Tw: pretending fo be happy, comment if I missed any
About thirty minutes later, Roman found himself at a small cafe, sitting across from a talking Patton, silently eating his Cinnabon, which at this point was a little cold.
Roman was quiet, as he usually was after mental breakdowns, taking small bites, savoring the taste since this was probably the best tasting thing he'd eaten in days.
Patton was smiling brightly, talking on and on about something Roman was only half listening to, something about the kids from the daycare center he worked at or something like that.
He blinked, tuning in to what Patton was saying. "Then there Valentina, the little stinker, she's four and she loves the sandbox! In fact, she made a little castle yesterday and seemed so proud to show me it!! It reminded me of you! Aww! Remember when you used to read me all the first chapters you wrote? I loved that!" Patton exclaimed, resting his hands on the table, looking at Roman happily.
Roman swallowed the bite he had just taken, trying to think of what to say. "Yeah, that was fun!" He found himself saying, a bit too enthusiastically.
Patton smiled, setting down the mug he'd been drinking out of. "Yeah! I'd love to read your new story too! Whenever it's done of course!" He said, cheerily. "Speaking of which; what's your new story about? You seem to be pretty excited about it!"
Roman pauseed, mid chew.
Swallowing thoughtfully, he spoke again. "Well, it's still in the brainstorming stage, but I have a base concept down! So essentially: there's this fantasy world, which I don't have a name for yet," Roman had yet to hear the name of the kingdom in his dreams. "And there's these two guys, one's a Duke, one's a Prince or whatever, and they meet at this ball and become intrigued by each other! They keep on meeting at like royal events and stuff like that, until they finally confess to being in love with each other. The Prince proposes, and the Duke accepts, but! The Duke gets kidnapped by this creature that's like a witch that can shapeshift into a dragon, like Maleficent in sleeping beauty, and she kidnapped him because she had this vision that after the Prince and Duke get married their son will slay her and end her evil magic from terrorizing the land. So, the Prince has to go save the Duke and stuff, and that's all I really have so far," Roman finished, taking the last bite of his Cinnabon, looking at Patton, expectant for feedback.
Patton was smiling, leaning forward in his seat to watch Roman's face with wrapped attention, his chin in his hands. "I love it!" He exclaimed, sitting back, resting his hands in his lap. "Do you have any ideas for the names of your characters?"
Roman choked on his bite, coughing for a moment. "Uh, yeah," he said, clearing his throat, taking a quick sip of his coffee. "Their names are... Ramon for the Duke and Vincent for the Prince!" Roman said, speaking happily and hoping his friend wouldn't realize his name's similarity to the former as he awkwardly took another sip.
"I see! Well, those are some nice names!" Patton said, raising his drink for emphasis, finishing it off, setting the now empty cut on the table.
Roman nodded, very glad his friend didn't realize how quickly he'd had come up with them.
Checking his watch, he sighed, relieved. There was only 15 minutes left of Patton's designated hour. He only had 15 minutes until he could go home and be alone again, just him and his writing for the rest of the day.
Roman counted down the minutes, his leg shaking in anticipation as he pretended to be intrigued by what Patton was saying.
Finally, the time came to a close, an alarm that Patton had set before they left finally ringing. "Oh, well, it looks like the hour has come to a close, such a shame too, I was having fun!" Patton exclaimed, standing up and stretching out his back.
Roman nodded, standing as well, a smile plastered onto his handsome features. "Yeah, we'll have to do this again sometime!" He said, false enthusiasm dripping from his voice.
"Mhm!" Patton agreed, smiling at Roman brightly. Roman felt a sort of guilt wash over him. He'd been disengaged from what was happening almost the entire time, only caring to add something meaningful when something he was interested in was brought up.
Roman frowned softly, careful to do so while Patton was looking away, not wanting to worry his friend.
They walked back to Roman's apartment, sharing small conversation, Roman keeping up his appearance of princeliness.
Finally, they said their goodbyes as Roman opened his door, giving a false promise of future plans with the other.
Sliding inside, Roman leaned against the door, locking it behind him with one hand as he curled within himself, staring into nothing as he let the facade fall.
Roman had given a good performance, but he'd said his bows, ending his character for the day, letting him be himself once more.
He set his keys and bag on their hooks, sliding his shoes off carefully, placing them on the rack, making his way back to his bedroom, not bothering to turn on the lights as he locked the door, undressing, letting his clothes fall to the floor as he felt around for his favorite pajama pants.
After sliding them on, he sat in his desk chair once more, letting his body relax into the familiarity of it. He turned on the desk light, blinking at the sudden brightness, and opened his laptop, typing in the password with practiced ease and looking about his doc once more.
He smiled softly, letting himself read over what he'd written that morning before beginning to type again, letting him lose himself in the words that poured out of him so eagerly.
He was free again, for now.
I'm baaaaaack!!!! I hope y'all missed me! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to see you all tomorrow! Bye for now!
