Chapter Text
Roman had his bag slung over one shoulder, walking onto his high school campus for yet another year of school. At least he was finally a senior, so he was almost done with this. It wasn’t that he had a problem with his school, far from it actually. He was popular, he had a good group of friends, solid enough grades, he was the star quarterback of the football team... But come on, who didn’t want to get out of high school?
He walked into the quad, heading toward his usual hangout spot from the years prior. A few people recognized him as he went, him greeting them with casual waves and a smile, but not stopping to chat. Making it to his spot, Roman plopped himself down on a concrete bench and pulled out his phone to see if any of his friends had texted to say they’d be around soon. He hoped his best friend would be in soon, he hadn’t gotten to see him too much over the summer, and as much as he would never admit it, he did miss that gangly emo.
It was only a moment or two later that he felt something smack into his back, definitely not hard enough to hurt, honestly barely hard enough to even feel through his heavy letterman’s jacket. He turned around to find the offending item, picking up a protein bar from behind him and glancing around to see who had tossed it. And suddenly there was the boy he was looking for. Virgil Knight. With a smirk on his face, he came up and plopped down at Roman’s side, retaking his usual spot next to his best friend. He was basically his right hand at this point.
Roman just raised an eyebrow, holding up the protein bar. “...What was this for?”
His best friend shrugged. “Dunno, thought maybe you could use it. You’re looking a bit scrawny, Ro.” He smirked.
He raised an incredulous eyebrow. “...You are the size of one of my arms, and you want to talk about scrawny?”
“Yup. I’m wondering if you’ll even be able to make those long throws anymore... Maybe I’ll have to take over as quarterback this season.” Virgil laughed a bit, watching that despite the teasing, Roman was actually opening the bar and taking a bite of it.
“You couldn’t throw a football if your life depended on it, Scrawny Depp.” He chided, getting another bite of the snack. “I barely even felt you throw this at me.”
“Oh shut up.” Virgil laughed, nudging him with his shoulder as he pulled out his own phone.
“You started it..” Roman mumbled, sounding annoyed but it was clear by the smirk at the corner of his lips that this was exactly the kind of banter he’d missed. Before he’d even noticed it, he’d finished off the protein bar, barely realizing he had been eating it at all. “....This was for me, right?”
“Duh. Your dumb ass never eats breakfast.” Virgil responded, not looking up.
Roman rolled his eyes, but he mumbled a thank you as he stuffed the wrapper in his pocket. The rest of their little friend group came and sat with them as they arrived, mostly guys they knew from the football team. Virgil didn’t talk much when more than just Roman was around, just offering the occasional comment or quip and sticking by his best friend’s side. They’d all gotten used to the quiet running back by now, and seeing as not only did none of them plan to piss off Roman by picking on his closest friend, they all knew Virgil was crucial as he was easily the fastest guy on the team. And if they wanted to keep winning games, like their school was known for, the combination of Roman and Virgil was an essential one.
Eventually the bell to begin class rang, and they had to disperse in different directions. Roman headed off to his English class, plopping down at a desk and waiting to see who’d join him. He at least somewhat knew pretty much everyone, so if the unlikely event of not knowing someone in class ever did manage to happen, it was never hard for him to make a friend. Luckily enough, he didn’t need to for this class at least.
“Ro!” Came an excited voice from near the doorway. Roman barely had time to look up before an excited student plopped down in the desk next to him.
But once he did, a smile spread across his face. “Pat! It’s been a while, how was your summer?”
He hadn’t seen his friend Patton in a while, but they always managed to run into each other again eventually. They’d lived in the same neighborhood since they were children, so they’d been early playmates and then long time friends ever since. It was always a pleasant surprise to run into one another and get a chance to catch up since they’d last met. ...But they didn’t exactly like having classes together. It had nothing to do with their friendship, it had a lot more to do with...
The two of them had been talking happily, but as soon as the bell rang and class actually started up, the two of them shot each other knowing glances. After a short first day back to class spiel from their teacher, it was time for role call. Time for everyone to discover the name thing all over again.. And then never shut up about it.
It went along easily enough, Roman’s name coming up before Patton’s.
“King, Roman?”
He raised a hand halfway. “Here.”
Everyone already knew Roman’s name, and even if they hadn’t, it was written across his shoulders on his letterman. But it was his in combination with Patton’s that would cause the issue.
It continued on, and eventually...
“Queen, Patton?”
“Present!”
And that was when the mumbling started. The jokes that the two of them belonged together had been circulating since they were small. And things weren’t helped at all when they both ended up openly coming out in early high school. They’d both tried to quiet those murmurs, they’d been close friends their entire lives, they were basically brothers. Disney pals who did movie marathons in plush bathrobes with face masks on, gossiping about cute boys. Not boyfriends. Friends who were boys. That was it.
Of course that didn’t stop it. The King and Queen thing was just too good, apparently.
At least they were almost done with it, thankfully being seniors meant this would probably be the last year they had to deal with all this... But still. The two of them just shook it off the best they could, getting through class and knowing that it would die down eventually. They parted ways at the door once class ended, heading off to their second class of the day in different directions.
Patton was off to art, Roman to health. He’d heard the class was easy enough, and that a lot of seniors would take it because the teacher didn’t mind them working on things for other classes as long they finished with their minimal health projects first. He slipped inside and took a seat, pulling out a notebook and doodling a bit while he waited for the class to begin. He actually managed to draw the foundation for what would probably be a pretty solid dragon before the bell sounded and he looked up to the front.
The teacher was a bit of a strange.. Wacky... Eccentric woman, looking over them all with a slightly faraway look in her eye. “Hello class! I thought we could start the class out with a little icebreaker, it’ll help us find out what you all know about health already, and roll role call all together into one! I’ll pair you up randomly based on last name, and you two just need to write down what you think makes a person healthy together!”
The seniors held in a bit of a groan... This was already shaping up to be odd. But whatever.
“Okay.. Let’s see... Oh, how about.. Ooo, Lincoln and Washington, that’s fun!” She said, a little more excitedly than necessary, marking off them both as here as two students moved to sit next to each other.
This continued on, her pairing up students based on what she seemed to think was fitting.
“Brown and White! Wood and Steele! Lewis and Clarke, oh isn’t that amazing?!” Which was all fine and dandy until, “Let’s see... Ooo! King and Bishop!”
Roman blinked. No, there was no way he was in this class. Somehow the moment he looked up and turned his head to the side, he immediately caught eyes with him. Of course.
He watched as steely eyes poured back into his, Roman realizing immediately that he was expected to be the one to move. With a sigh, he slung his bag back over his shoulder and went and plopped down over in his new seat.
“...Roman.”
“Logan.”
They somewhat greeted each other, staring each other down like one was waiting for the other to concede. Of course, neither did. Their staring match lasted long enough for Roman to study every single nuance of color in Logan’s eyes. ...They were like little nebulas. Gorgeous, unique... Like nothing he’d ever seen before. Not that he planned to admit it aloud. At least not first.
“Alright class! That’s everyone! Please get out a piece of paper and get to work, we’ll talk amongst the class once everyone has had a few minutes to work!”
Right. The dumb ice breaker thing. Roman grabbed his notebook and flipped away from his dragon sketch, over to a blank page.
They looked at each other for a moment longer before Roman sighed, writing both their names on the top corner of the paper in his pretty handwriting.
“Let’s just get this over with. Alright.. Diet, sleep, water, exercise..” Roman mumbled, jotting down words as they came to him.
Logan nodded. “Balanced diet, regular sleep schedule..”
“8 glasses of water a day, regular exercise. Cardio, weights, resistance training...” Roman nodded, adding Logan’s extra descriptors and continuing on.
“That’s farther than you need to go with the exercise portion. Simply walking regularly is more than enough.” Logan shook his head.
“...Well to be healthier you really should exercise more than that.” He countered.
“I don’t believe that’s wholly necessary.”
Roman raised an eyebrow, and heeeeere we go. He made a show of looking Logan up and down, at least the bits of him that he could see. “Well, I can tell you for a fact that you would be healthier if you exercised.”
“Nonsense. I get more than enough exercise in. I’m perfectly healthy.” The football player rolled his eyes, giving him an incredulous look. This only egged on Logan to continue, his tone annoyed. “In fact, if you were to compare our BMI’s, I’m sure that you’d find that you are actually the one who is overweight.”
Roman immediately furrowed his brow, seeing that Logan was clearly pushing his buttons on purpose, that expression on his face was unmistakable. Unfortunately, Roman King was not one who avoided being baited, and Logan Bishop probably knew this better than anyone. “BMI doesn’t account for muscle mass, and you know it! And it’s an outdated system and you know that too!” He whisper yelled, putting his hands flat on the table.
Logan only gave him a smug upturn of the lip, taking the pencil and notebook, continuing to work on their paper while he watched Roman quietly fume out of the corner of his eye.
The two of them continued on, badgering each other quietly, little comments aimed specifically at the other’s buttons. By the time class ended, neither of them knew who had won. Which, honestly, was pretty standard for them.
Thankfully, after health class was lunch. Logan headed one way out the door, off toward the science building, while Roman made his way closer to the gym. It was there that they both met up with their closest friend, and settled down to have lunch.
Despite how different they seemed from each other, how different their friends were, and that they were currently seated on opposite sides of the quad to eat.. The following conversations went extremely similarly.
“What’s wrong?” Patton asked with concern.
“Nothing.” Logan answered quickly, a little too quickly.
“...Come on, Lo. Don’t be like that.” Came the soft response.
He just sighed, giving his close friend a more than telling look. Immediately, Patton had a look of recognition cross his face. And across the quad, Roman was having nearly the exact same experience.
Virgil was smirking. “Ooo... That nerd of your’s has you all riled up, doesn’t he? Let me guess, something happen in your last class?”
Roman responded only with a groan, letting his head fall back. “...he’s not my nerd, and you know it.”
“Bullshit. You’ve had the hots for him for years, dude. He basically is.” Virgil sighed and shook his head, clearly tired of having this conversation.
Back with the other two, Logan also had let out a long sigh.
“No, he isn’t, Patton. We’re.. I don’t think...” Logan mumbled a bit, uncharacteristically.
“Yes he is! Come on, you know it! Deep down, you do!” Patton encouraged, looking at Logan with a hopeful smile.
Logan let his mouth melt into a strange frown-like shape, clearly conveying his lack of belief.
It was then that Virgil and Patton finally conveyed the thought with the same words, despite having been basically unknowingly mirroring each other this entire time.
“Trust me, just ask him out already.”
And they were met with equal expressions of doubt.