[Samuel x Roman]

Samuel couldn't help but feel a small sense of what probably was triumph as Roman proved his dad was completely wrong. It was kind of reassuring seeing an example of his dad not really knowing what he was talking about in the matter, even if the irritation on Manuel had been keeping in was starting to show on his face, if only just slightly. Which meant it probably was good that Roman diverted the attention to Samuel mother instead.

"oh yes, she talks about you and your siblings every once in a while" his mum didn't seem to have any trouble recalling who Romans mother was and he gave the boy quite a big smile, "You're the one who likes all the artsy things right?"

"yeah, Romans really talented with those kind of things, he plays like 5 instruments, and he paints" Samuel nodded before Roman had a chance to answer for himself, probably feeding his ego slightly but Samuel didn't really mind, especially since it was an opportunity to show that Roman really was a pretty cool person, no matter what his dad might think.
 
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Roman smiled proudly at Samuel's compliments. He was naturally a bit of an egotistical asshole so the added praise just added to his confidence. Which Mr Ortega probably wouldn't like.

"I also do musical theatre," he added, as if he were informing Samuel's parents that he did something 'normal' by their standards, like play a sport. Ew. "I got the lead male role in Hairspray the other day." One of his all-time favourite musicals. He was tempted to sing his solo song but Mr Ortega would probably stab him with a fork. And then he would bleed out on the table and he would lose whatever respect he had with Mrs Ortega.

"You should come see it," he told Samuel with a charming smile. "Or you could help paint the set."​
 
"Can't miss an opportunity to watch you show off" Samuel laughed, still he did mean it, "And don't think either of us really wants to experience the disaster that was me painting again"

The rest of dinner went on without anything really happening. His dad wasn't really talking much, but the other three people were all talking like people normally would around the dinner table. Susan proceeded to congratulate Roman on getting the role and then she started asking him all about the musical and other art related things. Samuel wasn't surprised really, his mother had always told him she had wanted to become a hairdresser because it was kind of creative.

After they had all finished eating and were putting away the dishes Samuels dad managed to catch his attention long enough to give him a stern look that told him that it probably was time for Roman to leave soon. He'd much rather postpone his father's wrath by having Roman stay for a little while longer, but he knew it was probably better not to make his dad angrier that he already was.
 
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Roman insisted on helping Susan wash and dry the dishes, because he was an angel. Not really. But he was helpful and he wanted Samuel's mother to like him. He didn't give a shit about his father, though.

Roman caught onto the notion that it was time for him to go home. He didn't want to leave Samuel alone with his dad, who was probably going to give him a lot of shit, but he didn't want to overstay his welcome and he didn't want to get Samuel into even more trouble. So he put his shoes on and smiled at Samuel's parents.

"It was lovely to meet the both of you," he said, smiling at both Ortegas and waving goodbye before allowing Samuel to walk him out. Once they were outside the view of his parents, he squeezed Samuel's hand reassuringly. "Text me if you need me."​
 
"mmm... I will" Depending on what would happen Samuel would probably take him up on that offer, "And let's hang out at your place next time, okay?"

And with that, he gave Roman a quick hug, said goodbye and walked inside again. He almost thought he would get away without trouble for a second as he started to walk up the stairs, but his father's voice calling him into his office indicated otherwise.

"What was the meaning of this Samuel?" Was the words leaving Manuels mouth as soon as Samuel closed the door behind him. His father was sitting down behind his desk, eyes not leaving the computer screen to even look at his son, "Why would you bring someone like that to my home"

"I don't know what you mean, dad" he knew exactly what he meant, " I have friends over all the time and you don't mind"

"Is this a joke to you?" still not yelling, but the anger did start to seep through, "Are you actually trying to make me mad?"

"No, I'm not" Samuel insisted, daring to sound angry as well. "This shouldn't even be a big deal, we're friends and I can hang out with whoever I want"

His dad looked at him in disbelief as he was being argued against and Samuel took a deep breath and looked down on his feet as he tried to mentally prepare himself for his dad shouting at him for talking bak.

"Well then Samuel, I just want you to know that I am very disappointed in you" Manuels voice wasn't loud, nor was it angry. It was cold and made Samuels' heart drop. Had he yelled, Samuel would have been able to continue being angry, had he slapped him Samuel would have known his dad couldn't come up with anything proper in words to defend himself with, but this instantly made him feel guilty.

The next thing Samuel did was something he was really ashamed for doing, but he couldn't stop himself from letting the words out. Not being able to bear his father being disappointed in him he apologized.
 
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Roman figured it was best to give Samuel some time to mend things with his father, so for the next week, he didn't see his friend after school. They texted like crazy, though. They had been texting like crazy for weeks now.

A week and three days after his dinner at the Ortega household -- a Thursday -- Roman was walking past the oval at school with his friends, aiming for the small area of bushland just before the chain-link fence that closed off the school. When the library was closed at lunchtime, Roman, Bella, Elliot and Blake would go hide in the back of the school to avoid talking to, ew, new people.

They walked past the soccer kids and Roman respectfully didn't look at Samuel so his friends wouldn't find an excuse to make fun of him. He kept his eyes on the ground, his hand in his pockets and his earbuds in his ears.

So he didn't notice the ball sailing through the air until it smacked him in the side of the head.

"Fuck!" he grunted, immediately raising his hand to his nose to make sure it wasn't bleeding. It was not, thankfully, but he pulled an epi-pen out of his bag and stuck it in his arm to make sure he didn't bleed internally from the bruise.

Then he scowled at the soccer kid who had kicked the ball at him. "The fuck's your problem?"​
 
They didn't hang out again the next couple of days partially of Samuel still being shaken by the whole thing with his dad and he still didn't talk to Roman in the hallways. He was always painfully aware of it whenever Roman was around in the he always felt really shitty about not talking to him and He'd honestly rather hang out with Roman than listen to Ricky spew out offensive shit all day which apparently was his new thing as he had seemed to have completely lost his ability to filter himself due to a combination of being in their last year and his sister moving out.

It wasn't really that shocking to when Ricky kicked the ball he'd been holding under his arm all day. But it still took Samuel a moment to realise where it was aimed and by the time it hit the side of Romans head there was nothing he could do about.

Ricky just laughed and muttered what he was pretty sure was the word fag and turned back to his friends as if nothing had happened.

Samuel instead stood frozen in place staring down Romans way to make sure he was okay, and as soon as he saw him stick his needle in his arm and Samuel knew he wouldn't /die/ his fear of his friend getting hurt turned into anger towards the person hurting him.

What the actual fuck was wrong with him, what would possess him to just randomly kick a ball in someone's face? His heart was beating faster as he was trying to hold it in. Roman didn't though as he did ask what Ricky's problem was.

Ricky's grey eyes gave his friends a quick look with an expression saying 'can you believe this guy' but Samuel could tell he hadn't expected Roman to do anything but to just get hit and move on.

"You, obviously" Ricky said and nonchalantly ran a hand through his short blond hair. There was a distaste in Ricky's voice Samuel really couldn't stand, and at that point he couldn't stop himself.

"Jesus, Ricky, stop being such a fucking asshole" and since had already started he really didn't have anything to lose by adding, in a significantly less angry voice, "are you okay, Roman?"
 
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Roman would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised when Samuel defended him, and especially when he spoke to him in front of his soccer friends. And not in a horrible way! Roman wondered if he was on the verge of coming out, though he'd never say that because he actually had respect for Samuel.

He didn't have respect for fucking Ricky, though.

"I'm fine," he assured Samuel in a civil tone, before shoving his hands back into his pockets and quirking a perfectly shaped eyebrow at Ricky. "Your friend apparently is not, though. Maybe he's got some underlying confusion that fuels his need to demean any non-straight person he sees? Personally I don't fancy getting syphilis but I'm sure you'll find someone to help you figure that out, Ricky."

Roman gave Ricky a disgusted look and turned back to Bella, who was on the verge of tears out of sheer panic for him. "Really, Bells, I'm fine."
 
Samuel had to stifle a small laugh at the dumbfounded look left on Ricky's face. By the time he seemed to have properly processed what it was that Roman had actually told him Roman was busy addressing a very distressed looking Bella, not giving two shits about what Ricky could ever come up with to defend himself.

"You fucking-" Ricky started even though Roman seemed to be done with the whole thing. Samuel decided he really didn't want things to escalate further and that he was done with Ricky's shit as well, so before Ricky could finish his sentence and walk up to Roman and his friends to shout slurs or whatever it was he was planning he grabbed his shoulder pulled him back and gave him an angry stare.

"Give it a rest" Even though Samuel might have really hated Ricky in that moment, and a lot of other moments the past weeks really, they had still been friends for a long time and for now he seemed to listen to his friend, although with a confused expression.

Samuel knew Roman wouldn't show it if he actually wasn't fine while all the soccer guys where there to see, and even though he seemed perfectly okay Samuel couldn't help but worry. He figured the best thing he could do was probably to try to get all of his friends away from there while Romans friends checked up on him. And then hopefully get away from Ricky and the guys to try to locate Roman once things had calmed down.

"C'mon, let's go," he said and pushed Ricky in a direction away from the drama kids. He reluctantly started to walk, making sure to throw Roman one last dirty look before he did so, and the rest of the guys followed suit, still a little confused as to what had just happened.

At this point people really didn't seem to have realized what Samuel had been doing was defending Roman and not trying to stop Ricky from doing something stupid, but it was only a matter of time before someone called him out on it. Samuel would have thought that would freak him out more than it did, but as he walked away with the rest of the guys he realized it would probably be better if he didn't have to hide the fact that he was friends with Roman at least and that was honestly a pretty nice thought.
 
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Roman let Samuel go, despite how much he had wanted to thank him for defending him, and lead his confused friends up to the back of the school, where they sat and minded their own business for the rest of lunch.

Roman shared his next class, German, with Samuel and a couple of his soccer friends but Samuel was there first, so Roman set his belongings down on his own desk and approached Samuel's table. There were only a couple of people in the room and they gave Roman mystified looks.

"Thanks for sticking up for me." It was evident in Roman's tone that he was truly grateful for the small act of kindness Samuel had shown him. "But don't help Ricky out with his issues, I don't want you to get syphilis either," he added with a chuckle. He doubted that Ricky was gay, it had just been a jibe.
 
The rest of lunch was spent by listening to Ricky repeatedly asking him what the hell was wrong with him all of a sudden and why he was defending "the fag". Samuel really started to hate Ricky more every time the word left his mouth, but he didn't say anything as he was busy ignored him completely. After a while of Ricky not giving up Samuel had decided to just leave and get to class early, which he was happy he had as Roman came walking up to where he sat.

"Funny," Samuel said sarcastically but with a smile, it actually kind of was. When he continued speaking the smile turned into a more apologetic expression "Sorry I didn't do it earlier"

There had probably been similar occasions when Samuel had just stood quietly and let it happen or walked away, something he hadn't really thought about before this had happened but also something he really did feel really guilty about now that he thought about it.

More people were starting to fill up the classroom and the two of them talking was apparently something that seemed to grab people attention. Especially the people Samuel would usually hang around at least. The people who hadn't been there during lunch seemed confused whereas the people who knew what had happened finally seemed to put two and two together and were probably about to fill the others with the conclusions they had made.
 
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Roman was very much aware of the stares he and Samuel were receiving, and the chattering that it caused. But did he care? Absolutely not. Samuel was allowed to be friends with whoever he liked, and Roman was allowed to be friends with Samuel. He wasn't doing anything wrong.

And he found the entire ordeal amusing.

He sat himself down on the desk beside Samuel's as the seats around him were being filled by his soccer friends. Roman pointedly ignored them and continued with his innocent conversation with Samuel until the teacher arrived and told Roman to sit in his seat in German.

Roman sighed heavily, as if this was an excessively laborious task, and rose to his feet. "Bye, Samuel," he said loudly, before standing up and walking away. Though, he did pet Ricky patronisingly on the head, like a dog, before returning to his seat on the opposite side of the room.​
 
Because class was starting and the teacher was in the room Ricky couldn't do anything about Roman actually petting his head and it was honestly kind of hilarious to see Ricky sitting there completely baffled over the fact that Roman had dared to touch him.

The class went on normally, or relatively normally that is. Usually, there would be quite a lot of chatter going on amongst Samuels friends during class, but now it was kind of tense with no one speaking about anything but schoolwork.

It seemed as if they hadn't really decided to make of the whole thing yet, or well everyone except for Ricky who kept throwing glances which could only be described as a mixture of angry and suspicious both Samuel and Romans way.

Samuel actually found it kind of sad that it had to be that way, and he still kind of considered Ricky a friend, but if he was going to keep acting like an asshole he'd gladly give up on that to be friends with Roman instead.

As soon as class was over Samuel stood up and walked to up to Roman, but he actually didn't know what else to do. The knowledge of their friendship was still new and there was no way of knowing if people would turn it into a big deal or not so clinging to Roman for a while seemed easier.

"what's your next class?" he asked hoping that it was one they shared.
 
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Roman couldn't help but throw a little victorious smirk in Ricky's and the other's direction when Samuel approached him after class. This was such a drastic turn of events from that first week, which Samuel had spent solidly ignoring Roman. Though, Roman wouldn't change that, since if he did, that Friday night probably wouldn't have happened.

"English," he informed Samuel as he packed up his things, rose to his full height and slung his bag over his shoulder. "Which we share, by the way."

So, Roman defiantly sat next to Samuel in that lesson. He could feel Ricky's eyes burning into the back of his head, but he ignored it, because it didn't mean anything to him. He was used to hateful stares.

"Are your friends gonna egg my house?" he inquired as he drew on Samuel's hand with his pen. He was miles ahead since they were doing creative writing, which was another of Roman's talents. He drew a gorgeous bird in flight, soaring over Samuel's tanned skin as if on a golden sky. "Inform them that my dad's a cop, and they'll probably get arrested."​
 
It was slightly distracting sitting next to Roman in class but he was glad it had turned out they shared it as he would probably have felt pretty lost as he suddenly, although hopefully temporarily, would have found himself without friends to sit next to and talk the class away with. Especially since they were doing creative writing which he'd rather postpone doing for as long as possible.

Give him an essay to work on and he'll write it without any problems but as soon as an assignment started to be more about creativity would be too self-conscious about it to even start. The nice feeling Romans pen on his hands was a good enough excuse not to write anything.

"Don't worry I'll make sure to tell them whenever I know if were on speaking terms," Samuel said laughing a little at how weird it was that them not wanting him to speak to them was an actual possibility. He couldn't imagine it "I honestly don't think they'll care that much... Except for Ricky but he's acting like a five-year-old so we'll just ignore him"

He quieted down, rested his head in his free hand rather than using it to write and enjoyed the way the pen strokes against his skin felt for a moment.

"Hey, we should do something after school sometime soon," he said as sitting there next to Roman had made him kind of miss hanging out with him the past couple of days, even though they had been talking via text.
 
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"I have rehearsals all week," Roman murmured. He loved spending time with his friend but he couldn't miss rehearsal. He had the lead role, it was kind of a necessity for him to be there. And, as much as their friendship had evolved, Roman doubted that Samuel would like to sit and watch him rehearse.

Roman was incredibly pale beside Samuel. Samuel's naturally tanned skin looked dark beside's Roman's almost white. His skin was only a shade darker than the paper it rested against. Roman was so pale due to the constant blood loss, and the vitamin D deficiency he also suffered from. Oh, and he never went outside.

"But, on Wednesday my mother is seeing her sister in Talbot, dad has the night shift and London's on dance camp, meaning I'm home alone." It was Thursday. Roman licked his lips and looked up at Samuel through his lashes. "You could come over then."​
 
Samuel actually felt pretty disappointed to hear Roman was busy the upcoming days but seeing as he would be able to talk to him during school now he guessed it wasn't too bad. And not having anyone there disturb was a nice bonus for waiting. Not that Romans family was really a problem, to begin with, though, Samuel just kind of liked the idea of being alone.

"Turned down for rehearsals, ouch" Samuel joked, but he got it he wouldn't want to miss practice before a game so obviously Roman wouldn't skip out on rehearsals "but yeah, Wednesday it is then"
He gave Roman a bright smile. At least it was something to look forward too seeing as he had no idea how the upcoming days would look.
 
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Roman spent the week rehearsing, sitting with Samuel in the classes that they shared and texting him after school. Bella continued to joke about how he was probably in love with Samuel, to which Roman would scoff and tall about how stupid it was to fall in love with a straight guy.

Straight.

"What do you want for dinner?" Roman asked as he perused the meat aisle of the supermarket. "I want to cook today. I don't know why. I should go on MasterChef."

"Roman!"

Roman turned around when he heard a familiar voice. Standing beside the banana crate stood a very short, very slender girl with bouncy blonde curls and huge, sparkly blue eyes. She wore shorts and a white bralette that showed off her small but attractive curves. She made her way over to the boys and hugged Roman around the middle.

"Hey, Brontë," Roman said, her name pronounced bron - tee. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "I thought you went on dance camp with London?"

"Nah, I stayed home." Brontë stepped away and smiled up at the taller boys. "You want to introduce me to your friend, Row?"

"Yeah, sorry. This is Samuel," he said. "Samuel, this is my ex-girlfriend Brontë."​
 
Most people got over the fact that he and Roman was friends now, sure they thought it was weird an questioned it but Samuel guessed they had other things to think about. Ricky didn't seem to get over it though and had decided not to talk to him unless he had to. He also managed to convince some of the guys on the team to do the same. It wasn't to bad though seeing as at weeded out the extreme homophobes from the people who could live with talking to someone who'd be friends with a gay person, or bi in this case but Samuel doubted anyone cared about the details.

What really changed was that he and Roman sat next to each other and spoke in class now, and even though it had been better if Roman wouldn't have had to get hurt for them to be able to speak at school Samuel was happy that was how things were now. And the days leading up to Wednesday went surprisingly fast.

They were at the store about to get whatever food they would eat when a girl called out Romans name and hugged him. He didn't recognise her as one of his friends and It all was a little confusing until Roman introduced her.

Ex-girlfriend, It was something about hearing that didn't sit all that well with Samuel, which he knew was dumb and he couldn't really place exactly why it didn't.

He still said an slightly awkward "hey" and smiled at her, trying to shove the thought out of his mind completely, seeing as it shouldn't have been there in the first place.
 
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"I haven't seen you in forever, how's your family?" Roman asked Brontë curiously. Brontë was nice. They had broken up on mutual terms -- she was kind of too immature for a relationship and Roman hadn't felt his feelings were being reciprocated, but they had remained friends. Roman's twin danced with Brontë so they still spoke occasionally.

"Good -- my sister's getting married next month." Brontë sighed wistfully, as if she wanted to be in her sister's place. She was an exceptionally beautiful girl, with a very pretty, symmetrical face and what Roman would call the perfect female figure -- slim waist, curvy hips, and a lot of confidence. She twirled a lock of her golden hair around her finger and bit her lip flirtatiously as she looked up at Roman.

Roman was aware that she was flirting with him. He smiled at her politely but he wasn't flirting back, simply because he had moved on from her. Brontë was physically perfect -- at least for Roman's taste in females -- but emotionally, they weren't compatible.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find someone who'll treat you like the princess you are," Roman assured her, touching her elbow for a moment and causing her to beam. They said their goodbyes and Brontë skipped away. Roman turned back to the meats as if it had never happened.

"So we can get pork ribs and marinate them, or one of these already seasoned lamb racks and add shit to it. What do you think?"​
 
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