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Roman groaned in frustration, shoving himself back from his desk and throwing down his pen harshly.
It wasn’t working. Nothing was working.
Glaring disdainfully down at the botched brainstorm of ideas covering at least twenty separate sheets of paper, Roman felt something inside him clench.
None of his ideas were good enough. Not a single one. Heck, none of them were good at all, especially not if he were going to present them to the others.
Though Logan had recently promised to not critique Roman’s ideas so harshly, Roman still could not bring himself to approach the other sides or Thomas with an idea that he wasn’t entirely sure of. He could only share his most perfect creations.
Lately, those were harder and harder to come by.
Shaking that thought away, Roman turned from his desk. He didn’t let his eyes linger on the wall to wall Disney posters or the normally comforting pictures of Thomas’s creative achievements, from videos to his stage performances, childhood art to sheet music.
It all seemed so dull lately. Lackluster. Passing achievements that meant nothing if Roman couldn’t pull it together and come up with something new, something exciting, something original, something worthwhile.
Roman’s arms moved up to surround his own middle. A pathetic facsimile of a comforting hug. His fingers fisted in the sides of his worn t-shirt.
He wasn’t wearing his usual princely attire. He rarely did on brainstorming days. He didn’t deserve it right now anyway.
Roman squeezed his eyes shut, turning his mind back towards his ideas. Mentally, he ran through them all again. For every good point he could come up with, a cascade of downsides followed. It had been done before. It wasn’t serious enough. Not long enough. Not interesting enough. Too out of Thomas’s, and Virgil’s, comfort zone. The so-called-creative side could practically see the looks on their faces… Logan’s disappointment, Virgil’s regret and distaste, Thomas’s distrust in his own Creativity.
And worst of all…
Worst of all would be Patton. Because Patton wouldn’t show any of that. No, Patton would be recklessly, amazingly supportive, and Roman thought that that was possibly the hardest of all to come to terms with. Because he could act offended by the other’s scrutiny, but when Patton turned that beautiful, gentle smile in his direction with endless positivity for Roman’s increasingly lackluster ideas, Roman knew that he would automatically break down under the weight of his undeserving creations.
Even now, Roman couldn’t bring himself to even think about what would happen if, despite all of that, he disappointed Patton.
Roman was pulled from his contemplations by the sound of a soft melody coming from beyond his door. Blinking in shock, Roman uncrossed his arms and stepped towards the door.
A Whole New World. He automatically recognized the song, of course, having lived and breathed Disney his entire life.
Were the others really watching a Disney movie without him? Roman’s breath caught in his throat. They wouldn’t, would they? Disney was… Disney was a huge majority of who Roman was, they knew better to than-
They don’t want you there.
The thought was fleeting. There and then not, but it shocked Roman to his core. He didn’t think of himself as particularly self-deprecating, but somehow, the words… they made sense. Why would the others want him down there? Especially now, when he was in such a mopey, dreary mood, and should really be doing his job.
Roman was just stepping back from the door when there was a knock from the other side.
“Ro?”
Roman blinked again, the breath that he didn’t know he had been holding releasing from his chest. Patton. Patton would never exclude him.
Quickly stepping forward, Roman’s hand only hovered over the doorknob for a second before he pulled the door open, a perfectly practiced smile taking over his face. “Patton! How are you?”
Patton was looking up at Roman, an all too knowing look in his eyes. Roman felt his grin falter slightly. “I’m okay, Roman. Are you?”
Roman hesitated, his eyes falling downwards, away from Patton’s earnest expression and to his own sweatpants and ratty t-shirt. There was no use in lying. Not only could Patton smell a lie from a mile away, Roman looked like an un-cool mess at the moment. Anyone could tell that he was not okay.
“I have… been better.” Roman shrugged uselessly.
Patton’s smile was soft and understanding. Roman instantly felt like he was going to melt. “Well… I was hoping that you could come out and spend some time with me?” Roman’s gaze snapped back to Patton’s.
He couldn’t even hope to say no to those eyes. Especially not when the alternative was staying cooped up in his room with his failed ideas and quickly mounting negative thoughts. “I… sure thing, Pat.”
Patton smiled brightly, and Roman didn’t even have time to be proud of making the right decision, because Patton was grabbing his hand and pulling him downstairs in the direction of where the music was coming from. Quickly, Roman realized that there was not a movie playing in the living room, rather a playlist of Disney love songs seemed to be coming from the speakers. However, Roman couldn’t really think about the implications of that, because his attention was focused on Patton’s warm palm in his own.
Patton didn’t let go of Roman’s hand as he pulled the prince into the middle of the living room. Turning back to Roman, Patton smiled, the light in his eyes bright and hopeful.
The table in the center of the space had been moved, all furniture pushed out of the way to leave the center of the room bare. Roman tore his eyes away from the freckles dotting Patton’s soft cheeks to take note of the changes. He was just opening his mouth to ask when Patton spoke again.
“I was thinking we could dance?”
Roman blinked in surprise. Dance? Him? And Patton?
Patton either didn’t notice Roman’s dilemma or chose to pay it no heed as he took another step closer and place the hand that was not currently in Roman’s on the prince’s waist.
All the breath left Roman’s lungs. Patton-beautiful, lovely, kind, perfect Patton-wanted to dance with him. And he wanted to lead.
Roman could feel his cheeks heating, but he didn’t say a single word, terrified that he would upset this godsend of a moment. Instead he brought his own free hand up to Patton’s cardigan-clad shoulder and nodded once. Patton’s smile was positively blinding.
The next few minutes were a blur in Roman’s mind. All of his earlier thoughts fell to a distant murmur by the end of the first song and died out altogether halfway through the second. The two spun in relative silence, only broken by the occasional giggle from Patton or soft humming along to the melody of whichever song was playing at the moment.
Roman was still barefoot and in his sweatpants, and Patton was still in his usual polo, but to Roman, the moment was straight out of a fairytale. It was comfortable and domestic. Holding onto Patton and listening to these songs that he knew by heart… it was like coming home. It would have made him tear up had he not been so completely lost in the moment. This was perfection. This was Roman and Patton, and it was unbelievably simple.
That was probably why Roman wasn’t surprised at all when, as the last note of I See the Light rang out, Patton was leaning in and closing the distance between them. Their lips met without any fanfare, a sweet kiss that somehow encapsulated years worth of this exact comfort and raw emotion in the simple press of lips on lips over a few seconds.
When they pulled away, it wasn’t obvious who had moved. They stayed close, only separated by a few millimeters. Roman couldn’t stop himself from smiling as Patton continued to not pull away, softly singing along, his breath still ghosting over Roman’s lips.
“So this is love…”
Roman chuckled softly, kissing Patton again slowly before pulling back and beginning their dance again, humming the Cinderella song and even allowing himself to sing as Patton laughed freely, both of their spirits feeling lighter.