[Samuel x Roman]

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"Matthew seems salty. Maybe he wants to make out with me too."

Not that Roman would do that, ever, even if he wasn't in a relationship with Samuel. Matthew probably tasted like sadness, pretentiousness and overpriced coffee. Sure he was good looking but that didn't matter.

He exchanged the look with Samuel. He sort of wanted to punch Matthew in the face. Matthew was only interested in Blake because she had a similar sexuality to him. That was wrong.

Blake quirked an eyebrow. "My Brilliant Career," she said, holding it up so Matthew could see, if he really cared, which Roman doubted. "By Miles Franklin, who was actually a female."
 
Matthew gave Roman a glare as if to say that making out with him was the vilest thing he had ever had suggested to him and that even joking about it was outrageous. But by the time he was speaking to Blake again his expression was back to one that was clearly hiding nervousness.

"Oh, that's cool," he said in response to being shown the book, seemingly more interested in trying to force a conversation than what she was reading, "What is it about?"

Samuel knew for a fact that Matthew and Blake really didn't have many things in common and Matthew didn't really know anything about Blake. But he liked books and she was currently reading so that was apparently what he was trying to connect with her over. Even so, Samuel also knew Matthew's genre of choice was fantasy, though, which meant My Brilliant Career wasn't really a book that would interest him. Samuel had no idea what Matthew was trying to get out of this but whatever it was he was kind of set up to fail.
 
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"Um ... it's an Australian novel, its about a girl named Sybylla who lives in 1890s New South Wales ... she's a peasant, and she wants to have a career as a writer but women didn't have many options in this time, so ... basically it's about her trying to have a career and avoid getting married because she thinks it's degrading."

Blake sounded awkward, and Roman knew it was because she didn't know why Matthew seemed so intent on forcing a conversation to begin. She clearly didn't hold the same fascination with Matthew as he held with her.

Roman was trying to hold back laughter. He found this new, nervous, unsure Matthew a hilarious contrast from his normal cocky and pretentious self.

"I have to read it for my literature class, so ..."
 
Matthew nodded along to Blake's description of the book, obviously trying to look interested in the plot even if he most definitely thought it seemed boring. Knowing Matthew it was the kind of book he would look up the Wikipedia page of and read a couple of reviews and then pretend as if he knew something about it instead of just reading it to form his opinion.

Samuel gave Roman's thigh a light slap to show that while Matthew's behaviour funny to watch it really wasn't the time to slip up and laugh at it, Matthew would definitely notice and end up disliking Roman more than he already did and Samuel didn't want that.

"….well, Is it any good then?" Matthew readjusted his glasses again, still pushing for a conversation that wasn't really happening, "I mean, maybe it should be since books you read for class tends to be considered good? But I find that a lot of them are pretty boring, still objectively good, you know, but boring"

Samuel almost wanted to stop Matthew from trying. It was embarrassing to watch the awkward interaction. He felt bad for Blake who wasn't interested and he felt bad for Matthew who was way too interested but Samuel didn't want to announce his failure in front of everyone and embarrass him further, so he kept quiet and hoped that Matthew would get it and give up or that Blake would put an end to the conversation mildly.
 
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Roman could tell that Blake was only keeping the conversation going to be nice. She did a lot of things like that. She was a very kind person, despite her abrasive appearance. She was nice, yet, she was not someone to be fucked with.

"Well, it's not bad, but it's not the best book I've ever read," she told Matthew with a shrug. "I mean, the language is nice and it's a good story and it's important to Australia, but, like, I've read better." She shrugged again. Roman bit down on his finger to stop himself from laughing.

"I could lend it to you when I'm done, if you like?" she offered to Matthew, probably to get him to shut up about it. She wasn't going to end the conversation, Roman knew.
 
"Roman" Samuel scolded his boyfriend quietly and poked his cheek to get him to stop but an angry glance from Matthew signalled that he had seen Roman's stifled laughter by now, which seemed to help in making him realise that he should stop. That and he probably didn't actually want to read the book.

"Oh I'm reading something else right now" He tried to excuse himself, "It's a series so it might take a while, maybe when I'm done,"

The conversation died down after that since the book was the only thing Matthew had had as an excuse to talk to Blake and he seemed to realise that he would look very desperate and pathetic. They all sat in silence after that, watching the movie, reading in Blake's case and Samuel continuing to poke and affectionately play fight a little with his boyfriend.

Then after about ten or so minutes Samuel decided to be a decent friend and try to get the mood back to where it had been before Matthew fucked it up with his awkwardness "Sorry, I think I missed what happened, could you explain?"

"You would have known if you paid attention instead being annoying with your boyfriend"

"Just shut up and tell me you asshole" and so Matthew told him what was going on and was soon back to ranting about various small and unnecessary details about the movie again.
 
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Matthew finally seemed to realise that the conversation was going nowhere and he gave up. Blake met Roman's gaze over his head and gave him a relieved look. Roman licked his lips to stop himself from exploding into a fit of laughter. The whole thing was just far too hilarious.

The next day, Roman decided he wanted to see his family over the holidays so the day after that, he and Samuel piled into the car and Roman drove them to Maryborough. He called his dad ahead of time to let him know they were coming, but no one else, because he wanted it to be a surprise.

And it was.

"Greetings, my good family members," he said as he opened the door of the Hemlock household and stepped into the living room.

London, Evan, Allison and his mother were there. London looked up when Roman and Samuel entered and squealed upon seeing her twin. She picked up the baby and ran over to him with Allison, who was quite big now, in her arms. Roman picked them both up and twirled his sister around, grinning like an idiot.

"Oh my God, you didn't say you were coming!"

"That's the point of a surprise, dumbass." Roman kissed London on the cheek before taking the baby, who was so big he wanted to cry. "Hello, beautiful. Hey, Mum," he said to Ingrid, who had risen to her feet to come and kiss her son on the cheek.
 
The next day held a trip back home in store for the two boys and Roman had apparently decided to surprise his family with their arrival. Samuel wasn't as much for surprises as his boyfriend so he had called his own mother and told her he'd be coming to visit her after being at the Hemlocks' and also made her promise not to accidentally spill they were coming home in case she were to talk with his boyfriend's family.

When they got there after the usual too long to be comfortable drive Samuel followed Roman inside and watched as London shone up, while Roman greeted his twin Samuel gave Ingrid a quiet wave and pulled Evan in for a friendly hug, as Roman moved on to greet his mother.

"He actually didn't tell you for a better chance to steal your child," Samuel stage whispered.

"I can see that" Evan chuckled in reference to the fact that Roman had taken the baby in his arms almost right away. No one really expected anything else either, Roman loved his little niece and he hadn't gotten to see her in so long and Samuel personally found how excited Roman got over the little girl very sweet.

"Hello, Allison" Samuel said after pulling a little Roman so he too could get a proper view of the baby, she was as cute as ever but a lot bigger, which wasn't really a surprise since they still got plenty of pictures of her sent their way but it was different to see her in person, "Oh, she has grown a lot"
 
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"I know, it's making me emotional," Roman complained, holding Allison up to get a proper look at her. She was eight months old now, meaning that she was quite big, and she was learning to crawl. She had the most beautiful little brown curls. London had dressed her a white long-sleeve shirt, white leggings and a purple dress on top, with little shoes and a hat so she stayed warm.

Roman brought her back in and kissed her on the cheek, before hugging her to his chest carefully. "You are so beautiful," he whispered to the infant, no longer joking. His niece was so precious, he couldn't imagine what life would be like without her.

London petted Roman on the arm and Ingrid went to go make tea for everyone. Roman broke out of his little emotional moment and sat down on the floor, London pulling Evan down as well as she sat beside her twin. Allison was wriggling to get free so he let her go, and she immediately launched off, crawling around the room as if to show off how cool she was to her uncle.

"She is crawling. Unacceptable. She was coming out of your vagina yesterday," Roman whined to his twin.

"Ew."

"I'm going to cry."

"Cry on Evan's shoulder. He has this existential crisis you're having every two days."
 
Samuel sat down along with his boyfriend and two friends on the floor which had various of Allison's toys and a couple of stray baby socks strewn out, probably as a result of the fact that she was now able to crawl apparently, which would mean she would be able to leave her things where she pleased.

"Hey, don't tell your brother about my emotionally vulnerable moments with our daughter" Evan tore his eyes from Allison for a moment to give London a half-hearted glare

"Your emotionally vulnerable moments, that you have every two days?" Samuel teased.

"Shut up" Evan turned his glare to Samuel and gave him a shove and Samuel shoved him back, then they both went back to looking over at Allison and being mesmerised by how cute she was.

The little girl seemed to have achieved her goal with crawling around and grabbed a hold of one of her toys and was now sitting a couple of feet off from the group of young adults who were watching her every, adorable, move, playing with it and shaking it as if it was the most amazing in the world.
 
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Roman watched his beautiful niece, his undivided attention on her. She was so amazing and perfect and sweet and adorable and cute and easily the best baby in the history of the world. London leaned her head against her twin's shoulder as their boys bickered, watching the fascinating child with no complaints at all.

Stellan came home just before dinner that evening, and Roman greeted his father with a loose hug and a grin. The fact that Brooklyn was absent from the family gathering was something that clearly no one wanted to address, and Roman was fine with that. His brother was practically dead to him by this stage.

With Allison down for her nap, the group of adults sat at the table with plates of the delicious paella Roman had helped his mother prepare for dinner. Mexican food -- rice with peas, prawns, diced tomatoes and lots of nice spices. Roman had missed cooking with his mother.

"So how's school?" Stellan asked Samuel, having already asked Roman before.
 
While Roman helped his mother with dinner Samuel took the chance to catch up with Evan about things that would bore his boyfriend, namely soccer, until he and London went to put Allison which wasn't long before dinner was served only minutes later.

"Oh, it's nice," Samuel told his boyfriend's dad and stirred the paella on his plate a with his fork as he spoke, "A little harder than high school and it's not very exciting, to be honest"

Samuel liked Stellan, he was a good dad and took well care of his kids and was a good person in general, but that didn't mean he didn't feel a little awkward around the man sometimes. Him having arrested his did was kind of a weird start for a pleasant relationship with his boyfriend's father. Samuel was happy that was how things turned out of course, but he still always felt a little unsure of how to act around the man because of it.

"But it's still fun, so I'm not complaining" Samuel shrugged and took a bite of food to show that he was done speaking and would prefer to go back to being quiet and just engaging in conversation by listening. The food itself was amazing, as it always was at the Hemlock household, and took him back to the times his mother would try to make whatever Spanish foods she could find recipes for to make for him and his dad the summers they couldn't go to visit the family in his father's home country.
 
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Stellan smiled and nodded, seeming to get that Samuel didn't want to talk much. Roman had worried that the fact that Stellan had pushed for Manuel's arrest would create awkwardness and tension within the family, but luckily, that had been kept to a minimum. Roman smiled at his father and squeezed Samuel's hand under the table.

"Roman," said London in order to claim her twin's attention.

"London."

"Have you tattooed anyone yet?"

"No, but I did tattoo a dummy," he informed her, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. He opened to a photo of the tattoo he had done on the dummy and passed it to London beside him, so she could look at it and pass it around.

"Holy crap, that's amazing."

"Thank you. My teacher thought so too. At the end of every assignment he gives a lollipop to the person who did the best, and I've won two out of the four," he said proudly.

Roman was no longer insecure about the fact that he couldn't get tattoos, and by this point, everyone else in his course had stopped underestimating him because of it. The phone made its way around the table, with his parents both expressing their pride for his work, and finally made its way to Samuel.
 
Samuel patiently waited for the phone to make its way around the table to him, he saw the assignments Roman did for class every once in a while, Roman often showed him pictures of his amazing work, so he wasn't expecting anything else from this one.

"Oh, wow, that's really cool," Samuel said as he received the phone but kept it to spend some time properly studying all the details of the tattoo, just appreciating his boyfriend's talent. Samuel was really proud of Roman for following his dreams of becoming a tattoo artist despite not being able to get them himself, he had faced his insecurities about his bleeding disorder and nowadays he seemed to have gotten over them in regards to tattooing.

"Personally I think you should get all the lollipops," Samuel chuckled as he handed Roman back his phone, "but I dunno I might be biased,"

"Well, if he did all assignments as well as that one he probably should have," Evan said from across the table, adding a little shrug as if he hadn't just complimented his sworn rival. It was proof that deep down he and Roman really were friends and didn't actually dislike each other, which made their relationship very different from Roman and Matthew's. With Evan and Roman it was just fun bickering and teasing, nothing to worry about, whereas the whole Matthew thing was starting to get kind of exhausting.
 
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London's eyes lit up and she absolutely beamed at her boyfriend when he complimented Roman. Roman himself looked up in surprise, before grinning and nudging Evan's leg under the table with his foot.

"I knew you secretly liked me."

London rewarded her boyfriend for his good behaviour with a tight hug and a kiss to the cheek. "I'm very proud of you."

Ingrid pretended to wipe a tear away. "Our family is coming together."

"Does this mean he has your permission to marry London, Dad?" Roman inquired.

"No," snapped Stellan.

"Naw, too bad."
 
"Well, now I regret saying anything at all" Evan said in an accusing tone.

Samuel thought he could see a very faint blush to his friend's freckly cheeks, he probably hadn't expected the rest of the people at the table to blow it out of proportion to tease him. Which was dumb, of course, that was exactly the reaction he would get.

"Aw, but we really are proud of you," Samuel agreed with London and joined in on the teasing, although London's reaction was maybe a little more of her genuine feelings about it if Samuel had to guess. And he supposed he really was happy about the fact Evan could be a decent person and give compliments to his rival as well.

Evan completely ignored Samuel and gave Roman a deadly serious look, "No offence, Roman, but I'm not complimenting you ever again,"
 
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"No offence? That was totally a pleasant statement! You just said something nice to me again!"

"Naw, baby!"

After dinner they had rich chocolate ice cream, which went quickly, and after washing the dishes, Roman shepherded his sister, Samuel and Evan out to the shed. He let London carry Allison until he got there, then he stole her and ran to sit on the couch with her in his lap. Allison gurgled.

London stood in the doorway blankly. "Samuel. Control your boyfriend, he keeps stealing my child."

"I'll steal your mum," Roman eloquently retorted, before mercilessly tickling Allison's belly. The baby shrieked with glee.
 
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"I'm sorry, me controlling my boyfriend?" Samuel said with a played up mix of confusion and offence as he walked passed London and sat down next Roman and the baby, they were absolutely adorable playing together, as usual, "No you have got it twisted, You need to control your child, since she is the one who keeps stealing him from me?"

"She's a baby, she can't steal anyone" Evan replied in a dry tone, as if Samuel had actually been serious about believing a baby could steal her ridiculously tall uncle, and dragged along London to come sit in his lap on the couch.

"but she can lure him in with her cuteness" Samuel wrapped his arms around Roman in a hug, kissed his temple and sighed dramatically, "see, he doesn't even care about me when she's in the room,"
 
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Roman deliberately paid no attention to Samuel when he hugged and kissed him, only responding when Samuel let go. "Hm? Did you say something?"

"Roman, don't be mean."

"Sorry, I can't hear anyone over how cute this baby is."

Roman picked up Allison and set her down so she was standing on Roman's skinny thighs. She looked at him curiously, before she reached out and touched his eyebrow piercing, gently so she didn't hurt him.

"Sparkle sparkle?"

Allison made a little noise as if to agree.

"Evan, you might be annoying and a total dumbass, but you have managed to produce a very cute child, and for that, I shall return the compliment you gave me before. Good job."
 
"Wow, I complimented you on something you're good at, but you just technically complicate my daughter and call it a day?" Evan said, completely unimpressed by Roman's attempt at complementing him, "Lame"

"Yeah, give him a real compliment" Samuel teased Roman and poked him in the ribs, gently as always since he didn't want to bruise him by accident.

"Also, I'm on Evan's side now" he continued joking, but he wasn't planning on keeping the joke up for long because Allison and Roman was acting absolutely preciously, her little hands grabbing at her piercings in fascination and him responding in a way a baby would understand, "because you are mean and you have Allison anyways"
 
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