The water. Felt. Amazing.

I woke up cold this morning, and I needed the heat of the shower on my back. I stood facing away from the shower head, letting the water run down my back and along my gentle curves. But my front side was getting cold, so I turned towards it. I always loved hot showers, as apposed to my roommate, who would prefer to get in and get out. Seriously, that woman took ten minutes in the shower, which was mostly just to wash her hair. Me, I got up an hour early so I could have a nice, long, steamy shower. I briefly considered making it even steamier, but I decided against it.

It wasn’t long before I felt the temperature decrease, so with a dejected sigh, I finished up and shut the water off.

As I pulled my thin bathrobe on, I heard a very familiar engine hiss into my driveway and panicked. The bathroom was at the end of the upstairs hall, and my room was right next to the stairs. There were three doors between the bathroom and there. I quickly tied the robe up and sprinted out of the bathroom. I slammed into the hallway wall and dashed to the stairs, only to look down to see a familiar man in white talking to Octavia. His eyes flicked up at me, but quickly turned back to my roomie.

“On second thought,” Roma said, turning away from the door, “I think my tire pressure is down. Could be dangerous. I’ll be right back.” As he walked away, I let my breath betray my relief, then dashed into my room before Tavi could see me.

That was close. I chanced a look at the clock, and noted that he was actually pretty early. Like, twenty minutes early. Why was he here this soon? I told him seven-thirty, and yet, he was here at seven-ten. Maybe he was just like that.

As my robe fell to the floor, I plucked the necessary articles from my underwear drawer and put them on, for once being thankful I could get away with just a sports bra. Regrettably, I had small boobs. I also had a small butt, so my body was very well balanced. As a result, all the fellas loved it. I stepped over to my closet and scanned over my options.

There. Those were the ones. I tugged a pair of white jeans off of the hanger and stared at them. They were just like his… I glanced over at the white jacket on my bed. We’d look good together… They! They'd look good together! But then, I thought, yeah, so would we. Red and blue were good colors to match up, being opposites and all. Like purple and green, or black and white. I don’t know why, but I smiled at the thought. It wasn’t… an unpleasant thought. I could even see it happening, if we got to know each other better. He seemed like a pretty sweet guy under the cold exterior. After all, he volunteered twice to come get me. Yeah, I might… I might actually have liked that.

I don’t know how long I stood there staring with that stupid grin on my face, but a knock on my door startled me out of it.

“Vinyl!” my roommate called, “Roma is waiting. If you don’t hurry, you’ll be late!”

Crap! I hurriedly slithered into the white jeans and pulled on a pair of pointy boots with three inch heels and let the boot cut of my pants fall delicately around them. Next I grabbed a blue t-shirt… or I would have it weren’t in the hamper. I didn’t feel like looking for another shirt… so I did something a little stupid. Okay, I did something really stupid. I grabbed Roma’s jacket and threw it on, and zipped it up, just shy of my collar bone. It still amazed me how well the thing fit me. I was wearing his jacket with no shirt. It was comfortable. It felt, I don’t know, safe. Like a warm hug.

But it still felt dirty. It was wrong. I shouldn’t do it. But another part of my head screamed at me that it was okay.

I settled for the latter, and ran over to my little mirror on my desk. A little blue eyeliner, some mascara, and a bit of blue lipstick, and voila! I looked great. Except my hair. It was dry now, so a quick run through with my brush took care of that. The explosion of a mane was perfect for my current look. But…

I glanced over to my closet.

Yeah, I couldn’t do it. I had to wear a shirt.

I walked out, feeling confident, and dare I say, sexy as hell. It did not go unnoticed. Roma’s eyebrows shot up, and he stared at me in faint interest.

“Got a date after school?” he asked, giving a smug smirk. Ugh, his eyes were doing that thing again. They were cataloguing my features; darting up and down and every which way he could manage.

“Nah, I just didn’t have any clean t-shirts,” I lied and strutted over to stand next to him, “and I’m not going to wear nice clothes without sprucing up a bit. Like it?”

“It’s a good look, for sure. You ready?” he asked, swinging his leg over the saddle.

“About as ready as I’ll ever be,” I huffed, and climbed on after him. Seriously? It's a good look? I guess I should have been flattered. That was probably the most I'd get out of him.

“Something wrong?” he asked, turning to look at me in a way that left him kind of hanging on the seat with his leg. It was extremely odd.

“Yeah, you saw me in my bath robe,” I lied... again.

His right eyebrow shot up. “And?”

“I was naked under it.”

“And? It’s not like I stared at you,” he said callously. As he moved back into a riding position, I noticed something missing... something long and red.

“Hey, what happened to your hair?” I asked, thumping the back of his head.

“I braided it and tucked it into my jacket. I figured you didn’t like it flying up in your face,” he said, then dropped his coat low enough for the tall collar to reveal the thick red cord beneath.

“Oh… Um… Thanks…” I managed to choke out, practically dumbfounded by his consideration.

“No problem,” he replied. He slid his helmet on, an action I quickly copied.

The day was agonizingly slow and throughout it, I found myself picturing Roma under the arbor, staring at his tablet with that cute little half-smile on his lips. As I sat in my last class before my free period, I stared at the clock, tapping my foot and desperately wanting to dash out of the room and go see him.

After what felt like hours, the bell finally rang and I quickly packed my things before walking out of the class. It took a tremendous effort not to run.

Making my way to my locker, I deftly weaved through all of the other students, and promptly arrived in record time. I deposited my books and grabbed my laptop case. My eyes briefly lingered on the little white half-helmet sitting on the shelf.

I smiled and closed my locker, then ran my right hand over my left forearm, feeling the hard plate beneath the leather, before setting off to meet with him. The jacket meant he cared about me. It meant he didn’t want me to get hurt. It was proof that he really was nice, despite what a AJ said about him.

The crowd started to clear away as everyone started heading to their next classes, making it much easier to navigate the hallway. My thoughts still lingered on Roma, going in every direction possible, playing out multiple scenarios in my head.

He was a spy, no, he was a superhero, or even better! He was married, and he’d fallen for me, but his dedication to his wife tied him back. But it always came back to one scene:

He was an angel, forbidden to love a mortal. I lost myself in that dream again as I absent mindedly wandered down the hall.

“No, Gabriel! I’ll not let thee take her!” Roma shouted, pointing his saber (wait, it was a broadsword last time…) at the highest of the archangels. Gabriel had come to throw me into the deepest pits of hell, so that I would forever be beyond my love’s reach.

“Thou hath no say in the matter, dissenter. Hand the mortal over, and perhaps I shall allow thee back into my good graces,” the blonde woman said, walking towards Roma. Her double halo consisted of one large ring, with a smaller one floating just above it. It bore some semblance to a Stetson.

I heard a low growl escape my love’s throat, before he spoke. “Thy graces be damned! How many mortals hast thou bedded in thy time?!” he shouted, putting his left arm out to shield me from the archangel.

“That is of no concern to thee!” she replied, drawing her own weapon: a long chain that shined as though it were made of pure light. “I shall bind thee and thine impurities shall be purged as you watch her burn!”

My face twisted in fear. My love was strong, but he was no match for an archangel. I nervously grabbed hold of the arm in front of me.

“Vinyl, my love, I ask thee…” he said, turning his face to look at me. “Run. Run and do not look back. I shall hold Gabriel as I can.”

“Thou cannot hope to defeat her!” I said, raising my voice to him.

“I know. Now go!” I was pushed back as the golden chain wrapped around Roma's chest.

So I did… I ran and I did not look back. I cried, wiping my eyes with my forearm. My wails echoed throughout the valley of the damned, and my bare feet began to bleed as I continued to run. I know not how long I ran, but I did not see the archangel again…

Nor did ever I see my lover.

As I dragged myself out of the grim fantasy, I pushed open the school’s main door and spotted the familiar white-clad form of my ride to school. He was against one of the columns of the arbor again, with his head slumped over.

As I carefully mad my way over I heard a faint sound, which I immediately recognized as a very quite speaker. It was the kind you’d find on a tablet.

My eyes grew wide as I recognized the song playing. It was a love song… kind of? It was ‘Telescope,’ by Starset; a really good song. I tentatively stepped around in front of Roma, only to be greeted by his sleeping face and crooked sunglasses. It was adorable. My gaze drifted down to the tablet that had fallen from his lap and had, in the process, had the headphone jack snatched out of it. I knelt down to pick it up and my eyes widened.

Images of Roma and Sunset scrolled across the screen, with an red-orange glow accent surrounding them. It took a lot of work to make something like that. I only knew one girl who could make such a thing and it certainly seemed like something Pinkie would do; something that would make Roma smile.

Checking that he was still asleep, I sat tapped the screen to bring up the display and dragged the track bar back to the beginning. The title slide was pretty self explanatory. “Roma, please remember what this meant to you. –Pinkie.” I managed to suppress a chuckle at how utterly un-Pinkie that was. It was sweet, like something Fluttershy would say. I hit play and the song, as well as the slide show, started back up.

The first image was of Sunset and Roma on Roma’s… bicycle? It was red and white, of course. Sunset sat on the handle bars, while Roma struggled to see around her. She was smiling and so was he.

The next was a picture blatantly taken on a phone, of Roma and Sunset at the pool. Wow, he looked pretty good without a shirt. Sunset sat across his lap leaning with her hands against his chest, wide eyed and blushing, while Roma smirked, their faces only a few inches apart. I had to admit, I smiled at that too.

Coming after that, a photo taken either after or before the previous, of Sunset holding Roma’s face, kissing him hard... like, really hard, with Roma blushing and wide eyed. It was funny, but I also found myself blushing a bit at the somewhat provocative image.

Next was one taken in the rain of Roma draping a black trench coat over Sunset’s head, allowing himself to get soaked. She looked like she was yelling at him, but he only smiled in return. A caption slipped onto the lower screen that read, “Remember this? She was yelling at you to take it back so you wouldn’t get sick. I remember. Heck, I should! I took these pictures!”

The next photo was of Roma on a park bench, with Sunset leaning against his chest, and his left arm wrapped around her shoulder. There was a pained look on his face as he tried flex his left hand’s fingers. “I remember this one pretty well, cuz I d’aaawed so hard it hurt! Your arm fell asleep, but you didn’t dare wake her up. That’s how sweet you used to be. I want you to be like that again.”

Next was a picture of Roma carrying Sunset down the hallway on his back. They were both wearing gym clothes. His face was twisted in what could easily be mistaken for anger, but I could tell it was pain, while hers was a face of worry. “This is one of my favorites. You carried Sunset all the way across school grounds to the nurses office when she sprained her ankle. I remember you telling me afterwards how it threw your back out and you had to go see a chiropractor behind Sunny’s back… no pun intended.”

I couldn’t take it. They were too sweet. My face felt like my grin was about to break it. I ran the track bar forward close to the end.

An image of only Roma nearly made me drop the tablet. He had a cast on half of each hand and red-tinged bandages around part of his head. His hair was pulled up into a haphazard, mangy-looking ponytail. He wore his black trench coat and a red t-shirt. I couldn’t see anything else. He was hunched over, looking to his left, with his hand pointed at the camera. It was at that point the song changed to its orchestral ending. The face he was making, the snarl on his lips, the bared teeth, the wide, angry eyes, and even his stance all served to get his message across. ‘Leave me alone, or I’ll slaughter you, Pinkie.’

The caption this time was long, and it scrolled up the screen in a manner similar to that of movie credits.

“Roma, please! This picture? It’s not you! ‘You’ is a sweet, kind, considerate man, who would always give the shirt off his back for his friends, who never lied to us, who never betrayed us, who loved us so dearly that he’d die for us. Me and Fluttershy, we miss you. We miss you so much, so please come back! Come back and be ‘You’ again! You can make up with Applejack, and forgive Sunset, and we can all be friends! You can finally get to know Rainbow Dash! I know you always wanted to be her friend! But you never got the chance!

I know nothing can change what happened with Sunset, but… if you can’t forgive what she did, can you try to move past it? If not for me, or Fluttershy, or Rainbow, or even Applejack, then do it for ‘You.’ I miss him. All I ever see now is what ‘You’ has become and I want you back so please for the love of god come back! Come back and be my best friend again! Let me take funny pictures of you! Let me make you smile! I haven’t seen you smile in so, so long… If it weren’t for these photos, I’d think that your scowl was painted on. So, please, give me that cute, dorky, cheesy half-grin of yours. Smile, for ‘You,’ and for me, and for Fluttershy… come back to us Roma.

Yours soon,
–Pinkamena Diane Pie.”

I felt the tears before they hit and I felt my bottom lip scrunch up at the thought of how Pinkie must have felt when she was writing that last message. I could imagine her sitting in her room in the dark, sniffling over her keyboard as the tears rolled freely down her cheeks, like they did mine. My make up was running, but all I could do was grip the edges of the tablet so hard my knuckles turned white as I quietly sobbed to myself.

How could anyone do this to Pinkie? How could he live with himself after something like that?

Pale fingers curled around the bottom of the tablet and try as I might, I could not hold onto it as Roma pulled it gently out of my hands.

“You… hurt her… so much,” was all I managed to choke out.

“I know,” he said, his own voice dreadfully quite, “I want to fix things, though. I just… I don’t know how.”

“I… I do.” I wiped my eyes clean with my palms, and then wiped those on the grass. “Y-you haven’t been a friend in-in a long time, right?”

“It’s been two years, so yeah… a good while,” he answered as I scooted over close to him, “Vinyl, how can I fix this, when I’ve ruined so much of what I had?”

“It’s easy. You build it back up. Start with me,” I said, putting my right hand over his left. “Be my friend, and I’ll be yours in return, okay?”

“What about Jackie?”

“Fuck Jackie.” His eyes grew wide at my choice of words. “Look, this isn’t about her. It’s about us, okay? I can help, so let me!”

“Vinyl, why do you even care?” he asked, cutting his eyes at me. I pulled my hand away from his, and sat back on my heels.

With a sigh, I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket (yeah I know that’s a guy thing; it’s just really convenient.) and opened it up to my medical card. “You… uh, you remind me of myself about seven years ago. I’m… I’m sick, Roma. I have this disease that makes me really weak and I honestly can’t so much for myself. Yeah, I can drive, walk and I can climb stairs, but lifting thirty pounds? Dude, it just ain’t happening.” He opened his mouth to intervene, but I held up my finger, and handed him the wallet. He read over the little card and his eyes grew wider and wider. “See, when I found out about it, people started treating me differently. Like I was fragile and they thought I would break if they touched me. I got tired of it, so I shut myself off. I drove away all of my friends and for a long time, I was so, so lonely. I felt cold and I stayed that way for a while. Almost a year passed and I met Octavia. I bumped into her in the hallway and didn’t apologize. Lyra and Bon Bon, they got so mad that they pinned my to the lockers and told Tavi I was all hers. I didn’t really care. I mean, I couldn’t get free, so why try?

Octavia never hit me, like she was supposed to. She told L and BB to let me go. She asked me why I was always so lonely. I told her that I was tired of the way everyone treated me. Told her I hated being treated like glass, but I didn’t tell her it was because I was sick. I told her it was because I was small. She understood and said that she was treated like a brute, because she’s so big.” I paused for just a moment a brushed a few tears out of my eye. “She gave me her hand and asked if I wanted to be her friend. She promised that she would always see me as an equal, and never think any less of me for any reason. It was two years later that I told her I–”

I was cut off as Roma lunged forward and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I felt a bit of moisture seep onto my shoulder. I felt his shoulders tremble, I heard his breath stagger in his throat and I knew he was trying so hard not to cry. He was sad, and happy, and guilty all at once, and it was all forcing it’s way out through his eyes. “Vinyl… will you really be my friend?” he asked quietly.

I put my arms around him, resting my hands gently on his back, and smiled warmly to him, a few more tears streaking down my cheeks. “I will. And I promise, Roma, I’ll help you fix things with your old ones.”

“…Thank you, so much…” he whispered, and tightened his arms slightly. He was strong, so it was a little hard to breathe, but I didn’t mind. He needed this and I was going to give it to him. I was going to help him.

“You're welcome, my friend.”

We stayed there for so long, just holding each other until the bell sounded for classes to change. I came to the realization that I liked being in his arms. I knew that I wanted to be in them whenever I could… I wanted to be with him. I wanted to hold him as he held me. I wanted to wake up next to him in the morning. I wanted him permanently in my life.

But I knew that it wasn’t what he wanted. He just needed a friend and that’s all I could ever be for him.

And I was going to be the best damn friend I could.

Author's Notes:

So yep, we've started down the path towards Roma's change, which may or may not be the next chapter's title. Sorry for the two week delay, but I've been busy. I hope you liked this chapter, and if you see anywhere I an improve, tell me in the comments.

Peace!