So, my love story starts while I was dating my first boyfriend (let's call him Luke). I had been out of high school for a few years before I started dating Luke. We had met while I was working for the cafe at the college he was attending. After we started dating, he transferred colleges and I decided to go to farther my education. Both of our colleges were about an hour away from home but in different directions. The distance was putting a strain on the relationship and making me notice some things about it that weren't so good which I had been ignoring, but we were still making it work.
A few months before our two year anniversary, I had to retake a class but the textbook had been changed. So after the first class, I stayed behind to ask the teacher if I needed to new textbook or if I could keep using the old one (because textbooks can get expensive, especially the new one when we were told we'd be using the old one for multiple classes over the next two years). She (the teacher) asked anyone wanting to talk with her to wait outside in the hall while she did something (I think it was a phone call).
Before I go on, I should mention that I was just starting to come out of my shell at the time. I've always been really shy and this was during the point in my life where I was getting a tiny bit better with talking with others. The only reason I felt comfortable talking with this teacher is because I had previously had some classes with her and we kind of clicked. There is one thing though that can always seem to get me talking and comfortable. Fandoms. Once I start, it's hard to get me to stop talking about a fandom that I'm a part of, even if it's one that isn't that big in my life. (Side note, I just naturally get along better with people who are in fandoms, even if it's not any that I'm passionate about. I've had seven roommates who didn't even know what a fandom was and I didn't get along with any of them no matter how much I tried to relate. My "favorite" example being the one who asked me if I was a virgin before finding out anything else about me. Taught me not to socialize with them after that).
So, back to the story, there's only two of us waiting for the teacher and it's awkwardly quiet. I don't even remember how it started, maybe I was wearing fandom merch or I noticed he was, but one comment led to another until we were comfortably talking as if we had been friends for a while. When the teacher finally came out, even she could tell how close we had become and said so. Over the next week, the guy (going to call him Roman, because.... complicated reasons) and I hung out a lot and I suspected he might be sweet on me. Just to be noted, I'm still dating someone that to the best of his knowledge I am quite happy with and I also find out he's dating someone long distance (like ocean apart long distance).
This leads to a very special phone call. We had just seen each other earlier, but it wasn't too unusual for him to call (like if he forgot something at my dorm, since I would have to let him in to get it). The resulting conversation boils down to him saying he likes me, me claiming I didn't notice, and a "but" that... made me happy. He said he had a crush on me but since we were both dating people, he didn't plan on doing anything. He just wanted me to know. I don't know why exactly, but this was one of the sweetest things to me. He wasn't going to try getting in between my current relationship or do anything to convince me to choose him instead. He friendzoned himself because being my friend was more important than "getting the girl" to him.
Over the next few months, it was the little things. (I don't know how to explain this part without it seeming like I'm comparing the two guys, but it's all just for context). He got along really well with my best friend, Stormi, when they met. Luke had verbally insulted Stormi when she had wanted to hang out with me without him around since he saw me a lot at the time and she hadn't seen me in over a month. When a few of the friends I had made came over to my parents for the weekend, Roman asked afterwards what my family thought of him. Luke had gotten along fine with my family, but my most vivid memories of their interactions were of him fighting with my dad over stupid things (who cares if you prefer Apple over Windows, it's not worth the level of anger he'd show and my dad only said that Apple isn't perfect. I walked off at least once due to frustration at how petty it was). A group of us got in the habit of going to this 24 hour restaurant every week during the late hours of the night and I really started looking forward to those late night meals together. Roman and this other guy had a running joke where they were secretly "dating" so they would "flirt" with each other during the meal and/or "cheat" on each other with other members of the group. It was so stupid but also fun to watch because we could all just be silly and not have to worry about others judging us.
Then we got to February. I had planned to visit Luke at his campus near the end of the month. As said before, the distance had made me realize there was some toxic things about our relationship (which both of us were responsible for). It was only something I was considering until exactly a week before the visit. I was staying the night at a female friend's place when I got a call from Luke. I don't even remember what we talked about, but when I got off, my friend could tell I was upset, about to breakdown level upset. I turned to her having decided, "I'm going to break up with him." The only reason I was going to wait until the visit is because I thought he deserved more than to have me do it over the phone.
The next week I had my brother drive me since I didn't have a car. I was so nervous and distraught. This was my first relationship and I didn't know anything about ending one. Once I actually did it, Luke didn't take it well. Not in a violent way, but more of "why is this happening" way. Was it because of another guy? No, I didn't like who I was when around him and had come to realize the relationship was toxic (Maybe it would have been easier to claim it was due to Roman). Wasn't there anything we could do to fix it? Maybe if we had noticed the problems sooner, but not anymore, we would have just kept falling back into the bad habits that caused the problems. And then, the one that broke me; Why aren't you upset? I forgot to mention, Luke is visually impaired. He couldn't see me bawling my eyes out or how hard all of this was for me.... but after two years of dating, he didn't even know me well enough to be able to tell. Maybe I was being too calm about all of this. I was too numb and disconnected from my emotions. I was an ice queen, feelings frozen away.
After my brother and Luke, Roman was the first person to find out about my new single status because I went to hide in the restroom for a few minutes and he texted me right before to check on how I was doing. I only replied with saying that breakups were hard. He didn't ask for any information and I didn't give anymore.
The next few days, I was beyond upset, not wanting to even leave my room. This ice queen decided to reach out to her friends. I texted my one female friend but didn't want to outright say what I needed (lots of hugs) because I didn't quite know how to explain how I felt. 'Elsa needs a hug form Olaf'. She must have been distracted by some other things because she didn't understand what it meant despite us talking like that a lot (our whole group liked disney movies and her nickname was Olaf). When I sent a similar message to Roman ('Elsa needs a hug from Baymax' since he was Baymax), he sent me.....
(I wish I still had the original, but lost it when phone was stolen. I'm pretty sure this is the same one)
This amazing guy searched the internet to find a picture just to make me feel better. He didn't ask why I was asking for it and just gave me something I didn't even know I needed. (And of course he gave me all the warm hugs when we actually saw each other in person).
Long story short, we started dating a month later and have been together for around five years now. I would probably propose but I know he wants to be the one to do it and when we talked about it, there were a few things we wanted to get in order before getting engaged (like a bit of job security, at least one of us having our own place, etc.).
Sorry if this was really long, I don't get to gush about my boyfriend nearly as much as I would like since a part of me worries others will get fed up with hearing about him all the time. Plus, I tend to overshare when I get started....