rowanoconnell

[rowanoconnell]

Rowan shakes his head at Henry, "This is gonna be really stupid to say but you don't have to be insecure about us," he tells his boyfriend. "I'm not looking to date anyone else and even if I did, it probably wouldn't be anyone from this town anyway," not at this point, it's just too convoluted for Rowan and again, he doesn't want to date anyone but Henry anyway.

"If she does it again, I'll tell her to stop," Rowan says, "Sometimes I think ignoring the issue makes it go away but sometimes it doesn't."

Henry tosses his trash away in the garbage and turns a little when Rowan approaches him. His eyebrows draw together because...it's not that he's worried Ro might be into Sarah, it's that she was openly flirting with him and it's...it's bothersome that Rowan didn't shut it down or...didn't notice it. He rubs the back of his neck. He supposes he can't fault him for something like that.

"No," He mumbles, not wanting him to ignore her. That's... "I--it's not that." He sighs, shifting on his feet a little so they're not talking near the garbage can. "I trust you," He reaches out to take his hand. "It's just me being...insecure, I guess. She got under my skin."

[rowanoconnell]

"Henry," Rowan says and gets up to follow him to the trash. He exhales through his nose with his brows crinkled. "I'm sorry it bothers you but it's not like that for me, she can say whatever she wants, I'm not interested in her." He tells Henry, shrugging one of his shoulders. "She flirts with half of the jocks anyway, so I'm not that special nor do I really want to be anyway."

He sighs softly. looking at his boyfriend, "I'm just being polite and talking to her, but if you want me to ignore her I can do that," he's not sure how well that'll go but if Henry doesn't really like Sarah then... that's fine.

It's not that simple and Henry doesn't like how flippantly Rowan replies. It might not matter because Ro isn't into her, fine, but it matters to Henry. Because he doesn't like Sarah flirting with his boyfriend,

"C'mon," He shakes his head, "You are not that naive--she's not just being nice." He replies, putting trash onto his tray to take up and throw away.

"It might not bother you but it bothers me." And he doesn't appreciate Rowan not validating those feelings. He would listen if it were opposite, if Rowan came to him concerned about someone flirting with him.

[rowanoconnell]

Rowan waits and he's a patient enough person. He doesn't push Henry either, instead just lets it be open if he wants to say anything or not. For some reason, though, Rowan doesn't really expect him to bring up Sarah. His eyes flicker to the other side of the table but Grace has Sarah wrapped up in some story. His brows twist together as he looks back at his boyfriend, rubbing his lips together.

Admittedly, he's taken back by the comments, "So what if she's into me, I'm not into her," he tells Henry, matter of fact. "And I think maybe she's just being nice or something," Ro shrugs his shoulder. "Don't worry about her."

Henry isn't sure that he wants to talk about this here. Not with Sarah lingering, or their friends, but...he also doesn't want to part ways without Rowan knowing he's upset. And again, it's...not exactly his fault? He's not angry at him but he's...he's annoyed. It has everything to do with himself, that he worries he's not good enough. That maybe one of these days Ro will realize that too.

So he lowers his voice, the loudness of the cafeteria providing them some privacy as their friends talk around them.

"Sarah was laying it on pretty thick." He says, "Obviously she's into you."

[rowanoconnell]

Rowan finishes his drink and sets the bottle aside, raising his brows at Henry. He's seen this kind of look before, one that indicates not to worry about something and well, Rowan worries often enough and he doesn't really like it. He lets out a short sigh and looks down at the table, shaking his head. "Then what?" He asks, not demanding but curious enough.

He thinks him and Henry are pretty open with each other, open as can be. They've been in this relationship for a year and Rowan thinks Henry knows so much about him, and in turn Ro knows Henry too. Like when he downplays something.

Henry isn't angry at Ro, not...not exactly. It's misplaced at his boyfriend, who's just a little too oblivious for his own good sometimes. He wonders if it were on the opposite foot, if it'd be obvious. If someone was flirting with him. Maybe he shouldn't have snapped at Sarah.

But then again, maybe she should lay off flirting with Rowan.

He glances at Ro and tries to give him a soft smile, "I'm fine," He reaches over and squeezes his hand, "It's...it's not about the bowling. Either way, we can go another time."

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Sarah gives Henry this look, an the whole table gets a bit weird for a moment before Grace is there to strike up a whole different topic to drag the attention away. She can feel that Henry is not particularly impressed with Sarah and well, Grace can't blame him. Sarah is a flirt and Rowan is... Rowan. So she manages to steer the conversation elsewhere easily enough.

Rowan's brows furrow as he scrapes his container, turning to look at Henry, "Hey," he says gently, "Are you okay? Bowling's not a big deal, I don't really think I wanted to go anyway," he shrugs a shoulder and sets his fork down in the container.

Henry bristles, "I'm sure we can pick another time for you to get to know my boyfriend."

And he's just... she's being so obvious, right? Like it's not just him making this up. It's one thing to enjoy spending time with Rowan, trust him, Henry gets it--he's drawn to Rowan too, he's told him that. But he doesn't like the way Sarah is talking to his boyfriend, like he's not even there.

He doesn't like how Rowan is just sitting there listening to it. Doesn't the blatant flirting make him uncomfortable? Something ugly and green sits in Henry's chest, a voice that tells him he's not good enough.

He clears his throat, looking down at his food, pushing it around on his tray.

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Rowan smiles at Henry and shakes his head, "I'm pretty average. Grace is the best."

Grace grins, "I'm a natural," she shrugs her shoulder and tosses red her hair over her shoulder. "But Ro's right, Sarah, we can go without him. Heard some seniors are going on Saturday."

Sarah feels a bit deflated, shrugging her shoulders. "Cool," she says, a bit annoyed as she looks back at Rowan, watching him eat his lunch. "You know, I just thought it'd be nice to make sure everyone can be there, including Rowan."

Henry glances at Grace, wondering if she's picking up the weird energy that he's feeling coming from Sarah. He knows that she's...probably harmless? But he doesn't like it anyways. Doesn't like that she's pushing so hard. She knows that Rowan has a boyfriend, he's sitting right here. And he knows that the whole school, if not the whole town, knows there's together at this point.

"Ro is definitely great at bowling," He says pointedly, leaning a little against the table. He says it mostly to bring up his presence, so that Sarah doesn't think that she's got an open line to play the field.

[rowanoconnell]

Rowan digs into his pie and hums. The mash potatoes are so good, he thinks his mom adds in cream to make it extra silky. He eats, smiling at Henry and rests his arm on the table against his boyfriend's as he half listens to Hen and James talk about their class and then his attention shifts to Sarah. He smiles politely at her as she compliments him, "Thanks," he says and resumes his eating because he's starving.

But she pipes up again asking about if they're all going to go out bowling this weekend, "Um, I don't know," he tells her. He knows they all briefly had talked about it but it was never decided. "I might have to help at the market anyway, you guys can go still."

"Yeah, but it'd be more fun with you."

Henry has no doubt in his mind that whatever Rowan is creating art wise, it's bound to be incredible. He has a natural talent, anything in which he works with his hands? It's pretty good. Doesn't matter whether it's painting, ceramics or cars, guy has a knack for a lot of things.

He nods as a girl named Sarah sits down at their table, "I can't wait."

When he turns to talk to James about English class, he notices out of the corner of his eye that Sarah leans over Grace a bit to talk to Rowan. Which...wouldn't be that big of a deal? Except...he's heard Sarah compliment Ro for the third time on how nice he looks today, how great his art has been, his runs this year for track.

She's...definitely laying it on a little thick.

[rowanoconnell]

Rowan's brought some food from home today. He doesn't mind the cafeteria food but his mom made this shepherds pie he likes and ha to save some to bring in. It was a good choice. He lets it cool down after accidentally microwaving it for too long and eats some snacks instead, looking over at Henry with a light smile. He nods in agreement, taking a sip of his drink.

"It's been so slow today," he acknowledges and it's not the worst but it's so, so slow. "I gotta show you my digital art project later, I think it's coming along. I'm having fun with it, really like it."

Henry wanders through the line at lunch and settles at his usual table with Rowan. Another long morning but luckily the bigotry has gone down significantly since Rowan’s public display in the cafeteria. Not only that, but since that senior party, some of the football players have also been saying hi to him in the hallway. He doesn’t think he’s popular by any means, but he thinks there’s a perk (as usual) to being Rowan’s boyfriend. 

He stretches his legs out under the table, playfully knocking Rowan’s ankles against his own. 

“So glad it’s the afternoon, thought that math class was going to eat my brain.” 

[rowanoconnell]

Rowan shifts around for a moment and the air mattress makes a funny noise. Eventually he finds a decent spot and lays like that, curled up comfortable enough as he closes his eyes. It does sound like a plan and he'll continue to plot it out as well. They could maybe swing it. Henry's room and the house become quiet and Rowan does fall asleep for a little while, not even hearing Millie coming to check on them.

When Rowan has to turn over, he wakes himself up and blinks looking around the dark room. He finds his phone and it is later so he's certain Henry's mom is asleep. Rowan pulls himself up and the mattress has already deflated slightly. He climbs his way to Henry's bed and tucks himself between the wall and his boyfriend, scooping up from blankets and wraps an arm around Henry. He kisses his shoulder and goes right back into a perfect sleep.

Henry changes into comfortable clothes as well, a small smile tugging the corners of his mouth as he sees Rowan mapped out on the floor. He's a bit longer than maybe the air mattress is, but he doesn't seem put out. He figures it won't matter soon anyways, he's going to join him when he's sure his mom isn't going to open up the door to check on him.

"Train is smarter," He agrees, turning out the light and staring up at the ceiling, "Sounds like a plan."

[rowanoconnell]

Rowan smiles and takes the sweatpants, standing to undo his jeans and swaps them for the other ones. He grabs a pillow and a blanket for the air mattress and goes to lay down on it. It’s not the greatest but it’ll do for a little while… until he joins Henry of course. He props up the pillow under his head and drapes the blanket over him. He hums as he closes his eyes for a moment, nodding.

“Train is smarter, driving in the city is probably a mess,” and he’s still a new driver and god knows what’ll happen. And they can get around the city easily enough anyway and it really is something he is looking forward too and hopes they can do.

Rowan laughs, trying not to be too loud to disturb Millie. He taps Henry back with his foot, his mind working at the idea of a map. "Yeah, a paper map and plan it all out. Hit all the spots and then rank 'em all," he plots out with Henry and he doesn't think it's a fairytale dream, they can do it. Might just have to save up some extra cash from chores and grab some other shifts at the market.

He dusts off his hands on his jeans, having his full for now on pizza. "This is definitely number one on my bucket list now," he tells Henry with a warm smile. "Maybe we could drive, or take the train."

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Rowan laughs, trying not to be too loud to disturb Millie. He taps Henry back with his foot, his mind working at the idea of a map. "Yeah, a paper map and plan it all out. Hit all the spots and then rank 'em all," he plots out with Henry and he doesn't think it's a fairytale dream, they can do it. Might just have to save up some extra cash from chores and grab some other shifts at the market.

He dusts off his hands on his jeans, having his full for now on pizza. "This is definitely number one on my bucket list now," he tells Henry with a warm smile. "Maybe we could drive, or take the train."

Henry brightens at the idea of Rowan including him, a hum leaving his lips as he grabs another slice. He sets down the crust, not wanting to fill up on it until the end so he can eat as much pizza as he can fit. He attempts to tell himself not to go over the top but...that usually never works.

"I would love that," He laughs, playfully shoving his shin with his foot at the terrible (amazing) accent. "We could get an old-fashioned map, plot our pizza adventures."

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"Yeah of course," Rowan says, leaning over to feel the firmness of the air mattress and it's good enough for him. He unplug the machine and plugs the hole, rolling back on his heels to sit down next to Henry again. "Dollah slices," he says is a terrible accent with a small like. "A whole pizza pie," he adds on, shaking his head. He's a bit tired, but he's in a good mood. Joyous.

Maybe, he thinks, in the summer they could go. They could stay with his grandpa for a few days? That might be okay. Or over spring break? Something to think about, Rowan thinks.

Ironically, him and Rowan haven't discussed the future of schools. He doesn't think it's on purpose, but it's...it's their junior year. They have to start applying to things so that there's less to worry about when they're seniors. He knows that this relationship stuff is new to them, but he also wonders what's going to happen when they graduate.

Are they...going to end up in the same place? Schools that are close?

He chews on his lower lip, "We should look into it." We, we, we. "I mean, if you don't mind me tagging along. Seems like it'd be something fun to do together." But he also understands Ro wanting his space.

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"I would love a pizza tour," he tells Henry, peeling off a pepperoni and eats it contently. Someone's probably made a whole list up on a blog they could Google but that sounds like something he'd like to do. "There's this art program that happens in the city, it goes towards college credits and there's a list of schools it applies too," he tells Henry. "Been kind of looking into that but idunno."

He takes another slice and eats some cheese, leaning against the wall. "Anyway, pizza tour. Definitely something we're going to have to do at some point."

They wander into his bedroom with the pizza only for Henry to make a b-line to the closet in the hallway. He had texted his mother that he was home and he's not sure whether he makes too much noise or whether she's up waiting for him, but she opens her door and smiles a little as he tugs the air mattress out of the closet.

"We have pizza."

She smiles a little, amused. "Enjoy. Sleep well." She gives him a small wave and closes her bedroom door.

He comes back into his, setting it up to begin filling with air while he sits with Rowan and grabs a slice. He bites into it too fast, it's hot, but he doesn't care that he burns his tongue,

"We could make up a pizza tour."

[rowanoconnell]

They pick up the pizza and head to Henry's house. Walking in there's a comfortable feeling, he's walked through the door so many times over the last year that it's easy. He likes staying for dinner or coming to watch movies, bake a few things. Rowan tries not to make a lot of noise as they toe off their shoes, grab some drinks from the fridge and go up to Henry's room. Rowan makes sure to let his parents know where he is before sitting on the floor and flips open the lid of the box. The pizza smells delicious.

Rowan takes a slices and eats it, sighing contently as he stretches out one of his legs. "I think pizza might be one of the best things out there," he says, naive probably but also some absolute in there too. "One day I want to go to the city and try all the dollar slices."

Henry begins to feel more leveled out the longer they spend at the party and the more water he drinks. That fuzziness disappears even though he was enjoying it. That's fine though, he doesn't want anything getting in the way of enjoying his pizza and he can't do that if the room is spinning.

He gets into the car with Rowan, putting his seatbelt on, his hand reaching over to squeeze his. He's gotten better at driving with one hand, so he laces their fingers for a few moments.

Best way to spend the night, "To pizza." And hopefully a lot more kisses.

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Rowan chuckles to himself as he puts in an order for their usual pie. He looks at Henry seeing his eyes semi-glossed from alcohol but also the adrenaline that accompanies it. He smiles and submits the order, "Twenty-five minutes," he says to his boyfriend, brushing another kiss to his lips and gently squeezes his arm.

It's really no time at all. They makes their way through the party again and say goodbye to a few people and Grace... is definitely trying to make some moves on Patrick. Interesting. Rowan laces his fingers with Henry as they themselves out of the party, back to his car and all buckled up. "To pizza," he declares.

Maybe that sounds slightly ridiculous, sleeping on an air-mattress when Rowan is so tall but...he likes the idea of him sneaking into his bed. No pressure, or anything, but he wouldn't be opposed. That's for sure.

Henry's mouth opens and closes like this is the best idea he's ever heard, and it very well might be,

"Ordering a pizza?" He scoffs out a sound, moving to have another sip of his water and trying his hardest not to melt into the touch Rowan does with his hair. He's seen the way cats sometimes preen under a hand on their head and he's...not above doing that right now.

"You really are the best boyfriend a guy could ask for."

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Rowan laughs softly and nods. Blow up mattress doesn't sound too bad. He reaches forward and fixes some of Henry's hair, taking a drink of his own water as well. Rowan slips his phone out of his pocket and it's not really late, but one can only survive on snacks for so long. He rubs his lips together and hums softly.

"I'm thinking I order a pizza for pick up and then we go watch a movie," he says to his boyfriend, opening up the app for said pizza place as well. They've always got good deals going on. "I feel like that's the appropriate way to end the night."

The kitchen feels slightly less humid than the rest of the house, or maybe he's just warm from dancing. Either way, Henry leans back against the counter after he grabs a water from the fridge, letting out a breath. His cheeks and the back of his neck are flushed and he's slightly buzzed, for sure, looking up at his boyfriend.

"Good idea," He tells him. He's not going to have anything else to drink either--last thing he wants is to be completely messed up tonight. This warm glow is nice. He smiles,

"She won't have a problem with that. I have a blow-up mattress." Then, "You can sneak into bed with me later."

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There's a tingly feeling spreading throughout Rowan an it's nice, feels good like a warm hug. He holds onto Henry for a little longer until the kiss fades and Rowan opens his eyes, slowly pulling apart from Henry. He nods, reorienting himself and motions towards the kitchen. Rowan leads the way, weaving through peers as they approach the kitchen. It's a little less busy with people, calmer. Rowan grabs a bottled water for henry and hands it to him with a smile.

"I'm not going to have another drink," Rowan says, he only had two anyway but he doesn't want to leave his car hear either even though it'd probably be okay. "You think your mom would let me stay over?"

The kiss deepens just a little and maybe the best part is that no one seems to care around them. It's just normal. Two people together. And maybe he's a little bit tipsy, so he won't express this thought tonight--but he's sure of it, he loves Rowan. Loves him more than he thought possible.

If the thought returns to him again, sober...and he has a feeling it will, he'll work on how to be brave and say it. To tell him.

They break apart after a few moments, and Henry steals a kiss to the corner of his mouth,

"I need water," He squeezes his hands. "Come with?"