a very non-ambrolleigns chapter, but very important by means of story progression.

Of the very few things Roman was sure of, he was sure that he liked Georgia Tech better than Florida. Better campus, better offer, better...everything. At least, for Roman. His parents widely preferred Florida, but then again, they were fully aware the it was the closest to home as well, and Roman's mom wasn't dealing too well with the whole, "My baby boy is leaving for college in a year," thing.

Speaking of his mom, she had apologized profusely after she'd found out about Roman not wanting his dad to know about Dean. Roman accepted (like he had a fucking choice), and conviniently forgot to remind her that he'd also kissed Seth, like she'd forgotten about the youngest teen.

Roman's dad didn't say a word about Roman and his thing for Dean. Though, something inside Roman told him that his dad was none to pleased with the thought of his son being with another boy. Which was heartbreaking, but Roman kinda expected it. Well, as much as he could expect it. He wasn't exactly planning on his mom ratting him out.

He just shook his head and leaned back in his seat, turning his music up as loud as he could without bursting his eardrums. He didn't want to think about relationships, or parents, or college or any of that other shit that was making him go mad, no, he wanted to think of home. He wanted to think of going home, and being attacked with hugs from Dean and Seth, and going to Randy's Fourth of July party the following week. Stress wasn't on his agenda.

They were less than half an hour away from home, which, if Roman did his math correctly, would take around 6 songs on his playlist, so if he managed to focus on the music, he'd be all good. That is, unless his mom decided to start a conversation.

"Roman?"

It took a few tries, since Roman had his music turned up so loud, but he finally noticed her. "Yeah?" He asked, taking his headphones off.

"Are you alright? You look tired."

"I'm fine," He said flatly, looking out the window.

Which, if it counts, was a lie. He was stressed, and tired, and he looked like shit but his mom didn't need to know that. He could continue lying about the dark circles under his eyes, and his constant silence, and whatever else. He'd been doing it for a solid few days.

"You sure?" She knew better. She knew so much better.

Roman only nodded.

Surprisingly, there wasn't anybody at Roman's house when they arrived. Nor was there anybody there an hour after they arrived. Roman almost let his mind stray to what Dean and Seth could be doing, until he heard the bell ring downstairs. For an irrationally exciting second, Roman considered going downstairs, but he decided against it.

His mom, however, had decided against that.

"Roman, come down here."

He took that lonely second to groan out loud before going down the stairs, feeling all of the air in his body rush out as he saw who was standing in the living room with his parents.

"John."

"So, how's this gonna go down?"

Seth rolled his eyes, halfheartedly smacking Dean's chest. "We're just gonna tell him how we feel," He said flatly. "Hopefully he feels the same way."

"How encouraging," Dean chuckled.

They were driving to Roman's house, well, Dean was driving to Roman's house, and Seth was clinging to the passenger side door in case of a tuck-and-roll escape. Seth had no idea that it was possible for someone to get worse at driving, but apparently Dean had fully acheived it. He always blamed it on the weather, though ("It's easier to drive in the rain.").

Dean lived a whopping 15 minutes from Roman, and they could've easily walked, but Dean insisted on trying to drive. For what reason, Seth didn't know.

"Hey...did they get a new car?"

"What?" Dean glanced over at Seth like he had three heads. "I doubt it. They to went Georgia for school, not cars."

"Maybe they got Roman a car?"

"Seth, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"There's a car parked in front of Roman's house, dumbass, look." Seth pointed forward, and sure enough, there was a shiny, very new-looking Range Rover parked in front of Roman's house.

"That's not theirs," Dean said, suddenly tensing up as he stared at the car.

"Then who's-" Seth stopped as the front door of Roman's house opened, Roman walking out with none other than John ex-captain-of-the-football-team Cena. John had an arm casually thrown around Roman's waist, his thumb hooked in Roman's belt loop. The worst of it all?

Roman looked really fucking happy.

Dean just shook his head as he made a nearly perfect u-turn and drove back to his house.

John's head turned, a dimpled smile breaking out on his face at the sight of Roman. "Hey, kid," He greeted, walking up to Roman and pulling him into a one-armed hug. "I've missed you."

"Same here," Roman breathed out, looking briefly at his parents before turning his attention to John. "I thought you were in Boston...?"

"Came back," John shrugged, that same goofy grin still plastered to his face. "So, uh, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the beach, maybe?" He asks tentatively, his blue eyes bluer than every.

"Uh, sure," Roman said. He was about to ask his parents, but he saw his mom nod before walking away, and he took that as a vote of confidence.

He lead John out of the house, feeling the older teen slide an arm around his waist as they walked to his car. John, ever the gentleman, opened Roman's door for him, and laughed at the slight flush on Roman's face. John climed into the drivers side, and wow, as if Roman wasn't already confused beyond belief, John leaned over and kissed him.

John always made up excuses like beach trips and extra football practice to have a chance to make out with Roman in his car. Roman's parents always believed it, even when John was dragging Roman to "football practice" close to everyday, and to the beach in the middle of winter. There was just something about John the screamed "trustworthy," and it confused the fuck out of Roman.

"Stop," Roman mumbled, pushing John back slightly.

"Oh, oops," John chuckled, smiling at Roman. "Guess I should've warned you, right?"

"A prior word would've been appreciated."

"Look at you, using your big-kid words."

"Fuck you."

John laughed, but he reached over and grabbed one of Roman's hands. "I really missed you," He mumbled, leaning over and kissing Roman's temple.

Roman smiled softly. "I missed you too."

The drive to the beach was mostly silent, aside from the occasional passing comment from John about a renovated building or a missing tree. Roman could barely count how many times he and John had taken that exact route in the time they'd known each other, so it didn't surprise him that John noticed such small details.

They got to the beach quickly. John was acting unusually polite; he opened Roman's door, held his hand, did nothing that he did before he'd gone to Boston. Roman chose not to question it, knowing that he'd never get a direct answer from the older teen. They went to their usual spot, way off to the left of the beach and real close to the water, but not close enough to get wet.

"You excited for your senior year?" John asked as they say down.

"I guess," Roman answered. "I'm a little worried about it, y'know, with classes getting harder."

"You're a smart kid," John replied, snaking an arm around Roman's waist and pulling the younger teen closer to him. "You don't have to worry about anything."

"Whatever."

"I'm telling the truth," John moved closer to Roman, close enough to whisper right in Roman's ear. "You're pretty much perfect."

Roman shivered slightly as he felt John's lips brush against his ear. "What is your deal?"

"What do you mean?" John was smiling as he leaned down and kissed Roman's neck.

"Four months ago you weren't like this, and we were practically dating."

John tensed. "But we weren't dating," He said, pulling away from Roman and looking the younger teen in the eye. "You're aware of that, right?"

"Fully aware," Roman shrugged. "But you never opened doors for me then, or held my hand, or kissed me in public, and we aren't dating now."

"I missed you."

"Thats cool. But I want an answer."

John just sighed. He probably thought Roman was overreacting, like he used to, but Roman didn't care. John fucking left in the middle of April, without telling Roman. He had mentioned that he was going back to Boston for some of the summer, but he'd never said anything about finishing his school year early and leaving. At that point, Roman and John were...close. Like, they'd gotten close, really close.

"I left for family reasons, Roman," John said after a few tense seconds. "And I didn't tell you, I know, but-"

"But, you took my virginity and left two days later."

John nearly flinched. At least he knew how Roman felt. His eyes snapped away from Roman and were glued to the gentle waves lapping against the shore for a few minutes, and Roman left him be. John looked back at Roman eventually, and for a split second, it was like nothing had changed. John was the super good-looking senior and Roman was the John's favorite little junior, and John was just trying to keep his reputation intact.

"Don't talk about that anymore."

"Why?"

"What would you say if I said I regretted it?"

"Leaving?"

"Fucking you."

It was Roman's turn to not say anything. John realized what he'd said a bit too late, because once he tried to make things better, Roman was past the point of forgiving.

"Take me home."

John nodded and stood up alongside Roman, keeping a few feet behind him as they walked to the car. Roman climbed in before John could touch the door. Again, it was a silent ride, until John spoke up as they pulled onto Roman's street.

"Are you going to Randy's place for the Fourth of July?"

"I promised Dean and Seth that I'd take them this year."

John nodded. "Look, Roman-"

"I don't care. You regret having sex with me, whatever," Roman muttered, opening his door before John even came to a complete stop. "I didn't expect anything out of your prissy ass anyways." And with that, Roman was slamming the car door and walking to his front door. He didn't say anything about the little beach trip to his parents, he just went straight up to his room, laid on his bed, and tried to fight back the memories of that last night with John.

"God, you're so pretty."

Roman was already flushed red, between his mild breathlessness and John's lips alternating from kissing his thighs to wrapping around his cock, but he knew his face got even brighter at that comment. He wasn't a girl, dammit, he wasn't pretty, but for John, he'd take the compliment. John drifted back up Roman's body, those talented lips of his pressing against a spot on Roman's neck that had him arching up and whimpering.

"Roman?"

"Mhm."

"Can I fuck you?"

Roman gasped softly, John's lips pressing against his neck once more. "Uh..."

"I'll be really gentle, baby," John mumbled, pushing some stray hairs off of Roman's face. "Just let me make love to you."

As if Roman could deny that. He nodded, and John reached over, opened a drawer, and pulled out a condom and a bottle of lube. Roman vaguely remembered it from the one time he let John finger him, but he'd ended up hating it, so they never really got that far anymore. Yet, here they were, Roman all spread out on John's bed while John lubed up his fingers and pressed one against Roman's hole.

From then, things were a bit of a blur. John fingered and teased Roman until the younger teen was practically sobbing, and very blatantly beggin for John to fuck him. As he'd promised, John was incredibly gentle. He gave Roman all the time he neededm. He'd gone with whatever pace or anything else that Roman wanted, and they came together. John took care of Roman after, too. He cleaned him up, and gave him some clothes to sleep in (which he let Roman keep). All in all, Roman was treated right.

Roman was so in love with John. Of course, the next day, John acted completely normal, like he hadn't taken Roman's virgingity the night before, and he left the day after that. Now Roman knew the truth. It hurt, yeah, but knowing the truth was better than living a lie.

Roman chose to forget about John for the moment, and pulled out his phone, typing out a quick message to Dean.

Hey, I'm back. You with Seth?

why do you care

I wanna see you guys?

you seem to be pretty happy seeing john

Roman dropped his phone.

so, i apologize if anyone doesn't like john and roman, but honestly, john is just a passing character that i need to make the story move on. nothing too major will happen with him and roman, and the main pairing is still ambrolleigns. reviews are welcomed with open arms!