ariana grande was on permanent repeat as i wrote this. i'm just trying this out, so tell me if you like it!

Roman's eyes fluttered open, blinking to adjust to the bright morning light. The curtains were open, meaning Dean hadn't come home, because he couldn't stand having the curtains open. Roman rolled onto his back and wasn't surprised to see Dean's side of the bed empty. He sighed and dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom, carrying on with his morning routine. As he made to leave the bathroom, Roman stopped to look in the mirror.

The dark circles under his eyes were getting worse. His eyes were dull, and with his hair pulled off his face, Roman could see how pale he'd gotten. He just looked tired. He'd barely get any sleep nowadays, between work and waiting for Dean, when he only came home every now and then. Roman sighed and shook his head, leaving the bathroom in he and Dean's room and going downstairs. He made a beeline for the kitchen, making a pot of coffee mostly on instinct. Roman heard the front door opening, and in strode Dean, shirt wrinkled, blonde hair rumpled, blue eyes bright, painfully blissed-out. Roman felt his heart ache at the sight.

"Hey baby," Dean greeted. He gave Roman a kiss that tasted like alcohol and someone else, but Roman didn't pull away.

"Hi," Roman said, watching as Dean poured himself a cup of coffee. "Hey, uh, where were you last night? I tried to stay up waiting for you, but, y'know."

Dean gave him a confused look from behind his mug, but his face smoothed out as he got what Roman was saying. "Just went out last night. Phil didn't want me driving home."

Phil doesn't fucking drink, Roman thought. That bastard won't even step foot a bar.

Part of Roman wanted to start pressing further, seeing as Dean had been "out" four times that week, but he decided against it. Dean was a professional liar, quite simply. Roman knew the truth, though. Dean was with someone, who it was Roman didn't know (he certainly had an idea), but Dean hadn't been coming home because of that person. Roman couldn't help himself as he kissed Dean's cheek before he walked back upstairs, changing into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and going downstairs once more.

"Leaving already?" Dean asked, walking out of the kitchen with his second cup of coffee but without his shirt. Roman struggled to keep his eyes on Dean's face.

"Yeah, I gotta go meet Paige and Dolph," Roman said, shrugging on his jacket and pulling on his shoes.

"Are they together?"

"Dean, I've told you, Dolph's gay and Paige is dating Baron."

Dean shrugged and ambled over to Roman, placing his coffee cup on the table by the door before pulling Roman closer by his jacket. He dove right into a kiss, Roman's arms automatically wrapping around Dean's broad shoulders. Dean's tongue ran along the seam of Roman's lips, and Roman didn't hesitate to open his mouth, but he pulled away as the taste of coffee and whiskey and something musky hit him.

"Oops, morning breath, sorry," Dean chuckled, pecking Roman on the lips one last time.

"Uh, yeah," Roman nodded, grabbing his phone and putting it in his pocket. He got his keys and his bag and left the house, walking to his car and getting inside. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, pulling it out and answering as he saw Dolph's name. "Hello."

"My brother," Dolph greeted. "I swear to god, Paige's boyfriend is disgusting. Keeps looking at her like she's a piece of meat."

"They're dating, Dolph, that's the look of love," Roman said, pulling out of his driveway and into the street. "Sometimes you look at the love of your life like they're food."

"Ah, no wonder I'm always drooling when I look at your ass," Dolph chuckled. "It's nothing but meat."

Roman actually had to rest his face on the steering wheel with how hard he was laughing. "Jesus, man, have you no shame?"

"Where has shame gotten anyone?" Dolph's end of the line got quiet, until Roman heard Paige's voice on the other end.

"You're on speaker, so stop talking about butts."

Roman chuckled. "Hi, Paige," He said. "So, Baron's there?"

"Yup," Roman heard a "hi" from Paige's boyfriend. "I figured we could make this a double date."

"I'm not dating Dolph, though."

Speaking of, Dolph scoffed. "Yeah, like your boyfriend's ever here. I might as well be your boyfriend."

"You only want me for my ass," Roman joked, looking for a parking spot.

"I can't find the lie."

"Dolph, hush," Paige said. "Roman, tell me the truth; did Dean come home last night?"

Roman stayed quiet until he pulled into a space. He scrubbed a hand over his face, sighing. "No."

Paige was the one who sighed. "Roman..."

"It's nothing," Roman said simply, getting out of his car. "He showed up, like, five minutes after I woke up, but at least he came home."

"That doesn't change the fact that he was out the entire night," Paige said. "He's playing you."

"I'm not accusing him of anything until I have proof that he's doing something," Roman opened the door to the cafe he was meeting Paige, Dolph, and Baron at. "Hey, I'm here, gotta go." He hung up and walked to the table, sitting next to Dolph.

"Hey, stud," Dolph smiled up at Roman. "Got you your favorite."

"How sweet of you," Roman bumped Dolph with his shoulder before picking up his coffee and taking a sip.

"Roman," Paige's voice had a warning tone to it, and Roman almost didn't want to meet eyes with the young woman. "What's with Dean?"

"He's been showing up at home later and later. It used to just be the middle of the night, but now he's getting there after I wake up," Roman explained. "He's spending the night somewhere."

"Probably with someone," Baron said. "Has he said anything?"

"No," Roman looked down at the table. "He could be with someone, yeah. But at least I have him with me."

"You shouldn't be thinking like that-"

"I've been with him for four years, Paige," Roman snapped. "I don't know what's happening. And I sure as hell don't want to think about it."

They ate breakfast in silence and walked to the tattoo shop, seeing as it was less than a block away. It was their usual morning routine. Baron had only recently started to work with them, having worked at some clothing store Paige liked before she dragged him to the tattoo shop and got him a job. Their boss, Mark, a big, tall, tattooed guy, took an instant liking to Baron, probably because Baron himself was also big and tattooed. And, you know, he was a fantastic artist.

Paige did the piercings, a newer addition to the shop that Mark had introduced after his wife, Michelle, had suggested it. Paige and Baron were a nearly perfect couple; Roman was happy for them. And Dolph, well, Dolph had bleach blonde hair and no tattoos, but he was cute and friendly and the only person that could work at the front desk. Roman did tattoos, too, but he worked mainly on the more basic stuff.

Everyone split up and went to their separate stations, but Roman sat behind the counter with Dolph; he didn't have any scheduled appointments. He grabbed one of the binders with tattoo ideas and started flipping through it.

"Thinking of getting another one?" Dolph asked, pulling up the appointments for the day.

"Nah, just looking," Roman answered. "Kinda wanna try out something new, y'know? See if I can broaden my horizons."

Dolph laughed, and Roman gave him the finger. The bell above the door rung, and Roman went back to looking at the book.

"Corey, man, what's up?" Dolph asked, completely dropping his front desk demeanor. Corey was a regular at the shop.

"Gonna ink my neck," Corey cheesed, handing Dolph the picture of his tattoo.

"Oh, that's badass, man," Roman commented, looking at the picture over Dolph's shoulder. "On your neck, too?"

"Mhm," Corey said. He glanced behind him, prompting both Roman and Dolph to look in that direction. "Oh, yeah, guys, this is Seth."

Roman felt his breath catch. He hadn't even seen Seth come in. He had big brown eyes and long, two-toned hair, and he was quite obviously well-built under his tight t-shirt. Roman's eyes met Seth's for a few seconds, before Seth's face turned a light shade of pink and he looked down. Roman shouldn't have found him so attractive. His heart shouldn't have been beating as fast as it was. Roman was with Dean. He was supposed to feel that way about Dean, not some random guy that came into the shop with Corey.

No feelings. Loyal to Dean. Hot guy that hangs out with Corey is just a hot guy that hangs out with Corey. Nothing else. He had Dean...sometimes. But at least he had Dean.

"I'm Dolph," The blonde introduced himself, holding his hand out towards Seth's. Seth shook it with a smile.

"I'm Roman," Roman held out his own hand, Seth shaking it, and Roman couldn't help but notice how much bigger his hand was than Seth's. "You getting anything today?"

"Oh, uh, no," Seth said, looking up at Roman and smiling ever-so-slightly. Roman smiled back, and Seth looked down again.

Corey gave Dolph a knowing look that Roman just barely caught. He was still puzzled, though. "Seth, I thought you wanted to get something touched up?"

"Well, I-"

"Roman's free right now. He could do it," Dolph interjected, taking the binder from Roman and all but pushing him off the stool. "Corey's gonna take a while, it couldn't hurt to do it."

Seth looked at Roman, lips parted, very visibly confused by whatever was happening. "...I guess I could use a touch-up."

Dolph smiled and shoved Roman away from the counter. "Off with you!"

Roman rolled his eyes, watching as Corey went to Baron's station and leading Seth to his own. He took a seat, motioning for Seth to sit down. "So, whatcha got?"

Seth reached down and pulled the elastic off his wrist, pacing it on his other arm before holding it out to Roman. "This bad boy."

Roman took Seth's wrist in his hand, gently running his thumb over the ink. It was what looked like a little piece of paper, burning, with the word "forever" on it. Roman nodded and ran his thumb over the tattoo once more, releasing his wrist soon after.

"Nice," He said, glancing up at Seth briefly. The other man's face was that same shadenof pink; he sure was a bashful thing. Roman turned around and grabbed his tattoo gun. "Just wanna darken it up?"

"Yeah," Seth answered, watching as Roman got the tool ready.

"Awesome," A minute later, Roman was ready, and he took Seth's wrist in his hand once more. "Ready?"

Seth nodded, and Roman let the needle rest against Seth's tan wrist.

i listened to "just a little bit of your heart" by ariana grande, and something in me just felt like this was necessary to write. this will be a chapter story! i'll go back to regular updates of everything else (as if i don't have enough stuff as it is), i've just been busy lately. thanks for reading, reviews are welcome!