[Samuel x Roman]

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"Elliot, I don't need any help."

"Willow, you're so deluded that you don't even know what you need."

Roman was seated at the kitchen table, between Elliot and Samuel, with Willow on the other side of the table. Stellan sat at the head, as Roman had requested, because if anyone could offer some kind of legal assistance or advice in this situation it was the chief of the Maryborough Police Department. Elliot was still livid over the whole Christian thing, and so was Roman, though, he was better at containing his emotions in the present.

"This is stupid," whined Willow.

"Willow," said Roman, leaning forward, "he's not good for you. He doesn't love you. He hits you. He hit me once. He also cheated on me, so what makes you think he won't do the same thing to you?"

Willow was quiet.

"He's a meglomaniac and he only cares about himself. If he really loved you he wouldn't hit you. If he really loved you, he'd treat you like the goddess you are and he wouldn't take advantage of you."

Willow shifted uncomfortably.

"And it's always better to get help with this sort of thing than to keep it bottled up inside." Roman glanced at Samuel at this point.
 
Roman always seemed to know what was the right thing to say, because Willow wasn't vocally protesting anymore and seemed to be listening. By the end of what Roman was saying Samuel could feel him glance over at him, and Samuel caught his eye for a moment. Samuel knew he had had a problem with bottling things like this up, and maybe he still kind of had. He didn't want Elliot's sister to feel as bad as he had, so he decided he would take the moment to say something.

Samuel threw a quick glance over at Elliot, debating how much he was willing to say in front of people who weren't Roman. But he guessed everyone who knew his dad was the one to hit Roman had already put two and two together about how things had been behind closed doors in the Ortega household prior to his dad's arrest.

It didn't mean Samuel liked talking about it, though, he didn't even really talk about it with Roman. Still, he wanted to help this girl who obviously didn't deserve what was happening to her.

"So uh, speaking from a somewhat similar experience" Samuel clarified why someone she didn't know was joining in telling her why her relationship wasn't good. "I know it might feel like he loves you and that the good outweighs the bad, but him being nice sometimes doesn't actually compensate for him hitting you and being terrible as well. That's not what love looks like"

Samuel wasn't even looking at Willow as much as behind her. He was saying things he knew he would have benefited from hearing long ago, that he knew were true, but still had trouble accepting. He hoped she could accept it, though. He had said what he felt he could and he didn't really want to talk any more about it.

"You have people here who obviously loves you a lot and who wants to help you, and it really is better to get help" while repeating what Roman had said as a way to wrap things up Samuel looked over at his boyfriend. Samuel knew part of why Roman had made sure Stellan got to know it was his dad that had hurt him was to prevent him from hurting him anymore, "So I think, maybe, you should try to accept that help, even if you might feel like you don't need it"
 
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Roman had initially been rather worried that he had done the wrong thing by asking Samuel to speak to Willow, but when Willow looked moved by Samuel's statement, he knew he had made a good decision. Of course, he'd talk to Samuel later and console him about it, but right now, he needed to help his best friend's sister.

"Will," Elliot said to his sister softly, "let us help you. Please." His voice cracked, and Willow's bottom lip trembled. "He's hurting you, and it kills me to know that I'm not doing everything I can to make it better for you."

Willow wiped the tears off her cheeks and glanced at Stellan. "Why is he here?" she asked, not maliciously, but in a tone that suggested she was just incredibly overwhelmed.

"My dad's a policeman," Roman said quietly. "And he can help you press charges against Christian if you want to."

Willow shook her head. "No. No, I don't want that. I'll leave Christian but I don't want him to go to jail or anything --"

"Okay," Stellan said quietly, putting a hand on the girl's arm in a reassuring manner. Roman could tell that his dad wanted to jail the fucker, but he'd take what he could get. And he couldn't force Willow to press charges if she didn't want to do so.
 
After Elliot had spoken to his sister as well, Willow finally seemed to accept the help, which was a relief.

Samuel really wished Mr. Hemlock could actually take legal actions, though, he wanted him to go to jail. Because chances were that Christian was just going to move on to the next person, hurt them and take advantage of them. And then they wouldn't be able to step in and stop it.

Something about knowing that made Samuel feel kind of uncomfortable, or maybe it was the fact that the whole situation was bringing up memories he would always do his best to push back and ignore. He really didn't like thinking too much about it, and he hadn't thought this would have reminded him so much of it since the situations were so different.

The whole thing made Samuel want to leave, go upstairs and hide under the covers of Roman's bed. And he probably could without anyone questioning it and focus would still be on Willow. But Samuel didn't want to stress Roman and make him feel like he needed to comfort him when his friend and friend's sister needed him, their issue was more pressing, not something from their past they were upset over. So, Samuel was quiet and stayed in place, finding Roman's hand under the table until the moment for leaving felt appropriate.
 
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It was agreed upon that Stellan would escort Elliot and Willow to Christian's house so Willow could break up with Christian safely -- this was Elliot's idea, he wanted backup in case Christian got violent. Roman had wanted to come but Stellan had not allowed it on the basis that Roman could get hurt easily, and he didn't want his son near his ex-boyfriend who had hit him. So, when the others left, Roman lead Samuel upstairs.

Once they had entered Roman's bedroom, Roman sat him down on the bed, knelt in front of him and took both of his hands in his own. He kissed his boyfriend's knuckles and looked up at him with his bright, piercing green eyes.

"I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories," Roman said, even if he hadn't directly asked Samuel to talk about it, he had still caused him to do so. "I love you, you know that right? I don't think I've said that today."
 
Samuel let out a relieved breath as soon as Roman sat him down on the bed. Sitting there with his hands in Roman's was comforting and the reassurement that his boyfriend loved him even made him smile a little.

"I love you too" Samuel mumbled, removing one hand from Roman's only to run it down his boyfriend's face.

"And I honestly didn't think it would affect me like this, so don't apologize" Samuel really didn't see why he would blame Roman from anything, he could have chosen not to speak about it, but he had wanted to help even if only a little. Even if the memories made his eyes feel wet no matter how much he didn't want to cry.

He sniffled and quickly wiped his eyes and moved them away from Roman and up to the galaxy above them as he blinked any reminding tears away.

"I think Willow had it worse, like, it wasn't a coincident that we saw the bruises, he hit her regularly," Samuel continued, voice still quiet but a little shakier, "Dad didn't- it didn't get out of hand all that often,"

But sometimes it had, sometimes it wasn't just slaps to shut him up. Samuel wasn't sure why he was telling Roman though, he already knew, right? And talking about it didn't really seem to make it better, at least not in that moment. He just hadn't really talked about it before so it slipped out.
 
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Samuel didn't need to finish his sentence. Roman knew that Manuel Ortega had been an abusive asshole.

Roman had grown up in a house full of love, care and diplomacy, meaning that his parents had never raised a hand against any of their children. He couldn't imagine what it had been like to live in the Ortega household when Manuel had been 'disciplining' his son.

Samuel was emotional and so Roman gently cupped his face, turning it down to face him, and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Hey. All of that is over now. You never have to be subjected to that shit again." Roman licked his lips and looked up at Samuel intently. "I love you, and so does your mum. You have people who truly love you and fill whatever gaps you have left."
 
Samuel nodded, he knew it wouldn't ever happen again. It wasn't like he never thought about it though, sometimes he still felt guilty about his dad getting locked up, just like he sometimes had felt guilty about his dad having beaten him.

Roman always reminded him that wasn't the case though, that it wasn't his fault, just by reassuring him of the fact that he had people who loved him for real.

Samuel wished he had befriended Roman earlier sometimes, that he hadn't been too insecure to realize he could have hung out with other people than the soccer team and people who were popular. He wished he had had someone by his side earlier. But only sometimes, because despite all bad things that had happened past months he knew they were closer because of it.

He was grateful for having Roman there and then, so he let their lips meet in another gentle kiss before mumbling a "Thank you". Then he just wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in closer, because having him close always made Samuel feel better.

"You're so amazing, I love you" and then he very quietly added another "Thank you" just for good measure.
 
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"Holy shit."

It was the opening night of the school musical, Hairspray, and Roman and Elliot were peeking out from behind the curtains at the filling theatre. Roman wasn't sure why Elliot was so surprised at the numbers, so he shot his friend a frown.

"What? You've been in as many shows as I have."

"Yeah. But my dad had never come." Elliot pointed out his father. Roman chuckled.

"Maybe he came because this is your last show."

That fact saddened Roman a little -- this was going to be his last musical, or, at least, the last one he'd be doing in high school. He was adamant he'd stay in musical theatre even after he graduated but ... this was the end of an era and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little emotional about it.

Roman and Elliot ducked into the back because they weren't actually needed for the first couple of scenes, and they flopped onto the couches in the backstage area to wait for their scenes to come on. Stephanie, the lead female, was already preparing backstage.

"Hey," Blake said as she and Bella, who weren't actually in the musical themselves, came backstage to see their friends.

"Hey."

"I think your boyfriend's coming with London and her baby daddy," Bella informed Roman, sitting on the arm of his couch.
 
It was finally the night of the musical and Samuel was excited. He loved seeing his boyfriend sing, he loved seeing him perform and he loved seeing him doing what he loved.

He was also excited about getting Romans attention back after all the time he had spent rehearsing the weeks leading up to the date. But he was mostly looking forward to seeing what his boyfriend had worked hard with and then give him a lot of praise for it afterward. Which included flowers, something Samuel knew was cheesy, but he felt like Roman was the kind of guy who would appreciate something like that.

For now Samuel, London, and Evan we're just walking over to wish Roman and Elliot good luck with performing before they entered the stage, though. Not that either of them would need it.

London lead them in backstage, since neither of the other two had been interested in wishing anyone working on the musical good luck previous years. Now all the people they had hung out with this school year were there though, as Samuel was pretty sure he had seen Blake and Bella walk in not long before them.

"hey," Samuel said as the three of them walked in, looking around to find Roman and company sitting on the couches, so he walked over and placed a kiss on his boyfriend's cheek. "How long until you go on?"
 
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Roman's face visibly lit up when Samuel and the others arrived to wish them good luck. He had been expecting his boyfriend to come with his sister, but that didn't make the appearance of his beloved any less wonderful and amazing.

"Hey," he greeted in return, pulling Samuel into his lap at once and looping both arms around his waist.

"Get a room."

"Shut the fuck up, Elliot." Roman didn't acknowledge his friend further as he affectionately ran his hand through Samuel's brown curls. God, he was so gorgeous and adorable.

Roman wore his costume, of course -- a sixties-style green shirt and black pants, with his hair carefully combed and his makeup applied to make him look straight, but absolutely gorgeous and wonderful at the same time. Roman gestured to his tall self. "Thoughts? Should I ditch my aesthetic and wear this all the time?"
 
A bright smile appeared on Samuel's face as Roman pulled him into his lap and ran his hand through his hair. He was very content with the affection, and the one thing that would have maybe made him even more happy with the turn of events would have been if he could have messed with Roman's hair as well. He would just have to do that later.

Instead, Samuel leaned back a little and looked his boyfriend up and down, pretending as if he was putting some serious thought into his answer the question he had just been asked, taking the chance to actually check him out properly. Despite not really looking like himself since he looked significantly more plain than normal he looked gorgeous. Samuel was pretty sure Roman would look absolutely amazing in anything though.

"While I do enjoy seeing you in some colour" Samuel chuckled and patted Romans chest as he spoke about the green shirt, "I think I prefer what you normally wear"

Which was the truth, he liked seeing Roman in the clothes he liked to wear, because they just screamed "Roman" and he pulled them off incredibly well.

"That does not mean you don't look good though," He leaned in closer and stage whispered "In fact, you look very hot" close to his ear. This was also true even if he was saying in a more humorous tone to purposefully annoy their friends further.

"Jeez, do you not have any shame at all" It worked. Samuel just grinned.
 
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Roman chuckled at Evan's reaction and leaned in to give Samuel a deep kiss on the lips, just to further annoy their friends. "Thank you, baby."

Soon the show started, and soon Roman was on stage. The musical went by without a hitch, Roman flooring the audience with his voice in his solo songs. His voice was easily the best on stage. When it came to his kissing parts with Stephanie, he executed them flawlessly and finally, in the last song, he broke out his high notes and the crowd cheered for him.

When the show was over, everyone bowed and went backstage to change into their normal clothes and hang up their costumes for the next night. Roman slipped into black skinny jeans and a bright purple shirt, leaving his hair combed because he knew Samuel wanted to ruin it later.

London, Samuel and Evan were going to come backstage to get Roman so he sunk into a chair to wait.
 
The show was fantastic in Samuel's opinion. Or maybe it was his boyfriend who was fantastic. Either way, Samuel's eyes were glued to the stage every second. Waiting for Roman to go on and amaze everyone with both his voice and presence.

When the scenes with kissing came along Samuel did shift uncomfortably in his seat. But he wasn't going to kick up a fuss about it, he knew he'd have Roman's lips all to himself later.

After the show ended Samuel went to grab the flowers before catching back up with London and Evan so that they could go back backstage to talk to Roman. The flowers thing had been his idea, his mum had found it very sweet and didn't even bat an eye or look uncomfortable at the mention of his boyfriend at all. Instead, she had just gladly driven him and helped him picked out the prettiest purple flowers. Samuel had no idea what purple meant in flower language, but it was Roman's favourite colour so he didn't really care.

Evan knew Samuel was a little flustered about giving his boyfriend flowers, though, so naturally, he was teasing him about it. But it wasn't as if he wouldn't do that if it was London performing. Samuel was going to give him so much shit for it the moment he caught him doing anything similar for his girlfriend.

They found Roman, sitting on a chair waiting for them back in his usual black and purple. Samuel just hurried over right away and held out the flowers in front of his boyfriend's face, a small smile on his lips and his tan cheeks a little more pink than normal.

"You were amazing"
 
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Roman looks up from his phone when a bright blob of purple appeared before his eyes, a blob he determined as the most beautiful purple roses he had ever seen. He looked up to see his slightly flustered boyfriend, complimenting his performance.

Roman blushed a little bit, too. He'd never received flowers before.

"Thanks, babe," he said, standing up, accepting the flowers and wrapping an arm around his boyfriend's waist. He kissed Samuel on the lips softly and then kissed him in the top of the head. "This is sweet."

He looked up at his sister and her boyfriend. "Did you enjoy the show?"

"Yeah, and your niece or nephew kicked throughout your entire solo so I'm guessing they did, too."

"Good. Hopefully he or she will end up artsy."

After saying goodbye to the rest of the cast, the twins lead their boyfriends out to the car their parents were waiting in. Stellan and Ingrid congratulated Roman for the wonderful show and soon they were all home.

Roman lead his boyfriend upstairs to his bedroom, with a vase, which he filled up with water from the bathroom and placed in his bedside table. "Were these your idea? Because they're gorgeous."
 
When back in Roman's room Samuel took his shoes off and sat down on the edge of Roman's bed while waiting for him to finish putting the flowers in a vase. When he was done Samuel grabbed him by the hands and pulled him down so they were seated next to each other while speaking.

"Mm, yeah" Samuel replied with, looking over at the flowers then back to his boyfriend with a smile, "It was my idea, I dunno, I know it's a little silly, I just thought it'd be nice "

Samuel shrugged. The only reason he felt like he needed to say it was silly was because he still was a little flustered about it. He knew giving people flowers after a performance was a pretty normal thing to do. He just hadn't done anything like that before.

"Do you like them?" Roman had just told him they were pretty, but it was more a question of if he liked the gesture or not.
 
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"I love them," Roman assured Samuel. He kicked off his own shoes and shrugged out of his jacket, before rubbing his boyfriend's shoulders with his hands, then playing with the little curls at the nape of his neck. His boyfriend was so cute and adorable and gorgeous and Roman loved him more than anything else in the entire world.

"I've never received flowers before, you know," Roman said sweetly, sliding his hands down Samuel's sides to grip his waist and pull him into his lap. He then looped his arms around Samuel's middle and kissed him on the cheek.

"I love it. You're the best boyfriend ever."
 
"Well, I gave them to you because you are the best boyfriend ever" Samuel chuckled and reached up to run a hand through Roman's soft brown hair, not able to resist doing it anymore, "And because you were awesome up on stage of course"

He placed a quick kiss on Roman's lips before continuing.

"But yeah, on top of you being immensely talented and me loving to hear you sing, I wanted you to know that I appreciate you in general" he clarified. Sure he could let the flowers speak for themselves, but he liked telling his boyfriend how much he loved him, "Like, despite everything shitty that has happened, having you with me just makes life better"

Samuel felt like they often told each other these kinds of things when one of them wasn't feeling good, as reassurance, but it was nice to do it in a moment like this too. When everything was perfect already.
 
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Roman loved the feeling of Samuel brushing through his hair with his fingers -- he almost started purring, in fact. Roman smiled at Samuel's compliments and reassurances, proclamations of love and affection.

Roman felt exactly the same way.

"You know," he said softly, "I don't think I even knew what love was before I met you."

And that was true. Roman had pledged his love to many people before and he had gotten hurt in the process. But now, with Samuel, he knew it was the truth. He knew what love was now, and he knew that Samuel was the one he loved.

Roman laid back on the bed so Samuel was laying on top of him, their legs tangled together and arms around each other.

"And I know I love you, because all the shit we've been through has just made us stronger. I love you so much, Samuel."
 
Samuel couldn't think of a moment he had ever been happier because every moment with Roman was happier than the previous one as it always was a reminder of how much he loved him.

"I love you too," Samuel said, a warm smile stuck on his face, "more than anything"

The rest of the school year, which didn't have much left to begin with, was over fast. Nothing crazy happened, Samuel was happy and he could tell both his friends and boyfriend was happy too, which just made the last weeks all the more fun.

Summer was mostly spent over at the Hemlock household. With London being due any day now Evan was there every moment, so the time Samuel would have hung out with him ended up being more time at Roman's place and that was on top of the times he was hanging out with his boyfriend.

Apart from the fact that he was feeling a little guilty over not spending enough time with his mum during his last summer at home Samuel absolutely loved it. He had promised to keep up the tradition of going to church on Christmas day with her though, which was the day after the current one.

Samuel, Roman, Evan and London was currently hiding in the party shed to escape the hot weather, playing an incredibly intense game of UNO. And intense meant it seemed to be life and death between Evan and Roman, Samuel didn't care too much, but was at least doing his best to help his boyfriend win, just to irritate Evan.

"Fuck you, you can't help him," Evan said angrily as Samuel placed a card to make the turn go back to Roman so that he could get rid of some cards.

"I don't know what you're talking about."
 
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