[Samuel x Roman]

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"Yeah we get it he was a lot older than you so you didn't really have a chance and that makes it even more unfair," Samuel said. They where now the security of their own home, Harper were nice and relaxed after a bath and hopefully he would feel a little better soon.

Samuel was seated next to him on the bed and kept an arm around him as Roman applied the bruising cream. I'm a way it was a really sad sight but in another way Damuel was so happy Harper at least had parents to take care of him like this. Samuel had been older of course, but how many times hadn't he had to patch himself up without anyone's help?

"I don't think this will happen again," Samuel said, he wasn't sure what Nathan would do but he liked to think his mother was able to teach him not to do this again, and he also just didn't want to scare Harper from going to school, "but if you notice someone wants to start arguing with you again, even if it's someone else or even if they aren't violent, you can always go to a teacher okay? And they'll help you sort things out,"
 
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"Okay," Harper mumbled. Roman finished applying the bruising cream to his poor little son's skin, stomach included, then gave him a succession of kisses to the cheeks and face. He hated what had happened, but in the grand scheme of things, he was happy that their little boy was going to be okay.

That night Roman called London and told her what had happened. She was absolutely appalled and shared Roman's frustration and disgust. Roman knew he was in the right regarding how he had spoken to Mr Marsh but still, he was glad to have this confirmed by someone else.

Roman and Samuel put Harper to bed and Roman read him a story. He went to sleep with a smile on his face. Roman knew it was going to take him a while until he both physically and emotionally healed from this, but he was able to go to sleep peacefully in his husband's arms knowing their son was going to get better with their help.
 
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The next month Samuel and Roman made sure to check every day if something had happened with Nathan, or anything else at at school. Harper always told them now and he didn't have any other bruises to show for it. The bruises he had had were healing up nicely, though Samuel still hated seeing them. After that month or so though, they finally started to feel more safe sending Harper off to school again, it seemed like Nathan wasn't causing anymore trouble, at least not for Harper.

So, they had also felt safe letting London and Evan pick Harper up that day, not that something would have happened if they did but they had just felt extra protective over him lately. They would also be picking up the younger kids and Samuel and Roman, would instead pick up their little niece for an afternoon of fun. Who wasn't all that little anymore, at the age of twelve, she was really growing up so fast it was hard to believe it really. She was now going to the same school Samuel and London taught at, which was a lot of fun since she wasn't the type of person to really be embarrassed by her uncle and mum.

So at the end of the day Samuel had found Allison loitering around the school grounds with a couple of friends and they had gone out to wait for Roman to come pick them up outside.

"Oh that's him," Samuel said as he sighted the car, Allison let out an excited, "yay," and begun to take of her school bag. The car pulled up and Samuel took the back seat, and Allison's bag with him, so Allison could sit in passenger seat next to Roman.

"Hello uncle Roman," Allison chirped happily and leaned in to give Roman a big hug, "How has your day been?"
 
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"Very good, thank you, princess," Roman said with a smile as he hugged his niece. He was very much looking forward to spending the afternoon with her and his husband. It just seemed like she was growing up way too fast. It felt like only yesterday he had been in the delivery room when she had been born, holding her just minutes after her birth. So, he was very grateful to be able to have these nice moments with her before she got older and stopped being his little princess.

Roman got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side, opening the door for Allison with a sweeping bow. Then, he turned around and faced her friends with a big smile. Today he was wearing a glittery gold T-shirt and black skinny jeans, with his black leather jacket, and black Ray Bans. He wasn't wearing any makeup and wore all black piercings, sans his septum and tongue ones, which had been swapped for gold. In short, he looked very nice.

"Hello Allison's friends! I'm Allison's super cool uncle, did you know that her first word was my name?" Roman was always very excited to meet his niece's friends. "And I'm also Mrs Johnson's twin and Mr Hemlock-Ortega's husband. But I'm cooler than the both of them."
 
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The moment Roman stepped out of the car he of course had all girls' attention and when he addressed the was some mumbling and giggling going on amongst them. Samuel got eye contact with Allison through the window and they both shared a little eye roll. The Samuel leaned between the seats, looked through the now open door and shouted, "He's a liar I'm cooler than all of them, yo," and made a silly devils horn hand sign. The girls laughed at how uncool their teacher was being.

"Cool or not we gotta go now, bye!" Allison insisted and gently pushed her uncle back around the car, an amused smile on her face as she hurried him up. Clearly it wasn't that she minded that much that her friends fangirled over her uncle, but more that she didn't want him to get stuck there once the little group of tween girls got brave enough to start to talk to him.

Allison then got seated, closed the door an buckled up. She turned towards her uncles with a very excited expression, "So where are we going, Uncle Sammy wouldn't tell me until you got here!" Samuel had purposefully decided to keep it a secret to make it more fun even if they were only going out for ice cream.
 
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Roman laughed and waved goodbye to the girls as his niece forcibly shoved him into the car. He started the vehicle and got on the road before he answered Allison's question. "We, my dearest Allison, are going to get some ice cream."

Though by ice cream, Roman didn't just mean a little kiosk in the park. No, ice cream was a very serious business, especially when it involved his sweet little niece. So he drove to a nice parlour he had picked out the day before that served customisable, mix-and-match bowls of ice cream and a variety of other sweets. It was fashioned in the style of a nice vintage diner, and Roman loved its general aesthetic a lot.

"Here you are, my dear," Roman said dramatically as they entered. He lead Allison up to the counter where they could see numerous tubs of ice cream available for selection. "You order first, I have to tell Uncle Sammy something really quick."

At that, Roman took Samuel's hand and lead him a little way away. A frown creased his face. He hadn't been looking forward to this at all.

"So, it's nothing major, but, like, when I went into the school today to drop off Eden's toys to London, I think you were in class, well, I saw Oksana, and she was flirting with me." Roman wasn't going to beat around the bush, but he really hoped this didn't impact Samuel and Oksana's professional relationship. "I'm just letting you know so you don't think I'm keeping secrets."
 
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Allison seemed seriously impressed and excited by the ice cream place they had picked out to bring her to and let out a very excited gasp. She didn't even question it when Roman told her to go order while he spoke to Samuel and simply skipped over to look at what toppings and flavour were available. Samuel however did question it internally, because Roman's expression got serious and almost a little uncomfortable the moment the little girl had left them.

When Roman revealed what was going on Samuel blinked in a couple of times in surprise. He hadn't expected it at all. He hadn't even expected it to be about Oksana who he honestly hadn't even had the chance to talk much to at all since the last time Roman brought her up... And now she was flirting with Roman? Samuel pushed a hand through his hair as he tried to process things. It actually kind of made sense considering Roman's description of how she acted with him.

"Okay, um...Thank you for telling me..." Samuel said, swallowing hard. He of course felt the jealousy coming on a little, but this wasn't at all Roman's fault and there was no used to get worked up about it, "fuck, I really just wasn't expected it? She has to know we're married right, and she seems really nice? I just didn't imagine her to be the type of person to do that? Are you a hundred percent sure that was what happened, like, I don't doubt you're telling the truth, It just that it might cause problems at work if it's true so I'd rather it not be?"
 
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"...Yes, I'm completely sure that's what happened," Roman said carefully. He almost wanted to retract his statement and pretend he had been confused, because his intention was absolutely not to disrupt his husband's professional relationship with a co-worker. It was important they were adults about this, because if they weren't, it would affect not only them, but also their colleagues, and most importantly the students they taught.

But Roman didn't want a repeat of the Bronte situation, and he didn't want to lie to Samuel either. So, he was going to tell the complete and honest truth.

"Like, she wasn't touching me or anything and it wasn't that full-on," he continued, "but she was looking at me with puppy-dog eyes, sort of? And biting her lip? She seemed sort of shy and nervous about it but she was definitely trying to flirt with me." Roman sighed heavily and took his husband's hand. "I didn't straight-up say we were married but I mentioned you as my husband and she backed off, so maybe she didn't know and will stop now? I just wanted to let you know so there's no secrets, like I said, I'm not trying to cause any problems with you at work."
 
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"I know," Samuel said with a soft smile. Of course Roman wasn't trying to cause problems, if anything he was trying to prevent them and Samuel appreciated that so much, especially after what happened Bronte. Samuel appreciated it a lot and to show that he gave Roman's hand a gentle squeeze and stood on his toes to give him a quick peck on the lips, "I prefer you telling me than not to. And I guess maybe she just didn't know, so she'll back of now and it won't come to it causing any troubles,"

He let out a small sigh. Oksana hadn't actually been talking much to her coworkers so it was entirely possible that she didn't actually know. Maybe the flirting, which based on Roman's descriptions really was flirting, she'd stop now that Roman had mentioned him as his husband. It didn't even have to become a big deal at all, "So thanks,"

"Roman, Sammy!" Allison suddenly came hurrying up to them, "I know what I want now, can we order?"

"Sure we can," Samuel said he smiled at Allison and then Roman again. The second smile was to assure Roman that he was okay, and that things would be okay and then they went to order their ice creams and sit down by a nice table by the window so they could look out at all the people passing by on the street.

"This is like the best thing ever," Allison said happily as she had a taste of her ice cream, she had opted for plain vanilla but with a whole lot of fruits and some chocolate sauce as topping, "Thank you!" she added after another bite.
 
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Roman was very glad that Samuel seemed to take the news well and so he was more than happy to go and order his ice cream with his husband and niece. He ordered for himself a large bowl of chocolate fudge ice cream, topped with warm chocolate sauce and chunks of chewy chocolate-chip cookie and caramel fudge.

"You're welcome," Roman said to Allison happily, taking a bite of his own ice cream. "We just feel like you're growing up way too fast, so we wanted to take you out to have fun before you're all old and grumpy like us and you want to stay inside and play Scrabble."

That was of course a joke, but there was some truth to it also. Roman feared that not just Allison, but their own children as well, would not want to hang out with them as much when they were older. Either because they would want to spend time with their friends or they just wouldn't think it was cool to hang around the adults in their lives anymore, it could potentially happen, and Roman wasn't looking forward to it at all.

"But that'll never happen because we're the coolest, right?"
 
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"Naww uncle Roman, I'll always wanna come hang out with you, even wen I realize you're all boring," Allison teased, "and I can even come over to yours and play scrabble if you're both too old and weak to take me out for ice cream,"

"Ouch," Samuel laughed, though he was happy to hear she didn't mind hanging out with them. It was a little scary to see the kids in one's lives just grow up like this, it was hard to know what they would think about spending time with you. And especially at Allison's age, just in the beginning of her teens, well almost, tended to be a time where kids believed the were to old to hang out with their "embarrassing" parents and relatives. It didn't seem to be the case for Allison though.

"I'm just joking neither of you are even old, most of my friend's parents and aunts and uncles are like at least ten years older than you two," this of course was a consequence of London and Evan having her so early, "and besides most of my friends thinks Roman is really cool anyways, and even Steph and her friends," as Alison said this Samuel mouthed 'popular girls' to Roman. he wasn't completely blind to what was going on amongst the kids, especially not in Allison's year, "asked me about you which was actually pretty cool, they'd never come to a place like this though,"
 
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"Well, I hope you only said good things about me to Steph and her friends because I can't have my reputation with the tween girls soiled," Roman said. It was good to know that Allison had lots of friends. There was never any doubt about her social skills but still, she was just starting high school which could always be a big change for many kids. It was a time where friendship groups could often break apart, due to distance or time or whatever. But Allison didn't seem to have that problem.

Roman took another bite of his ice cream and looked at Allison thoughtfully. She looked so much like London, and therefore like him, and of course she had his gorgeous green eyes. It was strange to actually see his physical features in a child, since he never saw them in his own children for obvious reasons. But he wasn't sad about that or anything, it was just an interesting observation he had made.

"But why wouldn't Steph and her friends come to a place like this? Don't they like ice cream? That's it, you're not allowed to be friends with them anymore. I'll tell your dad."
 
When Roman asked the girl why the girls she had mentioned wouldn't come to a place like this a small frown appeared on Allison's face and her eating slowed down a little, "well Aubrey said steph said she was cutting down on sweets because it's not good for her figure or something, which is really dumb cus Steph is already very pretty and she doesn't even need to think about that?"

This reveal was actually kind of concerning. It wasn't the most unheard of thing to hear about tweens, especially girls, thinking about this kind of thing and Samuel hoped it wouldn't become something that got to Allison, but she had always taken after her father when it came to confidence so Samuel wasn't that concerned. He still wanted to make sure she knew this wasn't something she should be concerned with so he gently said, "we'll you're actually not supposed to diet at all at youre age, because you're still growing and your body needs all the energy it can get. It's okay to want to be healthy, of course, but you get what I mean yeah,"

"Yeah," Allison said with what could only be described as determination before shoving in a big mouthful of ice cream in her mouth, "I told Aubrey it's not like eating a bit of sugar sometimes is going to make difference, but I dunno I think it got to Aubrey cus she's not super skinny or anything. So I dunno," Allison finished with a small shrug, she clearly didn't seem sure what to do with the situation and were just kind of venting to her uncles.
 
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Roman was very alarmed when he heard Allison's answer to his question. It was not what he expected at all. Why were young girls thinking about dieting? That was a stupid question, Roman knew the answer why -- it was because society taught women and girls that all that mattered was their appearance, which created innumerable body image issues and eating disorders. The absolute last thing Roman wanted was for Allison to develop one of those.

"You know that appearance doesn't matter, right?" Roman said as he watched her eat her ice cream. "Especially not at your age, you're only twelve years old. But even later, even if you think your body isn't perfect, it is, because there's no definition of perfect. Aubrey needs to know that, too, you should tell her."

Of course, Roman probably should have followed his own advice throughout his adolescence. He had always hated how skinny he was, even though he knew it was the product of a health disorder he couldn't do anything about. He had always wanted to gain a little weight but had been unable to. Of course, he had put on a few extra kilos now and was now happy with his appearance, but it would have saved him a lot of body image issues if he had adopted his own policy in high school.
 
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"Yeah okay I will," Allison sighed, "and it's not like I don't know that, you know? I do. And like I don't think your wheight is even what makes you pretty anyways, like Aubrey is just as pretty as Steph because Aubrey is the nicest person ever and she's cute it doesn't matter if she's chubby,"

"Well that's good then," Samuel said, though it was clear that Allison actually had thought quite a bit about this and that wasn't as good. Hopefully it was just as a product of her peers currently talking about it a lot and it would all pass. But Samuel would definitely make sure he and Roman talked to London and Evan about the fact that this was something Allison was thinking a lot about currently, "try to make sure Aubrey knows as well, maybe she doesn't know she's as pretty as you're describing her,"

Allison looked a little surprised, "oh I didn't really think about that," she said, which Samuel thought kind of showed that even if she had given this thoughts she was young and thus didn't think about all the details someone older who had experienced more would consider, "I guess I definitely have to make sure she knows then, cus like we've been so excited about starting high school and like stop by the store and get ice cream or snacks or whatever on the way home and I don't want her to feel bad about that cus I think it's a lot of fun to do things like that. Plus I love ice cream," as if to prove her point she happily took another bite of her ice cream.
 
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Roman didn't think Allison needed to be thinking about her weight at all at this age -- she was a healthy and fit girl and therefore didn't have anything to worry about. But if she had to think about it at this stage in her life he was glad that she was thinking about it in a positive manner. Still, he was going to mention it to London so she could ensure her child wasn't having any intrusive thoughts about the topic.

After they finished their ice cream, Roman paid and drove them to London and Evan's apartment to swap kids. They ended up staying and chatting for a while, during which time the kids all played together nicely. Roman mentioned the issue to his sister and she promised to watch out for the little girl.

Later, they said their goodbyes and Roman and Samuel took their kids home. That night, Roman kissed all his children goodnight as he always did, then fell asleep in his husband's arms. He felt calm and serene but the Allison issue was nagging at the back of his mind a little. Hopefully, her body image would never be an issue for her.

She was a gorgeous little girl, inside and out, and she needed to know that.
 
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Roman subbing at the high school Samuel and London worked at wasn't something that happened all that often, there was that one time last term when Samuel had been sick, but before that he hadn't done it for a while. However, one teacher from the art department had fallen sick so now Roman was back at the school for the second time that year. And this time Samuel was there as well, so it was just some extra time he got to spend with his husband so he certainly didn't complain.

Currently Samuel was out on yard duty, and he knew Roman would be in a little bit as well, and while they certainly had to do their jobs Samuel was planning on at least exchanging some words with him then, as him how his day teaching was going, things like that. Samuel had just spotted his husband coming outside when a distressed looking fourteen year old came running over to him.

"Mr. Hemlock-Ortega!" She said, clearly in a hurry, "Something happened, and now Stacey and Kimberly are fighting and I think kim pulled Stacey's hair and--"

"Oh okay I'm coming don't worry," Samuel said right away. Yard duty wasn't really the most excited thing when the kids were this age, he could imagine it was a hassle when the children were younger and frequently fell, now it was mostly to make sure no one broke rules, and to break up the occasional fight, like today. So talking to Roman would have to wait a little but he kept his location in mind as the girl led him off the where the fight was, so he could find him easily when it was all sorted out.
 
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Roman did not mind subbing at Samuel's school at all so he was more than happy to fill in while one of the art teachers was ill. He had just gotten out of class, eaten his lunch and was now making his way out to the oval to do his yard duty, thankfully with Samuel. He watched as Samuel was pulled away by a student, so he just decided to take up a position and survey the crowd of children to make sure nothing went wrong. Yard duty sucked, but Samuel would be back soon, so it was okay.

Though before Samuel could get back, Roman was approached by another teacher. Oksana. She was really a beautiful woman, with light olive skin and voluminous brown hair and some of the most stunning eyes Roman had ever seen -- she had heterochromia, one was green and one was brown. She was short and had a slender but curvaceous figure. Today she was wearing a grey sweater dress with a loose turtleneck collar, over light grey tights and soft brown ankle booties. She wore hipster glasses and had her hair in a high ponytail. Her make-up was soft and subtle. She was a truly gorgeous woman.

But that didn't matter to Roman, because he was happily married. Something Oksana knew.

He was immediately suspicious of her when she approached but didn't show it at all and instead gave her a polite smile. "Hey," she said timidly as she came to stand beside him. Roman had gathered that she was quite a shy and reserved person, not exactly nervous, but she never seemed to seek out conversation or engage in it unless someone approached her first.

Well, except for him. She seemed pretty focused on talking to him.

"Hey," he said politely. He didn't want to be mean to her, because she evidently didn't have much of a relationship with her co-workers and he didn't want to make that worse.

"Who are you filling in for?" she asked softly, looking up at him with a soft smile on her lips and a small sparkle in her eyes. Roman assimilated that look as one that teenage girls often gave him -- it was full of admiration, wonder and innocent, girlish fantasy. He didn't like it at all.

"Ms Selye, I think she has the flu?"

"Oh, that's not good at all," Oksana said. "Did you know that Selye is the surname of a major figure in psychology? Hans Selye, he was Canadian. He created the GAS model, do you know about that?"

Oksana bit her lip and continued to look up at him with that sweet, adoring expression. Roman let out the tiniest of sighs, because she was flirting with him again. This is what she had done the last time. Now, she was even playing with the end of her ponytail coquettishly, and standing rather close to him. Roman took a subconscious step away. He didn't want to be rude, but at the same time, he didn't want to give her the wrong idea.

"Um, yeah, I did know that, actually, I did psych in high school."

"Ooh, really? We should talk about it in your free period."
 
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Samuel arrived at the location of the fighting girls who he had to physically get in between to get them to stop their shoving hair hair pulling and yelling. For a little while thereafter while Samuel sorted things out Roman was gone from his mind as he had to actually do his work. After a little while it was clear that Kimberly had started both the argument and the physical fighting so Samuel sent her off to the principal's office while he pulled Stacey aside to sort things out with her and make sure she was okay.

They got seated on one of the benches and Stacey sniffling retold what happened. Samuel listened, but it was some pretty basic teen girl drama about Kimberly not liking that Stacey was going out with some guy Kimberly also liked and that she had called her a bitch and so on. So while she talked, Samuel while making sure to give her some input and nod occasionally found Roman on the school yard again. He wasn't alone this time though. No, Oksana was with him. Samuel instantly got a little uncomfortable. But tried to make himself refrain from judging the situation too fast. Roman was working there today, so they were co-workers and could talk. But Oksana didn't really look like she was just talking, she looked like all teenage girls who liked Roman did. But she wasn't a teenage girl, she was an actually gorgeous adult woman, which Samuel's brain actually read as a threat to his relationship.

It wasn't though, because Roman was his husband and they loved each other but still. Suddenly his focus was more on them and he really wanted to walk over so Oksana really got that they were married but...

"Hey did you hear that?" Stacey said, suddenly aware of her teacher's fluctuating attention.

"No sorry can you repeat it?" Samuel said honestly and the girl retold what she had just said and Samuel tried to listen while also keeping an eye on Oksana and Roman.
 
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"Well, I was actually planning to go to my husband's class in my free period," Roman said. That was a total lie, he had just made it up, but he said it to remind Oksana that he was very married and that his husband was very much her coworker.

Oksana's face fell a little. "Oh, really?" Then, it picked up again with the same gentle smile. "Well maybe we can talk about it another time? I don't really have anyone to talk about psychology to."

"Can't you talk to the other psychology teachers?" Roman asked as politely as he could.

"I mean, yeah, but they're always so rigid about it? I'd like to talk to someone who's not a teacher so we can actually discuss the theories because most teachers just stick to what's in the syllabus."

Roman wasn't sure how true that was but he wasn't going to argue with her about it, because that would invite her to stay and that was the last thing he wanted in that moment. He looked up and found Samuel across the oval and made eye contact with him before Oksana reached out and touched his hand. Roman jumped and stepped back a little. "What --?"

"Oh, sorry, I was just looking at your tattoo and I couldn't really see it well," she said, pointing to the Deathly Hallows tattoo he had on the inside of his wrist. "Did you do that one as well, like the ones you showed me last time you subbed?"

"Um, yeah."

"It's amazing, I really like Harry Potter."
 
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