TW: Guns, blood, death, manipulation

"Ro, babe!"

Roman turned, anger already pooling in his stomach.

It was the morning after his meeting with Valerie. He got up extra early to meet with Remy, determined to memorize the millionaire's schedule. Until now, Roman had just been mindlessly following Remy around, not paying much attention to where they were going.

He did notice that they were visiting the same places every day. If he got the timing right, his assassination could go off without a hitch.

"What's up, Remy?" Roman gave him a fake smile.

"Come with me." Remy snapped his fingers and gestured for the younger to follow him.

Roman huffed, cursing the scientist under his breath. How dare he? He had the audacity to act like nothing was wrong, when he was planning on killing Roman's closest friends.

"Where are we headed?" Roman asked with thinly veiled rage.

Either Remy didn't notice or didn't care. "A little birdie told me that you payed Ms. Valerie a visit last night." He said in lieu of a reply. "What's that all about?"

Roman blanked for a second. Did one of the guards see? How else would Remy know? What did the guard hear? What did the guard tell Remy?

"Emile wanted me to go check on her." Roman told him. "She was barely awake. I'd be surprised if she remembered me being there?"

"And what's your diagnosis?" Remy smirked.

"She looked perfectly fine." Roman shrugged.

"Mhm." Remy nodded. "Okay."

There was a pause.

"Where are we headed?" Roman asked again.

"My office." Remy answered. "We have a guest waiting in there for us."

Roman furrowed his brow. Of course, the one day that he was going to try and follow Remy's schedule, and he decided to switch things up.

"Do I know this guest?" Roman questioned.

"Hopefully." Remy chuckled. "It would be a bit surprising if you didn't."

---

"Get your fucking hands off me!"

Those were the words Roman was greeted with when he entered the office. The voice was familiar, and Roman tensed up as he laid eyes on Remy's prisoner.

A tall, burly man. His beared face was contorted into a scowl, his muscles tensing as he tried to escape the guard's hold.

It was him.

"You." Roman spat, marching forward. The man glanced up at him.

"Do I know you, kid?" The man scoffed.

"You're the guy who stole my bow." Roman sneered, poking his finger into the man's chest.

"Oh!" The man snorted. "I remember you." He sneered. "You're that eighteen year old with the dead dad."

"Where is it?" Roman demanded.

"Where's what?" The man rolled his eyes. "I'm not a mind reader."

"The bow!" Roman snapped.

"Well, since you asked so nicely." The man huffed. "Your 'bow' was fucking useless. Arrows wouldn't go where I wanted."

Roman's heart sank. "What did you do with it?"

"Threw it in the river." The man shrugged. "What other use would it have?"

Roman stared in stunned silence. "...What did you just say?"

"Is this kid fucking stupid or something?" The man asked one of the guards. "I threw your bow in the river! What's so hard to understand?"

His bow, the bow he'd had for years. The only thing he had left of his parents. It was gone? Just like that? Just because some idiot didn't know how to use it?

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Roman's voice shook with anger, his fists clenching and unclenching restlessly.

Some of the man's confidence vanished, his smirk wavering for a second.

"My men found him taking pills outside a gas station." Remy informed Roman, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm gonna go out on a hunch and say they weren't prescribed."

"A guy's gotta get high somehow." The man gave them a lazy grin.

"That day in the pharmacy." Roman mumbled, coming to a realization. "While my friend--my best friend--was sacrificing himself, you were off...getting high?"

"Not only that," Remy mumbled into Roman's ear. "He had the audacity to actually steal your bow instead of offering you help?"

"Hey, man! What are you tryna do here?!" The man barked at Remy.

"Roman," Remy ignored the man, "he took most of the penicillin pills." He said. "Do you wanna know why it took you so long to find any? This guy was hogging them all to himself."

Roman's mind was spinning. He could've gone back for Virgil sooner. He could've helped.

Virgil could have lived.

"You fucker." Roman spat, breathing becoming heavy. "You sick fucker!" He reeled his fist back to punch the man in the fist.

Remy caught his arm before he could.

Roman furrowed his brow. "Wha--?!"

"Just a punch, Roman?" Remy questioned softly. "You're just gonna let this guy walk away with only a bruise for his crimes?"

He gently grabbed Roman's wrist, guiding his hand.

"Your friend is dead because of him. Your family is miserable because of him."

Roman nodded in agreement, blind with fury.

He didn't realize where Remy was leading his hand until his fingers wrapped around his gun.

"Don't you think he needs to pay?"

"Woah--Wait--" The man's eyes widened, and he struggled in the guard's hold.

Roman took the gun out of its holster, Remy still guiding his arm.

"He was off getting high while you suffered."

Roman scowled.

Remy made Roman point the gun in the man's face.

The scientist backed off, but Roman kept his position.

"What would happen if I pulled this trigger?" Roman asked flatly.

The man didn't answer, pale as a sheet.

"A lot of things would happen." Roman answered himself, tilting his head. "There would be a loud bang, a bullet would fly out, there'd be a flash." His finger tightened around the trigger. "Most importantly, though, you'd die."

"P-Please--" The man stammered, still struggling furiously. "I didn't know about your friend--"

"Shut up." Roman growled.

"Just don't shoot, man! We can talk about this--!"

"Shut up!" Roman screamed, tearing up. "How dare you?! He was eighteen, he was just a kid!"

"You're acting like I killed the kid myself!" The man choked out. "This is ridiculous!"

"I could've saved him!" Roman yelled.

"Hate to break it to ya, kid, but your friend would've died either way!" The man growled. "This has nothing to do with me! So what if I nabbed a few pills?! Can you blame me?!"

"Can you believe that?" Remy laughed incredulously to a nearby guard. "The audacity of this man is confounding."

"I'll kill you." Roman promised lowly, pressing the barrel of the gun to the man's forehead.

"Sir--" One of the guards furrowed his brow.

Remy shushed him.

"Kid--Kid--" The man went still, eyes widening even more. "Just relax, okay? Think about this--!"

Roman pulled the trigger.

The bang that followed was way louder than he was expecting. It shocked him back into his senses, and he hastily dropped the weapon.

Blood had splattered onto his arms, his shirt, his face. It almost felt like it was burning through his skin. "Oh god--!" He stammered, backing away.

The man had fallen limp in the guard's hold, head hanging low. The two men dropped him, and the corpse fell to the floor with a dull thud.

"Oh dear." Remy tsked. "That's a pity."

"He's dead." Roman whispered, bringing his hands up to cup his mouth. "Oh my god--he's dead! I-I killed him!"

"Roman, you shouldn't have let your emotions get the better of you." Remy sighed, walking over to him.

"You--!" Roman snapped his eyes over to him. "You told me to! I-I didn't--!"

"I did nothing of the sort!" Remy quickly denied, laughing a bit. "Babe, I never told you to actually kill the poor fool." He rolled his eyes, wrapping his arm around Roman's shoulders.

"But I--You--!"

"Sure, I helped you get there." Remy shrugged. "I won't deny that. Pulling the trigger, though? That was all you, Roman."

"No--I--"

"Hell--I didn't even touch the gun!" Remy barked out another laugh, guiding Roman out of the room. "Don't worry, though. I won't tell anyone about this." Remy smirked.

Roman couldn't breathe, his mind refusing to fully process what he just did.

"Listen, Ro, I'm going to keep this secret for you." Remy lowered his voice. "So whatever Valerie told you last night, I want it to disappear, 'kay?"

Roman froze, eyes widening. "...what?"

Remy still had an easygoing smile on his face. "Just keep that in mind, yeah? Otherwise, our little secret may not stay so secret."

"You did this on purpose." Roman realized. "You--You--"

"I'll be keeping an eye on you." Remy squeezed his shoulder. "Can't just let a murderer run around with no supervision, yeah? Go clean yourself up, by the way. Blood isn't really a fashion statement." Remy ran a hand through his hair. "Meet me back here when you're done."

"I-I--" Roman shook his head.

"Relax, it's gonna be alright." Remy backed away, grinning. "Just keep your trap shut, babe. It's that easy."

With that, the millionaire turned around and went back into the office.

Roman looked down at his bloodstained hands.

He had killed someone.

---

The rest of the day went by in a dull blur.

Roman felt disconnected from everything as he stayed by Remy's side, too dazed to feel angry.

What would his parents say if they knew what became of their son? What would his brother say?

God, what would Virgil and Patton say? They died for him, just so he could live like this?

He went into the tent that night earlier than usual. Remy seemed to pity him, because he let Roman go with no protest.

"Ro?" Janus asked immediately.

"Roman!" Logan and Remus exclaimed at the same time, the latter shooting the former a strange look.

Logan either didn't notice or didn't care. "You're here." He said, blinking in surprise. "The sun only went down an hour ago."

"Yeah--I, uh, wasn't feeling well." Roman mumbled, climbing into his sleeping bag.

"What?" Remus furrowed his brow. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Yeah, probably just stress." Roman laughed humorlessly.

"Damn that Lavalle." Janus hissed. "He's practically working you to the bone."

"Don't speak about him that way, Jan." Logan lightly scolded. "He's a hardworking man, it's only natural he would expect the same from his men." Logan sighed. "It's admirable, really."

Roman felt something ugly curl in his gut. Remy didn't deserve Logan's praise.

"Logan," Roman spoke up, ready to tell his friend about all the things that his role model had done.

"Yes?" Logan turned to him.

Roman paused.

"Our little secret may not stay so secret."

"...nothing. Nevermind." Roman rolled over, facing away from them all. "Goodnight."

He couldn't tell him. What if one of the guards was listening?

Roman couldn't let them know what he'd done. They'd be horrified. They'd hate him.

He wouldn't be able to live with that.

"Oh, okay." Logan murmured, surprised. "Goodnight."

"Don't let the bed bugs bite." Remus said. "Unless you're into that shit, then go crazy, I guess."

"Sleep well, Ro." Janus hummed.

They kept their voices low for the rest of the night as to not disturb Roman.

However, Roman couldn't sleep.

His mind kept replaying that moment over and over. What had he been thinking? It was such a stupid thing to be angry about, much less kill someone over.

And now, Remy wanted to hang it over his head.

No, he couldn't stand for that.

He hadn't been sure before, but he was sure now.

Roman needed to kill Remy Lavalle.

That was the only way for them to escape without Roman's secret being revealed.

Remy needed to die in order for Roman to walk away.

So, he formed a plan.

A/N:

I'm not the biggest fan of this one, and idk what the reactions will be but yolo 😎