Owen~ June 9

I stayed quiet the entire time Roman sat beside me rambling on about stuff he had to do. He complained about having to do dishes, cleaning the bathroom and kitchen, going grocery shopping, so we didn’t starve. Most of the tasks sounded strange to me, but I didn’t voice that.

“The joys of not living with your parents.” Roman groaned out as he stood up from the couch. He grabbed the glass Derik had set on the coffee table then turned to look at me. “You can stay there or wander around the house.” He told me then headed into the kitchen. I heard the water turn on followed to the clink of dishes being moved around.

I watched him as best I could from where I sat for a little bit before relaxing back into the couch. I continued to watch Roman for a little before turning my whole body, so I didn’t have to turn my head. I brought my knees up and pushed my feet in between the arm or the couch and the cushion. I wrapped my arms around my left leg and laid my head to the side against the back of the sofa.

Roman put all of the dishes into a square black machine under the counter then closed it. He pushed a few buttons, and it started to make noise. Then he moved on to the two big grey machines right around the corner. I saw him drop the bloody towels into the first one before Kane showed up. He opened the lid and started pulling the towels out and depositing them into the other one that was just out of sight. Every one of the towels was clean of any blood. Well, for the most part.

There was one that Roman held up that still had a few spots on it. I heard him mutter under his breath as he sprayed it with something before throwing it back.

He disappeared further into the kitchen, and I craned my neck to try and see what he was doing. I caught a glimpse of him through the other walkway as he went down the hall. He returned a few minutes later with a basket full of clothes. I tilted my head so I could see him walk past the far walkway once again then laid my head against the sofa to watch him drop the clothes into what I remember being called a washing machine.

As I watched him, I started to remember my mom doing the same thing. The image of my mom was blurry. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make out her face, but I remembered she had long wavy hair. It was brown and gold like mine I think.

Roman poured soap into the washing machine, closed the lid and started it up. He turned around and got to work wiping down the counters and table. I let my eyes drift closed and imagined my mom dancing around while she cleaned. I couldn’t remember the last time I had thought about my mom. I heard her soft, off-key voice, humming a random toon.

“Ow, shit!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Roman yelled. My eyes almost immediately found him. He was leaned over with one hand on the table while the other was rubbing his foot. More specifically, his toes.

He grumbled a string of curses as he massaged his foot for a few seconds then continued wiping down the table.

Realizing nothing was wrong; I calmed my heart and let myself relax again. Roman continued to move about the house while I started to drift off into a light sleep.

I heard an odd sound and opened my eyes to glance around. When I didn’t see anything in the kitchen, I lifted my head and looked around the rest of the room. There was a silver circle moving around the floor. Its motor emitted a low hum as it rolled over the floor in no particular direction. Roman appeared in the entryway, and I cast him a questioning look before staring at the odd device again.

“Don’t mind that thing. It’s just a machine that cleans the floor. It won’t hurt you.” Roman told me.

I watched the machine roam over the floor toward me. I moved around so I could lean over the edge of the couch and watch the thing disappear under the sofa. A few seconds later it came back out and made it way back to the other side of the living room.

A chuckle had me glancing over to where Roman was leaning against the wall with his arm crossed. He smiled at me. I narrowed my eyes.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Roman shook his head as he pushed off from the wall and came to sit down on the coffee table. “Do you want to go lay down? I noticed you started to nod off a few times.”

I shook my head. "I'm fine," I quickly told him. I wanted to stay where I could keep an eye on this human.

* * * * *

Roman~

After Owen said that he didn't want to go to the spare room to lay down, I went to swap the laundry around. I returned to check on him, not even 10 minutes later, to find the boy out cold.

A small smile tugged at my lips as I watched him for a minute. He had pulled his left leg up and rested his cheek on his knee. He had wrapped his arms around his left thigh as well. I held back a laugh at his odd sleeping position. My back and neck would not appreciate it if I slept like that.

I crossed the floor to kneel down in front of him and brush his hair back from his eyes. His face scrunched up, and he turned his face into his leg. All I could think was, cute!

You are getting way to attached to this kid, I chided myself.