Chapter Text
Patton mutters down into the cookie dough he's kneading, biting his lip as the kitchen clock ticks past the next hour.
Cookies in the oven. Ingredients, used bowls, and utensils put away or washed or both. Counters wiped down to within an inch of its life. Twice.
He wrings his hands together, snagging the kitchen towel to wrap between his fingers as he waits for his roommate to step through the door. He should be home soon right? Maybe he could help him sort out this whole thing out. Not that it was all that complicated, but his heart was really giving him a run for his money in trying to convince him otherwise.
Why did he get himself into this mess? It was only one ten minute phone call with his brother, and suddenly he was in way over his head for such a small matter.
~
"And you're sure that you can come on the final set date? Remy and I agreed that we would be willing to push the date back and-"
"Emile," Patton interrupts, not unkindly. "I am 100 percent certain that I can make it, and even if I couldn't, that's no reason to push back your guy's big day. You've wanted this for forever, and little ol' me isn't going to let anything get in the way of that."
"I know, I know," he lets out a shaky breath down the line, and Patton heads over to the wall calendar to purposefully check off another day until he can hug his brother again. "It's already going to be a small ceremony. You're my brother, and I want you there. I feel so nervous some days, I think I might just poof like a gem to recuperate, ya know?"
Patton hummed in agreement, smiling wistfully when Emile tacked on, "The rest of the family misses you too. Everyone is really excited to see what everyone has been up to, and it's been a while since we've had a proper excuse to get together."
"They're going to see me in my Sunday best, and we're all going to make amazing memories, I promise. Because guess what?"
A pause, where Patton can almost see the giddy smile his brother is making on his side of the world, knowing what he's going to say next.
"What?"
"You're getting married."
"Patton you're going to make me cry tears of joyjat work, is that what you want?" He demands without any real bite, and Patton stifled a giggle at the muffled sound of someone blowing their nose.
"You know… Aunt Patty has been doing her usual asking around, and she was wondering if I could ask you whether you planned on bringing anyone around for the celebration?"
He bites back a groan, "I really thought she would have dropped that little habit of hers once I got out of college."
'Really,' he thinks exasperatedly, 'my love life is none of her concern, or any of the family's for that matter. So what if I'veIbeen single for years-'
"You've been single for this long, and they don't need to meddle in your life."
Patton nods along uneasily, even if he knows that it's a silly reaction because it was meant for someone who couldn't even see him.
"And I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, or maybe they have, but if you don't even want to pursue that route ever in your life, there would be absolutely nothing wrong with that. I, along with everyone else, would support you no matter what."
It's a lot of little emotions that make him say what he's about to, or at least a little of a lot of emotions. A bit of spite for some of his more gossip inclined family members, a dash of panic over something he doesn't want to dwell on, never wants to think about.
"I actually have a significant other that I was hoping to invite along."
There.
They both freeze for different reasons, and Emile gasps in delight as Patton smacks his forehead in a display of panic for no one to see, biting his lip in anticipation for the others response.
"Really?! Of course- I, Patton, you know they're allowed to come, that's what the plus one is for you silly goose, oh I-"
Patton winces as Emile's voice gets muffled as he gets pulled away from the phone for a side conversation at his office, and he does a quick bout of mental math to double check their time zone difference.
"Okay, I want all the details mister, as soon as I see you in person! Don't leave any itty-bitty-bit out, ya hear? I have to go, but, goodness. Patton?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm getting married!!"
He cheers down the line, the both of them exchanging their goodbyes, until Patton is left in the silence of his apartment.
What had he done?
~
Keys jingle in the lock, and his roommate iseee coming down the hall, following his usual routine of taking off his shoes and coat, setting his keys on the little table by the door so that they won't be forgotten.
"Pat, I'm home," he calls. "I can smell your baking, is everything…," turning the corner,he sets his sight on the other grinning sheepishly up at him, presenting a plate of fresh cookies.
"Hey there Sugar-Dee, want a treat?"
He sighs, stepping closer to grab a cookie, before leveling him with a suspicious once over. No obvious injuries, which was a good sign at least. A faint blush along his cheeks, and chapped lips from his habit of biting them when he gets nervous.
"You're in trouble."