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Patrick doesn’t expect to be hit with a headache when he’s in the midst of his headspace, and it doesn’t exactly come as sudden as headaches would normally. He’s completely caught off guard.
He was watching a game show on TV with Pete, cuddling with Ally-gator as he had his head in Pete’s lap. Pete had been fooling around with the answers, making Patrick giggle and playfully hitting his arm when he knew he was wrong. It’d been fine until he was struck with the sharp pain in his head.
He kept himself from whimpering, but it didn’t stop him from squeezing his eyes tightly shut for the rest of the game show. He doesn’t want Pete to know that his head hurt.
Well, it’s not that he doesn’t want Pete to know; it’s just that he didn’t want to worry him with it.
So he keeps his eyes shut, and doesn’t make much noise, which Pete takes notice of with a small frown. “Are you okay, baby boy?” he asks once the show goes off and is replaced with a similar one.
“I’m ‘kay, Daddy.” Patrick answers probably too quickly, sitting up from Pete’s lap and squeezing Ally-gator close. “Can I color?”
“Of course you can. You want to use the coffee table or do you want to go to your room?”
Patrick knows that if he goes to his room to color, Pete will probably put in children’s tape in the boombox on his dresser, which is usually okay on a day like this, but not today. He doesn’t want to have much noise, thinks that maybe it’s the cause of his sudden headache. If he decides to stay in the living room and use the coffee table, Pete will leave the TV on a jewelry shopping channel for background noise. He’d much prefer that at the moment, because the voices were generally comforting unless they were hysterical over a ‘good deal’. He’s willing to risk that.
“Wanna stay in here. Can I color in my Sesame Street book?” Patrick replies, sliding off of the sofa and onto the carpeted floor in front of the coffee table, placing Ally-gator on the table close to him.
“Yeah. I’ll go get your things from the sunroom. Do you want something to drink too?”
Patrick nods, not really taking note Pete’s concerned glance as he leaves the room. The TV is still playing the new game show that’s come on, and the contestants are really loud and annoying in that moment. This was one of the few times Patrick wishes that the remote wasn’t with Pete, just so he could at least change the channel or even turn the volume down.
It doesn’t take too long before Pete returns, balancing a few coloring books and the mega box of crayons on one arm, a sippy cup of apple juice in his other hand. “Here you are, Tricky. I got you that princess coloring book too, just in case.” Pete says, setting the items down in front of Patrick with a smile.
“Thank you, Daddy.” Patrick replies softly, grabbing the Sesame Street coloring book and opening it up until he found a blank page.
Pete leaves him in peace once he does change the channel, going into the kitchen to start on what Patrick suspected was dinner. By this point, he almost doesn’t want to start coloring the picture of Big Bird and Elmo that he’s flipped to, but he really doesn’t want to concern Pete, so he takes out a goldenrod crayon and starts to color.
“I don’t want Daddy to think I’m faking, Ally-gator.” Patrick confesses to his stuffed alligator in a low whisper, placing the crayon down on the table and bringing his legs up to his chest, placing his chin between his knees.
Ally-gator doesn’t respond, and Patrick sighs unhappily, closing his eyes for a moment, hoping that maybe resting them might alleviate the ache, even if for a moment.
Once he opens his eyes again, he does feel a teeny bit better, so he uncurls himself and resumes coloring until Pete reappears in the room, a bib in hand.
“It’s time for dinner, squirt. I fixed some chicken with peas and carrots, and if you finish that I’ve got some Ben and Jerry’s in the freezer.” Pete says, holding his hand out to help Patrick get up from the floor.
Patrick manages to get up from the floor which little struggle, and he grabs Ally-gator before following Pete into the kitchen/dining room, where their dinners have already been set out.
Dinner is quiet, with Pete making playful comments about Patrick’s messy eating and dislike of the peas on his plate. Patrick doesn’t say much like he usually would, just spends the time eating and shoving his peas to the edge of his plate with his spoon after having a spoonful of them and deciding that they didn’t taste good.
Once they’re both done, ice cream included, they move to Patrick’s room to pick out his pajamas before it was time for his bath.
When Pete going through the clean pajamas in the drawer and asking Patrick what he’d prefer, he finally realizes just how off his baby boy is. Patrick hasn’t said much at all, spending more time with his eyes squeezed shut than paying attention to the clothing choices.
“Patrick? What’s going on?” Pete places a set of pajamas with dragons down on the dresser before going over to him. “Don’t tell me it’s nothing either, because I know that isn’t the truth.”
Patrick whimpers from his spot on the bed, biting on his lip for a moment before he speaks. “My head hurts, really bad.”
“Aw baby…” Pete sighs, plopping himself onto the bed next to Patrick, tugging him closer to him. “I’m so sorry your head hurts. I think a bath might help, just a hot one without washing your hair, unless you want that?”
Patrick tenderly nods, leaning his head onto Pete’s chest for a moment, feeling pretty relieved that Pete didn’t think he was lying and that he was holding him like this.
*-*
Patrick does get a nice, hot bath where he just sits in bubble-suds and relaxes, enjoying the head massage Pete gives him.
“Are you feeling better, baby?” Pete asks, leaning into the tub to plant a kiss on Patrick’s nose, causing it to scrunch up for a moment.
“Yeah. You’re the best, Daddy.” Patrick murmurs, opening an eye to focus on Pete as he runs his hands through his hair.
“Good. I think after this we should go and have a really nice cuddle in bed until you go to sleep, how does that sound?”
“Awesome. Can you read me a story too? About Pooh?”
Pete nods, and Patrick breaks out in a grin which makes him feel fuzzy inside.
*-*
Patrick ends up being half-asleep and unfocused before he’s all the way in his pajamas, so Pete gets him into bed and joins him, wrapping an arm tightly around him as he reads a short story from the Winnie the Pooh book they owned.
Even though Patrick doesn’t really remember the story being told to him, he takes comfort in the warmth Daddy provides, the closeness of it all. He yawns wide as he snuggles closer, allowing himself to shut his eyes as a mix of exhaustion and warmth takes over him for the night.
end.