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"Daddy! I can tie my shoes! I'll-I'll show you I can!" Patrick sighs in exasperation, turning on a socked heel and retreating from the kitchen with his brand new tennis shoes in hand.
Generally speaking, Patrick could tie his shoes, though there were times when he wasn't in headspace where he would still wear Velcro shoes mostly for the quickness and comfort around show time. But when he was in headspace, he was quite the bouncy, busy-body of a little boy, and he tended to not be as precise or careful about doing things, which also included shoe tying.
Most of time, shoes wouldn't even really be a problem for little Patrick to begin with, seeing as he tended to regress when he was in Pete's house and went into the backyard barefoot most times. But today, Pete and Patrick were going out to the park for a little picnic for the two of them, and Patrick wanted to wear his brand new tennis shoes that Andy had gotten for him for his most recent birthday.
So Patrick stomped down the hallway, and went into what was now his bedroom (btw, this is SR&R era sooo), sitting on the floor next to his bed. He dropped his shoes beside him, scrunching his eyes in thought as he tried to figure out how he was gonna do the whole tying thing.
He figured after a few moments, that he'd at least get his feet in the things before he'd untie the laces. So he stood up and tried to balance on one foot enough to get the other well into his shoe.
Patrick didn't quite think through to getting the actual laces untied first before putting his foot in, so he was met with frustration and disappointment when he could only get less than half of his right foot in his shoe.
Around that time, Pete had come down the hall and was peering into Patrick's room, a slightly bemused look on his face. "You sure you don't need help, Trick?" he hummed, leaning against the doorway.
Patrick turned to Pete and stuck his tongue out at him, then letting out a whine as he accidentally knocked his shoe away from his feet. "Don't need help, Daddy. I'ma big boy."
"If you say so, squirt. But seriously, let me know if you need help. I'd be perfectly ok with helping you tie your shoes." Pete sighs and walks off down the hall, presumably to his own room, leaving Patrick alone once more.
Around eight minutes later, Patrick is almost completely fed up with his shoes, and he really doesn't want to call Pete into his room to help him tie his shoes. He lets out a low wail and flops dramatically onto his bed, grabbing Ally-gator who's on his pillow and holding him close.
He really doesn't feel like going on that picnic with Daddy now, if putting on his shoes is going to be this hard.
"I just wanna show Daddy that I'm a big boy, Ally-gator." Patrick whines, most of his words being muffled by Ally-gator's blue, toothy head.
That's how Pete finds him, a few minutes later, still flopped out on the bed, lower half of his legs and feet dangling off the side and face covered by stuffed alligator. He goes over to him, and sits down on the bed. Patrick wiggles a little away from Pete when he feels the bed dip, and turns away.
"Trick baby, why haven't you got your shoes on yet?" Pete asks, reaching to put a hand in Patrick's hair and ruffling it gently.
"'m not a big boy, can't wear shoes." Patrick mumbles, trying to focus on the spaceship themed curtains around one of his bedroom windows instead of anything else in the room.
"But you can, dove. You just might need to ask Daddy sometimes to get them tied for you, but you can certainly wear any kind of shoes and be Daddy's big boy."
"Nu-uh, I can't!" Patrick suddenly gets up off of the bed, crossing his arms, dropping Ally-gator on the floor in the process.
Pete raises an eyebrow at Patrick's behavior as the younger starts to half-way stomp on the floor and huff at the air. "We don't stomp in the house, Trick. Do you want to go spend some time in the corner before you leave or do you want to be agreeable and put on some shoes?"
Patrick looks at Pete, and Pete notices that he's a little red in the face from frustration and his nostrils are flared as well. He thinks it's pretty adorable, if he was honest with himself. He wished he could take a picture of it, and maybe save it as the lock screen of his phone, it was that cute.
"I don't wanna wear shoes, Daddy." Patrick finally decides, shuffling his feet rather than stomping, his look seemed determined.
Pete gets up from the bed, and sends a light smack to Patrick's bottom, causing the boy to cry out in shock. "Come on, Trick. I think you need a few minutes of corner time." he says, voice calmed as he could as he led Patrick out of his bedroom and to the end of the hallway, where there was a little green stool in the corner.
Patrick tried to half-heartedly fight for a moment, but it only got him another smack on his bottom and a disappointed look from Pete which made his stomach drop as he was seated in the chair.
"You'll stay there for ten minutes, baby." Pete says, setting a timer on his phone as he watches Patrick adjust to the seat. "No fidgeting or talking. You can think about what you've done to get here, as well as if you want to go on the picnic I had planned today or not.
"
Pete only goes into the next room, where he can still see Patrick sitting in the corner, so Patrick knows he can't get away with anything foolish while he's there. Unless he wanted a spanking from Pete, which he definitely did not want. It wouldn't be the first time either, but it would be the first time in quite a while, because Patrick was generally a good boy.
Patrick wants to turn around to apologize to Daddy for being disagreeable towards him and not asking for help with his shoes, but he knows he'll have to wait. He bites his lower lip as he waits, wishing he had Ally-gator to hold and talk to for some sort of distraction, he feels bad for leaving him on his bedroom floor.
It feels like forever to Patrick, sitting in the corner and thinking over what he's done wrong, and he knows that it's done its desired effect when the timer goes off and he's sprinting across Pete's room to Pete, hugging him and crying into his shirt. "I-I'm s-sorry, Daddy!"
Pete lets Patrick cry on him, and he rubs Patrick's back and coos to him as he shuffle-leads him back to his room, where he finally settles him on the bed. Patrick almost wants to keep Pete on the bed with him and take a really long nap, but he knows it's barely noon and even then a nap would have to wait a few hours. He does however manage to get half-way under some of his softer blankets, and tries to bring the corner of one of them to his mouth when Pete stops him.
"Pacifier, baby." Pete says, reaching over to the nightstand and opening the drawer, bringing out a pacifier decorated in purple alligators.
Patrick gladly takes it, and starts working on it immediately, looking up at Pete with squinty eyes and a still crying-red blush on his cheeks. Pete's heart wants to melt right then and there.
"How about, we just take a sleepy day off today, and go on that picnic tomorrow?" Pete hums, moving around so he could cover Patrick and himself with the blankets, as well as picking Ally-gator up off the floor and handing him to Patrick.
Patrick nods tiredly, and cuddles closer to Pete, who gives him a small smile and kisses him on the forehead.
They end up spending most of the rest of the day being lazy in Patrick's room, new tennis shoes forgotten at the foot of his bed for the next day.
end.