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fangirlwriting-stories · 11 months

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(Not) A Thing of Importance

Summary: Roman has never put much thought into his soulmates, and he's perfectly fine with that. He doesn't really plan to have any kind of relationship with them whatsoever, and he just wants to go adventuring and find people who he can enjoyably do that with. He does not expect those people to be his soulmates.

Unfortunately, Youngblood throws a wrench into that plan.

When Roman was a little kid, he had actually been upset about it.

And it’s not like there was something wrong with that. It was a perfectly normal thing to get upset about, especially at that age. His father had told Roman before he could even read the words on his wrist that soulmates were not the end-all-be-all. Roman had assumed that was because his soulmate wasn’t around anymore, or because his father was just forward thinking like that.

And that might still be true, but Roman suspects that in actuality, it had more to do with the two sentences on his wrist.

One says “What the fuck are you doing here?”, which, okay, Roman has always been particularly curious. He can think of countless times he got into somewhere he shouldn’t, especially when he was younger. He can totally see a reason for someone to ask him that upon meeting him for the first time.

The other sentence, however, says, “It’s you. I hate you.” Which, uh, ouch.

So, yeah. Roman had been pretty upset when he first learned how to read.

His father, however, had calmed him and comforted him and said that anyone who couldn’t see that Roman would be a joy to have in their life wasn’t worthy of him anyway.

And yes, it has taken Roman some time to come around to that idea. But in the end, he has a father who he knows loves him, he has Aunt Patty, and he has Reston; and once his father actually gives him permission to go exploring outside of Reston which will no doubt happen any day now, he’ll have tons of new experiences and new life to live that will give him plenty of opportunities to meet people. Friends, and soulmates, and everything in between. He’s not going to spend his entire life putting himself down because of two people. There are plenty more who do want him around, and Roman would rather focus on them.

So, soulmates. Who needs ‘em?

At least, that was Roman’s general attitude up until today.

Youngblood is certainly nothing like Roman expected. Granted, he’s not the “I hate you” one, so Roman had always had somewhat higher expectations. But Youngblood shows up acting suspicious of everything and everyone even after their first meeting— which could have gone better, to be fair.

Roman is so startled when Youngblood snaps his soulmark at him that all he can think to do is puppet the words back in response: “Uh, what the fuck are you doing here?”

And then Youngblood blinks, and Roman blinks, and both of them look at each other for a minute.

“That,” Youngblood says finally, “is such a stupid response to a soulmark.”

“Uh, excuse you, you’re the one who showed up at my town and asked me what I’m doing as if I don’t live here!” Roman exclaims.

“I don’t see a town,” Youngblood says, crossing his arms. “And you walked into my camp.”

Roman glances around and finally notices that it does seem like this is a campsite. “Oh,” he says, turning back around. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. I was just sent to investigate a weird noise at the edge of town.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Youngblood says, holding up his hands. “I’m just uh, not great with people invading my space. But it’s fine! It’s uh…”

He trails off, and both of them look at each other for another moment.

“I’m Roman,” Roman says with a little wave. “Roman of Reston.”

“Youngblood,” Youngblood says. “Sorry, this is weird for me.”

“Well hey, I’m with you there,” Roman says with a shrug. “I didn’t expect either of my soulmates to be this nice, so.”

Youngblood looks at him in confusion. “You didn’t— wait, why not? You know what, it doesn’t even matter. You should go.”

Roman blinks. “Go?”

“Yeah, it’s not— look, I’m really sorry, I know you were probably expecting something different, but you shouldn’t be around me.”

“I mean, I wasn’t really expecting it to be that different, but why shouldn’t I be around you?” Roman asks.

But now Youngblood just looks confused again. “What were you expecting when you met us— I mean me?”

Roman shrugs and holds up his wrist. “For one of you to ask what the fuck I was doing there and the other to say that they hated me.”

Youngblood stares at him for a minute, then walks across the clearing and looks down at his wrist. Several emotions pass across his face, and he shakes his head. “That doesn’t make any sense,” he says. “Noise was— I mean they—”

“Oh, you’ve met them?” Roman asks, slightly surprised. “I figured we’d all meet at once, and then I’d head off and keep doing what I was doing.”

Youngblood looks up at him. “That doesn’t make any sense,” he says. “He wanted to meet you even more than I did, why would he—”

“Oh, really?” Roman asks, more than a little surprised. “Huh, that’s weird. Well, whatever, hardly matters.”

Youngblood turns to stare at him again. “Hardly matters? What, like you don’t care?”

“Am I supposed to?” Roman asks. “I don’t really want to wait around for people who yell at me or say they hate me the first time they see me. I mean not— not that I’m blaming you or anything,” Roman says, holding his hands up. “It seems like I took yours out of context, and getting to know you sounds fun. But apparently you don’t want to be around me, so.” He shrugs again. “No biggie. Town duty fulfilled. Did you want me to head out, or if you want to come get some bread first we’ve got a plethora—”

“Wait, wait.” Youngblood holds up his head. “Do you really not care?”

Roman hesitates. “If I spent too much time caring, it would not have gone well for me,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. “Again, I’m not going to hold that against you, you seem cool, and I’m totally down to get to know you, but if you don’t want to do that, that’s fine too. It’s all the same to me.”

Youngblood stares at him for another minute. “I just, don’t know how safe it would be,” he says slowly.

“Well, if that’s what you’re worried about, I can promise you that you’ll be perfectly safe in Reston!” Roman says, gesturing behind him. “I’m protecting the town today, and there’s some investigating I need to do, but my dad and Aunt Patty are coming back later, and they’ve got more experience than me too.”

Youngblood looks at him for a moment longer, seeming like he’s doing way more processing in the moment than Roman is.

“…Okay,” he says finally.

“Okay!” Roman says happily, turning around and walking back towards Reston, chatting happily to his soulmate who has apparently turned out to not be as bad as he thought he’d be.

…

After a thoroughly exciting day, Roman decided that Youngblood wouldn’t be bad to travel with at all.

His father, as he suspected, did not like Youngblood at first, but after talking with him he seemed to agree, however begrudgingly, that he at least deserved a chance, meaning Roman set out with Youngblood the next day, ready to face whatever the world had to offer outside of Reston.

Youngblood hasn’t really brought up the fact that they’re soulmates again, but Roman expects him to do it sooner or later, and after their bonding session in the Communicave, he’s not too surprised when it happens.

“So,” he says, as they’re walking through the woods. “Can I ask… you really haven’t cared about your soulmates your whole life?”

Roman gives him a sympathetic smile. “It’s nothing personal, really,” he says. “I just assumed neither of you would want me, and I decided I’d rather not base my self worth around that, so I didn’t.”

“You just… decided that?” Youngblood asks in bafflement.

“Well, with some help from my dad,” Roman says, moving aside a branch as they walk. “I had a lot of people who loved me and wanted me around, so I decided why should I base my identity off of two people the universe just randomly decided would be important to me?”

“So you… didn’t take it personally,” Youngblood says, sounding nervous about it for some reason.

“Nope,” Roman says happily. “I can’t help it if people don’t like me. And I’d rather be me, you know? I think I’m pretty great!”

“Uh-huh,” Youngblood says, sounding relieved.

“Why do you ask?” Roman asks curiously, glancing over at him.

Youngblood hesitates.

Roman narrows his eyes slightly in concern. “You good?”

“Fine, don’t worry about it,” Youngblood says, walking forward and putting an end to the conversation.

So Roman shrugs it off, like he does most things involving soulmates, and follows Youngblood towards the bright glow in the distance, which he’s becoming more curious about by the second.

It turns out to be a city called Fantabulous Neon, and the two of them spend the day wandering around, buying some potions, being force-fed some croissants, and going to casinos.

The last place has to be Roman’s favorite, considering that they win a lot of money there. Clearly they should go to casinos more often, this seems like a great way to make money and not something that’s falsely addicting at all!

Roman is just about to turn and suggest this to Youngblood as a way of making money during their travels, when the room goes quiet and everyone starts looking towards the entrance.

Youngblood spins around with his general air of suspicion, and he seems to recognize something he’s looking at a brief second before Roman does.

“Hey Roman?” he says quietly to him. “I think I should probably tell you something—”

“Well well well,” a voice cuts him off. “Dare my eyes deceive me? Or is that truly the sorry mug of my oh-so-dear soulmate Youngblood?”

The soulmate part catches Roman’s attention, and he’s pretty sure he knows what Youngblood wanted to tell him.

Roman turns to take in who he’s pretty sure must be his other soulmate. They’re a tiefling. They’ve definitely got more flair than Youngblood does, that’s for sure, though Youngblood has a tendency to want to blend in, which might contribute to part of it. They’ve got an eyepatch that definitely makes them look cool, and a very cool looking sword.

“So I’m guessing that’s…” Roman says as an aside to Youngblood.

“Yeah,” Youngblood says. “Just… yeah.”

Before Roman can ask any followups, the tiefling comes over to stop in front of them both, glaring right at Youngblood. He’s trying to hide it behind a smirk, but Roman suspects it’s a little less real than he’d like it to be. Especially considering the way Youngblood talks about him, the few times he has.

“What a sight it is to see you here after all this time,” they say anyway. “You think you can disappear for a year, and just waltz back in here like nothing happened? I mean truly Youngblood, leaving without a word. You really were heartless.” They sneer at Youngblood while putting one hand over their heart and another on their forehead.

And well, if Roman already knows how this is gonna go for him, the least he can do is defend their other soulmate and his friend from a completely unwarranted attack.

“Sorry, there might be some sort of misunderstanding here,” Roman says, drawing the tiefling’s attention and almost-immediate glare. “Because the Youngblood that I’ve been traveling with has been far from heartless, okay?”

A myriad of emotions crosses the tieflings face in less than a second, and Roman can tell they’ve recognized their own soulmark. They turn from Roman, to Youngblood, and then back, before narrowing their eyes in quite a bit of rage to have towards someone they just met.

“It’s you,” the tiefling hisses, clenching his hands into fists. “I hate you.”

They seem to realize what they said a second later, because their eyes widen, and Roman sees something close to regret flash across their face.

He, however, just raises his hands up in an attempt at a disarming gesture. “Cool,” he says. “Got that written down. But look, I don’t know what may be the beef between the two of you,” he gestures between the tiefling and Youngblood again. “But if we could just talk about this, maybe come to some sort of common resolution?”

The tiefling stares at him for a second, not seeming to comprehend what he’s said. “What— but you—” He looks at Roman for a couple more seconds, then seems to shake himself.

“There’s nothing to work out,” they say. “Too much has changed.” They draw themselves upright and glare down at Youngblood again. “You see, I was promoted to my rightful place as first chair the moment you left. No longer tailing behind you. And unlike you, I took my orders from our glorious Bard King seriously. So I’m here, helping this noisy town solve some petty crimes. Honestly it’s easy work. I don’t know why you ever made a fuss.”

Youngblood shoots a glance over at Roman too, who at this point is honestly kind of wishing he really could just dip out of this like he’s been planning all these years. He’s not going to just leave Youngblood like that, though.

Youngblood glares back at Noise a second later. “It’s not what I wanted to do,” he says. “And I’m glad you feel good about the fact that you only got appointed to that position because I left.”

“Woah,” Roman says, looking between them. “Wait, what is all this fighting over a chair? That’s ridiculous.”

“Roman,” Youngblood sighs, pressing a hand to his forehead.

“Did you need backup so bad you went and got your own color guard?” the tiefling asks, crossing their arms with an amused smirk.

“Noise,” Youngblood snaps, like he’s getting fed up. “He’s standing right here, and you know exactly what you’re doing.”

“It really is okay,” Roman says, holding out a reassuring hand. “I don’t have a lot invested in this relationship.”

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve invested,” Youngblood snaps, still talking to Roman while not looking away from Noise, who’s glaring right back at him. “You would never say something like that after you realized what was going on. He’s just being a little bitch. Besides,” Youngblood leans closer into Noise’s face as he stops talking with Roman. “Roman’s been less heartless than you lately.”

Noise reels back like Youngblood slapped them, and Youngblood in the next second looks like he almost regrets it, and Roman is just very ready for the two of them to stop saying things with the clear intent of hurting the other.

After a second, Noise stands up and puts on a very obvious mask, which Roman finds himself not fond of, since now literally all three of them know he’s hiding very obvious hurt.

“Where are my manners?” they say, back into pretending to be a confident and smug presence, despite how pointless they all know it is. “Though you may have already heard of me and you of course know my relevance to the both of you, my name is Noise. Ranking first chair of the Bard King’s righteous marching band.”

Noise puts a hand on his hip and leans forward with a snicker, his tail flicking in excitement. “Something’s off here. You’ve changed,” he says to Youngblood. The next second, he leans forward and grabs Youngblood by the collar, pulling him down.

“You’re getting weak,” they laugh.

“Uh no, no one is weak,” Youngblood says, glaring down and shoving Noise off.

“Yeah, this is like the strongest dude I’ve ever met,” Roman says.

“Thank you,” Youngblood says.

“I mean, besides my daddy,” Roman adds. Because obviously.

“I appreciate it?” Youngblood says, though he sounds less sure this time.

“You know,” Noise says without acknowledging either of them. “Ever since you left, I’ve heard nothing but ‘you didn’t earn that chair.’”

His mask slips again for a second, and he glances at Roman again for some reason, but shakes it off and turns to glare back at Youngblood. “I challenge you to a battle of the bards,” he says. “Right here, right now. Let’s finally put to rest which of us is more deserving of first chair.”

“You know what, sure,” Youngblood says, waving his hand dismissively. “Why not. I don’t even want the chair. Fuck the chair. But you know what, I will do it to prove a point.”

Roman sighs audibly, looking up at the ceiling. This is clearly a terrible idea that is not going to help anything, why are they doing it?

He’s still not going to make Youngblood do this alone, however, so when Noise pulls out their sword, Roman does the same and gets ready to fight his second soulmate, which is about the opposite of how involved he wanted to get when they met, but he supposes it’s too late to back out now.

So, time to fight a battle with the two people he’d written out of his life ages ago.

…

The fight goes just about as disastrously as Roman expects, though the end is something of a surprise. Maybe Noise feels bad about some of this after all, because instead of throwing Roman and Youngblood in a cell, he ends up inviting them to dinner.

Roman spends most of the time cheerfully admiring the decor, while Youngblood sits next to him and Noise across from them, both of them seeming far more uncomfortable.

“So, this is great!” Roman says, turning to Noise. “If I can ask however, why exactly are we getting such fancy treatment? I mean we just fought you, and even though we’re helping you and all… I don’t know, I didn’t really think you liked either of us very much.”

Noise winces and glares away. “Well I— again, I wasn’t expecting you to actually fight me. It’s a battle of the bards. But Youngblood’s just a lit fuse, so.”

“No, not a lit fuse, just… cautious,” Youngblood says, looking away himself.

Roman huffs and looks between the two of them, getting a little tired of this.

Snoot shows up before he can say anything with bread and champagne, however, which both taste lovely. And which Youngblood and Noise seem to have less of a tolerance for, surprisingly. At least it seems to get them to open up a little, which they both clearly need.

“Gotta say,” Noise says, giving Roman a smirk. “Even though you totally cut me open, you were pretty funny throughout that whole fight.”

“Thank you!” Roman says brightly.

“And by funny I mean super ridiculous,” Noise finishes, leaning forward on their hand.

Roman laughs. “Well, yeah, I get that a lot,” he says, which seems to throw Noise for a loop. Youngblood looks about to snap at him again, so Roman keeps talking. “I mean this is like, day 2 of having a real sword.”

“Hold on,” Noise says, looking startled. “Did I get my ass nearly handed to me by someone who’s never wielded a sword?”

“Practice sword,” Roman corrects, at the same time Youngblood laughs at Noise next to him.

“But I mean hey, that was pretty wild,” Roman says to Noise, before they can dwell on that. He’s really going to need to talk to Youngblood about his mocking tendencies while Roman’s trying to get him to have a heart-to-heart. “Why did you want to fight so badly? I mean even a bard battle? What’s the beef?”

Youngblood sighs next to him, and Roman turns to face him. “As you know,” he says. “I was attending a Bard College. As you learned today, I was first chair. Noise and I were friends. Very close friends, obviously, since we’re soulmates too.”

“I mean, that’s not necessarily obvious, but sure,” Roman says with a shrug.

Noise gives Roman a weird look, but Youngblood just waves his hand with a nod.

“Sure, whatever,” he says. “Anyway, as my responsibilities started growing at the college, and I started to get better with my singing, I learned that the better I sang, the more powerful I kind of became.”

“Dangerous,” Noise mutters, glaring down at his drink.

“Dangerous?” Roman asks in surprise, turning back to Youngblood.

“To an extent,” Youngblood admits, not looking comfortable with doing so. “As you know, sometimes when I sing, fire kind of follows the sound. Yeah?”

Roman considers that for a minute and sits up in realization. “Wait a minute, were you the one who set that tree on fire when we first met?”

“Perhaps,” Youngblood says hesitantly.

“That was you?!”

“Yes! Dammit, yes,” Youngblood says.

“Woah!”

“But anyway,” Youngblood says, clearly wanting to move on. “The more and more I got better at controlling it, the more and more I started to realize that the college only wanted to make me into this, like, singing weapon, if you will. I didn’t want to be that. So I just… left.”

“Without a word,” Noise says, chiming in for the first time.

Youngblood doesn’t say anything, but Roman can still see the regret on his face.

“To be honest, I think you were just afraid of your own power,” Noise says.

“No, Noise, I don’t think you know as much as you should,” Youngblood says. But before he can elaborate on any of that, Snoot comes back, not seeming at all bothered at interrupting the conversation.

He gives them all some bread, and Roman shares some with Youngblood while trying to give him a break between what’s obviously been a very difficult conversation.

Youngblood is apparently going to surprise Roman however, because he gets Noise’s attention again.

Noise looks over with a baguette in his mouth, which Roman totally understands, it’s hard for him to resist bread too.

“I’ll take this opportunity to apologize,” Youngblood says anyway, and Noise spits the baguette out of their mouth in shock.

“What?” he asks.

“I did kind of hurt you, and never apologized for that either,” Youngblood says. “So… I’m sorry.”

He’s clearly uncomfortable the second he says it, but Roman puts a hand to his chest.

“Aww, that was really good Youngblood,” he says, wiping his eyes.

“Oh fuck don’t cry,” Youngblood mutters, and Roman sits up, wiping his eyes better.

Noise, however, starts to well up on the other side of the table too, so clearly Youngblood just has no idea how good his apologies are.

“Don’t you cry too!” Youngblood exclaims.

“I’m not crying,” Noise snaps through obvious tears. “I just— um… enjoy the rest of your, dinner,” they say, clearly struggling to get up and push the chair back to the table. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow,” they say before they disappear.

“Bye Noise!” Roman calls after him.

He turns back to Youngblood once they’re alone. “You know, they don’t seem so bad,” he says, taking another bite of croissant and talking through the mouthful. “‘specially considerin’ how we met an’ all.”

Youngblood sighs, but doesn’t say anything, and a second later Snoot walks in with the main course.

“Where did Noise go?” they ask as they approach the table.

“He had to excuse himself,” Youngblood says.

“Oh thank god that guy’s a dick,” Snoot says with a sigh of relief, before displaying roast cockatrice for them to eat. He walks off before Roman can decide if he wants to defend Noise or not, so instead he turns back to the food, which is incredible.

Part way through however, Roman realizes that no matter what his slowly-growing-more-conflicted feelings on Noise are, he should still probably say something to the soulmate he’s decided he likes.

“Hey,” he says, turning to Youngblood. “Can I just say, this is really freaking cool. I mean being on this adventure, going to these really cool big cities, and doing it with you, which I didn’t think would ever happen! This is awesome!”

“Yeah,” Youngblood mutters, clearly still torn.

“And you know,” Roman says, nudging him in the side. “I think maybe you can and should keep talking to Noise while we’re here.”

“Well, the reason I apologized,” Youngblood says hesitantly. “Look, we…” he sighs. “I left without saying goodbye, but I also apologized for hurting them. Noise tried to get me to like, embrace my power, and I ended up singing something that… hurt them. And I just kind of left. Before we could talk about it.”

“Hey,” Roman says, putting a hand on his shoulder. “But you did really good today. You know, apologizing, healing old wounds? I mean that’s something, you know?”

Youngblood looks over at him, clearly still thinking about something. Finally, he looks away again.

“I’m just… sorry you had to get dragged in the middle of it,” he says. “None of it was your fault, Roman, and it ended up…”

“Youngblood,” Roman says with a fond shake of his head. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m okay? I’m not bothered by it.”

“Well— I kind of am,” Youngblood admits, leaning back in the booth. “I mean, Noise was clearly trying to hurt you on purpose, and that’s cause he’s mad at me. Look, the two of us, we never really knew what to think about you. Noise, like, for most of his life he was really bothered by the idea that he’d ever call me heartless for some reason. You know, cause that’s what was on his wrist as what you said to him. So, when he said that…”

“They were trying to hurt you on purpose,” Roman says with an understanding nod.

“Yeah,” Youngblood says. “And I think when you responded with his soulmark, he… I don’t know. But he shouldn’t have tried to hurt you on purpose. You didn’t have anything to do with any of this.”

Roman smiles, and gives a shrug. “I think you know by now that it’s pretty hard to get under my skin, Youngblood,” he says. “I’m okay. Really.”

Youngblood looks at him for a moment, and then nods. “Okay,” he says. “Good. I’m glad.” He smiles, just a little. “You have really weird opinions on soulmates, Roman.”

Roman beams. “Thank you!”

…

The following day is a little too all over the place for Roman to wrap his head around completely. They meet up with Flow, who both he and Youngblood like very much, as well as her dog, who they both like decidedly less, especially after slowing them down by jumping into the fountain and making them chase after her. Noise is there for most of it too, but they seem perfectly content to stand on the sides and let Roman and Youngblood do all of the work. Though Roman supposes that makes some level of sense, if they’re supposed to be prisoners after all.

Noise is also giving him the same hesitant look for most of the morning, however, so Roman is pretty sure there’s other reasons for him not getting involved. Youngblood does still manage to get his boots wet however, which he seems very displeased with. It also results in a different unfortunate circumstance however, because the wet footprints left by his boots are more than a little confusing with the footprints they’re all trying to follow.

They consider this for a second after realizing it, and then Roman claps his hands in a moment of inspiration.

“I’ve got it,” he says. “Noise, you are going to ride piggyback for the day on my back.”

Noise stares at him. “What?”

Roman shrugs. “Or you could take off your boots.”

“I— I’m not taking off these boots,” Noise snaps, though they still look hesitant.

“Alrighty then, hop on,” Roman says, crouching down in front of Noise. There is a long moment of pause for some reason, but Noise does eventually climb on, and Roman stands back up.

“Excellent,” he says happily. “Those footprints should be much easier to follow now.”

“But— you just—” Noise says, sounding baffled.

“What?” Roman asks, looking up at him.

Noise stares down at him for a minute. “Nothing, I guess?”

“Cool! Let’s go then!”

Noise doesn’t reply at all, but for some reason the air around all of them seems much more tense. Roman isn’t a huge fan of it, so he’s glad when the footprints lead them to the Massive Gigantic Money Casino and they can all move on with the investigation.

Noise chuckles on his back. “Right, this is where I nearly electrocuted you to death,” they say with a smug smile at Youngblood.

Youngblood sighs irritably. “Or we could not talk about it,” he says, starting for the door.

“Actually,” Noise says, sounding much quieter, causing Roman to glance up at him. “I would like to apologize for that.”

Youngblood seems surprised, but it doesn’t show long on his face. “Oh, uh, thanks,” he mutters. A second later he seems to force a glare onto his face. “But I’m not the only one you have to apologize to, you know.”

“Oh for pete’s sake Youngblood,” Roman says with a sigh. “It’s taking you longer to let this go than me.”

For some reason, however, Noise seems surprised at that. “Wait, what do you mean you let it go?” they ask, leaning around to look down at Roman.

Roman glances up at him and shrugs. “I mean, clearly you were working through some stuff. I’m not gonna take it super personally.”

Noise stares at him. “What? What do you mean you’re not going to take it personally?”

Roman blinks. “I… don’t know how to explain it other than that,” he says. “Oh, uh, hang on let me try, uh, I understand that you were dealing with a lot of emotions all at once, and sometimes when that happens people say things without thinking them through, so—”

“No, no, stop,” Noise says, waving their hands. “You— what the heck are you talking about? You can’t just do that.”

“Do what?” Roman asks, confused.

“You— well that— that was the first thing I said to you so wouldn’t you have—”

“Oh! Yeah,” Roman says, pulling his wrist down and showing it to Noise. “It’s right here.”

Noise stares at Roman’s wrist, seeming uncomfortable for some reason, and then looks back down at Roman. “You— you’re acting like you’re just okay with it.”

Roman shrugs, which shakes Noise back and forth a little bit. “Whoops, sorry, forgot you were on my back. I mean, was I upset when I first learned what it meant, yeah, of course, but I can’t just live my entire life being sad because of two people. I’ve got other stuff going on, and other people who do like me! It’s all good!”

With that, he starts them into the Massive Gigantic Money Casino, glad to have finally explained all of this so they can move on now.

…

Noise apparently did not move on very quickly, and Roman is starting to wonder if this is going to become a thing.

Granted, emotions are already high. Noise got pulled back into that carriage, and he and Youngblood both had to run after him and got pulled in themselves, and now they’re all going to have to perform for their lives. But honestly that kind of proves Roman’s point, that being their current situation should take precedence, and they shouldn’t be focusing on problems that have already been solved.

But when Noise pulls him forward to practice dancing, Roman can tell they’re still tense, and they’re trying their best not to look at Roman as the two of them move around. That’s probably what results in Roman losing his footing and tripping over his own feet, barely managing to catch Noise before they hit the ground.

Noise, seemingly on instinct, shoots out a shower of stars with his baton, and Roman glances up at them with an amazed grin.

“Did that look cool?” he asks after a second, grinning back down at Noise.

“I… I think we might survive this,” Noise says, and Roman feels a little bit of the tension in their frame loosen as he helps them back up.

“Heck yeah!” Roman calls happily, turning to grin back at Youngblood too, who rolls his eyes with a fond smile.

As he’s about to head over to Youngblood, however, Roman feels Noise grab his arm.

“Roman,” he says.

“Yeah?” Roman says, turning to face them again.

“I… I want to apologize,” Noise says, dropping Roman’s arm and looking down at the floor. “For what I said to you when we met. I wasn’t thinking, but that’s not an excuse, it’s… it’s completely unfair to you, to have that on your arm for your whole life. I’m sorry.”

Roman smiles a little and shakes his head. “It really is okay,” he says. “Sure, it wasn’t fun to deal with growing up, but it’s part of what made me who I am, and I happen to like who I am. I truly never did hold anything against you, either of you,” he adds with a glance at Youngblood.

“But, your soulmates are supposed to be important to you, aren’t they?” Noise asks, glancing up at Roman. “I— I don’t know what I would have done without Youngblood.” He looks away as he says it, as if he’s still ashamed to admit it.

“They can be important,” Roman agrees with a shrug. “And I’m really glad that you both had each other when you needed each other. But they also don’t have to be important. They haven’t been important to me, at least, not until I met Youngblood. But I mean, you both seem like pretty cool people. Getting to know you sounds fun! And holding your first words to me against you sounds like a silly thing to do,” he directs that part at Noise. “I don’t do that with other people I meet, why should either of you be any different?”

Noise looks hesitantly up at him. “Are you sure?” they ask hesitantly.

Roman smiles at Noise and puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure.”

Slowly, Noise gives him a small smile, and nods. “Okay.”

“Okay!” Roman says happily. “So now that we’ve got that wrapped up, let’s go and potentially die! I think it’ll be fun!”

Noise laughs a little, part nerves and part amusement, as Roman walks over to grab Youngblood’s hand and lead them all to the stage they saw earlier.

…

Roman, for one, is not a fan of running through entire cities. He’s not out of shape, but he’s not that in shape, and he’s pretty sure it shows in the way he stands gasping at the top of the steps out of Fantabulous Neon.

Youngblood is doing slightly better next to him, though Noise is the only one who really seems to have recovered, meaning Roman is going to have to ask them what their workout regimen is, but for now there’s more important things to worry about, like getting out of here.

But as Roman manages to stand, he realizes Noise has stopped at the base of the steps and is looking back towards Fantabulous Neon.

“Noise?” he calls. “Come on, we gotta go, bud.”

Noise turns to face them, and Roman decides he does not like the grim look on his face. “You two need to get out of here,” he says. “I’m still under orders. But you have to get far away from the city, and far away from the Bard King’s sight.”

“What? No,” Roman says, stepping forward. “Noise, you don’t owe them anything.”

“Yeah, I went rogue, and it took you a year to find me,” Youngblood says. “You’ll be fine, come on.”

Before Noise can reply, lights appear in the distance, and the three of them turn to see a cab approaching. It pulls up alongside them, and the window rolls down to reveal a frog.

“You fellas look like you can use a ride,” he says.

Before Roman can say anything, Noise moves towards them and pushes them both forward. “These gentlemen could use a lift,” they say.

“Noise,” Youngblood snaps, turning around. “No, you’re coming with us, come on.”

“You should know better than anyone, Youngblood, that’s not possible for me,” Noise says with a sad smile. “Youngblood, Roman, the next time we meet, I may not be able to let you walk free. Just know, the choice I make right now is my own.”

“Noise,” Roman says, but Noise cuts him off by holding up a hand.

“Please, Roman,” he says quietly. “I already haven’t done right by either of you. At least let me protect you as best I can.”

“Noise, I already told you—” Roman starts, but he’s interrupted by the sound of a tree falling from inside Neon.

“Woah, this place is getting wild fast,” the driver calls. “Come on fellas, in or out.”

Before Roman can say anything, Youngblood takes a step forward, leans in and kisses Noise softly on the mouth. “You better come back,” he murmurs when he pulls away. “I don’t want to do this shit with only one other soulmate forever.”

Noise stares at him for a minute, then just nods.

They turn to Roman for a second, seeming lost for what to say.

“I don’t like this,” Roman says.

Noise just smiles weakly at him.

Finally, after a second, Roman takes a step forward and pulls Noise into a hug. “I want a chance to actually get to know you,” he says. “Promise me.”

“Deal,” Noise murmurs.

Though he doesn’t want to, Roman pulls back, and he and Youngblood climb into the cab. Noise stays behind and watches them go.

“Youngblood?” Roman says as they pull away.

“Yeah?”

“I was definitely right to not want soulmates,” Roman says. “This was easier when I didn’t care about either of you.”

Youngblood sighs and buries his head in his hands. “Tell me about it,” he mumbles.

And with that, they drive away into the night.

#roleslaying with roman #rswr roman #rswr youngblood #rswr noise #blood red song #galaxy polycule #roman x youngblood x noise #soulmate au #but not played straight because it's never played straight with me #aromantic rswr roman #or he's not officially but #how do i explain this #roman is aro as a political affiliation #yeah that's perfectly clear #my fic

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fangirlwriting-stories · 1 year

Text

You’re Gonna Carry That Weight

Summary: Five times Roman carries Noise and one time Noise carries Roman.

Author’s Note: Who else already misses Noise?

...

Noise still doesn’t know quite how to feel about Roman. It’s not that he hates him or anything. Roman hasn’t done anything to him, that wouldn’t be fair.

Or, he hasn’t done anything to him since nearly killing him with a sword when they met, but Noise feels it’s safe to say they’ve all moved past that by now.

That does not, however, under any circumstances, mean they are prepared for Roman to carry them around.

“Noise, you’ve gotta ride piggyback on one of us so that we don’t get confused about specific watery footprints,” Roman said.

What?

Their disbelief must show on their face, because Roman shrugs. “Or you could take off the boots.”

“I’m not taking off these boots,” Noise snaps. He is not going to walk barefoot around a city, there’s any number of things he could step on.

“Alright, come here then,” Roman says, and before Noise can protest, Roman scoops them up and maneuvers them onto his back.

Noise blinks, surprised at the skill. “You’re… strong.”

“Well yeah, I’ve worked on a farm all my life,” Roman says with a grin up at him.

“A farmboy?” Noise asks, starting to smile a little despite himself. Now that they’re really considering Roman, those arms are definitely not displeasing to look at.

“Uh, farm-man.”

“Mm-hmm,” Noise said, leaning a little closer towards Roman. Maybe he won’t mind this so much after all.

“Noise, no questions asked here I go!”

Noise yelps as Roman hoists them up towards the deposit box, but Roman quickly catches their feet and settles them on his shoulders, and despite themself, Noise isn’t really all that worried that Roman is going to drop them. His arms are steady, he’s standing steadily, and he got Noise up here with ease.

Noise feels his cheeks warming, and he quickly starts looking into the deposit box so he can hide his face from Roman. He manages to turn his mind back to the mission now that he’s not directly thinking about how he’s doing this, and after a second he pulls out some blue and red flower petals.

“Alright, bring me down,” they call to Roman, which Roman seems to do with even more ease than before, and Noise is then set on the ground. Which is definitely a relief. He was absolutely getting really tired of riding— traveling on Roman’s back.

They hand the flower petals to Roman, who seems to recognize them.

“We saw these when we first came into the city,” he says, glancing at Youngblood, who nods in agreement.

Noise sighs in frustration and rubs the bridge of their nose. “We find the trail, we lose the culprit. We find another trail, and this pranking thief slinks away again. Now the trail’s cold.” They sigh again. “We need to report back to Flow and have the band fan out for any sign of this culprit.”

He walks out of the vault, trying not to stomp to reveal how frustrated he really is. Roman and Youngblood thankfully follow him, and Noise starts them back towards the castle. Hopefully they can make some kind of progress once they get there, though the idea of admitting to Flow they need help leaves a rotten taste in his mouth.

Oh, well. It’s not like things can get any worse.

Dancing with Roman is surprisingly easy, especially for someone who admits to not knowing what he’s doing and seems to scramble when first pulled into things. Noise does tease Youngblood, and they absolutely want to do just that, but admittedly they also badly want to see what Roman can actually do.

However, that doesn’t mean they’re not going to lead.

Roman follows their movements with surprising grace, and Noise can’t help but smirk at him slightly.

“Try not to step on my shoes,” he purrs.

“I would not want to step on the shoes, I know you’re particular about them,” Roman agrees.

Despite themself, Noise laughs. Thankfully, Roman doesn’t actually step on their shoes, and after a second he seems to get the hang of things, and the two of them begin to glide gracefully around the room.

“You’re doing great!” Youngblood calls from the sidelines.

“Thank you, Youngblood!” Roman calls back happily. “You guys are like, really good teachers!”

Noise feels his cheeks start to warm slightly, both from the compliment (he… doesn’t get a lot of those) and from how genuinely happy Roman seems. His eyes are bright, and his smile is wide, and Noise finds himself starting to smile just as widely.

An idea strikes Noise, and he starts to spin into a dip, but before he can actually do so, to his amazement, Roman leans forward instead, and Noise finds himself supported once again by Roman’s arms.

Noise is definitely in danger of saying something about the stupid amount they are falling for Roman’s… arms, if they actually open their mouth, so instead they raise their baton above their head and fire an array of stars into the air.

He is also definitely staring into Roman’s eyes way too much though, so he’s almost relieved when Roman asks, “Did that look cool?”

Noise laughs a little in amazement. “I… I think we might survive this,” is the only thing that manages to come to their mind as something to say. Somehow, it just makes Roman grin stupidly big again.

Oh, Noise is so absolutely fucked.

Noise has never wanted to curse his stupid tiny legs more than he does right now.

“Come on, Noise!” Roman calls.

“I’m running as fast as I can!” Noise yells back.

“Yeah, you better be! I will pick you up again!”

They all run for Fantabulous Neon as fast as they can, but the plants are still rushing up behind them, and Noise hasn’t exactly been on the run for the past year like Youngblood or worked manual labor all his life like Roman.

They nearly trip once, twice, three times, and apparently that last time is enough for Roman, because he turns around and scoops Noise up, and starts running them all through the city. Noise wraps their arms around Roman’s neck so they don’t fall and turn to look behind them as the plants are starting to overtake the city.

Roman and Youngblood are yelling at people to run as they pass them, but Noise can’t gather enough air to scream, even though he isn’t running. He’s too focused on the plants gaining on all of them and what’s going to happen if they catch up.

Finally however, Noise turns their head and recognizes the signs of the approaching gates. Roman sets Noise down just on the other side of them, panting along with Youngblood.

Noise, now as the only one of them who can still breathe, reaches out and grabs Roman and Youngblood’s hands and pulls them down the steps.

The city is still falling to ruin behind them, but they all can take a minute to catch their breath before they have to keep running.

Or… Roman and Youngblood can.

Fuck.

Noise stops at the base of the stairs and lets go of Roman and Youngblood’s hands, then turns back around to look at the crumbling city.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Youngblood asks them. Noise knows him well enough to know that he’s not angry, just desperate and scared.

“Yeah, Noise, come on! We gotta go, bud,” Roman says, also sounding worried, which is ridiculous considering he just met Noise yesterday. There is no end to the farmboy’s sweetness, is there?

Noise turns to face them, setting his face in determination. “You two need to get out of here,” he says. “I’m still under orders. But you have to get far away from the city, and far away from the Bard King’s sight.”

“Noise, no no no,” Roman says. He steps towards Noise. “You don’t have to— you don’t owe them anything,” he says, and wouldn’t it be nice if it worked that way.

Youngblood protests too, as if his situation isn’t radically different from Noise’s. As if Noise can abandon his post with just as much ease. As if they won’t know exactly where to look for him. As if that won’t put Youngblood and Roman in danger too.

A cab approaches from the night, and by the time Youngblood and Roman are finished securing a ride, Noise is deep in thought. They look at the car, turn and look back at the city gate, and then look warily at the Bard College. They sigh.

They will not put Youngblood and Roman in danger.

He turns and lays a hand on Youngblood and Roman’s shoulders, directing them towards the cab. “These gentlemen could use a lift,” he says.

“Oh, I know just the place,” the driver says.

A giant redwood mushroom suddenly crushes the city walls behind them. Thankfully, Roman and Youngblood start towards the backseat, but not before Youngblood turns around one last time.

“Come on Noise,” he says, gesturing for Noise to follow.

Noise narrows their eyes. “You should know better than anyone Youngblood, that’s not possible for me.”

He takes a breath, and thankfully manages to hide its shake. “Youngblood, Roman,” he says. “The next time we meet, I may not be able to let you walk free. Just know, the choice I make right now is my own.”

Immediate protests are clear on both of their faces, and Noise is a little surprised at the way it makes their chest warm. Maybe… maybe it really is possible for people to still care about them.

But finally, Youngblood, still looking torn, says “Thanks, Noise.” And he shuts the cab door.

Roman leans out the window one last time before they pull away. “Be safe, okay buddy?” he says, still sounding deeply concerned.

Noise’s eye wells up, which he decidedly ignores. “Take care of Youngblood,” he says, feeling for the first time that maybe he can trust Roman with that.

“I will,” Roman says, which is actually reassuring.

Noise steps back and slaps the trunk of the car before things can get any harder, and stands and watches for one more second as the cab rolls into the night.

It’s been far too long the next time Noise finds Roman and Youngblood. Thankfully it’s been long enough that his wounds have healed. They don’t want to make Youngblood and Roman worry about them. It’s nothing they hadn’t expected, after all, after having failed a mission so completely. And they’re fine now, so there wouldn’t be anything to worry about anyway.

That doesn’t, however, stop the slight spark of panic Noise feels when they spot Roman across the road. They immediately look desperately around, trying to see if there’s anything that will give them away, but… there’s nothing and no one. In the way that matters, they’re alone, for now at least. Which means the choice is theirs once again.

For now, at least.

Noise takes a shaky breath. Roman has his back to him. He could probably duck away and disappear before Roman knows he’s here at all.

Noise winces. He can’t make anyone else feel the way Youngblood made him feel. And more than that, a large part of them just really wants to see Roman and Youngblood again.

So Noise takes another deep breath, walks across the street, and taps Roman on the shoulder. “Hey, farmboy.”

“Uh, farm ma— Noise!”

Roman’s gaze lights up the second he sees them, and before Noise can say anything else, he’s picking them up and spinning them around. Noise laughs, because what else did he expect, but there’s grief in the laugh too, despite how little he wants it to be there.

He should not have missed Roman this much.

“Oh it’s so good to see you!” Roman says, grinning up at them as he stops spinning them in a circle.

“It’s good to see you too, Roman,” Noise says, smiling despite themself. “How have you been? How… how's Youngblood?”

“We’re good,” Roman says, and some of the sadness slips into his eyes too, which amazingly makes Noise feel a little better. It feels nice knowing he was missed. It shouldn’t, but it does. “Youngblood is getting us a table at a restaurant for dinner, and I’m looking for a place for us to stay tonight.”

“Oh,” Noise says, immediately shooting down the ludicrous voice in their head that whispers, Give them a place to stay. He can’t. They wouldn’t be safe.

Noise needs some kind of way to change the subject before he asks anyway. So he clears his throat awkwardly and says, “Um, Roman, you can put me down now.”

Roman seems to jolt into the realization that he’s still holding Noise above his head.

“Oh, sorry!” he calls, setting them down instantly. Noise smiles a little at the pink on his cheeks.

And, because they’re never going to see Roman again after today and it isn’t going to to matter, Noise leans in and kisses him on the cheek.

“That’s okay,” he says, leaning back with a genuine smile on his face. “You’re cute.”

Roman turns brighter red and stutters, and Noise laughs again, pretty sure this is the most they’ve smiled in months, and isn’t that realization bittersweet.

Unfortunately, it can’t last. Noise is well aware that he’s already pushing things, and he needs to leave before anyone sees him with Roman.

“I, um,” they say, smile fading. “I have to go, Roman.”

“What?” Roman asks, and he stops smiling too and stops blushing, which is almost worse. “But you just—”

“I know, but I— it’s not safe for you if you’re seen with me. They still want to catch up to you. I— I’m sorry.”

Roman sighs, but seems to understand. Noise speaks up again before he can say anything anyway.

“Tell Youngblood I said hi? And that I’m glad you’re both doing well? And— and that I’m sorry?”

Roman looks up at Noise again, and nods. Then he leans in and kisses Noise on the cheek, and it’s Noise’s turn to start blushing.

“I will,” Roman says. “Take care, Noise.”

Noise smiles one last time at him. “Take care, farmboy.”

“Farm-man—” Roman starts, but Noise is already leaving.

Noise isn’t sure what to do. He wasn’t supposed to see Roman ever again, much less find him wounded and unconscious laying in the middle of the forest. Where’s Youngblood? What happened? Is Roman okay?

They rush forward and start looking them over. Thank heavens, he’s breathing, and Noise doesn’t see any life-threatening injuries, but Roman looks banged up, and there’s a nasty bump on his head that has to be the reason for the unconsciousness.

There’s a small town nearby that will probably be able to help. Maybe he can find Youngblood there. Either way, he can probably get Roman some help.

Noise bites their lip, looking down at Roman. Roman is far bigger than they are, but Noise can’t think of another way to do this.

So he musters up his will, accepts that he’s going to be fucking sore tomorrow, and bends down and hoists Roman’s arm over his shoulder. He definitely can’t actually carry Roman, so this will have to do.

They don’t know quite how to get back to the town from this specific spot, so they’re going to have to go slightly further to double back to the route they know, which also is not going to help with how much their back is going to ache tomorrow. Fuck, Roman is heavy. And Noise is pretty sure most of it is muscles, which is just completely unfair, because they should not be this focused on how attractive Roman is while they’re trying to carry him towards medical attention.

Finally, they make it back to the town, and the universe apparently decides to take some level of pity on Noise, because as soon as he starts walking down the main street someone nearby gasps and rushes out towards him.

“Oh, goodness, is that Roman?”

Noise turns to see a plump man in an apron moving towards them, drying his hands on the apron. Noise tries to get ready to set Roman down and defend him if they have to, but thankfully as the man approaches he starts explaining.

“Roman and his friend Youngblood have a room at my inn. Do you want me to show you to it, and then you can wait with him while I get a doctor?”

Noise is briefly torn between the two feelings of ‘shouldn’t stay for long’ and ‘no way in hell am I leaving him until he’s with someone I can trust.’

The second feeling wins out, and he nods at the man without speaking, then follows him towards an inn on the side of the road. The man starts down a hallway, meaning Noise does not have to climb any stairs, which is fortunate because he’s pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to drag-carry Roman if he had to do that.

They end up following the man to a small room with two beds, and they lay Roman down on the bed by the window as the man says something about going to get a doctor and starts for the door again.

“What’s your name?” he asks as he’s about to leave.

Noise clears his throat and uses as deep a voice as he can manage when he responds. “Flow. That’s definitely the name you should tell everyone if they ask you who was here.”

The man nods and heads out, and Noise breathes a sigh of relief before sinking down on the windowsill next to the bed.

They look back at Roman now that they have a minute to breathe, and start checking over the wounds more thoroughly. Roman has a cut near the bump on his head, which can’t be good. It also isn’t exactly a reassuring sign that he didn’t wake up as Noise dragged him through the woods and into the town.

He moves closer and checks Roman’s breathing again, which is steady, and so is his pulse, not that Noise knows too much about medicine. But the breathing isn’t shaky and the pulse isn’t faint, which is… good, right?

They lean very close to Roman’s ear, and push a little magic into their voice as they whisper. “Roman? Roman, please wake up.”

Roman shifts and groans, and Noise leans back in relief. Roman blinks his eyes open, though he doesn’t seem to know where he is, and when he looks over at Noise there’s no recognition.

“Aunt Patty?” he asks, his words slurring together.

“Fuck, I hope not,” Noise mutters to himself. “That would make my consistent attraction to you a bit of a problem.” He laughs a little to himself. “Not that it’s not still a problem for a different reason.”

Before Roman can say something else that probably won’t make any sense, the door on the other side of the room slams open, and Youngblood rushes in.

He startles when he sees Noise, but before he can say anything Roman turns and sees him coming in, and his face lights up.

“Youngblood!” he calls, reaching out towards him and making grabby hands.

“Roman,” Youngblood says, worry bleeding back into his voice as he rushes forward and starts looking over him.

After a second, he looks up towards Noise, who’s already moving towards the window. “What happened?”

Noise shakes their head. “I don’t know. The innkeeper went to get a doctor.”

“Yeah, I ran into him, he told me. What— where did you find Roman?”

“Out in the woods,” Noise says, turning to pry open the window frame. “He was unconscious on the ground. I didn’t know where you were, so I dragged him back here.”

“You— wait a second. What are you doing?”

“I think he’ll be okay,” Noise says, getting one leg out the window. “He’s awake and talking, if a little delirious. The doctor will know better than me.”

“Noise,” Youngblood snaps.

Noise turns around and looks at him. Youngblood looks angry, but Noise can still see the worry that’s more prominent underneath it. They glance down at Roman, who’s looking at them again, slightly more recognition in his gaze.

“Don’t go,” Roman says, reaching out towards him.

“Feel better farmboy,” Noise says, blinking away tears, and he slips out the window and runs back towards the woods.

#roleslaying with roman #rswr noise #rswr roman #rswr youngblood #rswr spoilers #roman x noise #rono #5+1 times #5+1 fic #my fic

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