*tw: toxic and homophobic family setting*

It was 5 in the morning on Monday and Logan couldn't sleep. His laptop was begging to be opened to see if Roman had done any work.

Finally, he gave in and checked the slideshow.

He had to refresh to make sure he was seeing correctly. He squinted at the screen through his glasses.

Nothing.

Roman had done nothing.

So he did them for him, which took another hour.

And it was 6 in the morning, the time Logan would normally wake up, so he got ready on not a single second of sleep and trudged through the school day.

"What's your deal?" Roman asked. "You've been ignoring me all day."

Logan slowly turned to face Roman, his eyes darkening tremendously, and even though Roman was taller, Logan could kill him under that deadly glare. "What's my deal? Did you just ask if I had a problem? Well! Since you finally give a fuck for once, guess why I'm ignoring you, shithead! Because I didn't get a single fucking hour of sleep since I was up late doing your goddamn work!"

"I can help with speaker notes-"

"I'm sick of you saying you'll help when you won't. You're absolutely useless. If I fail something, there will be huge consequences for me at home and I don't think you understand. Quit being an imbecile. You won't need to help me with speaker notes, because I decided to write all of them since I can't trust you. To make it even more fair, you only have to say one line. Got it?"

~~~

"And that's the end of our presentation," Roman said.

Logan wasn't kidding about only allowing him to say one thing.

The teacher looked up at the pair, perplexed. "I feel as though this is Logan's presentation and not a group effort. Both of you, see me after class."

When the final bell rang and everyone rushed out of the room, Logan and Roman stayed behind.

When their teacher asked them to explain, Logan, of course, spoke up first. "I did my ten slides and and noticed that Roman hadn't even finished his notes for five of his, so I spent every study hall helping and even doing half his notes. When more days passed and he hadn't so much as touched the project, I did five more. I invited him over to my house where he got distracted so I did three more for him and told him he only needed to do two, which he obviously did not do. I went to school yesterday without an ounce of sleep because I was doing his work, so I figured I'd write all the speaker notes as well since it wasn't like he would know the material well enough to talk about it anyway."

"Is this true, Roman?" their science teacher sighed. She looked at her grading rubric. "This is a partner project. There needs to be effort split between both of you."

When Roman couldn't plead, she shook her head in disappointment.

"I've finalized your grades. You were going to get a group grade, but I figured in this case it would just not be fair. Logan, an A+. Great job and perseverance, and if this happens again, you should email me and I will move you to a group you can work most effectively in or allow you to work independently with the work cut to be manageable. As for Roman, an F and a call home. You can bring it up to a D during detention if you put any effort into the work I give you. There will be a packet for you containing all the material from the unit that was supposed to go into your presentation."

Logan beamed and let out a sigh of relief.

"You two are dismissed."

Logan was the first to leave. A taller student in a black hoodie was waiting the door and they walked together to his locker.

Roman just had a sinking feeling in his gut. He knew he deserved the F, but most people Roman worked with would do all the work for him but cover for him so they would still get a decent grade.

An F and detention. That was what Logan saw him as.

~~~

Roman and Abigail had gone on quite a few dates at that point, all without Logan knowing. Sure, he was suspicious but nothing was confirmed.

That was, until one month into their relationship when Abigail decided to introduce Roman to the family and their parents prepared dinner for them.

Logan simply stood in the corner, pushing his rage down and keeping a cool head.

"So you're a junior? Have you already met Logan?" Mrs. Decker asked Roman.

"We've met," Logan forced out through clenched teeth, answering for Roman.

"Well, then we're glad his condition hasn't spread to you!" Mr. Decker laughed.

"Condition? What condition? Anxiety?" Roman questioned.

Logan shot him a warning look.

"No, the fact that he's a little fairy! Anxiety isn't a serious condition, it's just how the gays are," The father sounded lighthearted, but that obviously was not how Logan was taking it. "We don't like when he talks about boys. Makes us suspicious, y'know?"

"I'm right here," Logan grumbled.

The voice of someone who has dealt with this for far too long.

But it seemed as though nobody but Roman heard him. Roman wouldn't show it, but his heart broke a little. While everyone at the table laughed, there sat the two juniors.

"He already has a boyfriend. I would be weirded out if he was talking about a lot of different boys too," Abigail said.

Everyone went silent.

Logan shot daggers into Abigail's head through his eyes.

"Logan, what?" Mrs. Decker gasped. "We didn't know you actually had a boyfriend."

"Because I don't, Abi is just a dick." Logan kept his head down and let his dark hair fall in front of his pretty eyes as he stood up. "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Alright, just don't take too long doing your makeup!" Mr. Decker called.

"I've never even fucking worn makeup," Roman heard Logan murmur before he rushed out of the dining room.

"I'm not a dick, Lo! If I was, I think you'd like me more!" Abigail called.

When she went to hold Roman's hand under the table, Roman placed both his hands in his lap.

A few minutes later, when Logan still wasn't back from the bathroom, Roman announced, "I think I'm going to go check on him."

"No need! Sit down. I'm sure he's fine," Abigail insisted. "He's just throwing a fit."

"No, I actually think you might have hurt his feelings. He looked legitimately upset, and I'm his fr- well..."

Mr. Decker all but snickered, "Oh, learn to take a joke, buddy!"

So Roman waited a few more minutes, and still no sign of Logan even in the house. No faint footsteps or anything. He couldn't hear a sink or a light switch. He remembered a door opening, closing, and then nothing.

Suddenly, he channeled his acting skills and pretended as if he received a phone call. "Sorry, it's my mom. I have to get this. I'm only going to step out for a little bit."

While he ad-libbed a "conversation" with his mother about his Aunt Patty being in the hospital, he was really texting Logan.

Roman: where are you??? you've been gone forever

Logan: Oh, so now you care?

Roman: i don't agree with anything they're saying about you

Logan: I told you.

Logan: This is my life.

Roman: but you should lighten up a bit, i'm sure they don't mean to hurt you

Logan: Are you fucking kidding me, Roman? Are you out of your mind?

Roman: come on, where are you?

Logan: No.

Logan: You are just like everyone else. You belong in the Decker family, not me. They obviously like you more than me.

Logan: If you actually give a shit, come find me. Hint: I'm not inside.

Roman went back to the dining room and grabbed his things, throwing on his denim jacket. "I'm so sorry to cut this short, but thank you all for having me over. Family emergency. I have to go now, but I hope to see you all again soon!"

He shook Mr. and Mrs. Decker's hands and kissed Abigail quick before putting on his shoes and bolting out of the house to find Logan.

He would have to figure out how to date Logan's sister without him assassinating them both. He really liked Abigail, and he may have even loved her. She was gorgeous and athletic and a dreamer. She was everything he could want in a significant other.

So why didn't he feel anything when he kissed her?

Logan. Find Logan, worry about Abi later.

He walked down the street and saw a guy sitting on a bench alone, typing on his phone.

"Logan! Found you. That was easy. Come back, okay?"

The guy turned around and gave Roman a funny look. He had dark eyes and a scruffy beard. "My name is Larry."

"Oh. Sorry!" Roman fled the scene and scoped the area for Logan.

There was a small park close by. Maybe Logan was there. So Roman followed the path to the park and ran around looking.

Suddenly, he heard faint talking and turned around to see Logan sitting in a treehouse.

"Oh, I've got to go," Logan said quickly to his phone. "I'll see you at school tomorrow. Yeah. Yes. Bye." He leaned over slightly. "So, Roman, you found me."

"Yeah! Can I come up?"

Logan hesitated but let down a ladder for Roman to use.

"This is like Tangled, I love it," Roman joked as he entered the treehouse.

Logan only nodded.

"Is this your treehouse?"

"Yes. I built it myself in eighth grade."

"Oh, cool! Why?"

Logan raised an eyebrow. Roman could tell he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words, so instead Logan just said, "An escape. It's safe here. Well, maybe not anymore. Don't you dare tell anyone where this is, especially not anyone in my family. They might seem nice to you but they're not like that when it's us the four of us in the house."

Roman nodded.

"I know it's hard for people with peas for brains to understand that. Shall I make you a set of flash cards?"

Roman rolled his eyes at the older boy. "How can I make this up to you? The slideshow was a month ago and we ended up getting separate grades, and just because I'm dating Abi doesn't mean-"

"Dating someone who's an asshole and not speaking up against it is supporting their asshole behavior. Do you think I still care about the slideshow? No. I don't care, because I got a perfect score and you failed and that's what I wanted since I'm sick of watching people who don't deserve what they receive get everything they want. This isn't about the slides, this is about my family and how you think they're so perfect and I'm so problematic, just because you like Abi. If you saw us from my perspective, you would hate them. You would have built a whole treehouse just to leave them too."

"I-I'm sorry."

A pause. Logan didn't often receive apologies.

"Roman?"

"Hm?" Roman kept his head down.

"If you and Abigail want to be together, fine. Just stay out of my house and out of my life. If you're still dating her after we graduate high school, I never want to see you again."

"You hate me that much, huh?" Roman sighed. "Where did the nice Logan go?"

"The nice Logan?" Logan scoffed.

"Yeah, like, how come it feels like you're two separate people?"

"Because I'm not a robot but a lot of the time, I wish I was. I'm only one person."

"Are you like this when you're with your boyfriend?"

"Of course not. I care about him. If I care, I'll act differently. Obviously. I'm not completely heartless. You of all people should know that."

Roman blushed. "Yeah. I do."

That stupid crush.

"Anyways, how come you aren't against what they say about people like me? Aren't you...?"

"I'm not," Roman replied quickly. "My 'crush' on you was just me being confused and figuring out my identity, that's all. I'm straight."

"Oh."

"Who even is your boyfriend anyway?"

"Did my parents send you? Is that why you're talking to me? To pry into my personal life?"

"No, I promise, they didn't. I came here on my own account."

"You really think I trust you, but I don't. Abi only knows about my boyfriend because I made the mistake of bringing him over one time early on in the relationship and she recognized him from rehearsal, and I forced her not to tell anyone, but look how that turned out. Now you're dating her, so I trust you even less than before. What? Are you going to tell my parents? Have me kicked out of the house so I won't be able to go to school again or bother you and Abi?"

"So... he's a theatre guy?"

"I should've known a dunce like you would miss the whole point. Amazing work. And yes, he's a theatre guy, but if he tells me you found out and confronted him about it, I'm going to smack you over the head for real. With a sledgehammer. Don't even try to look for him, because I know you're already making a list in your mind."

Logan was absolutely right. But he had presented a challenge, and Roman was going to take it.