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Step One: Wake him up in the gentlest way possible.
Roman on normal days was not a morning person. He would stay up relatively late to watch Disney or work on some new project, only coming to bed when Patton would bribe him with sleepy cuddles and kisses. Then the next morning Roman would groan and cling to Patton tight, absolutely refusing to move from the covers until Patton bribed him up again. He would stumble sleepily into the kitchen until he got some food in him, which always seemed to be the final step to having a conscious Roman again. That was the normal, at least. But today, Patton had a plan. This day was in the perfect place to make sure neither of them were expected to do anything today, and Patton had managed to convince Roman to go to bed early the night before. So because of that, Roman should be slightly easier to wake up, which is just what Patton needed.
He could stare at Roman asleep for hours, really. It was one of the rare times where he put his guard down completely, not worried about being so regal and perfect for the appeasement of outsiders. No, he didn’t look as pristine as always, with each strand of hair set in the right place and clothes in the best condition possible. Roman wasn’t even wearing pants, first off, just a pair of boxers and a pajama shirt that was red with lines of white at the end of the sleeves. His face was smushed so far into the pillow that in the first nights Patton slept in a bed with him, he got worried that Roman would end up smothering himself in his sleep. His hair was in the messiest bedhead possible, arms crossed under the pillow, and looking so adorable that Patton wanted to squeal. He was precious.
Patton brushed away some of the hair out of Roman’s eyes and kissed his forehead, then his cheek, then his nose and the top of his head and back again. Roman squirmed just a little, and that’s when he took the chance to grab Roman’s hand from its original place under the pillow and kiss it. Patton brushed Roman’s hair from his face again, and that’s when his eyes started to open.
“Good morning, sweetheart.” Patton whispered, which Roman hummed in response to. He did a tiny stretch before pulling Patton close to his chest and wrapping his limbs around him, his #1 choice to say “I don’t want to move so neither are you”. Patton pressed more kisses to Roman’s face in response. “Come on, get up. Today’s a special day, I have something for you.”
Roman’s eyes shot open again, and Patton pushed him back down to the bed before he took a sprint to the calendar in the kitchen. “Before you ask, no, it’s not an anniversary. It’s not Valentine’s Day, it’s not my birthday, and it’s not your birthday either.”
Roman curled back into the bed again, shoving his face into the pillow.
“But, just because it’s not an anniversary doesn’t mean I can’t plan things!” Roman looked back up at the sound of Patton’s singsong voice. “Could you get up? Just for me?”
“...What’s your plan?”
“That’s for me to know, and for you to find out. If you let me wake you up, anyway.”
Ever the curious one, Roman rolled onto his back and slowly sat up, Patton taking his hand and kissing the knuckles before leading him to the kitchen. Had Patton been able to look back, he would have seen a pink blush growing on Roman’s cheeks just from the gentle kisses he’d been receiving. When the two had stopped in the doorway of the kitchen, Patton managed to see his boyfriend’s face, and had started the day very proud of himself.
Step one, success. Next, Step Two: Have the cutest breakfast ever.
Roman’s favorite was a pretty quick thing to make, especially since he wasn’t picky at all when it came to breakfast. Just an omelet, a small blueberry muffin, a fruit cup, and a glass of chocolate milk to wash it down. So as Roman put away the dishes from the dishwasher running last night, Patton gathered all the things needed to make the omelet. By the time that Patton was placing the two recently-made omelets on a pair of plates, Roman could be seen in front of the bathroom door, brushing his hair in the body mirror. His tongue was poking out a little as he concentrated trying to tame his rat’s nest, and once his bangs had finally decided to lie down, Patton had called for him from the kitchen. “Breakfast is ready!”
Roman set the comb down back on the bathroom sink and walked over to the kitchen, already captivated by the smell. Two plates of omelets with a muffin from the pack Patton had bought yesterday on top, strawberries, blueberries, and some pineapple in the small, glass cups they have on the side. Roman leaned down and planted a kiss on Patton’s head when he saw it all, resting his chin on the top and holding him close. “All this for me, Love?”
“I told you I wanted to do something special!” Patton turned around and got on his tippy toes to kiss Roman’s cheek. “And hold on just one second, we can cuddle on the couch and eat at the same time!”
In their relatively small apartment, the kitchen tile was only a good five feet away from the couch in their living room, a small table covered in art supplies and colored paper sitting between the couch and the TV. Patton quickly moved all the stuff to temporarily sit in the corner of the room, pushing the table closer to the couch and moving the plates and fruit to the new location. He jumped over the armrest and held his arms out in Roman’s direction. “Cuddles?”
Roman seemed to take it wrong, however, accepting Patton’s cuddle request, but cuddling him instead. He held Patton close to his chest and took a bite of his muffin, careful to not put crumbs all in the smaller man’s hair, while Patton puffed his cheeks out a little and pouted. He needed a plan, a way for this to turn back around and for Roman to be awww’ing for a different reason than Patton being snuggled up on him. But what to do? How to turn it around?
Food is fuel for inspiration , Patton remembered Roman saying each time he grabbed an armful of snacks and went back to his latest word document. Maybe an omelet sparks something.
When Patton cut a piece of the omelet and took a bite, he managed to look over at the fruit between both of the plates. The gears in his head started to turn and a smirk crossed his face. The ultimate romantic cliché: feeding strawberries to the other.
This could be fun.
Patton picked up a strawberry from his own cup and lied back down on Roman’s chest. He planted a small kiss on the other’s cheek to get his attention, the taller man moving to look in his direction. Patton held up the strawberry with a small, mischievous glint in his eyes, but a had smile wide and bright. “Open up!”
Roman complied, albeit confused, taking a minute to process when Patton put the strawberry into his mouth. It took him one bite and Patton’s giggle to fully realize what he just did, blinking twice in a small shock.
Then Roman went red.
Completely red. In all the four years they’ve both been together, Patton has never seen him so red. It was a complete malfunction , Roman’s eyes would have gone blue and been filled with “error” if this was a cartoon. Then not long after, a noise that sounded like a teapot whistling came into the air, and it took a moment for Patton to realize that Roman was making that noise.
“Oh my goodness you’re so adorable!” Roman his his face in the crook of Patton’s neck and squeaked, actually squeaked, and he swore that he was gonna die from cute. He couldn’t help it, Patton absolutely needed to pepper Roman’s face in kisses as fast as he physically could. An even bigger squeal escaped him when Patton did, whining his name in the most pouty voice possible.
Step two, success. Step three...no longer needed because Roman looks absolutely broken. Oops.
“Awww, I’m sorry honey! My plan wasn’t to kill you!” Roman pulled his hands away from his face slightly, and even with the little that Patton could see, Roman looked majorly suspicious. “...Plan?”
...Bigger oops.
“Was this your plan this morning? To cause my absolute demise!? Betrayed by my own boyfriend with no signs of remorse!?”
“I just wanted to make you blushy!”
“ TREASON!” Roman threw his hands to his sides in the middle of his dramatic flailing about, giving Patton an opening to cease Roman’s screaming with a couple more kisses. Roman squeaked again and his face went straight into Patton’s stomach, knocking them both back down to be lying on the couch. Roman kicked his legs as he squealed, squeezing onto Patton’s torso as he did. “You’re so cute!” Patton said, which made Roman throw his head up when his blush somehow got worse. “So adorable and precious and lovely and handsome and kind and I love you and-“
“That’s it!” Patton’s elated squeals started to fill the room once Roman started wiggling his fingers at his sides, him only becoming louder when Roman blew a raspberry on his neck. When given a slight moment to breathe, Patton took it as his chance to turn the tables again, poking at Roman’s side and making him squeak with more kisses. The apartment as unusually active at such a time in the morning, their breakfast on the table being forgotten about as squeals from both parties filled the room. A while passed before they started to die down, Roman landing on Patton and squishing him with his body weight. Roman was so riled up and giggly, his face still on fire (if not more so ) since Patton tried his scheme with the strawberry. Patton brushed some of his hair out of his eyes, his hand travelling to the back of his neck and scritching slightly. That seemed to calm Roman down a little bit, his face going back into the crook of Patton’s neck when he relaxed.
“I love you.” Patton could feel his smile, and it made him want to leap mountains with pure joy. “I love you too, sweetheart.”
“So much.”
“I love you just as much!”
“So much I could-“ ...Roman paused, and Patton waited. “So much I think...I think I would…”
“You think you would what?” Roman lifted his face from Patton’s neck, shaking his head. “It’s nothing, don’t worry, Love.”
... Convincing. “Come on, you can tell me!” Did Roman’s face get redder? Was that possible?
“I swear it’s nothing! I’m just being a little sappy is all!” Roman knew he was in danger when he saw the smirk on Patton’s face, already a rare occurrence. Then before he could process it, a raspberry was being blown on his neck like he had done to Patton many times before, and Roman let out another squeal. “ Come on, Ro, tell me!” A dozen more kisses got pressed to his face.
“ Aaahhhhhh! ” Roman hid his face in the crook of Patton’s neck again. “...I don’t know if I can!”
“I believe in you!” Patton scritched at the back of his neck again, feeling Roman relax under him. He was so darn cute . “Come on, sweetheart, you can tell me right? Please?”
He hid his face deeper into Patton’s neck, waiting a moment to catch his breath before poking out just a tad. Patton moved his hand up to pet at Roman’s hair, his blush somehow getting stronger, but leaning into the touch anyway. When Roman looked up at him, Patton thought it was the cutest sight in the world. “I think I’m gonna marry you someday.”
Patton’s hand stopped in its tracks, but his gaze grew so much warmer as he looked into Roman’s eyes. “I think I’d love that.”
He couldn’t help it. In a moment of courage, Roman gained back his ability to be the fanciful one and kissed Patton right on the lips. His face was red and he was smiling like an idiot, but the fact that they were both melting into the kiss made it all feel okay. They could have parted away five years later for breath, but it still would have been way too soon to stop.
“I love you.” Patton giggled, kissing Roman’s cheeks to hear his little squeak again. “I love you too, Ro.”
Roman hid his face back in the crook of Patton’s neck, waiting for his red face to turn back to normal. But with the way Patton started rubbing his back and petting his hair, he fell asleep long before that happened.
Patton still has the pictures.