Logan was standing in his room, not completely sure what to do. He watched his friends get dragged away from him into who knows what terrible situation? He felt his heart tighten...wait, that's not right. Your heart can't physically tighten, that's impossible. It's the chemical reaction of your body releasing hormones that create the illusion of your heart constricting.

This...feeling...ah, it's fear, of course. But...it feels worse. His mind flashed to the awful possibilities of what could be happening to his friends, right now. He felt his breath quicken with the rate of his fear pumping through his body. It's his fault...he isn't keeping his friends away from danger...it's his fault, it's all his fault. He started to shake with his thoughts. Logan ran to his room, closing his door as calmly as possible. He scrambled for his phone and dialed Janus.

Logan felt his body stop shaking at the sound of his best friend's voice, "Hey, Jan...are you okay...?

"Oh, hey, Lo...yeah, I'm fine... why, what's wrong?"

Logan debated if he should tell him...no, he would wait until he could tell Janus and Roman in person. "Nothing, Jan. Just making sure..."

"Alright, well, try to relax."

"Can you...stay on? And just talk to me?"

"Of course."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roman was dressed in a casual, yet dressy style. He has a date. With a girl...ugh... he doesn't even know anything about this girl, and the thought of being in a relationship with someone he doesn't know sickened him. Roman's a romantic, don't get him wrong- but he loves the long, drawn out, "fell in love with my best friend" type of romances. Rushing into one made him uneasy.

But, here he was. Sitting at a cafe table, across from a girl that looked just as uneasy.

"Look, I don't wanna be here. My parents are gold diggers and I'm the shovel, you're the dirt. They want the benefits from your family. I don't."

Roman sighed, "Cool. My parents are forcing me into this because it doesn't look good if I look "unlovable." "

The girl nodded, "Secondly, I'm not a girl. If you have a problem with that, then you can check out. I'm nonbinary and my style happens to be more on the "feminine" side of the spectrum," they informed Roman.

Roman was feeling more relaxed with this person already, "Cool, I'm gay and demi. How deep are you in the closet?"

"I'm swimming in skirts and dresses."

"I think we're gonna get along."

"We need to set down the rules of this "relationship" yeah?"

"We're only friends, but we tell people we're in a relationship, and act like it in front of other people and our parents."

They nodded, "Mhm, and we can't see other people, even though we wouldn't care. Our families and the public would kill us."

"Probably literally."

"Mhm, my preferred name is Lark. But, you'll have to call me Vanessa and use female pronouns around other people I'm not out to."

"I apologize in advance."

"It's okay."

We spent the next few hours going over things to say and things not to say and do. Basically just telling each how to not mess up either of their lives.

It's nice to have an ally...