Guilty As Charged || Zane & Roman
“Well….I do kind of default to everyone has their shit together more than me,” Zane quietly admitted, trying to take in Roman’s words. Really, Zane hadn’t ever had someone who seemed to care like that before, and they didn’t realize how much they had gotten out of Roman - they had just assumed that Roman was like that. Maybe it was because they still didn’t know each other very well, but it was surprising to find out that Roman really did care about them the way Zane was starting to realize they cared. Only apparently if you like them, let them go was NOT the appropriate way to handle the situation.
“I guess I’m just always hard on myself. Like I just have all these things I want to do, and there’s just so much work that I’ve done that it seems like people don’t see. So I look at people who are successful, and you’re successful even if you did stop your career to start this, and it’s just like hard not to add up. Because it was hard getting to Portland in the first place and like I just wanted life to be easier. Or really everything to be easier,” they sighed, “But I want to get to know you too, because you’re really cool. I just wasn’t sure if you’d feel that way about me.”
Roman cast a gentle smile in Zane’s direction. They’d never thought of themselves as someone who had their shit together. If anything, Roman lived on coffee refills and adrenaline half the time. Zane seemed so accomplished in their younger age. They were definitely more social and open; two things Roman could learn more about. “Let’s agree to disagree on that one.” They chuckled, letting their arms fall to their side. “I think we can balance each other out well honestly.”
Nodding, Roman knew exactly how Zane felt. “Sadly, life isn’t easy. I think together we can probably accomplish a good point where things feel better or easier or stable but don’t be hard on yourself if you haven’t reached what you believe to be the status quo. Remember, things happen on their own time. I’m a strong believer of that. You’ll succeed in all the things you want to. All in due time.” Another smile crept against their features when Zane called them cool and Roman couldn’t help but laugh a little. “You think I’m cool? That is definitely not a word I’d use but yeah, I do think you’re cool. More than that, you’re like a breath of fresh air, Zane. I wouldn’t give this up if I were us. But...that’s my opinion.”
