his feet, flannel now tied around his waist, showing hia dark grey tank-top now
"Hey Rem!" Roman greeted Remus happily looking at him
"Hey Ro-Bro, you done for the day?"
"Yeah Jan said-" Remus pointed at Roman, and the chickens started at him, causing Roman to run away. He couldn't believe he was being chased by chickens, that his brother had sicked on him
Remus doubled over laughing, cackling like this was the funniest thing to ever happen. After Roman running around, nearly getting pecked, Remus stopped the chickens, putting them back in the coop, "S-So-" Remus was trying to stop his laughter as he shut the door to the coop, looking down at Roman, who'd fallen. He took a breath, "So, how about we head inside, get cleaned up, and start dinner for tonight?"
"Are you even allowed to cook??"
"Not alo-hone!" He sang, offering Roman his hand. Roman smiled a bit, and took it, standing up
"Hey guys!" A jolly voice said, as they got the mats set up, the fire being started by Janus. Roman looked over, to see the baker, a man shorter than the twins, circular glasses, with a buff kind of dad bod, and also had a bag of treats
"Patty!" Remus headed over, hugging him. Patton hugged him back tightly, starting to happily talk with to him. Not long later, Virgil and Logan joined them, Virgil having a guitar with him
As the sun set, and the fire was their only light in the quickly cooling area, they ended up getting closer. Patton holding Remus close as they ate their hotdogs, Janus and Logan leaning on each other, giving occasional kisses. Virgil and Roman sat close, a blanket similar to the ones the other pairs had, wrapped around them. Virgil started to play a song on his guitar, a sweet song that just emphasized the tender moment
Roman could see why Remus liked it here, especially when he looked up. The sky was as clear as crystal, stars dotting the deep rich blue, "Woah.." He leaned against the string bean of a person that is Virgil
"Mhm.." Virgil hummed, continuing to play. The fire lit all of their faces, showing that each of them were happy. Roman could get used to this, even if it did mean climbing up a hill each day to get back from town, even with the hard work, even if there were fights. Moments like this were worth every second of it