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The story you are about to read was written by Pride, SuperNerdsCosplay

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Roman sighed. He might as well get straight to the point. "I guess you might be wondering why I'm here," he began in a soft voice. He didn't want to come off too strong or bold.

"A-A bit, yeah," he sniffed. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, then placed them back on his face. Patton was mentally cursing himself for crying. Roman tried not to let the pity for Patton show. He knew he was having a bad day, but he didn't realize how bad it had gotten. He felt so bad for getting upset with him.

"I... we're all worried about you," Roman said. "Are you-"

"Fine," Patton interrupted simply. His voice was hard and it took Roman back a bit. "I'm fine."

Roman didn't know how to take that. Patton was turned away from him and he now held the bear in his lap with his knees pulled to his chest, his arms wrapped around them. Was he borderline shunning him? That... stung. A lot.

Roman tried to hold in his sigh, but his breath came out of his nose a little harder than he wanted it to, making it seem like he sighed. Patton immediately turned to face him, his eyes wide, eyebrows knitted together. It was the face of betrayal. And that broke Roman's heart.

"I told you that I'm fine. Why don't you believe me?" Roman hesitated at Patton's tone.

"You're obviously not okay, Padre-"

"Why don't you believe me?!" Roman flinched and Patton's eyes widened, realizing what he had done.

"I-I'm sorry - I shouldn't have - oh my gosh - I don't-"

"Patton, please. You need to calm down," Roman spoke softly.

"Logan flinched, too." Patton's voice broke and the fragile glass that encased his pure soul cracked again. Roman was doing horribly at trying to keep poor Patton together.

Roman rubbed Patton's back gently. Patton tensed under his hand, so he pulled away, grimacing slightly. Patton all but threw his glasses off his face. He rubbed at his eyes and calmed himself down. Roman bit his lip.

"Wh-Why didn't-t yo-u bel-believe me?" Patton asked. Roman had to be honest with him. Patton would only get worse if he found out he lied to him.

"I..." Why was he hesitating? Maybe because the truth might be as bad as lying. "I didn't realize how bad you had gotten throughout the day. It wasn't until Virgil called us into the living room and Deceit-"

"Deceit?" Patton scoffed, turning away from Roman again. Roman's chest ached with a pain that was near unbearable. Patton was really ignoring him now. He'd have no chance to explain. He should have just lied. It would have been so much better. This could have been different.

Patton ran his fingers through his hair, his hand loosely clamped around his mouth. He used his thumb to briefly wipe one of his eyes. But he noticed something off. Slowly, he pulled his hand away from his mouth. He didn't seem alarmed, but his tears were no longer clear. They were a thick, heavy black.

Patton wiped his hand over his face, smearing the black tears and effectively getting it all over his hands. When his hand fell onto his knee, Roman took notice. His eyes widened and he jumped up off the bed.

"Patton!" Patton didn't hear him despite how loud he was. He had shut down. He had gone completely numb. And with one look at Patton's blank, unafraid expression as he looked down at his black-covered hand, Roman knew he had failed and that their happy pappy Patton was never gonna be happy or pappy again. All because he screwed up.

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