Open Doors

Chapter 12

After Patton, Logan, and Virgil had had family dinner, Patton packed up some food to take to Roman. He was a bit excited to see Roman and meet his theater friends. With his thermal bag packed, he walked out of the house and headed to the bus stop.

Roman was at the downtown theater, it was a 20 minute drive by bus with another 5 minute walk. Though Patton was the only one in the group who owned a car, he didn't like to use it unless they were going outside of the city. It had been expensive to afford a car but he had needed it, just in case something was wrong with his mother.

Not to mention, Patton was happy to ride the bus. He enjoyed meeting people and listening to their stories. More often than not, trips were uneventful, but sometimes he met interesting people.

Today was one of those uneventful days. Everything was calm and quiet as he watched the city pass by, and when he got close to the theater he could feel his excitement swell. Patton jumped off the bus and walked back towards the theater. He arrived just in time for the director to be releasing the actors on a break and when Roman saw Patton he waved and smiled.

"Padre, you really did bring me dinner."

"Of course, what kind of father doesn't keep his promise!"

"You are so wonderful Pat! Let me introduce you to everyone, or at least the cool people," He teased. Excited energy fell off Roman in waves and it made Patton smile. "This is Terrance and Valerie." The two were running lines together but waved to the pair as they walked by.

Patton waved back before being pulled off. "This is Remy, he does set design."

"Sup babycakes."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"And this over here is Lewis, he is playing my opposite in the play."

"Hello, Lewis." Patton smiled and as the blond male smiled back. There was something in that smile that Patton couldn't identify, but he didn't like it.

"Roman, you didn't tell me that your roommate was so handsome, are all three of them this handsome."

"How am I supposed to know," he blushed, "after all who could be more handsome than me."

"I don't know Kiddo, I think all of us are pretty handsome in our own ways, though you are right about you being the most handsome," Patton chirped.

Lewis smiled, "Well, hopefully, I will meet them at the show."

"I'm sure you will, we are all so excited to see Roman perform. We just know he is going to be great." Patton hugged Roman protectively.

"Of course I am going to be great, I am amazing." Roman smiled, ruffling Pat's hair a bit. "But it is so nice to have someone in my corner."

"We will always be in your corner Roman!" Patton watched Roman flinch. Had he shouted too loudly?

"I have to head out now." Patton gave Roman a tight hug, "I'll see you when you get home tonight. Be safe!" He didn't want to stick around if he was making Roman uncomfortable. Also, there was something off about Lewis. No, that couldn't be. Patton probably just needed some rest. It had been busy this past month. He couldn't judge someone before getting to know them.

"I will Padre!" Roman popped open the food that Patton had brought him. It smelled delicious. Already having a forkful coming to his mouth, Roman heard Lewis speak softly.

"Speaking of food, I normally cook on Fridays since I don't have work. I've been trying some new recipes but I'm so judgemental of my own cooking." Lewis looked at the spaghetti that Patton had brought. "Do you think I could bring you dinner on Fridays?"

"Well, Patton was planning on bringing me food every Friday."

"But isn't it a bother to him? I mean that had to be a hard trip for him." Lewis rubbed the back of his neck as if he was nervous about his words. "And I'm coming to practice anyway, right? I don't mind cooking for you, it's kind of a passion of mine. My ex never helped with the meals so I kind of got used to doing all of the work myself and I learned to love it."

Surely Patton wouldn't mind, right? "Why did your ex not help?" Roman asked in between bites.

"Well, he was constantly making the excuse that he had too much homework to do, but so did I. He also said that he wasn't good at cooking and preferred when I cooked." He smiled sadly, "I put a lot of effort into keeping us together, but I think it might have been good for us to break up. I'm doing much better now."

Roman picked up on the fact that Lewis had said 'he'. That wasn't really a surprise but it was nice to actually know. "I am glad you are in a better place, Lewis. A handsome prince like you deserves a prince that will treat him well in kind."

"Thanks, so about dinner?"

"Oh of course! I believe Patton will understand. If you want to practice your craft I will happily assist you on this quest!"

"You are fantastic Roman. Let me go grab my food and I'll join you." Lewis smirked as he walked away. This would be much too easy.

AN: What do y'all think? I want to know your opinions on the characters, and where do you think this is going? I'm enjoying writing this, so I hope you are enjoying reading it!