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Roman has been living with Dean ever since they entered their sophomore year in college. In their freshman year, they were sharing the same dorm room, which was one of the reasons why they became friends, aside from actually sharing some classes together. At first, Dean liked to keep to himself; he would literally sit at the back of the class alone, and whenever Roman would look at him, he always appeared uninterested with the class. In some ways, Roman understands, because some of their topics could be boring, but at the same time, that could just be how Dean was.
Of course, Roman then didn’t know how to approach Dean. He was capable of making friends and holding conversations, though he really didn’t want to mess with Dean, and make things awkward in their room, especially when they were both aware that they were stuck with each other and changing rooms will be hard.
Then, Roman found himself thanking Call of Duty and his sisters gifting him the new Playstation which basically started his friendship with Dean.
Through Roman, Dean had met more people, like Jimmy and Jey, who happen to be Roman’s cousins, then the football team who always looked up to Roman. Dean started to be more comfortable around Roman’s circle; it was like he was able to unleash his true self, and witnessing that was so good.
By their sophomore year, they decided to get their own apartment. Dean found a part-time job that he enjoyed, while Roman’s dad always provided him financial assistance. They can afford it, and they were always set on becoming each other’s roommates.
Things are going really well for them currently. People said that the junior year is generally harder than what they’ve previously experienced, and despite both of them feeling exactly that, they still never failed to hangout with their friends.
While Seth is rambling about the latest drama in the cheerleading team, Roman’s eyes find themselves roaming around to look for Dean. Now, one of the things that was unleashed from Dean when he became friends with Roman is the fact that he can be physically affectionate with anyone. Even with Roman. That’s something he never really minded, because he grew up with sisters who were affectionate with him, so really, he doesn’t know why he’s feeling a certain way right now.
Dean is currently making his way towards their table, a hand around a blonde chick. Roman has seen her around a few times, but doesn’t really know anything about her.
In fact, he only manages to register the name because that’s the only thing he happens to care about.
Renee.
Apparently, she’s majoring in journalism in the same university as theirs. Renee manages to blend in with the group, like she’s always meant to be there. Even when Dean isn’t next to her, she still manages to actually have a conversation with everyone else.
Roman is also trying to engage with the topics, but he once again finds his eyes drifting away from everyone else to once again settle on Dean.
He’s seated next to Sami, an arm wrapped around his shoulders. He has a smile on his face, and his eyes are almost sparkling as he watches everything unfold in front of him.
Roman isn’t usually like this, has no idea why he’s being observant of Dean. He couldn’t exactly blame the drinks he’s had because he only had a can of soda. In his head, he keeps reminding himself that Dean is just this way, very affectionate with people he cares about, and he should be proud of that because he helped him become comfortable enough for that.
Instead of becoming calmer though, his confusion leads him into standing up abruptly, walking away from the group without a word.
Roman chooses to go up the rooftop to take a breather. Since his family is close friends with the owner of the place, him and his friends could come up to the rooftop if the setting downstairs gets too overwhelming, or if he needs a moment of peace.
He has been used to watching Dean become affectionate with other people. That’s never been an issue for him. So, he’s genuinely confused as to why he’d be reacting like this over that. It’s Dean, and he’s always been like this.
Roman takes a deep breath, then shuts his eyes as he releases it.
He realizes.
It’s not Dean’s affection; it’s Dean’s obvious interest .
“Whatcha doin’ there, big guy?”
Roman flinches out of shock, turning around to be face to face with the guy he’s been worrying about.
“Jesus,” he mumbles, shaking his head, “what are you doing here?”
Dean shrugs a shoulder. “Well, a lil birdie told me you’d be here. Didn’t wanna come home without my roommate, ya know? And I didn’t wanna have to drag your ass if you ever fell asleep up here, man.”
Despite his inner turmoil, he finds himself cracking a grin. “Oh, so you just needed me to drag your ass — oh , you are a nasty man.”
“Come on Ro,” Dean says, then without a warning, he’s putting Roman into a headlock, “you know it ain’t like that.”
Roman’s hands grasp onto Dean’s forearm, although he makes no attempt to counter the headlock. “Let me guess, you got bored out of your mind in there so you came looking for me.”
It’s not exactly a serious statement, but Dean freezes somehow, and Roman does, too. This usually occurs when Dean thinks about something that allows his mind to fly to wherever it ever goes.
He recovers pretty quickly, however, releasing the hold he has on Roman to instead hug him on his side, clinging to him.
“You do make every fuckin’ thing so much better, babe.”
Roman ignores the fluttery feeling he has in his stomach and decides that sometimes, guys need hugs, too.
Roman groans as he’s waking up, rolling over his bed to check his phone. Great — he overslept again. This doesn’t happen a lot because he always makes sure that he sleeps early so that he can wake up on time due to his condition.
Besides, Roman functions better when he has a routine to follow. Usually, every night, he sleeps early so that he can wake up on time. He gets tired and sleepy immediately, so he takes series of naps throughout the day. It is more difficult to do that when he has classes, but when he’s home, it can be easy.
When he plans to be out late during the night, he has to take a nap a few hours before that just so he wouldn’t be falling asleep while he’s out with his friends.
Dean is usually out working when Roman would take these naps, so there’s no reason to worry about Dean finding him fast asleep in the living room, where he usually takes the said naps. Dean had reassured him that he can nap there and that it wouldn’t bother him if he was ever home during it. Besides, they only last from thirty to sixty minutes, so it was all settled.
After getting ready for the day, he walks out of his room. As usual, Dean isn’t there, which is completely fine. And it gets even better when he spots that Dean prepared some breakfast for him to enjoy, and left a note on the fridge.
ro,
didn’t wanna wake u up
u needed da sleep !!
reheat the food
love ya ;) <3
-deano
Not the first time that Dean did this for him, and he knows that as long as they’re staying under the same roof, it wouldn’t be the last.
Roman reheats his meal with a smile on his face that never went away as his lazy day goes by.
There is usually a state during a slumber where you feel like you’re floating between a dream and reality. Roman can easily go back to reality when that happens to him, but he can also allow his body to fall back asleep. He wants to choose the latter, since he’s been so comfortable in his nap that he feels like a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt.
Just when he’s about to fall back asleep, he feels a presence — he barely even hears the footsteps, the only thing real to him is feeling Dean’s lips on his forehead.
He is very much awake now, but he doesn’t dare open his eyes.
And Roman knows it’s Dean because he’s the only man who smells like that.
Once he’s sure that Dean has left the premises — or the living room — he peeks an eye open. He’s pretty certain that he’s not dreaming anymore, yet somehow, that feels surreal.
Somehow, that’s not the first time that Dean did something while Roman is napping on the couch. There were instances where he would wake up, and there would be a blanket over him even though he didn’t really fall asleep with one. It can get pretty cold in there so Roman still has no idea why he doesn’t bring one immediately, but maybe it’s the fact that Dean has been considerate to put one over him while he’s napping — he got used to that treatment, basically.
There are times where Dean would be home earlier than usual from work. It depends on the schedule and the number of clients he deals with, and since he’s built a great relationship with his boss, he can easily get out of there when he can.
Roman remembers waking up one afternoon with Dean sitting on the floor, reading his notes from their class, while his hand was playing with Roman’s hair.
They both didn’t really say anything about it, because it was just that. It wasn’t a big deal.
Except it was. Roman never let people touch his hair in any context, so him just laying there and letting Dean play with his hair like it was the most normal thing in the world shocked him, but he liked it, and maybe that was the reason why he was so surprised about it.
Those easily became regular occurrences during Roman’s nap time. Again, he didn’t mind, not at all, because of Dean being naturally affectionate.
Like, that’s just how he is, right?
It’s the forehead kiss that’s making him feel like a high schooler with a fucking crush.
During his inner panic, Roman doesn’t realize that he’s falling asleep again.
He dreams about the kiss.
In fact, it’s all he can think about, whether he’s awake or asleep.
Roman has just finished an intense workout session with his cousins when he steps into his apartment. He sees Dean’s shoes, so he knows that he’s here already. Nothing unusual, given what time it is already. He walks to his room and hops onto the shower in an attempt to clean himself and wake himself up because he is tired again.
The day had been really productive. He attended a few classes, ones that Dean wasn’t on so he barely saw him around the campus. Then, after that, he went with his cousins. Needless to say, Roman did not have the time to take his very important nap.
It makes sense that once he’s finished with his shower and dressed comfortably, he goes back to the living room, lays on the couch, tries to find something to watch on television and fails, he’s taking his well-deserved nap.
A door opens, then Roman hears Dean’s voice, “Roman?”
Usually, he would respond to that, but he is just too tired to. He’s not yet asleep, but close enough.
Dean must’ve thought that he’s already deep in it that he chuckles, and Roman feels himself being tucked in. Instead of panicking, Roman lays there comfortably.
Something new is feeling Dean’s fingers stroking his cheek. He is too tired to properly react, so he doesn’t; instead, he focuses on how much he loves the attention he is receiving right now.
He waits for the forehead kiss, and it does not disappoint.
Roman is down bad.
As much as possible, Roman tries not to overthink things. Dean being affectionate is simply a fact, like he’d go ahead and throw kisses on his friends’ cheeks whenever he could because it’s not a big deal. Of course, he would ask for permission to do that, but generally, it has become a part of Dean that everyone loves and appreciates, him included.
Somehow though, these forehead kisses whenever he’s napping, they felt different. Perhaps it’s because they’re done in a private setting, which makes them much, much intimate and loving than any cheek kisses he’s thrown out there.
A part of Roman feels like he should just leave it as it is, just his roommate slash friend showing him affection just like everybody else. However, there’s this nagging voice in his mind that reminds him that Dean has been open about his certain experiences with both men and women, so there is a chance that it’s so much more than that.
While him and the football guys are at practice, he tries so hard to concentrate. When he has something bothering him, football usually helps in taking his mind off things. It’s somewhat helping.
The sight of his twin cousins is screaming at him to tell them what has been happening and to ask for advice, until his vision spots Dean and Renee in the bleachers, talking and smiling.
As dramatic as it sounds, Roman feels like he’s being stabbed directly in his heart the more he watches.
Yeah, he’s definitely just affectionate.
As a friend.
That scene should’ve given him a sense of clarity, but it never really did. In fact, he finds himself even more confused than ever.
Especially when Roman is dreaming about them in his library naps.
Fingers are stroking his cheeks, which wakes him up and reminds him of where he is. Dean is sitting next to him, a goofy smile on his face which makes his dimples prominent and oh wow, Roman forgets about Renee altogether.
“Hey,” Roman mumbles, voice deep.
“Hey, sleeping beauty,” Dean answers, “wanna go home?”
For a while, Roman hasn’t seen Dean with Renee. At all. He’s clueless about what that could mean, if it even means anything, but again, Roman seems to have assumed anything and everything between the two of them. Really, if something is up, he’s sure that Dean would tell him something.
Besides, the forehead kisses never stopped coming. Roman can always feel them happening, to the point where he feels like he’s already addicted. They easily became a part of his daily naps.
It even got to the point where Roman would pretend to be asleep, and would anticipate those kisses.
It’s quite ridiculous, really, because he knows that for himself, those kisses are not just that; he rarely sees them as a friend showing affection. It always means something more to Roman. That thought scares him because all throughout his life, he’s only dated women. Well, he can admit when a man is attractive, and Dean is hot as fuck , so maybe that means something, right?
Roman isn’t too sure about what this is, but he’s just so, so certain that he wouldn’t mind receiving these kisses while he’s awake, too.
However, Roman can be bad at figuring out how to approach the situation, to tell Dean that he wouldn’t mind if he’d show this kind of physical affection when he’s awake too. It wouldn’t be weird, it was never weird. Roman loves them so much that it almost hurts.
Is he this touch starved?
When the thought of this being something more than Dean would let on, Roman starts becoming awkward around Dean.
“You fell asleep before you could take your clothes up to your room so I folded them for ya.” Dean is standing there, holding Roman’s neatly folded clothes. “Can I bring these to your room?”
“S—Sure,” he responds. He feels like he’s still drooling. “Thanks.”
Dean frowns for a few seconds before he’s walking towards Roman’s room.
And that’s just one occasion of Roman being awkward and dry because of Dean doing something nice for him. Somehow, it’s stuck in his head that Dean is being nice to him because he likes Roman.
Just like when Dean brings Roman lunch in the library because he forgot to eat and got drowned into studying for his exams.
It’s a sandwich because Dean is a known sandwich lover and some diet pepsi. Roman just half smiles at him, quietly thanks him, and doesn’t even ask him to sit with him.
Dean gets the same impression. “Alright,” then he’s walking off.
Or, when he brings him his favorite gatorade when he’s training for football.
In Roman’s defense, Dean never really brought him drinks like this during his practice. He usually just watches for a bit then chats with the others, maybe pat Roman’s shoulder or head when he’s close enough.
“Thank you, Dean.”
“Anytime.”
Luckily, Roman manages to have a full conversation with Dean during a round of Call of Duty. Playing video games also helps Roman unwind, to let his mind focus on something else. It’s something that they have been doing for so long due to them becoming friends through this same game.
Still, there is a problem.
Roman finds himself stuttering whenever Dean would compliment his game.
For example, Roman is doing well this round, and when he makes a kill, Dean would say, “good boy”.
How is he supposed to function properly?
Dean even calls him out on his stutters.
He’s starting to think that he cannot be around Dean like this anymore because this is too much; all he could ever think about are those kisses, the fingers stroking his cheeks, playing with his hair, and hell, even the blanket thing is making him all soft and warm and tingly inside.
He needs to get it together, to keep himself in control.
When the round is finished, Dean grabs the controller out of Roman’s hand. He is about to complain about that, however, he sees just how serious Dean’s face is.
“Dean?” he asks.
“Have I done something wrong?” Dean questions back.
Roman frowns, then chews on his lower lip, feeling guilty all of a sudden.
He acknowledges that he has been acting really weird around Dean recently, and he is aware of exactly why. Is he ready to tell Dean what his problem is? Definitely not. The best thing he can do is to reassure him that nothing’s wrong and that they’re good, so he does that.
“Okay,” Dean says slowly, and Roman could see his fingers on his collarbone, an action he does when he’s anxious, and Roman is scolding himself for making Dean feel that way, “it’s just that — you have been weird these past weeks.”
“I’m sorry,” he mutters sincerely, because he is, “I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. It’s nothing you did, and you shouldn’t worry, okay?”
Dean still doesn’t look convinced. In fact, he looks even more worried, and his next words are, “is it because I swing both ways? Is that what’s makin’ you uneasy ‘round me, Ro?”
Roman’s brows shoot up, surprised. “What?”
“My bisexuality,” Dean says, almost an act of defense, “is that it? Because I understand that not everyone is cool with that, and if you’re not, I can move out—”
Nothing is really registering in his head anymore after Dean literally coming out to him, because that happens to be the only confirmation that he needs to have these thoughts once again.
Dean is bisexual, he is attracted to men, and he is showing affection towards Roman, and Roman’s chances shot up so high that he couldn’t even reach them anymore.
“You’re bisexual?”
“Yeah,” Dean answers after a bit.
“I — I don’t mind that, Deano,” Roman says, realizing that Dean has been truly worried that he’ll get kicked out of their place because of that. Roman is not an asshole. “You’re just so — damn, I never knew. It’s just that, Renee—”
“Renee?” Dean asks, head tilted to the side. “What about her?”
Now, Roman feels rather ridiculous for bringing her up, a blush coloring his tanned cheeks. “It’s just that, you know — I thought you were seeing her.”
“Well, bisexuality does mean I still can see women, Roman,” Dean chuckles, and Roman’s heart is about to sink when he starts speaking again, “and no, I was never seeing Renee. Actually, she’s been asking me how to ask Charly out.”
“Charly?” Roman gasps dramatically.
“I know,” Dean says, just as dramatically.
They find themselves giggling after that, before full on laughing because really, they needed that. After they’ve calmed down, Roman turns to Dean once again, all serious.
“We’re okay,” Roman reassures him, and without overthinking it, reaches for Dean’s hand, squeezing it to remind him that he’s there. “You and me. We’re always okay.”
Dean smiles. “You and me?”
Roman smiles back. “You and me.”
Since Roman had been basically avoiding Dean the past weeks, he decides on spending more time with Dean to avoid creating a gap between them. This means getting his own feelings under control, and even though he initially thought that it’d be difficult, it’s genuinely much easier to do. Their previous dynamic starts coming back full force, they play games even more together now, watch movies and argue about movie trivias, then they also hangout with their circle more.
Everything is going well until one day, it dawns onto Roman that he hasn’t been getting forehead kisses.
His mind starts racing once again, thinking of the worst possible reasons for that, but then, he realizes that a part of bringing their old dynamic back is getting his feelings under control, which means that naps have been taken in his room the past weeks or so.
The kisses stopped not because Dean didn’t want to do them anymore because Roman made it weird — they stopped because Roman stopped napping in the living room.
Since enough is enough and Roman needs his forehead kisses and have decided that it’s been way too long without them, he decides to go back to his favorite napping place, the living room couch.
The plan is in motion. He doesn’t have a blanket, which he did on purpose, then closes his eyes as he pretends to sleep. Dean is currently in his room, probably watching something or working out or studying, whatever, but Roman is certain that he’d be coming out of his room in a little while. He just has to be patient.
This task is starting to become harder and harder because Roman is starting to actually fall asleep now. It’s not his fault that this is how his body functions, that he is too tired to wait, but he’s still trying. Actually, he is so desperate to get his kisses that he’s willing to put sleep off for a little while, just until he gets what he came here for.
Roman is pretty much on the verge of snoozing when he hears the door open, then Dean’s voice greets his ears.
“Oh, you’re back on the couch.”
He whispers it so softly that Roman almost didn’t believe that it came from Dean’s mouth. If his body isn’t so tired and he isn’t slipping yet, he would’ve started tensing up due to how surprised he is of Dean’s presence.
Dean paces around, and before he knows it, the blanket is being draped over his body. It’s like a routine by now. After the blanket comes the strokes on his cheeks, and Roman could literally hear his heart pounding in his ears, and has a feeling that Dean could hear it too, with how close he is to him.
Dean’s fingers brush the hair out of Roman’s forehead, and then this is it , the feeling of Dean’s damp lips pressing a kiss on Roman’s forehead, lingering for a few seconds before it’s gone.
It’s there and it’s gone, and Roman missed that so much, the action and the feeling, to the point where his lack of sleep and empty head makes him mumble out, “one more, please.”
Even with how tired Roman is, he still realizes what he said, and his heart drops, because he’s thinking of the worst again, that Dean might get angry for asking more, but then, Dean kisses his forehead again, even longer this time, and Roman ends up smiling like a whole idiot.
Dean must’ve seen that because he’s asking, “did you like that?”
Roman, tired and stupidly smitten, responds with “yes”.
Dean strokes his cheeks. “Get some rest Ro. We’ll talk about this later.”
Roman wakes up thinking that he dreamt the whole thing, or perhaps he’s just in denial because of him slipping up right in front of Dean.
Dean is sitting on the couch, smirking at him cockily, like he knows something that Roman doesn’t. Of course, Dean allows him to freshen up, even fetching him some water so that he can drink. Once prime and proper, they actually start talking. Roman thought that he’d be doing anything and everything to avoid this talk, but in reality, he’s looking forward to it.
“Did you like me kissin’ you on the forehead?” Dean inquires, like he even has to.
“Yeah,” he responds honestly.
Dean nods, appears to be thinking about something, and then, “did you like it because ya know, your dad never really showed you any affection, or is it because you like me? Because those are two completely different things.”
The first point gets Roman thinking. Dean knows him so much, as it turns out. Roman loves his family, and he’s generally affectionate, but towards his mother and his sisters. Him and his brother are close, but his father is a different story. While he has love and respect for his old man, they weren’t really the touchy or affectionate type. As a matter of fact, when Roman left for college with his football scholarship, his father only shook his hand and wished him luck.
That does add a factor about this whole thing. However, Roman always knew what the answer to that is.
“I like you,” he confesses more than he answers, and it’s like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. “I liked you for a while now and I just never realized what it was, but now I know.”
“Good,” Dean says with a grin, “that’s good because I like you too.”
The two of them are just grinning like idiots for a while before Dean starts asking things again.
“About the forehead kisses,” he speaks slowly, “how do you feel about me doing them while you were asleep?”
A blush has appeared on Roman’s cheeks before Dean even stopped talking. “I — it got to the point where I was looking forward to them every time I nap.”
Admitting that is so insane because he feels like he’s younger than he actually is. Dean is also red in the face now when Roman turns to look at him fully.
“Well, kissing your forehead while you’re asleep is a different thing than doing it while you’re awake.” Dean clears his throat. “How would you feel if I were to give you kisses while you’re awake?”
“I’d like that,” he answers immediately.
“Then we’re good,” he says, chuckling, still blushing, “but I do have something to say.”
Roman tries to calm his nerves down. “Yes?”
“I think we should take this slow,” he starts, “because from what I know you’ve never been with guys. I just don’t wanna shock you or somethin’, and I just don’t want to mess us up.”
Roman licks his lips, then takes a risk, cupping Dean’s face with both of his hands. “You won’t mess anything up, Deano. Like you said, we’ll take it slow. Okay?”
“Okay.”
A moment of silence, and then—
“You were looking forward to my kisses?”
Roman groans.
Dean has been giving him forehead kisses any chance he gets. Actually, he even got more kisses than he first expected. There are times where Dean would just sit on his lap and pepper his whole face with kisses, and Roman loves that, he loves everything about it.
They talked about going on an official date, but never really managed to set a date and location. With their exams, Roman’s football games, and Dean’s job, it can get pretty tough.
One night, after a successful game, the two of them decided to have dinner together in their favorite spot. Somehow, it felt like an actual date, however, a spontaneous one. The two of them just shared stories, and Roman is genuinely elated that nothing really changed with their dynamic. They are just so, so much better now.
They are in bed together, with Roman almost asleep because of how tired and sore he is. They’re facing each other, and he is almost falling asleep when he feels Dean’s breath on his lips, and then, they’re kissing.
It’s slow, lazy, with Roman trying to give everything he can into it. Dean doesn’t seem to mind, even chuckles, stroking Roman’s cheek with his thumb. He pulls away, but goes right back in, giving Roman pecks.
“Thank you,” Roman slurs.
Dean chuckles again. “Goodnight, babe.”
Even after a while, after getting kisses while he is awake, Roman is still anticipating the forehead kisses while he’s asleep.