"Stupid boy! Get back here!"

I was still running. Have been for a while now. My ankle was killing me, and I couldn't feel my arm. It was really bad this time..

Tripping over my own feet, I forced myself to keep going.

"You little coward! You can't run forever, and I'm always one step behind you!"

He was right. I couldn't go on any further. My ankle was killing me, and my arm started throbbing in pain. I collapsed onto the ground. Looking behind me, I saw my dad laughing. Taunting me with the knife in his hand as he ran towards me. I looked ahead and instead of more houses, I saw a huge cliff.

Should I wait for the wrath of my father, or should I roll off the cliff?

Who am I kidding? Any fate is better than the countless things he could do to me.

I gave in, rolling over the edge. I let myself feel the wind against me and the gravity pulling on my body. I closed my eyes and accepted the inevitable. I was gonna die

Alone....

—

Tuesday

The wind had stopped. I wasn't falling anymore. Was I dead? I must be. It's dark, and so warm. I haven't been this comfy in forever. I forced my eyes open and realized I wasn't dead.

I was in Roman's arms, in his room. At first I was a little freaked out, but then I remembered everything and relaxed, snuggling closer to him.

"Goodmorning, love."

I groaned, nuzzling my head into his chest "G'morning..."

He chuckled. "You seem cheery."

"Don't wanna get up." I mumbled.

"We have to, it's only Tuesday."

"Mmmm...no."

"Virgil, dear. We have to."

He tried getting up, but I put my arms around him, clinging onto him like a leech holding him down. He laughed.

"Virgil, we have to get up or we'll be late!"

"But your so warm.."

I closed my eyes again. He eventually gave up struggling and hugged me back. We stayed like that for a while longer.

"You're freezing, Virgil."

"Mm fine."

He pried my arms off of him and got up before I could trap him again. Going to his closet, he opened it and retrieved a red and white sweatshirt. He threw it at me. I groaned, sitting up as I put on the jacket over my long sleeved shirt. It was warm just like Roman, and it smelled like him too; cinnamon and vanilla. I inhaled the sweet scent. Fiddling with the sleeves that were slightly too long for me I looked up at him through my bangs.

He was smiling like a total (adorable) weirdo.

"What's so funny? Does it look weird?"

He walked away from the closet and sat on the bed beside me. He moved my bangs away from my eyes. He kissed my eye that was bruised and then quickly kissed me. I blushed, hiding my face in the sweatshirt.

"You're so adorable."

"Shut it, princey."

"Make me."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Why, yes. It is."

"Well in that case.."

I tackled him, pinning his arms down to the bed. I leaned my face inches from his. He stared wide eyed at me, his breathing quickening. His eyes were full of longing. Neither of us moved for a bit, until I smirked, letting go of him.

"Hey! You can't just do that and not—"

"Not what, princey?"

He made a face of frustration. I smirked, satisfied that I'd won.

"That's what you get for making me get up."

He rolled his eyes, smiling.

"You love me."

"Alas, I do." He said hugging me from behind as I leaned into him.

"Can we please skip today?"

Roman was quiet for a moment, then sighed. "I suppose we can. My mom will make an acception since you were just hurt."

I smiled. "I knew you'd say yes."

"How could I say no to that face?"

He let go of me and got up, getting dressed into his normal attire. Light jeans and a white T-shirt, a brown and red jacket over it. He looked adorable, but I made an annoyed face.

"I thought you said we weren't going to school."

"We aren't. I'm taking you out."

"What, like a date?"

"Yes, now get up and get ready."

I sighed and got up. I looked in the mirror. My black eye was still bad, and you could still see the cut on my nose, but all of the other bruises had faded to just light shadows gracing my skin. Nevertheless, I cringed at my face, instinctively moving my bangs back to cover my eyes.

I hated my eyes.

Roman's tall figure appeared behind me. He ruffled his hair till he found a look he liked. He looked at me.

"You ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Good." He smiled, taking my hand, leading me out of the bathroom and down the stairs. Roman's mom was at the table with glasses on reading with a notebook and pen in front of her. She looked up, taking her glasses off.

"Goodmorning you two. Virgil, are you feeling any better today?"

I nodded. "Much better. Thanks for helping me."

She smiled. "It's not a problem, dear. Are you sure you want to go to school the day after? I could write a sick note for you if you wanted to take it easy for the day."

"Um, actually mom, me and Virgil were gonna go out for the day. Try to get his mind off of stuff. That alright?"

"Of course. Though, should you call your parents Virgil?"

I shook my head quickly. "They know where I am, I texted them last night."

"Oh, alright. Then go off and have fun you two." She smiled. She was so carefree. Unlike my mom..she didn't have that luxury.

"See ya mom!" Roman said quickly as he walked out the door, still holding my hand.

He led me to his car as he opened the passenger door for me. I smirked and rolled my eyes, climbing into the car.

"You're the prince. I should be opening doors for you."

"Nonsense." He insisted, shutting the door and walking around the other side, climbing into the drivers seat.

He started the car and backed out of the driveway.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise." He said, smirking. I rolled my eyes. I hate surprises. They make me anxious.

"Please tell me!" I plead.

"Well, first we have to make a stop, and I want to make sure you're ok with it.." He said, uncertain.

"And that is..?"

"Your house."

My heart dropped. Nobody had ever gone to my house before. It wasn't too messy. It was actually kinda nice looking, I suppose. There were just a few..dents in the walls.

"If you don't want to, we don't have to. I just—"

"No, it's fine. My dad's at work anyways. It'll just be my mom."

"Are you sure?"

I nod. "Mhm."

"Alright." He said, a bit relieved. "How do I get there?"

I gave him directions. It took around ten minutes to get from his house to mine. Once we parked in the driveway, I unbuckled. Dad's car wasn't here in the driveway. Hopefully it wasn't in the garage.

"I'll wait in the car, ok?"

I opened the door just a hint and turned to him, a bit afraid to get out. "Could you come with me, just in case?"

He smiled sympathetically, nodding. "Of course, but only if you want me to."

"I really do."

"Alrighty." He said, unbuckling. We got out of the car together and went up to the door. I knocked so if dad was home, he would stop yelling and compose himself.

The door opened.

————

I got out of the car and walked beside Virgil up to his front door. He shakily lifted his hand to the door and knocked. A weird way of entering your own house, but I said nothing.

We heard the door unlock and open. A stunning woman opened the door. She looked at Virgil and smiled.

"Virgil, honey. I'm so glad you're ok. Shouldn't you be at school?"

"I'm taking a bit of a sick day today.."

She looked a bit worried. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I feel like crap.."

"Alright.." She said, still a bit uncertain.

"Are you sure you'll be okay, though?"

"I'll be fine, I always am." She smiled.

Finally letting go of Virgil, she noticed my presence. She was shocked to see me, like she'd never seen another human being in her life.

"Virgil, who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Roman. Roman, this is my mom."

Her smile widened as she went to hug me. "It's so nice to meet you, Roman!"

I smiled, hugging her back briefly. "It's nice to meet you too Mrs..." I trailed off at her name.

"Kuznetsov."

I blinked. Kuz-net-what-now? Noticing my confusion she chuckled. "You can call me Mrs. K, or just skip the formality and call me Harper."

I smiled. "Well, again, it's nice to meet you Mrs. K."

"And you as well, Roman."

For Virgil's..personal life I've heard so much about, his mom was the highlight of it. She was sweet and kind and Virgil seemed to love her a lot. I could tell he did just by the way he behaved around her. I knew she wasn't acting.

"Anyway mom, I just need to grab a few things. That ok?"

"Oh, yeah. That's fine. Your father is off on a business trip till Thursday night."

I suppose that was code for the house was safe to roam for a while. Virgil nodded. "Ok, thanks."

Virgil went inside and I followed after him. His mom shut the door behind us. His house was honestly pretty nice. Not what a stereotypical house would look like if...what happened to Virgil happens all the time. I still couldn't shake that fact. The fact of him getting hurt in his own home every day.

I followed Virgil up the stairs and into his room. His room had black carpets and black walls and ceiling, but upon further inspection, his entire room was a night sky. Beautiful starts and constellations were painted over the black paint. The northern lights were on one wall, while the northern star and the classic "second star to the right" were on another. The moon was on the ceiling. It looked so realistic, I had to make sure it wasn't a photo.

"Virgil, did you...did you paint all this?"

"Took me a while cause mom had to sneak me leftover paint, but yeah. Why? Is it that bad?"

"Virgil, it's..."

He flinched, expecting my answer to be horrible.

"It's an absolute masterpiece.."

He blushed, embarrassed. Not wanting to accept my compliment, he changed the subject.

"So what do I need to pack?"

"Just a bathing suit and a spare set of clothes."

"Alright." He went into his closet, retrieving what he needed for our little trip. While he got his stuff, I opened a drawer in his dressed to find multiple canvases painted beautifully. One was even a graphite drawing.

I had no idea Virgil had such amazing talent. He finally put his stuff into a bag. Quickly I set the pictures back into the drawer.

"Aren't you going to change into one of your jackets?" I asked, pretending as if I didn't just sneak through his stuff.

"I like yours." He said, blushing even more. I smiled and walked over to him, booping his nose.

"Cutie."

"Am not."

I kissed him passionately. He closed his eyes and gave in, kissing me back. I pulled away, causing him to huff.

"Yes. You are."

He gave up arguing with me and swung his bag on his back. He looked at me through his bangs.

"So now can you tell me where we're going?"

"Any guesses?"

"Well it involves swimming. That's all I got."

"Good." I said, smirking.

"God, you're impossible." He muttered, taking my hand and walking back downstairs.

Virgil's mom was sitting on the couch writing in a journal. She looked up at us, her expression a bit sad.

"Leaving so soon?"

"Yeah, I don't know where we're going, but apparently we have to leave at 7:45 in the morning to get there."

"And it's almost 7:40. Don't want to be behind schedule." I add.

His mom stood up, setting the journal down and walking over to Virgil. She gave him the biggest, longest hug. It was adorable. Virgil hugged back, a bit embarrassed. She turned to me and gave me a big hug as well, which earned a smile from Virgil and me. She was so kind given her circumstances.

She pulled away and looked at me. "It was so nice to meet you, Roman. Please, come over any time."

I smiled and nodded. Virgil tugged on my sleeve. I said goodbye one more time and then left with Virgil. We got back in the car and I began driving. I took the scenic route because I hated highways, and it was longer. Even though I wanted to get to our destination, Virgil was being adorable as usual. He put the window down while we were blasting Disney songs and he was singing along quietly just enough for me to hear him. Though, I confess, I was belting my heart out.

With one hour down and one more to go, I turned down the music a bit so it wasn't blasting. Virgil was asleep in the passengers seat when I looked over. His bangs were pushed out of his eyes by all the wind. One of his arms was in his lap, while the other one was resting on the arm rest. He was just barely grazing my arm. I smiled. I wanted to look at him for hours on end..

My Virgil.

Unfortunately for me I was driving. At least I have a whole day with him to myself.

Just me and him, for a small little while...