Title: Not just a phase
Fandom: Adventure World
Rating: PG
Length: 546 words
Characters: Aleyn Harrowden/Roth Standage
Author notes: Aleyn and Roth's relationship tends to get a bad rap in retrospect, so I wanted to show another, happier side of it.
Summary: When Roth comes out to his parents, it also gives him an idea...

Aleyn quit his nervous pacing as soon as the door opened. "How did it go?" he asked, looking at Roth apprehensively for any signs of his mood.

The other man shrugged. "They took it about like I figured they would. There was yelling."

"Not good, huh?" Aleyn came over to him, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Not good," Roth agreed, but looked up at him with a bit of a smile nevertheless. "But I told them, and it's out there now. And I'm not disowned, at least not yet."

"At least you don't have to lie anymore," Aleyn told him, trying to put a good spin on the situation.

Roth nodded. "And they're angry enough at me that they're probably not going to nag me about getting married for quite a while, because I might go and tell whoever they set me up with too, and then there'd be a scandal. So there's that, at least." He took Aleyn's hand and brought it to his lips to kiss.

"We can't have that," Aleyn agreed, even as Roth's gesture brought a blush to his cheeks. "Nobody wants a scandal."

"Maybe I want a scandal," Roth told him, pulling him closer. "Did you ever think about what I want, hm?"

"I know exactly what you want," Aleyn smirked. "I knew before you did."

Roth spun him around for a kiss that left them both breathless and a little giddy. Even if it hadn't gone as well as it could have, telling Roth's parents the truth about their relationship was like a weight lifted off their shoulders. "I bet I can still surprise you," Roth murmured under his breath, and Aleyn half-expected him to throw him onto the bed right then, but instead Roth continued. "I want to do something special. Something to mark the occasion."

Aleyn's brow furrowed, puzzled. "Like what?"

"Mother kept saying it was...just a phase I was going through," Roth said, his lip curling bitterly at the memory. "I want to prove her wrong."

"How, though?" Aleyn didn't want to admit that was one of the things he feared too.

Roth took Aleyn's right hand between his own, turning it palm-up and running his fingers across the inside of his wrist, just over his hammering pulse. "Right here," he said, looking up into his lover's eyes. "My initials, to show that you're mine. And your initials in the same place on my left - so when we hold hands they're facing each other, pressed against one another, side by side..."

Aleyn gave a short, startled laugh as he figured out what Roth was talking about. "Tattoos? Are you seriously suggesting we get matching tattoos?"

"Why not?" Roth asked, grinning. "After all, it's not just a phase, right?"

"Right," Aleyn agreed after only a moment's hesitation. This was a new side to Roth, normally so controlled and careful - he was excited, wild-eyed, uncharacteristically spontaneous, but Aleyn had the feeling he was sincere as well. "I'd like that," he told him shyly.

"And yours will say 'AH', which conveniently is what you make me say all the time," Roth teased, and drew him down for another kiss. A few moments later they were hurrying hand-in-hand out the door, rushing headlong into their future together.