another question?! CALL ME THE LUCKIEST GUY ON EARTH!!!!

i could rant about them for days… their dating life is actually more conventional than you would expect! (in some regards at least) though i would still say it is “untraditional”

sort of a full rundown of the timeline — after their first encounter would meet up and kiss and touch (but sort of in that brokeback mountain way where they do the gayest shit and pretend they didn't afterwards) eventually robert works up the courage to ask something personal about lonnie… though it's quite dumb and not a good conversation starter. (which, in irony works in his favor.) lonnie breaks out into a fit of laughter because of how bad robbie's social skills are. and then they just… talk, and they both realize that they like hearing each other talk like… a lot.

so next time they meet, instead of kissing or doing anything physical at all they sit on a park bench and just watch the stars. and on this bench they sit with distance between one another and simply talk. that distance brings them closer. their relationship thus far has been founded on them sort of dehumanizing one another. it's a lot harder to fall in love if you both keep your stories vague and reduce your exchanges to niceties or sexuality. and neither of them wanted to fall in love with the other.

i've said it so many times now, but being gay in rural 1980s idaho is hard. sure they had interest in one another and they found each other attractive, but letting that seriously develop? that is a dangerous game.

for robert, it comes down to issues with his sexuality and self acceptance. he’s never been interested in anyone, too buried in his work… but then he realizes he is only interested in men and he feels betrayed by his own sexuality almost. he was never interested in anyone and now he realizes that he is but it's only men…? what kind of sick joke is the world playing on him.

i've definitely toyed around with the idea of him being in a relationship with a woman and feeling absolutely nothing and he just thinks thats how things are supposed to be. i mean there's a reason lonnie's existence genuinely pisses him off at first, he feels like lonnie was sent by the government (or whoever) to out him as gay and it does take him a bit to get past that initial stage and even get into kissing… let alone love.

for lonnie however it's more from a place of reflection. he damn well knows he's into men but he's also aware of what can happen to people like that, so he tries his best to avoid seriously falling in love. he's fine with getting caught up in escapades, but love is a different story.

plus, despite him being sexually fluid it's not like lonnie can just “settle” down with a girl (and his coworkers trying to pressure him into this is a big strain for him.) he's trans after all! any romantic relationship he has comes with a risk of being killed, so he avoids them.

in someway being in a homosexual relationship is less risky for lonnie than being in a heterosexual one. when he feels affection for a man and he reciprocates, they both already have inherit queerness. but if he likes a woman and she reciprocates he really can't be sure of her views on such things, if she found out would she turn violent? would she tell? he doesn't know, truly.

but despite all this fear and pain lonnie is quite the romantical person, so when he feels that love has found him… well he acts like an over excited puppy dog!

which brings up back to the main point of their dating life, after their initial stargazing “date” (neither of them called it that!) in the park. lonnie asks him on a date proper this time. he knows it's risky, and he tells robert as much but he also says that he doesn't care if people get funny and suspect, he wants to be able to feel some sense of romance with him, even if they can't be overtly flirty or touchy he thinks that they deserve a chance to get to know each other better.

robert is kind of baffled at how wise lonnie and very graciously accepts the date and then things go on from there. they fall in love hard and fast. eventually robert eventually admits his interest in experimenting on lonnie (though he very clearly is self hating for it) and now lonnie is the one accepting graciously. the scientific / medical experimentation (or malpractice, depending on how you see it) becomes apart of their dating life as well. (i told you they were more normal than you'd expect, but that doesn't mean they are normal).

in the midst of all this, i don't think they ever officially say they were going to move in with each other but they definitely do. lonnie slowly brings over more and more of his things and before either of them know it they're falling asleep in each others arms every night.

in general, they refuse explanation of their relationship. weinling never says they're boyfriends or claims their relationship as exclusive because they don't need it to know that they mean the world to each other.

if you have questions about their relationship in other timelines (even the fan au ones) i am absolutely willing to answer, just ask separately because i have already said… a lot.