Part 7: What A Waste of Loft-ly Night (or Maybe Not)

Yes, the chapter title is loosely based on "Lovely Night" from La La Land. I've been anticipating posting this chapter because it's one of my favorite parts to write about (for a very good reason). This is gonna be one of the shorter chapters by the way.

Also, "How Did I Fall In Love With You" by Backstreet Boys is the best song/soundtrack to listen to while reading this chapter to set the tone.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Lab Rats, Mighty Med, Lab Rats: Elite Force, or Johan and Julie from Waktu Rehat. I only own my Original Characters. With that being said, enjoy this chaotic story.

Night 2

Jenny was upset that Jamie would be going back on separate ways tomorrow, and hence requested to have a sleepover at Jamie's RV. Spin and Bob tried to follow suit, but Doris and Frank wouldn't budge.

Everyone is sleeping soundly, well almost everyone.

"Pst, Roman!" Tracy waved over, whispering as quietly as possible.

"What?" Roman mouthed back. It's 1am, why is she still awake?

Tracy made a gesture to come over.

Quietly and carefully, Roman made his way over to climb up to the loft without accidentally waking up their family members.

"Hi stranger." She beamed at him, "Loft-ly to see you here."

Roman was about to deadpan her lame puns again (thanks a lot, Riker!) when his mind short-circuited.

"I-Is that my shirt?" Roman spluttered, before he cleared his throat.

He was genuinely not prepared for the sight of Tracy wearing one of his (favorite) shirts. His shirt looked rather baggy on her and he got a good glimpse of her collarbones. He's never shown much interest in physical appearances, but he never thought he'd find collarbones this attractive (especially from his longtime friend)-

ROMAN CROWLEY ANDREWS, GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF! STOP STARING AT HER!

"Yeah, I wear it as a nightshirt sometimes. Are you ok with that?" Tracy realized why Roman seemed flustered, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

'Shoot, I hope he's not furious that I stole his shirt...' Tracy gulped, noticing Roman kept looking at her. Roman previously made it clear that this shirt (the one she stole and is wearing) is his favorite and nobody is allowed to steal or wear it.

Roman could only hope that she's not reading his mind right now, because it'd be awkward for her to find out he was staring at her in 'more than platonic' manner.

"Oh totally, totally." Roman murmured, feeling his cheeks turning red. "Keep it, it looks good on you. Thanks."

He has never been more glad that the lighting for the RV right now is very dim, or else it'd be mortifying for Tracy to catch him blushing red as a tomato.

"For what?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Liking it, I guess." Roman looked away, oddly attracted to his friend wearing his old shirt.

"Come on up." She gestured.

"I figured you might prefer sleeping in a loft." Tracy patted the space next to her. "You've been sleeping on the floor for the past few days."

'That was quite thoughtful of her.' Roman thought, holding back a smile.

"You do know our parents would freak out if they find out, right?" Roman kept looking over his shoulders to see if any of their family members could wake up.

"Come on, we've shared the same bed as kids." She refuted, not exactly seeing from his perspective yet.

"But this is different!" His eyes darted around. They're not kids anymore, they're older now. And finding two teens (correction: 1 teen and 1 adult) sleeping in the same bed is enough to raise very alarming questions.

"It's only for a short while," She assured him. "Besides, I trust that you won't do anything bad to me. Plus, suppose we get married in the future, we're still gonna have to share a bed."

Roman eventually caved in, he could never say no to her.

"If we get caught, I'm blaming you." Roman half-joked, as he climbed onto the loft.

"Hmm I'll take the risk if it means you are getting proper sleep." Tracy hummed, scooching aside to give him some space. "C'mon, the blanket's big enough for the both of us."

"This looked way bigger when we were kids." Tracy murmured, realizing how close their bodies were.

"No kidding." Roman whispered back, looking into her eyes. He found himself glancing at her lips.

Is it horrible that he wants to know what it'd be like to kiss her on the lips...as a friend

They grew up together, they had shared sleepovers on many occasions. But this…feels different somehow. More intimate. Or was it all because of what transpired in the past 48 hours? The (subtle flirting masked as) excessive compliments, the sudden proximity, the pretend dating, the faked kissing, the embarrassingly awkward soulmates quiz.

They stared at each other in silence, unsure of what to talk about.

Tracy started to snicker when she heard her family members snoring. Each one has its own rhythm and when you put it all together, it makes a harmonious orchestra.

The snoring symphony just upscales with the entire Andrews clan.

"What's so funny?" Roman asked.

"The snoring. Nothing wrong with that, but it sounds like a rhythm of its own design." Tracy whispered, pointing at her dad, her mom and then her younger brothers, "It's like do-re-mi-fa-so, do-re-mi-fa-so."

"I guess when you think of it like that it does sound nice." a tiny smile tugged at his lips.

"Night Ro." Tracy looked away shyly, slowly drifting to sleep.

"Night Tray." He whispered back.

It honestly took Roman a while to fall asleep, mostly because of paranoia of getting caught by their family members. He glanced back at his bunkmate and smiled fondly at her.

She's adorable even when she's sleeping. Roman honestly wouldn't mind sharing a bed with her if given the chance. I mean, they've already made the Marriage Pact to marry if they're still single in their 30s and they're already co-parenting and raising January. He honestly wouldn't mind a possible future like this with her…

That was also the moment when he realized: Oh.

Oh no.

I'm in love with Tracy Chimokuri, aren't I?

Is it too late for him to sneak back to his sleeping bag?

He tried to turn the other way to avoid looking at his crush (wow, that word feels so unfamiliar to him. But it also felt oddly right to call her that)...only to find a pair of eyes boring into his soul from the bed downstairs.

Roman almost screamed (and had a heart attack) until he realized it was one of his brothers (Remus) sleeping with his eyes wide open. The giveaway was his brother snoring loudly. It DOESN'T help that Remus has a very monstrous sounding snore.

Welp, this is gonna cause him serious insomnia tonight.

All the little moments in 'The Road Trip' so far have been leading up to this (one of the two) big 'Oh' moment. Yes, Roman's the one who fell first! He's always loved her, but never expected to *actually* fall for her. Get ready for the secondhand embarrassment next chapter.

Chapter Talk: -

(1.) Please don't question the logistics of how the loft is able to hold both teens (realistically I'm guessing the loft is better at holding lighter people), so scrap it up as 'Superhuman technology' to withhold these two dorks in the same mattress.

(2.) The Loft sleepover scene is inspired by "Our Life: Beginnings & Always" visual novel game from one of the DLCs. The only difference is in the DLC, the MC and Cove are 13 (at the time) as opposed to Roman and Tracy's 20 and 17. Roman of course has opinions about this sleepover while Tracy didn't/hasn't let the implications sink in. She trusts Roman THAT much she's sure he doesn't see any physical appeal in her. (she is very wrong)

(3.) Seeing his childhood friend wearing his old/favorite shirt may have awakened some brand new feelings for Roman that he doesn't want to think about at the moment. My version of Roman identifies as Demiromantic Greysexual, he finds people attractive in general but hasn't shown much interest in romance/physical relationships…until now. In most of my AUs, if Roman didn't fall for Bree (DD AU, Brothers of Evil AU and Shadow Clan AU), Tracy's the only other person he's developed interest in.

(4.) Ok so originally, it was supposed to be Tracy who realized these feelings (In my first draft of Unmasked AU, Tracy had a crush on Roman growing up) but I like slow-burns and thought it's more interesting if Roman realizes his feelings first. And then cues the pining/horror/angst: Roman is aware that he's older than Tracy, and scolds himself for even feeling this way towards her.

And that's a wrap for part 7! Feel free to squeal/fangirl or scream in frustration (whatever works) in the comments section. Thank you so much for reading, and have a nice day.