[Samuel x Roman]

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Roman turned around and frowned when he heard Samuel scold a student. It became apparent that this kid, Jonah, had been making fun of Emma and Roman would not stand for that kind of behaviour. He allowed Samuel to reprimand Jonah, before he wordlessly crossed the room and picked up a whiteboard marker from his desk.

He wrote in big letters LUNCHTIME DETENTION on one side of the board, then wrote Jonah's name beneath it. A little murmuring started, but Roman didn't react to that at all. He set the marker down and gave Jonah a reproachful look. "You're a young adult, please act like it," he said sternly. "You can have your name removed at the end of the lesson if you behave yourself."

The kids were silent for a moment. It was clear that even if Roman was a sub, he wasn't a pushover, and he was serious about this while he was here. Roman had no tolerance for bullies whatsoever. He gave Emma a small smile when he returned to her, to finish what he had been saying.

"That was very good, Emma. Okay, everyone, keep practicing your chords, and I'll print the lyrics for the singers and then we'll get started." He smiled at the class, then returned to his desk, gesturing for Samuel to follow him up.

"How am I doing?" he asked his husband as he opened his laptop and searched for the lyrics online.
 
Samuel watched as Roman just gave someone detention like that. And he didn't stop him, because the kid had misbehaved and Roman was the teacher right now and thus he made the rules. Back when he had been student teaching Samuel had been really scared to do things like that, even knowing he was allowed to, so Samuel was impressed with his husband. Of course, Roman wasn't really the type of person to take any shit, so Samuel wasn't all that surprised, definitely not as surprised as Jonah who sported a defeated expression.

Moments after that Samuel joined Roman behind the desk, and peaked over, or rather out from the side of, his shoulder as he found the lyrics, ready to help Roman figure out how to work the printers if needed.

Samuel would have made a joke about how he looked hot when giving teens detention, but he decided to save that one for when they were alone, as much as he liked to keep the kids on a friendly level he knew he still had to keep things appropriate. He did, however, think to place a hand on Roman's back and giving it a little rub was okay so he did that when Roman asked how Samuel thought he was doing.

"You're doing great," Samuel said in a bit of a quiet voice, he didn't have to lower it too much though, all the teens were playing at the same time, even Emma who knew the song and had the loudest instruments was hitting the drums on occasion, "Everyone seems to like you... Well most of them," Samuel threw a slightly amused way Jonah's way, he was stubbornly not playing the guitar but the moment he caught Samuel's eye he strummed a little as if no one could tell what he was doing.

One of the funniest things with becoming a teacher was honestly realizing how often the kids just assumed they were being sneaky and smart with hiding their phones or not doing schoolwork, when in the reality the teachers mostly just couldn't be bothered with telling them every goddamn time. Jonah already had detention now, so there was no real point in bothering with him and hopefully, he would learn from this and just do his work and not make fun of people in the future.

"If you end up being better than me at this I'm kicking you out of our apartment," Samuel joked and then he added, sweetly and a little more seriously, "hey, If you want I'll go get the lyrics sheets at the printer for you, so you can stay with the kids?"
 
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"Even if I was better than you at this, which I'm not, it wouldn't matter because I could never wake up so early every morning," Roman said with a chuckle. All jokes aside, it made him happy to know that he was doing a good job. Even if he was just substituting, he still wanted to do well and to teach a fun class that students actually wanted to attend.

And most kids seemed like they wanted to be here. That made ignoring the kids like Jonah a lot easier than he had anticipated.

He sent several copies of the lyrics to the closest printer and turned to his husband. "If you could go collect them that would be fantastic," he said to the lovely man beside him, rubbing him a little on the shoulder before he stepped around the desk to face the class again. He chatted with them and answered questions for a few minutes, until Samuel came back with the printing. Once he returned, Roman highlighted different sections of lyrics and crossed to the kids who were on vocals.

"Okay, so, the verses have a bit of a layered effect, like, there are background vocals that make it hard for one person to sing it, plus harmonies. So, I'll divide you into two groups, One and Two. Group One will be singing all the lines in purple and Group Two will be singing all the lines in green."

Roman then divided the small group of kids into two smaller groups, then turned back to the whole class. "Right, any questions before we start?"
 
Samuel went to fetch the papers at the printer, which was close by but it most likely was quicker than Roman trying to find it. He made it back without issues and after handing Roman the sheets, along with a quick and habitual kiss to the shoulder, he took his place on his chair in the back. He knew could probably leave at that point. If he went by his excuse of being there, which was making sure Roman was doing alright, he had seen that Roman had adapted to subbing with no problems at all. But no one was complaining about him being there and he was curious to see how far they'd get with the song.

And if anyone asked he'd just say he was waiting until Roman was done so they could eat lunch together, or something. He was allowed to be there, so it didn't matter.

"Will you also be singing Mr Hemlock-Ortega?" Carly raised her hand and asked, Roman, not Samuel, since she was looking at the man holding the lesson. She wasn't in the group of singers, still sitting with her acoustic guitar but some of the kids that were actually singing nodded along, seemingly agreeing with her question.

Samuel just smiling about the fact that she had referred to Roman with their double name.He still got this warm and fuzzy feeling whenever someone did that, it reminded him that Roman was his husband now. He wondered how much longer he'd feel that way when people said their last names together, he hoped forever, but supposed he'd get used to it after a while.
 
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The question caused Roman to pause for two reasons — one, because he had to think about the answer and two, because Carly had called him by his new surname, the one he shared with his beautiful husband. He hadn't grown tired of it yet at all, and in fact, he doubted that he ever would. It was perfect, and Roman wondered how he had ever been satisfied with his single birth surname.

"Well, I don't want to take the attention away from you guys ..."

"Please, sir?" a blonde girl begged. Her name was Caley and she was staring at Roman with an adoring expression. "It will be so much better with you!"

Caley's friends all nodded and Roman sighed, conceding. Honestly he hadn't put up much of a fight. He picked up a spare microphone, turned it on and tested it. "Okay, I'll come in on the harmonies in the chorus but other than that, this is all you guys. Right, let's get started."

And so, Roman spent the rest of the period running through the song with his class. He found that a lot of them had it memorised but had problems with execution, which was understandable. They didn't get very far, only a few lines in, because Roman stopped almost every minute to help someone with their playing when he was asked to assist, but they were all having fun.

He loved this. He loved teaching these kids, but this wasn't his calling. It was Samuel's.

Roman had them pack up five minutes before the bell so they could all leave on time. He went to wipe the board of its notes, and came across Jonah's name in his own loopy handwriting. He glanced over his shoulder at Jonah, regarded him for a moment, then wiped off his name without a word.
 
Samuel immensely enjoyed listening to the same couple of seconds of the song being repeated over and over. Anyone else would have probably been annoyed the kids never even got past the first minute of the song. The music wasn't what Samuel was enjoying though, no, he was enjoying watching his husband teach

Had it been what Roman had wanted to do, he would have been a good teacher, Samuel decided. He was making sure everyone was keeping up with everyone and was telling people how to go about things in a really good way. He supposed the whole grading paper upon paper wasn't really Roman's thing, even if he always was a sweetheart and helped Samuel when he got a lot of them stacked, but something like this, teaching music, or arts, he would have been able to do this job amazingly.

Jonah looked seriously relieved when his name was no longer on the board and once everyone had put the instruments away and were back on their chairs waiting for Roman to wrap up the class he and his friends sat perfectly quietly listening. Samuel supposed they had actually gotten some kind of respect for Roman and that was impressive.

Some of the girls inquired about how long Roman would be subbing and were delighted to hear that he'd be there more than just a couple of classes that day. Soon after that though, the teens left the classroom chattering happily after a lesson everyone seemed to think had been quite fun. As soon as they were out Samuel rose from his chair and headed over

"What were you even worried about this morning?" Samuel asked with a slightly amused, but very loving smile, "That the kids wouldn't like you?"
 
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"Well, they could still hate me, and they're all pretending to like me so they can organise an internal revolution or something," Roman hypothesised with a shrug and a silly chuckle. "Nah, I'm joking, I know you're right, I guess I was just worried because, well, anxiety."

It hadn't been that bad, but it had been bad enough to have him stress about it, so it wasn't like Roman had been completely overreacting. He did have a mental illness, after all, even if it was hidden beneath his staggering confidence. It was often easy to forget that he really did have anxiety -- well, it was easy for other people.

It certainly was not easy for him to forget.

Since they were alone, Roman took his husband's hands and pulled him close, then let go of said hands so he could wrap said husband in his arms and hold him close. "Thank you for sitting in today," he said, pressing a loving and tender kiss to Samuel's forehead. "It really meant a lot to me, and you really helped. I love you."
 
After Roman's mention of his anxiety, Samuel did nothing to stop the hug he received, and he wrapped his arms around his husband as well. Roman was such a strong guy, battling against his mental and also his physical illnesses on a daily basis. Samuel didn't think he had truly been able to understand just how much effort that took until he too was diagnosed with something, and even then Samuel didn't think he could truly understand because Roman had so many things to deal with.

"I love you too, I'm happy I could help, and also really proud of you for doing this despite the worrying," Samuel rose to his toes so he could reach up and place a kiss somewhere between Roman's jaw and cheek. It was kind of good Roman was so tall because otherwise Samuel would be kissing his face every two minutes and that wouldn't be very appropriate at work.

"You'll have to have your next class by yourself, but I know you can do it, you did really amazingly now, You'll have no problems with it at all," He nuzzled Roman's chest a little then he pulled away, slightly reluctantly, and held out his hand for Roman to take, "Let's go grab some lunch, I'll show where and what mugs you may use," it was a warm and loving half-joke based on what Roman had said that morning, he had obiously already found one of Samuel's for his tea, by himself, despite the worrying,. Samuel knew Roman worried, he knew he got his anxiety, but he also knew his husband could do most things he put his mind into and he was confident Roman would do well for the rest of the duration he would be substituting.
 
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Roman spent the next few days subbing at Samuel and London's school. He found that he absolutely loved it. He build friendly relationships with a lot of the kids he taught and he loved seeing how they reacted when they got a note right or received praise for their work. By the time his teaching period was over, he was a little reluctant to leave, but was ultimately happy to be getting back to his normal job and promised his kids that he'd come and see them some time in the future.

Now, it was the night of the Bruno Mars concert that Roman was taking his husband to. He was sitting on the chair at his dressing table in their room, applying his makeup while Samuel got dressed. They were obviously very married, able to have serious conversations whilst getting ready for various events. Roman loved his husband a lot.

"On a scale of one to ten, how excited are you?" Roman asked the other man while he contoured his face.
 
"So excited I could probably die," Samuel joked as he put on a pair of turquoise socks with some little dark blue twigs and cute birds on them.

It was the day of the Bruno Mars concert and Samuel could barely focus on getting dressed because he just didn't know what to do with himself. Samuel was the kind of guy who'd put on the radio and be content with whatever was playing. He wasn't picky, he didn't care much if the singers had or hadn't written the songs themselves, or if they were mainstream and did what everyone else did. He had preferences of course and music he liked. Bruno Mars was his all time favorite. But he also really liked Ed Sheeran, and imagine dragons, both of which Roman enjoyed too, maybe not as much as panic! At the disco or the 1975 maybe, but those were the artists he put on their joint playlists that they would put on when doing things around the apartment.

He also enjoyed the chain smokers but Roman didn't and he liked Eminem and some other rap artists but Roman didn't like rap music so he listened to them when out jogging. The point was that Bruno Mars was on the top of the list of the artist Samuel did actually like, so today was a big day.

And thus he was feeling picky about his outfit, which wasn't much like him at all. That was Roman's job. Samuel had already picked out a pair of navy chinos, which he was wearing, but he couldn't decide between the shirts. He had placed his two options on the bed, next to the things he'd be bringing to the concert to avoid forgetting them, keys, wallet, phone and the camera he and Roman had gone to buy after they had gotten home from their honeymoon. It hadn't gotten much use yet, except for cute pictures of Roman and the pets, but this felt like one of those memories that'd be worth documenting.

"In your professional opinion, what shirt do you think I should wear?" Samuel asked Roman, what was the point in getting ready together if they couldn't ask which the other liked? He pointed between the pastel turquoise t-shirt, a colour Samuel didn't wear much in that quantity, and another plain t-shirt, this one navy, which was one of the colours Samuel wore the most.
 
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"You should go shirtless," Roman joked as he finished off his contour and moved onto blush. He was obviously joking so he didn't feel the need to clarify that. He peeked at Samuel's shirts out of the corner of his eye as he applied the pale pink colour to the apples of his cheeks. He had obviously decided to go for a full face of makeup that day.

He had also decided to dress for the occasion. He wore his usual black skinny jeans and his regular black leather jacket, but had elected to wear a gorgeous silvery T-shirt with a rainbow holographic effect that changed with the lights in the room. He also wore sparkly silver high top sneakers. His nostril, eyebrow and lip piercings were normal black ones, but he had swapped his septum and tongue piercings for glitzy silver ones that looked like diamonds.

Roman turned his head to properly look at the shirts and mentally compared them both with his husband's outfit before coming to a finalised and definite decision. "Turquoise," he announced professionally, before giving his husband a sweet smile. "You'll look gorgeous, baby."

Roman turned back to his makeup and held up two highlighters. One was his usual blinding white, and the other was mostly white but with purple reflects that would match the purple in his holographic top. "Which one do you think I should wear?" he inquired sweetly.
 
"Thanks, love," Samuel said at the compliment and put on the turquoise shirt without hesitating after Roman told him his opinion. And decided after a quick glance in the mirror that it looked quite nice. He kind of knew light colours like this looked good with his skin tone, but didn't wear them much because he sometimes got self conscious about it. It was a mindset he was growing away from though, and at this point it was probably just that he personally favorited the darker alternatives better.

Then he turned his attention to his husband because he had just been asked for his opinion. Samuel loved that, they both knew he wasn't the best when it came to this kind of fashion-y things but being included in Roman's choices still made him very happy.

Samuel gave his options some thought, he wasn't the kind of douchebag husband to just say whatever to make his partner get on with it just because he wasn't into make up himself. He knew the white one was the one he usually wore and Samuel loved it on him a lot. But it was a special occasion and he felt like the purple tones in the other one would work with what Roman was wearing. He also really just loved Roman in purple and he knew it was his favorite colour. Apart from Black of course.

"That one?" He pointed to the one with the purple shimmers, "but take it with a grain of salt because I'm partial to you in purple. It's pretty on you,"
 
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"Why, thank you, my dear," Roman said prettily, a bright smile on his face, as his husband complimented how he looked in purple. He immediately opened the highlighter and applied some of the product to his cheekbones, nose, brow bone and cupid's bow. He turned his head in the light a few times and liked how it looked a lot. "You have made a good decision, you should be super proud of yourself."

Roman decided to do eyeshadow, and made a gorgeous rainbow look out of matte versions of the colours that were featured on his shirt -- peach, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink. He also did mascara and obviously his eyebrows, and finished with a simple nude lipstick to complete the look.

Once he finished, he turned to his lovely husband and looked up at him with a bright smile on his colourful, but still perfect, face. "How do I look?" he asked the other man, batting his eyelashes flirtatiously to show off the eyeshadow. "Personally, I think Kylie Jenner would cry from jealousy if she saw me right now, but I'm a little biased."
 
"Kylie Jenner would take one look at you and name her next kylighter or whatever after you," Samuel said in the most serious tone he could muster. It wasn't very serious, "Then she would humbly take the back seat while she let you take over as royalty of the makeup world,"

Samuel made sure to still study Roman's face carefully, he knew whatever he did in terms of makeup would look fantastic, so he could just say 'you look fantastic love' right away, but he still liked to actually properly look at his makeup creation so he did.

"But then again, I might also be slightly Biased," Samuel added, still looking at his husband, "You do look really gorgeous though, and colourful, I love it,"

Samuel held out a hand for Roman to grab and pulled him up from the chair, and then when he was standing, down so he could place a kiss on his neck, he didn't want to ruin the makeup by kissing his cheeks, even it probably wouldn't ruin it too much. He pulled back with a huge smile on his lips, "Are you ready to leave?"

A lot of the times when they found themselves in this position, exchanging a last couple of kisses before going out, Samuel found himself thinking he'd rather stay in with Roman. He was too excited about today's events to really feel that way though, he could stay in all day with Roman the next day, today they were going to a concert and listening to Bruno Mars and it'd be fantastic.
 
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"I'm ready if you are," said Roman, leaning down to give his husband a soft kiss on the lips. But of course Samuel was ready, so Roman gathered up his things and lead his husband out to the venue.

They drove for a little while, and arrived at a relatively small little theatre where the concert would be held. Roman knew that Samuel didn't function well in large crowds and therefore an arena concert, while cheaper, was really not a very viable option for them. So, he had spent an obscene amount of money on a small concert, which was only going to be attended by around three hundred people, and included a meet-and-greet after the show.

Also, they could actually bring food into this concert and that was all Roman cared about.

So he made them stop at a supermarket before they arrived at the venue. Soon, they were seated in their comfortable theatre seats, which were in the middle of the fourth row -- close to the stage but not too close. Roman opened up one of the packets of salt and vinegar chips he had bought and dug in as he turned to his husband.

"Are you going to explode when he comes on stage?"
 
"Yes, yes I am," Samuel nodded and smiled, but he wasn't as animated as he would have been in their apartment. The venue was small, or at least small in comparison to a regular concert with an artist like this, but there were still a lot of people there and it was a public place and that just meant Samuel was a little quieter and a little more reserved. He doubted that'd ever change.

He really appreciated Roman splurging on tickets to a smaller show though, he had a feeling they had been expensive but in this setting, he at least wasn't nervous, or scared that he'd freak out if someone bumped into him to hard, or worried about Roman getting too overwhelmed because of his anxiety, or worried about Roman's foot getting stomped on so he got bruises. It was worth the money. And there was also a part of Samuel who kind of really loved being spoiled by his husband, he knew that was silly and a little materialistic, but it just made him feel loved.

They had gotten to the venue with a lot of time to spare, meaning they had some time to just sit and chat and snack, although Samuel had some troubles with that because he really was so excited he felt like he could burst and every two minutes he'd ask Roman what time it was, so he'd know how long it was until the show started.

And then the lights dimmed down, and the opening act made their way out on the stage. Samuel could honestly not care less about them in that moment, but he was excited because them coming on meant they were so much closer to what they were there for.

"How long do you think they'll be on for?" Samuel asked his boyfriend, almost childishly impatiently, the band had barely just introduced themselves.
 
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Roman smiled and chuckled at his husband's enthusiasm. He was very adorable, and Roman knew without a shadow of a doubt that the money he had spent had been well worth it. He loved his husband therefore had no qualms with shelling out a little extra to make him happy.

And besides, he didn't hate Bruno Mars either.

"They'll be on for a little while, love, I apologise, but it will be worth it," Roman solemnly swore. He reached over and squeezed his husband's hand as if to assure him that the main act would come on stage eventually. If Samuel was this excited before Bruno even made an appearance on stage, then Roman couldn't wait to see how ecstatic he was when the performer showed up.

They sat through the opening act and Roman found that he actually quite liked the band. He made mental note of their name so he could look into them a little more later. Then the opening act left the stage and the room thickened with anticipation.

Roman reached for his second packet of chips and turned to his husband. "Okay, don't die on me, please."
 
"I'm sorry but you're going to have to carry my dead body out of here," Samuel said, his joking tone couldn't hide the excitement in his voice and he let the excitement slip even more as he let out an "Oh my god!" when, after the band that would be playing for Bruno appeared, the artist hurried up on stage.

Since it was a small indoors venue no one was really screaming at the top of their lungs as the artist appeared on stage, but there were still plenty of cheers and little shrieks all around. Samuel made a point of not being a part of the shrieking by putting a hand over his mouth to muffle the excited little sound that still kind of made its way out. Luckily it wasn't like anyone was paying attention, and the sound just kind of disappeared amongst the rest of the sounds in the venue.

Bruno Mars started out by shouting out something basic about it being nice to be in Melbourne and Samuel looked over at his husband and tugged his arm excitedly as if to say "I can't believe were her seeing Bruno Mars in real life," Samuel tore his gaze of his husband pretty soon thereafter though, the music started playing, the first song on his current touring set list, and as gorgeous as Roman was it wasn't every day they got to see Bruno Mars live. Samuel kept Roman's hand in his though, allowing them one free hand each, for Roman to eat his chips and Samuel to snap a picture or two at some point.

Soon the concert was in full swing. People were holding their phones in the hand, recording photographing and most everyone was singing along, but it didn't Samuel didn't drown out the music and singing coming from the stage. Samuel did not sing along. He knew most of his favourite musical artist's songs by heart but just never really sang much. He wasn't good at it at all, he wasn't holding your hands over your ears bad, but he was still a hopeless cause. It was a little silly to be self-conscious knowing no one could hear over the loud music and other people singing along, but he barely even sang along to things in front of Roman. It all didn't matter too much though, he was there, he was happy, he was holding Roman's hand and his lips were moving subtly, forming the words, he just wasn't saying them out loud.
 
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Roman wasn't the biggest Bruno Mars fan in the universe, but he genuinely didn't mind the guy. For a pop artist, he was pretty good and all his songs had their own unique feel to them. Besides, Roman had grown accustomed to Bruno's music being played in their house all the time, so he couldn't hate him at all. Samuel adored him, after all.

Roman was the kind of person who could listen to a song once and immediately know half the lyrics. He possessed extraordinary musical talent, that was a well-known fact, and he adored learning new songs. Due to the frequency at which Bruno Mars was played in their household, Roman knew most of the lyrics to the songs that the artist was performing only a few feet away from them.

So, of course, he was singing.

His voice was easily drowned by the music, in fact Samuel was probably the only person who could actually hear him, but that was okay because this wasn't about him. He sang perfectly, though that was no surprise, pausing only briefly to sip his Coke or eat a chip or two. One thing he actually liked about Bruno Mars was the high notes that he was capable of. Roman matched those notes just as well, which was something he was very proud of.

After a few songs Bruno paused to take a sip of water while the band prepared for the next track. Since it was quiet, Roman turned to his husband with a big smile on his face. "Are you having fun?"
 
Samuel found that after the concert had been going on for a while he put a bit of his voice into the singing, it wasn't intentional and not much louder than his normal speaking voice, so no one would be able to hear, probably no even Roman who was singing as perfectly as ever next to him, he could barely just hear it over the music. Actually, that made him think of the fact the Bruno Mars wasn't his favourite musical artist. Roman was. But Bruno Mars was his favourite professional artist.

When there was a small little pause in the music and Roman asked him if he was having fun Samuel just wrapped Roman in a hug and nuzzled his neck a little and said "Yeah I am," as a reply as he pulled back, and then he pressed a kiss on Roman's cheek, and then another one. He was having the time of his life, all thanks to Roman planning this out. Samuel decided that soon enough he'd plan out some nice date and surprise Roman with it, just so he could treat him to something nice too, even if it wouldn't be as fun and exciting as this, or maybe it would because things were always fun and exciting with Roman.

The concert continued, Samuel sang along quietly next to Roman, swayed along to the music, towards the end Bruno even played some of his older songs from his 2010 and 2012 albums which was absolutely amazing in Samuel's opinion because, while the songs were some of the most basic pop sounding songs the artist had made the albums also had some of Samuel's all time favourites and to get to hear those live was really amazing.

It being the end also mean that the concert almost was over of course, but Samuel wasn't too torn up about that, because it had been an amazing couple of hours, and that included getting ready with Roman, and getting there and being excited. Plus there was the whole meet and greet thing to look forward to, although, Samuel had to admit that whole thing made him a little nervous but not enough to kill the ever-present excitement he had felt the entire day.

"I can't believe it's over," Samuel still said to Roman after the artist had thanked the audience for being fantastic and coming to see him perform, because hearing the music live had still been the most exciting part for Samuel, the whole meet and great thing was just a nice bonus, and it would probably be over fairly quickly.
 
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