[Samuel x Roman]

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With Roman's help and Samuel's amazing sandcastle building skills, Allison ended with a pretty cool sandcastle. Roman went around and foraged leaves and twigs and rocks that the little girl could use to decorate the castle, and also wet the sand with his water so it would stick, like a castle you'd build at a beach. Finally, it neared five in the evening, meaning that they should probably start getting home, so Roman picked up Allison and carried her into the car.

"Oh, fudge, you got all dirty, your mummy is going to kill me," Roman noted upon seeing that Allison's leggings were quite dirty due to the sand she had been sitting in. He took them off and folded them up, then buckled Allison in her carseat and once Samuel was seated, he began to drive home.

London and Evan had arrived home to their apartment and were cooking dinner when the others rocked up. London perked up when the door opened and ran over to her baby girl, scooping her up in her arms and kissing her on both cheeks.

"Hello, Princess! Did you have a good time with your uncles?"

"She sure did. She made a friend at the park and got her leggings really dirty." Roman set them down on the coffee table before going into the kitchen. London couldn't cook much so he wasn't surprised to see that Evan had taken over the meal. "You need some help?"
 
"It's almost finished, but sure, check if you like the seasoning?" Evan said, "And there's enough for you two as well, unless you're tired of being around a tiny child all day and want to go over to yours and relax or whatever it is couples without kids do on their off time,"

"Evan," Samuel said seriously despite that last part clearly being a joke, "We will never get tired of being around Allison."

So they had dinner over with the little family, Allison, Roman and Samuel all helped fill in the parents of what they all had been up to that afternoon. Allison still seemed to be a little tired after a long day of playing and at one point Evan joked about letting them pick her up more often so that he and London could get some peace and quiet. Of course Samuel and Roman were quick to say that they'd baby sit whenever the young parents wanted them to.

After dinner they quietly made their way to their own apartment, Samuel gave Lady some ear scratches and petted Malfoy on his way over to the couch where he pulled Roman along to sit next to him, Lola was nowhere to be seen, possibly chilling somewhere else at the moment.

Samuel sat in silence for a while, one hand in Roman's. He was certain his boyfriend knew what this was about but Samuel wasn't sure exactly how to phrase the thing he was a bout to say because he didn't actually want to say it, "I… I think I need to visit dad," not want to, need to.
 
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Roman licked his lips and nodded. He had been anticipating this for a couple of days now and was honestly surprised that it had taken Samuel this long to mention it. But he wasn't going to comment on that, his boyfriend didn't need that right now.

Roman reached over and brushed Samuel's hair out of his face. "I agree," he said quietly. Roman had been mulling it over for a few days now and he had come to the conclusion that the only way Samuel was going to get closure, the best way that he was going to move on from this whole ordeal, was to see if his father had changed at all in the last three years. Roman doubted it, but he had been wrong before and he was honestly hoping he was wrong here.

"I feel like seeing him will alleviate some of the stress," Roman murmured, putting an arm around Samuel's shoulders and holding him close to his chest. "Like, it'd be like closure in a way. You can see if he still thinks like that and if he does, you can properly cut ties with him."

Roman sighed gently and kissed Samuel's head. "And I'll be there with you." Even if Manuel was in jail for hurting Roman, even if Roman had come close to dying because of the man, he was going to be there with his boyfriend when he confronted him. He was going to be there for Samuel every step of the way and that was never going to change. "I love you."
 
It wasn't long thereafter Samuel and Roman were sitting in the car outside the prison Manuel had been in for the past years. The man had agreed to see them, Roman, too, but Samuel suspected that was because he had made sure to mention that he wasn't visiting without him when they had called to make sure they could come visit. At least his dad had wanted to talk to him enough to agree to have Roman there too.

Samuel was sitting with the door on his side open, legs out of the car but still just sitting there, trying to get ready. Roman had mentioned both cutting ties and see if his dad had changed and Samuel had a feeling it would be the first alternative of those two and he honestly wasn't sure if he was ready. He was however pretty sure he would never be ready to do this. But he had to, he needed to get his life back to normal, needed to be able to sleep and needed to be able to hear banging doors or things falling to the floor without being terrified and the only solution he could think of was to finally just talk to his dad.

"I'm scared," Samuel mumbled finally, they had been sitting there like that for a solid ten minutes by then and this was the first thing Samuel had said since they pulled in to the parking lot, but in uttering the words he felt like was finally getting to a point where he was going to be able to go inside.
 
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"I know you are, baby," Roman said in a voice just as quiet, looking over from his place in the driver's seat at his boyfriend. "But I'm going to be there for you the whole time. I promise."

It was the end of May, nearing Samuel's birthday, and they were finally going to see Manuel Ortega in prison. Roman was not nervous -- though, he had made sure to take his anxiety meds that morning to prevent anything from happening. This wasn't about him. This was about Samuel.

Roman reached over to rub Samuel's back, and his nails were a bright, hot Barbie pink and very glittery. In fact, his entire appearance was rather flamboyant that day. Instead of his usual black shirts he wore a pastel pink sweater with some Japanese cherry blossoms on the chest, and his black skinny jeans were covered in purple glitter from an art project he had done a few months ago. He had been unable to get the glitter out. He didn't wear too much makeup that day, only a blinding highlighter, a winged eyeliner look and he had filled in his brows. All of his piercings were black, except for his septum piercing, which was pastel pink to match his sweater.

He would be lying if he said he had dressed like that for any other reason than to shove it into Manuel's face. But that wasn't the point.

"Come on," Roman gently coaxed, running a hand through Samuel's hair. "The sooner we get in there, the sooner we can leave and we can go home and perv on Dylan O'Brien while we watch The Maze Runner."
 
"Yeah, that sounds a lot more fun," Samuel said, stood up slowly on somewhat shaky legs and straightened out his hoodie. He had picked out very plain clothes that morning, beige chinos, a navy hoodie and plain white socks rather than the fun patterned ones he'd usually wear. Not that it differed that much from how he usually dressed but he wasn't going to wear any rainbow socks or the one pink shirt he owned. Roman did wear pink though, glitter and pink. He looked absolutely stunning. When they were done with this Samuel was going to appreciate that properly.

Before going inside Samuel pulled Roman into a big hug to get some extra confidence, something he apparently needed just to go through the process of being allowed into the visitor room. Talking to the people working at the facility, waiting, getting briefly searched, all while being scared about what would happen when he saw his father. By the time they were sitting at a table, waiting for his dad to arrive Samuel honestly wanted to turn and run. He didn't get a chance to change his mind about being there though because suddenly Manuel was walking up to them and sitting down on a chair across from them.

His father looked both the same and different. His face sported the same stern expression, a posture that said he never backed down and he still managed to tower over Samuel despite being shorter. At the same time he looked more tired than he had the last time Samuel saw him, his short hair a little greyer and a little messier, facial hair grown out to longer stubble than he would have ever deemed appropriate at home.

Samuel knew he looked different too, a little older, dark circles under his eyes which were framed by glasses. But other than that he looked kind of the same.

"Samuel," Manuel said finally, his voice wasn't angry, possibly a little emotional but still calm and steady. His facial expression was blank.

"Yeah," Samuel said, he would have wanted it to come out confident, as if he wasn't scared at all, but it just sounded weak and quiet. He was holding Roman's hand in a firm grip, hadn't it been for him he wasn't sure if he would have been able to talk at all. He had to keep his other hand clenched up in a fist to keep it from trembling.

"You look tired," there was some concern behind his words, Samuel could hear that and suddenly the reality that the man that was seated in front of him was his dad became so much more apparent. It wasn't just the man who had beaten him, disowned him and almost killed his boyfriend. It was also his dad who would give him warm hugs when he was little, who would drive him to soccer practice and stay until he was done because he wanted to see his son play and who he had grown up loving.

"I am," Samuel couldn't lie to his dad, he actually felt like he wouldn't be physically able to form the words, but he wasn't going to tell him why, he didn't want him to know that he still affected him in the way he actually did, "But I'm happy,"

"...Okay." silence. Then, "Do you still play soccer?"

Samuel looked at him in confusion for a moment but then finally answered, "Yeah,"

"In a good team?" Samuel stared at him again, but he was starting to realise what was going on. His father was catching up, wanting to know about the three years he had missed. Why Samuel didn't know yet.

"It's okay, we win more than we lose,"

"What about school? And work?"

"This is my last year at university, I'll get my teaching degree when I graduate. "And I'm waiting tables part-time… Roman… He is working as a tattoo artist now."

Manuel gave Roman one quick disapproving look before turning back to Samuel, his expression didn't change back.

"That's not a real profession, he won't be making any money," he was just looking for something to prove that he was right and that Samuel's "decision" to defy him by being gay was the first bad one of many. This wasn't going to be the conversation where Samuel learned his dad was willing to change, it was going to be the conversation where Samuel cut the ties with him. And that was okay.
 
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In a matter of less than half an hour, Roman and Samuel were seated in the visiting room, at a small table in uncomfortable chairs. All around them, other inmates in the same beige outfits were seated and talking to their families. Roman watched as fathers embraced their little children, middle-aged men spoke with their elderly mothers and one burly, rugged looking guy prayed with a friend. Roman couldn't forget that these people were criminals -- after all, while he may not have been a total hardass, he was still the son of a police chief and therefore had a sturdy moral code. But, they all seemed ... human. That put him at ease a little.

While Samuel spoke to his father for the first time in three years, Roman held his hand, calmly and steadily. He did not look at Manuel, but instead at the other prisoners. He wondered if they knew what Manuel had done to his own child. He wondered how Manuel fared in prison. Did he have friends? Did he have enemies? Had he been in fights? Where did he work?

He said nothing until his profession was criticised. Roman scoffed quietly, rolled his gorgeous eyes and turned them to Manuel with a slightly tired but mostly disinterested expression. "I'm making three hundred dollars a day, twelve hundred dollars a week at least, plus tips," he said in an entirely neutral tone. He wasn't going to make Samuel's time harder by picking a fight with Manuel.

Roman reached up with his free hand, flexed his glittery fingers and scratched the side of his jaw with one long fingernail, as if he was deliberately highlighting his very fabulous manicure to his boyfriend's father. He wasn't, but, well, he didn't care if it annoyed the man.
 
Manuel looked at Roman with even more distaste, he hated being proven wrong, but he would never admit to it either so once again he turned back to Samuel.

"Your grades, are they still good?" Manuel asked instead, going back to the topic of school, no longer interested in listening to info about Roman's profession.

"Dad you can't just act as if nothing has happened," Samuel said instead of answering, now that he was certain of his father's true feelings there was no point to postpone the inevitable, even if part of Samuel enjoyed just being allowed to tell his father about his life, just like any child who hadn't seen their father in a long time would, "as if you didn't -- "

I didn't do anything, Samuel," His father interrupted, firmly, and Samuel naturally just shut up, "I let you make a decision and you decided to lead this disgusting life,"

And there it was. Three years and he hadn't changed a bit. Samuel turned his gaze down to the table.

"And now I'm here talking to you, even if you don't deserve it, because I'm your father and you should apprecia--"

"No." Now it was Samuel's turn interrupting, something he never did with his dad, and to do it he had had to tell himself over and over that his dad couldn't do anything here, there were guards in the room who would stop him if he hurt either of them, "No, you can't just take me back and act like you are the better person for doing it,"

"Samuel," He sounded angry now and that made Samuel's heart beat even faster, voice become just a tad louder as he spoke.

"You told me I was the one tearing our family apart, you made me live with that for three years. But it wasn't, I'm not the one in prison, I talk to mum every week and I go see aunt Sara when I have the time, and I talk to cousin María on the phone like every other month. You were the one tearing it apart before you even knew I was gay by hurting me, and making mum feel bad in the process, you were tearing our family apart for years, dad, but I still loved you. I still do because you're my dad and a lot of the times you were a good dad, but you also made me miserable, you made me hate who I was so when you disappeared things became better."

Manuel sat quiet, his expression was furious and Samuel knew that had this been three years ago and they had been at home behind closed doors he would have been shut up by now.

"And I just can't help but wonder if you ever even loved me at all. Would you really have treated me like you did?" Samuel quieted down, his voice had become loud enough to grab some people's attention and for the guards to peer suspiciously their way. His father just continued to stare as if he expected more, but Samuel had made his point.

"I disciplined you because I loved you, I wanted you to grow up and become a good man, Samuel, I only wanted the best for you but you made sure that didn't happen by being a sinner, by being like him," Manuel finished the sentence he had been speaking in Spanish by nodding over to Roman. It was like he used the language because no one could know he loved his son when he was like this.

"You didn't discipline me, you beat me," Samuel sighed, because there was no point in trying to convince him, "Dad I'm… I'm not sure you get it. I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I'm not going to reach out to you again. You said I wasn't your son anymore and I wasn't for three years and I'm going to let you live with those words for the rest of your life, I'm done trying to make you love me like you just should have anyways."

Samuel stood up, pulling Roman up along with him and gave his dad one last moment to try to stop him. He didn't.

"Good bye, dad," And then he left, Roman with him, he needed him because as soon as they were back in the car Samuel finally let all of the feelings of fear he had been holding in while standing up to his father out by crying. But he was also crying because he was so relieved, finally, he'd get some closure.
 
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It took all of Roman's will to stay still, to stay silent, to stay out of this confrontation. This wasn't about him, it was about Samuel, but that was exactly why he wanted to interfere. Manuel needed to know the full extent of what he had done to his son. He needed to know how Samuel woke up trembling in the middle of the night. He needed to know how he had failed at being a father.

But Samuel was telling him how he had failed and Roman wasn't going to take his right to speak up for himself away from him. He steadily glared at Manuel while Samuel spoke. They were a united front, a couple, and Roman would stay there for Samuel until the end. Roman was incredibly proud of his boyfriend, for everything he had done, for everything he had said to his father. He was finally severing the ties. He was finally letting go.

Roman stood up with his boyfriend, shot Manuel a withering glare and followed Samuel out of the prison. They collected their belongings and made their way to their car, where Samuel finally broke down, crumbling under the stress of the afternoon. It broke Roman's heart to see his boyfriend like this, but he knew it wasn't all bad. He knew Samuel was relieved that he had gotten closure.

"Hey," Roman murmured, reaching over to cup Samuel's face with one hand. He kissed him on the forehead and nuzzled his hair. "I ... I don't know if this is what you need to hear right now, but this is probably the best outcome from this. You never have to see him again. And ... I love you, Samuel, I love you so much."
 
Samuel nodded slowly at what Roman was saying, he knew he was right, he knew this all was a good thing. But he didn't stop crying right away. He needed to get it all out because what he just did had possibly been the hardest thing he had done in his life. After a while he calmed down though, it was far from his worst cry, it was just a lot at the same time and it had been too much to deal with. And he was still tired, hopefully, that would change though.

"I love you too, I couldn't have done this without you, thank you," his voice was thick from the crying but he felt a little calmer a little more okay. He knew this couldn't have been the easiest for Roman either though. Manuel had almost killed him but Roman had still come with him and Samuel loved and appreciated him so much for that.

Samuel sniffled a little and wiped the remainder of his tears, "I think I should call mum," he decided. He just felt like he should tell her about this, catch her up. They didn't talk about his dad much, but he was still her husband and Samuel wasn't sure what this would mean for her. He was confident he would have her support though he knew that by now.

He got his phone, which he had left in the car, and quickly found his mother amongst his last made calls, it rang for a moment but his mother was quick to pick up.

"Hey mum I'm putting you on speaker, Roman's with me," Samuel greeted her and did indeed put her on speaker.

"Oh, okay, Hello Roman," She sounded happy, "Sammy has been telling me about your new job, are you settling alright, is it fun?"
 
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"You're welcome," Roman softly murmured against Samuel's temple. He kissed him on the side of the head and pulled away a little so Samuel could call his mother. It was only right that Susan be informed of what had happened in the past hour -- it was her son and husband, after all.

"Hey, Susan," Roman said pleasantly, leaning his head against his boyfriend's shoulder as he spoke. "Yeah, I've started working in a tattoo parlour, and I really love it." He knew Susan would be happy for him. It was honestly hard to understand how such a nice, maternal, loving and caring woman had ever ended up married to an actual piece of trash. But he assumed that Manuel wasn't always terrible. After all, Samuel still had some nice memories of him.

Roman turned his head and kissed Samuel on the corner of the jaw, to let him know that it was okay, and that he should tell his mother everything. She deserved to know, and this would put them on the same page. That was what they both needed, and Roman would support the both of them.
 
"That's nice to hear, and Sammy are you still having fun at university?" His mother always asked him this when he called, it was sweet but not what they needed to talk about.

"Yeah, uh mum, I need to tell you something," Rather than looking at the phone Samuel was looking at Roman when talking. His boyfriend made him feel more sure of… Everything, "…we just visited dad,"

"oh"

"yeah"

"Are you alright, sweetie?"

"Yeah, I.. Yeah." Samuel swallowed hard, it was now he'd be saying it, "Mum I told him I wasn't going to talk to him anymore, I don't want to see him again."

His mother was completely quiet and so was Samuel, just waiting for her response, wanting to know how this made her feel.

"...That's okay... You know sweetie, I've been thinking," his mother said, carefully, she was clearly not sure about what she was saying, "and I think I'm going to file for a divorce."

Samuel sat quietly, eyes wide, he could barely believe what he had just heard.

"I've been considering this for a while now and I think it would be for the better,"

"Yeah... I think so too," Samuel said had he not just cried all the tears he had he would have probably started up by now, but he felt surprisingly clear minded.

"I'm sorry I didn't realise it before now, I know I should have tried to get you away from him earlier,"

"mum it's okay, don't worry, we can't change that so there's no point in dwelling on it,"

"Okay…" Then she took a breath that was deep enough to be heard through the phone and her voice was back to being happy, not showing your feelings had always been the Ortega way, or well Samuel supposed his mother would go back to Stevens now, that was a little weird, "I'll call you up to talk about the details later, kay?"

Samuel confirmed and they said their goodbyes and I love yous and then the conversation was over.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting that." He didn't say it in a way that indicated that he was sad, just surprised, for some reason he had thought his mother wasn't ever going to let go of his dad, apparently, he was wrong.
 
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"I ... neither was I."

Roman was a little shocked. He had always been under the impression that Susan wasn't going to move on from Manuel, but thankfully, he had been wrong. He couldn't agree with the woman more -- she definitely needed to file for a divorce. That way, both she and Samuel could move on from the whole ordeal and the whole family could be happier.

"This will help you cut ties with him," Roman told his boyfriend gently, brushing a bit of hair out of his face with his glittery nail. "And it will help your mother move on."

Roman leaned in and gave Samuel a nice, deep kiss, before he turned to the steering wheel and started the car. He did not move, yet, however.

"Where do you want to go?"
 
"Home and drool over Dylan O'Brien in maze runner, please,"

he had promised himself to truly appreciate how gorgeous Roman looked that day after they were done with this and now he could. And he was going to every day of his life. The chapter that was his dad was closed he was now going to be able to move on from him, live life like he had the past three years but without worrying about who he was to him and what would happen when he got out of prison.

"And maybe make out a little, because you are looking especially gorgeous today," Samuel said with a slightly more flirtatious tone, it didn't really fit the mood or the occasion, but Roman's kiss had been nice and comforting so he could do some more of that, "oh, and take a nap, I'm tired,"

Despite mentioning the fact that he was tired and the implications of the bad dreams Samuel was smiling he was so ready for the to just falter and he was excited to be able to live his life without spending all his days half asleep.
 
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"Allison, don't -- oh, too late."

Two weeks after Roman and Samuel had visited Manuel in prison, they were sitting in the park with Evan and London, and of course baby Allison. Exactly one week ago, it had been Samuel's birthday, meaning he was now twenty one years of age and could drink in America. Not that that was useful whatsoever.

London sighed and slumped back into the park bench as Allison ran off into the sandpit without her shoes on. "Parenting is hard."

"What? No way, I thought I was meant to be a breeze."

London flipped him off and leaned against Evan, her hand on his knee. "I am tired."

"Maybe if you didn't stay up all night canoodling with your boyfriend you wouldn't be tired. We can hear you through the walls."

"You can not."

"Okay ... I can't, that is true. But I totally know what you're up to."

London quirked an eyebrow and looked up at Evan. "There's something wrong with my brother."
 
"what, you are you just realising this?" Evan was sitting with his arm around London's shoulder, his hand absentmindedly rubbing her arm affectionately, he seemed a little tired too, Samuel assumed that was just the default state for parents with young kids, "I've known that for years,"

"There is nothing wrong with Roman, he is perfect, shut up," Samuel insisted even if it was Roman who had started the teasing. He felt kind of extra needy today. Sadly the dreams had yet to go away yet, Samuel still had some hope about just needing some time but with every day that passed, he was feeling less confident that was the case. He was also feeling more paranoid and jumpy than ever and that was why he was clinging more to Roman than he usually would in public.

To match his words he affectionately nuzzled his face into Roman's neck where he was sitting next to him on the bench, placed a kiss the and then settled for leaning against him afterwards.

"See I'm also very happy you can't hear us but only because that would mean we would be hearing you two," Evan insisted, "And I have a feeling that you two are doing things that can be considered a lot worse than 'canoodeling' since you don't have a two-year-old to worry about,"

Samuel gave Evan a glare and replied by mimicking London to convey that Evan was just as dumb and annoying as Roman could be, "There is something wrong with Evan,"
 
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No one had the chance to respond, because at that moment, a guy staggered past them on the footpath. He was an average-height, middle-aged man with a huge beer belly, greasy looking gray hair and lots of stubble. He wore a brown tank top that had a large stain on it and blue shorts, as well as flip-flops on his calloused feet. He held a bottle, inside a paper bag.

The man stopped in front of the four young adults, glared at Samuel and Roman and took a swig from his bottle. Roman raised his eyebrows. "Can we help you?"

"Yeah, you can get the fuck out."

"Excuse me?"

The guy took another sip from his bottle, before he spat in his coarse, rough voice, "Fucking fags."

Roman leaned back and subconsciously pulled Samuel closer. London looked at Evan and then at some of the other parents in the park, who were all watching the man, scoping out the perceived threat. The man didn't seem to notice.

"You're all fucking disgusting -- you're abominations, you shouldn't exist," he continued, his voice raising in anger. He stumbled towards the sandpit, and London leaped to her feet and dashed over to pick up Allison. She carefully cradled her baby to her chest, hiding her face so she couldn't see what was going on, and helped another young mother shepherd her kids away from the man.

"Look, we don't want any trouble --" Roman tried, but he was cut off. It was apparent that this man was very, very drunk. He flared up as soon as Roman tried to defend himself.

"SO? SO FUCKING WHAT -- YOU SHOULDN'T EXIST! PISS OFF! PISS! OFF!" he shouted, his voice gurgling. He found that his bottle was empty so he threw it at Roman and Samuel's feet, where it smashed and the glass bounced up to hit their legs. Luckily Roman didn't get cut. "YOU FUCKING DISGUSTING FAGS -- YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS --"

Roman didn't say anything because he didn't know how to deal with drunk angry people. He carefully kicked the broken glass away from the ground at their feet and made eye contact with his sister. London was consoling a crying Allison, evidently scared by the commotion, as were the two children of the other young mother. The guy continued to rant and rave about how feral and revolting Roman and Samuel were and Roman finally looked at Evan, silently asking what the hell they should do.
 
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Samuel was absolutely terrified even before the man started yelling, his heart started racing almost the moment he opened his mouth and by the time the bottle had been thrown he was trembling in fear. The man continued to yell and every other word made Samuel flinch and slowly his vision started going blurry.

"please stop," Samuel pleaded, but he wasn't asking a drunken stranger to do it, the voice he was hearing had turned from slurred yelling into a faded Spanish accent and Samuel's body automatically acting accordingly, he slowly slid down on the ground, unable to pay any mind to where there was any glass, pulled his knees up, buried his face in them and pulled his arms up over his head to protect it from any potential damage.

"Please," His chest felt tight, so tight it made it harder to breath and his breath was coming out in short puffs, hyperventilating as if he had been running around the block in max speed.

"I'm sorry-- I'm sorry--" He didn't want his dad to hit him more, it hurt, and his head was hurting from getting it shoved into the wall, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--" his voice faded into desperate sobs after that as he waited for the next hit and the next.

In actuality none of what Samuel was perceiving to happen was happening, in reality Evan had grabbed the man's arm the moment Roman requested his help, twisted it around with an iron grip, successfully shut him up and loudly and furiously said, "If you don't fucking leave I'm calling the police, there are children here you're a danger to them,". And since Evan was far from a small dude the man had soon hurried off, still muttering and yelling slurs and curses but leaving that specific area of the park. But at that point, Samuel was completely lost, sitting on the ground curled up and with his hands in such a tight grip on his hair that it hurt all while trembling violently.
 
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Roman watched in horror as Samuel broke down in front of him. At first he just thought he was scared, which was fair enough, since the man was being rather aggressive and had to be forcefully moved away by Evan. But then Roman realised Samuel wasn't just scared of the drunken homophobe, this was something else entirely.

Luckily Roman had moved the glass away before Samuel sunk to the ground. Roman followed him down, watching, aghast, as his boyfriend started apologising. Roman realised this had something to do with Manuel. There was no other explanation for Samuel's reaction. There ... there was something wrong. Something Roman could have prevented if he had have pushed the issue when he had first found out about the dreams.

Roman wasn't sure if he should touch Samuel. He knew from his own anxiety that physical contact could often make it worse, but Samuel was probably going to tear his curls out of his head if Roman didn't interfere. So, he reached up and carefully disengaged Samuel's fingers from his hair.

"Samuel, babe, deep breaths," Roman coaxed, trying to employ tactics his own loved ones demonstrated when he was having an anxiety attack. "Deep breaths, okay, this isn't your father. He's not here. Everything is okay. Evan got rid of that man. Samuel? Are you alright?"

All around them, parents were starting to herd their children out of the park, thanking Evan for taking care of the issue as they went. Even if the threat was gone, they clearly wanted to remove their kids from potential danger. Soon, it was just the four young adults and Allison left in that area of the park. London was crying as she made her way back to the men, still holding her baby to her chest.

"What's happening?" she asked Roman fearfully, her eyes fixed on Samuel as she rubbed her still-scared baby's back.

"I don't know," Roman replied hoarsely. He still held Samuel's hands in his own. "Samuel?"
 
As Samuel felt his arms being pulled away he let out an almost pained whine, because he was no longer able to protect his head but he didn't do anything about it, he could barely even move at all in fact.

For a moment he thought he heard Roman's voice, but he continued keeping his eyes shut close, pressing himself against what he thought was the wall but what actually was the bench, the places that had been hit years ago hurting all over again with how real it all felt. But then he heard it again, saying his name. He got together with Roman around the same time his dad disappeared, Roman couldn't be there in that moment. He felt his breaths become a little slower, still quick but not too shallow enough for him to feel light headed due to the lack of oxygen.

He wasn't in the hallway outside his room, his dad was still behind bars and there wasn't even anyone shouting anymore. He slowly turned his head up to see that Roman was next to him and that Evan was standing with his arm around London, pulling her close, and that she was holding a crying Allison.

"R-roman?" he asked to confirm as he turned back to his boyfriend still both terrified about what was going on and utterly confused, "I- I don't. I don't know where I am, I'm--"

He started trembling more again but he was slowly regaining the sense of being in the moment so he wrapped his arms around Roman and buried his face in his chest instead, because Roman being there meant his dad couldn't be there.

"Jesus...Do you think he's hurt, like, did he hit his head on the way down or something? "
 
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