Putting in the Work

Roman Kingsley: thespian, daydreamer, hopes to be an art major in college, the kind of person who swears he can make anyone fall in love with him.

Logan Sanders: straight-A student, aspiring to be a teacher, Superwholockian if you don't enough digging, specifically can't have lunch that doesn't includes Crofters jam sandwiches, expresses as much emotion as Sheldon Cooper.

On the surface, the two boys seem like the least likely to end up together, but looks can be deceiving. It all started when Roman first set his eyes on the nerd. They both joined the Student Council and Roman glanced at Logan without really paying attention to the meeting. He paid attention to the sparkle in Logan's eyes as he was focused on the meeting, the neatness of his hair, the occasional smirk when pride was expressed, the slight red on his lips that would pass off as lipstick. After the meeting, he wanted to somehow make Logan fall in love with him.

Every now and then, Roman would leave a flower and note in the seat Logan usually took in Student Council and wait for a response. All he could get from Logan, though, was him stuffing the flower (a plastic one so it didn't get ruined) and the note in his backpack. The same result happened several more times to the point where Roman would actually pay attention in his classes and Student Council in an attempt to keep his mind off of it.

One day, Roman went to his seat in Student Council and saw a folded up piece of paper, but he didn't see Logan. Roman carefully unfolded the piece of paper and saw a compilation of random letters and symbols. He looked over it before seeing a note on the bottom.

"You're into Disney, right? Gravity Falls might give you some help. Signed, Logan," the note said.

After some thinking, Roman realized that the note was written in a cypher. He wasn't sure which one, so he decided to try them all after the meeting. That night, Roman spent the whole night trying to go through as many cyphers as he could to translate the note. It was the first time Logan actually communicated with him, so it was a big deal to the thespian.

The next morning, Roman was asleep surrounded by papers filled with attempts of cypher translations. He started to shift as he woke up and looked at some of his notes. As he looked at the papers, some of the translations actually formed coherent words and some didn't while on the same paper. He picked up some of the notes that had similar results and realized that the original note Logan gave him had three different cyphers. After some organizing, Roman was able to translate the whole thing:

"Greetings, Roman. I know what you wanted, but you seemed to think it would be too easy. If you actually solved this, congrats on showing you're willing to meet me halfway. I've been hurt and hurt others by people expecting me to be more expressive than I'm comfortable being. I see you're over-the-top, but I can be underwhelming until I am confident you'll be with me for a long time and not figuratively break my heart. If you still want us to be together, my number is written in word form."

Roman texted the number and confirmed that Logan didn't give him a fake number. Ever since then, they maintained a couple without drawing too much attention. Roman would double check with Logan on whether or not he's ready to receive certain types of affection and Logan would even listen to Roman when discussing his problems or ideas for Student Council and visa versa. There were times when Logan's "preferred lunch spot was taken" and would eat in subtly suggestive methods in front of Roman (eating a banana or club sandwich slowly while giving him a sexy stare) just to mess with him and see if he's willing to restrain himself until Logan was ready. Roman would watch some shows with Logan while alone and fell for the little things about him as well: Logan geeking out, pointing out how he would do things differently in the situations on the shows they watch, pointing out his own theories, and even the excitement when Logan finds Easter eggs. Logan did plenty of those actions when they watched Disney films as well and they made Roman pay attention to the films less and less. They call each other boyfriends, but go against doing more than sending cyphered notes and teasing each other about what it would be like for them to kiss and then some (Logan did the teasing, Roman only retaliated). Things were pretty well for them as they stayed in such a slow and steady relationship until one evening after graduating high school.

Logan came over to Roman's house so that they could eat some Crofters-coated bagels and watch The Space Between Us.

"Roman, what would you do if I told you I was ready to kiss you?" Logan asked, catching Roman off-guard.

"Well, um, I'd double check to see if you were ready and then warn you that I'd be eager considering I've wanted to kiss you since I first saw you," Roman responded nervously.

"And if I confirmed that I really am ready?"

"Then I'd let you take the lead to see if you really want it."

Logan turned to Roman and took a deep breath before kissing the thespian on the lips. True to his word, Roman allowed Logan to take the lead as he kissed back. Without saying anything, they both knew that they were worth the wait and wouldn't trade each other's company for anything.