Seth's heart jumped at the sound of his name flowing from Roman's mouth. He had been calling him that since Seth was a little kid, but now that Ro was also older and had blossomed into an impossibly gorgeous young man with a deep, powerful voice, everything he said sounded like warm honey: sweet and thick. "ROMIE!!!" Seth excitedly shouted into the phone, "Are you here yet?"
Roman winced and held the phone away from his ear. When he brought it back, he said, "Ok, two things: one, how many times do I have to tell you, DON'T call me Romie, and two, if you had actually listened, you would have heard me say I'm almost there already."
Sheesh, Roman thought to himself. This kid. Never seen anybody get worked up like him.
Seth giggled, his still-childlike voice not yet having gained a more masculine timbre. "I'm sorry, I'm just so happy you're here....well, that you're coming....uhm, I mean...you know what I mean," he trailed off awkwardly. "I'm just....I'll try to remember....Roman." He giggled again, sighing.
"So was that all you wanted to talk to me for? I'm kinda driving right now," Ro said somewhat impatiently.
"Uhhh.....yeah, I guess," Seth answered, suddenly realizing he didn't know what else to say. At least not anything he could say out loud, anyway.
"I'll come over to see you after I get home and have a chance to get situated a bit, ok? Should be there in about an hour." Ro said, trying to wrap things up.
"Oh....ok." Seth replied, a touch of melancholy in his voice. "I guess I'll just...hang around until you have time."
Roman rolled his eyes, smiling. He knew this game. "Sethie, what have I told you about being patient?"
Seth sighed. "Good things come to those who wait, I know. But..."
"But what?" Roman asked.
"Well...how come I can't call you Romie, but you still get to call me Sethie?"
Ro chuckled. "Because you're the little one."
"I AM NOT LITTLE!!!" Seth shouted, his shrill whine threatening to tear Romans eardrum.
"Ok, geez," Roman replied, "I guess you're not little anymore, are you? Well, you'll always be little Sethie to me, so I guess you just have to deal with it. Look, I'll talk to you when I get home. I gotta go."
"Ok...I'll be waiting," Seth said, his voice tinged with hope. "Bye...Roman."
"Later, kiddo," Ro replied, hanging up but still smiling. As much as it would kill him to admit it, he loved knowing there was someone who was always happy to see him. He loved college life, but sometimes with all the classes, athletics, and meeting new people, he found himself wishing for the familiar comforts of home. He was really glad to be coming back for winter break so he could relax and get some much-needed rest, even if he still had to go back early for more grueling football practice. He knew Seth would be turning himself inside out waiting for him, but he was tired and sore and really needed to shower first. He just needed to get home and then he'd figure it out from there.
Seth sat staring at the phone for a few moments after hanging up. His heart sank when Roman called him little, and he was embarrassed that he wasn't able to hold back a temper tantrum, which just served to prove Ro's point even more. He walked over to the full-length mirror in his bedroom, appraising himself. He ran his hand under his shirt, touching his abs and lifting it up.
Granted, he was a bit more muscular now, since he had been secretly lifting weights over the last couple of months in an attempt to look more like a man and less like a slightly boyish-looking girl, but thanks to a raging teenage metabolism, he couldn't put weight on to save his life. Instead of a thick, defined six-pack and bulging muscles like Roman's, Seth's body was lithe and small, his abdomen sleek and smooth, with just a line down the middle defining the underlying musculature.
His hips were still narrow, but thanks to his burgeoning obsession with doing squats, his backside was becoming more rounded and firm. Even so, he still thought it looked like a girl's butt, and apparently the other kids at school did too, because he was getting teased about it constantly. It seemed like no matter what he did to try to be more like what he thought a man was supposed to be, he still couldn't gain the respect of his peers, or apparently Roman either.
He walked back to his bed and flopped dramatically onto it, falling back onto a pile of stuffed animals. He grabbed one and looked at it. It was a black cat, one that Roman had won for him at a carnival some years ago. There was no doubting the fact that Ro spoiled him, and Seth always ate it up. He loved feeling like he was special to someone, especially since it happened to be a guy like Roman. He was everything Seth wanted to be but knew he wasn't: tall, rugged, commanding. So perfect. Seth closed his eyes and hugged the stuffed kitten tightly, as though he was trying to squeeze some more of those good feelings out of it.
He looked at the clock. An hour. He knew he wasn't going to be able to sit there doing nothing for that long. Romans house wasn't that far away, and he knew it would take precisely 25 minutes to walk there, and he figured if he went slow he could stretch it out a bit more. He jumped up off the bed and grabbed his coat, heading downstairs.
He paused at the front door. "Gram, I'm leaving for a while," he called out, waiting for a response with his hand on the doorknob.
"Oh, going to welcome Roman home, are you?" came the reply from the direction of the kitchen.
"Yeah," he answered. "I'm too excited to sit around waiting, so I'm just gonna walk there."
"Ok then," his grandmother's voice replied. "Tell him I said hello."
"Will do," Seth said cheerily, already halfway out the door.
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