The 12 Dates of Christmas (Thomas Sanders Royality Fanfiction) -DISCONTINUED-

~1~

Patton closed his eyes as he sat on his couch, cold hands grasping his mug of hot chocolate that was slowly warming him up. It was still fairly early in the morning and he was not quite ready to be up for the day, but he had already made plans so he knew he shouldn't be heading back to his bed. The warm nest of blankets that he knew awaited him was very tempting though, and he found his thoughts lingering on it once more before he was snapped away from them at the sound of his front door opening roughly.

Patton's eyes were certainly open now, facing the entryway to his home to find Roman storming in as though he lived there, making his way over to Patton's couch. Patton relaxed upon seeing it was him, used to Roman surprising him like this sometimes. He was immediately tensing up again however when Roman ended up laying across his couch, legs over the arm of the furniture and head rested in Patton's lap. His cheeks became as warm as the mug of hot chocolate in his grip.

"Good morning, Roman." Patton spoke as cheerily as ever, doing his best to keep his nerves from influencing his voice. His hand awkwardly hovered above Roman's head for a moment before he slowly trailed his fingers through his friend's curled red hair, breathing a sigh of relief when Roman leaned into the touch easily. "What brings you over here this morning?"

"I am upset." Roman stated with a frown, crossing his arms over his chest for dramatic effect.

"Oh?" Patton raised an eyebrow as his friend looked up at him, small hint of a smile on his lips. "What's the matter?"

Roman sighed and closed his eyes, pouting his lips. He mumbled something under his breath that Patton could barely make out. "I'm not competing this year."

Patton paused, small smile leaving his lips immediately. He wasn't sure he could have heard his friend correctly. Roman? Not competing? "Wh-What?"

"You heard me." Roman said, louder this time. "I'm not competing in the competition this year. It's just... pointless."

The competition he was referring to was Patton's annual Christmas Competition, which started the day after Thanksgiving and continued until Christmas Day. The competitors put up Christmas decorations in their yards, and tried to find the best ones. On Christmas Patton threw a party every year that everyone came to, and those that didn't compete got to vote for whoever they thought had the best decorations. Most years Roman had been the victor of the competition, but last year two of his neighbors, Virgil and Logan, had decided to team up and use both of their yards, and beat him. It was usually Roman's favorite time of year, being the competitive person he was.

"But Roman, you love competing in my competition! What happened?" Patton asked. Roman sat up with a sigh, leaving Patton's hand that was combing through his hair awkwardly hovering in the air for a moment before he returned it to his side. He turned to face Roman better as he sat properly on his couch.

"Logan and Virgil are competing together again this year, which means I basically have no chance of winning anyways."

"That's not true!" Patton insisted. "You've won the competition before so many times. Just because you didn't last year doesn't mean you can't again. A-and hey, even if you don't win... it's still fun to decorate!"

"I guess so, but... you remember how we had the idea to compete together like they did? And then everyone decided that since you host the competition you couldn't be in it, which meant you couldn't help me?" Roman said, and Patton nodded. Not that long ago they had asked the neighborhood their thoughts on Patton also competing, but since he tallied up the votes on the final day it had been deemed unfair for him to compete. It had been disappointing, but Patton wanted everything to be fair. "Well... since that happened, I've been thinking, and I just... don't really want to do it alone this year. But you're my best friend, so since I can't do it with you I can't do it with anyone."