Roomy laughed first.
That was what confused them.
He joked with people in the hallway, tipped an imaginary hat to girls passing by, slipped charm into his words like it came naturally. The same Roomy. The one who never looked shaken. The one who never stayed down.
But Alex noticed something small.
Roomy didn't wait for anyone anymore.
He walked ahead, hands in his pockets, shoulders stiff. When Trina called his name, he answered but he didn't turn around. When Alex spoke, Roomy listened but didn't reply right away.
It wasn't anger.
It was distance.
And Roomy had never been distant before.
Alex told himself he was imagining it.
Roomy was tough. Always had been. The kind who smiled through bruises and laughed when things went wrong.
But Trina noticed too.
Not in big moments ,in the quiet ones.
Roomy stopped sitting close.
Stopped leaning in.
Stopped waiting.
He still opened doors. Still joked. Still played the gentleman.
But his eyes didn't follow people the way they used to.
After school, the building emptied faster than usual.
Alex turned back once just once and didn't see Roomy behind them.
Trina paused.
"He was right there," she said.
They found him outside, near the back stairwell.Roomy wiped his face again, slower this time.
The concrete beneath him felt cold, grounding. The air smelled like dust and afternoon rain that hadn't fallen yet. He laughed weakly, shaking his head.
"I don't even know why I'm crying," he said. "I just.. I thought I was stronger than this."
Alex stayed where he was, kneeling, hands resting loosely on his thighs. He didn't interrupt. He didn't correct him.
Trina hadn't moved.
Earlier — Before the Present)
Roomy hadn't always been loud.
He hadn't always smiled so easily, or carried himself like nothing could touch him.
There was a time when he stayed quiet on purpose.
Back then, Trina found him in a room no one noticed.
It wasn't special. Just an unused classroom turned storage space,desks stacked against the walls, broken chairs, dust in the corners. The kind of place people forgot existed.
He was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, knees pulled to his chest, staring at nothing.
Not crying. Not sleeping.
Just… there.
Trina had stopped when she saw him. She remembered thinking he looked too small for the space, like he didn't belong anywherenot even there.
"Why are you hiding?" she asked him.
Roomy looked up slowly, eyes guarded.
"I'm not hiding," he said. "I just don't have anywhere else to go."
She didn't ask questions.
She sat down beside him anyway.
That was how it started after she found him again.
After that, she kept showing up. Sometimes with snacks. Sometimes with stories. Sometimes with silence. She didn't push. She didn't pry.
She just stayed.
Roomy learned her laugh before he learned to trust it.
Later much later Alex showed up.
At first, he hovered. Protective. Careful. Watching Trina like she might get hurt by being kind to the wrong person.
But Alex noticed things.
He noticed how Roomy flinched when voices got loud. How he tensed when people stood too close. How he laughed hardest when he felt safe.
So Alex stayed too.
And somehow, the three of them became something solid.
Trina was fire when she needed to be. Alex was the wall. And Roomy..Roomy was the one who learned how to smile again.
That was why this hurt.
She stood a few steps away, her back to them now, arms crossed loosely over her chest not defensive, not closed. Just holding herself together.
The silence stretched.
Too long.
Then she straightened.
Slowly, deliberately, Trina stood up. Her back was still facing them when she spoke, her voice steady but quiet, like she was afraid it might crack if she pushed it too hard.
"I'm sorry, Roomy."
Roomy looked up.
Alex's breath caught.
"It shouldn't have been you," Trina continued. "It shouldn't have been you breaking."
She swallowed.
"I promise," she said, still not turning around, "I won't make you hurt. I swear. I didn't mean to… I didn't see it. And I should have."
Her shoulders trembled just once.
"I'm sorry."
That was all it took.
Roomy stood up in one motion and crossed the distance between them. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, like he had been holding himself together just to do that.
Trina froze for half a second then hugged him back.
Not light. Not careful.
Firm. Protective.
Roomy pressed his face into her shoulder, breathing unevenly.
"You don't have to apologize," he muttered. "I just… I didn't want to be the weak one."
"You're not," she said immediately. "You never were."
Alex watched them, chest tight.
He exhaled slowly, the tension finally slipping from his shoulders. He leaned back against the railing, hands sliding into his pockets out of habit.
For a moment, he just stood there.
Watching. Listening.
Then he spoke.
"Come on," Alex said quietly. "Babies. It's okay."
No sarcasm. No teasing.
Just warmth.
The word surprised all of them.
Roomy lifted his head, blinking. Trina turned slightly, looking at Alex like she was seeing him from a different angle.
Alex looked just as startled by himself but he didn't take it back.
Roomy huffed out a small laugh.
"Did you just call us that?"
Alex shrugged lightly. "Don't make it weird."
Roomy smiled really smiled this time and reached out, grabbing Alex by the sleeve.
"Nope," he said. "You're included."
Before Alex could protest, Roomy pulled him in. Awkward at first shoulders bumping, arms unsure until Trina stepped closer and wrapped one arm around both of them.
A group hug.
Uncoordinated. Uneven. Real.
Alex stiffened for a second… then relaxed.
His chin rested lightly against Trina's hair. His hand pressed briefly into Roomy's back, grounding him.
None of them spoke.
They didn't need to.
For the first time in days, the weight felt shared.
And somewhere in that quiet circle, something fragile held.
Not fixed. Not solved.
But no longer breaking alone.