Point of View: Roman, First Person
Timeline: Present Day

“HIYA PRINCE!!!”

The purple stranger jumped at the sound, startled by Patton's borderline alarming cry of excitement.  “Gah!” he yelped, jumping up and his hands coming up in front of his face defensively.

“Whoopsie,” Patton apologized, giggling sheepishly.  “Sorry, kiddo! Didn't mean to scare ya!” He finished giggling, but the apology was obviously a genuine one.  “And I love your hair!”

“Um, thanks,” The man said, head dropping at the compliment, bangs falling over his pretty dark brown eyes.
Patton turned to me.  “How's it going kiddo?”

I waved a hand at the purple stranger.  “Brilliantly, thanks to this man. I think he just saved my story.”

“Um, it was nothing, really,” The purple man shoved his hood back up, hiding his purple hair from sight and I frowned internally.

Patton raised his eyebrows, eyes bouncing between us.  “Sure doesn't sound like nothing.”

The darkly dressed man quickly ducked his head, hiding his expression from view.  He got to his feet, grabbing his empty cup and making his way towards the recycling.

Hm… I wonder if he's gay…

“He's cute,” Patton said, poking me pointedly in the shoulder, jolting me back to reality.  “Dontcha think?”

I tore my eyes away from the… the... the gorgeous stranger and focused them on Patton's overly excited frame.

“You think he's gay?” I asked, using every ounce of my self-control not to watch him walk back over.

“Why don't you just go ask him?”

“I can't just ASK a hot guy if he's GAY,” I argued, feeling my cheeks begin to heat up.  “Can't you just... ask him for me...?”

“I'm with Logan,” Patton said, giving me a rare frown.  “I can't just walk around asking random guys if they're gay.  Or single,” he added as an afterthought.

I slumped at that.  I hadn't even considered the possibility of him not being single.  “You're probably right - he's probably straight and taken. That's usually how it works,” I sighed.

“But,” Patton continued, “I'm gonna guess by the way he was looking at you that he's not.”

“Not - what? What do you mean ‘the way he was looking at me?’”

“Gay and single, I'd say,” Patton said.  “And my gay-dar is never wrong.”
I stared at him, baffled.

“But if I were you, I'd act quickly,” Patton stole my hot chocolate and took a sip.  “Considering he just left.”

“Considering that he - wait what?!” I exclaimed, jumping up and eyes flying towards the door just in time to see our purple haired stranger already outside - hood up and disappearing from view.  

I swung my head back to Patton, who merely set my hot chocolate down (empty, mind you) on the table.

“Patton, can you -”

“Better hurry up, kiddo,” Patton winked at me, settling down in my now vacant seat to watch my stuff.  “Don't let him get away.”

I gave Patton a quick and rushed thank you before bursting through the door into the sea of people, searching for my purple haired stranger.

There.

“Hey!” I yelled, jogging now that I had him in sight.  “Hey, um, you!” I yelled, painfully aware that I didn't even know this man's name.

Unsurprisingly, the man didn't turn around, and instead turned the corner.
Cursing under my breath, I sprinted after him, not wanting to lose him in the growing crowd.

I yelped when I swung around the corner, surprised to find him only a couple feet ahead of me now.

I reached forward, gently tapping him on the shoulder.  

The man jumped - boy, he was jumpy wasn't he? - and spun around, looking quite surprised to see me.

I realized that I was slightly out of breath from my short sprint around the corner, not ready to talk just yet.

Stars, am I out of shape...

“Um, hey.”

I flushed, suddenly realizing how desperate I looked, chasing him down.  “You, uh, really saved me today,” I rambled, wincing inwardly.

Really, Roman? That was the best you could do?

“If I didn't fix my story by the end of the week, my editor was planning on dropping my story.”

Shut up, Roman.  

Please shut up.  Stop talking.

Just stop talking you runaway train of nervous butterflies...

The man squirmed a bit, looking uncomfortable.  “Well, nothing is set in stone yet - besides, it's up to you to write it and -”

“Actually,” I interrupted.  “I didn't just track you down to say thank you,” I admitted with a weak smile.

The purple haired stranger tugged on his sleeves, nervously pulling them over his hands.  “Um -”

I braced myself, running a jittery hand through my hair.  “I know this might sound weird,” I started.

Just get on with it!

“But you're hot and I'm gay, so would you happen to be free Friday night?”

“... You're gay.”

Oh sh-stars.

That's not... good.

“Yeah,” I repeated.

Oh gosh, what if Patton and I read this all wrong and he's actually a homophobe?

“Is… that a problem?”

“No, no, no!” The purple man stammered.  “I - I, um, I'm - uh - gay too.”

“So… is that a yes?” I asked, hope filling my voice.

Pleasebesinglepleasebesinglepleasebe-

The man winced and I felt all the butterflies in my stomach just drop.  “I - I'm sorry, I had a… really bad, uh, breakup before and I - I'm not ready to be in a relationship right now,” The man's cheeks flared up bright red, bangs falling over his eyes as he waited for my reaction.

“Then… just as friends?  I'd really like to get to know you better,” I tried.

He shook his head.  “I'm sorry, but… I can't,” he said, quickly spinning around and walking away without another word.
__________

“Yikes,” Patton said when I walked back inside the coffeeshop, silence speaking for itself.  “That bad?” he asked, handing me a fresh cup of hot chocolate, considering he'd finished off my last one.

Gosh Patton… Patton's great.

…

yup.

I took small sip before responding.  “Gay and single,” I reported.

Patton winced at that.  “But…?”

“But also tragically heartbroken and not ready for a relationship,” I pouted, sinking further into my chair.

“Aww,” Patton said, reaching forward and placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.  “You alright, kiddo?”

“I will be if you buy me a ticket to Alaska so that I don't die of rejection.”

Patton winced in pity as I groaned, dropping my head into my hands.

Oh, oh why won't the universe let me have another chance at love?

After a moment, I took a deep breath - forcing a smile.  “Oh well. I'll be alright,” I winked. “Shame - he doesn't know what he's missing.”

Patton rolled his eyes, getting to his feet.  “I gotta head out - Logan's watching Thomas right now and I'm sure he could use a shift change,” Patton held up his tray of to-go cups.  “And some coffee.”

“I will never understand how coffee makes that man sleepy,” I mused, sipping my hot chocolate.

Patton just smiled.  “See ya later kiddo! Don't stay out too late,” he chided.

“Patton, I'm 29 years old - you don't have to tell me that,” I rolled my eyes.

Patton pointed a firm finger at me.  “You're tired and need a heck of a lot of sleep.  Call me when you reach the apartment safe and sound, okay?  I have a meeting with the Board of Ed. tonight so I'll probably be home late.”

“Yes, Dad,” I agreed sarcastically, smirking behind my cup.

Still, the confirmation was enough for him and Patton left with a bright smile and final wave.

I sighed, opening up the massive word document.  Exhausted or not, I had to write and edit a lot - I was basically rewriting my entire story.  My deadline wasn't until the end of the week, but at the rate I was going at it was going to take me… all week.

My life is so crazy - you know what? It was probably a good thing that the purple stranger didn't say yes.  Y-Yeah, with all the things on my plate, there's no way I could give a relationship the attention and love it deserves.  It was for the best…

Right?
__________

I sat back, feeling drained but overall happy with what I'd written.  I slouched in my chair, blinking sleepily at the new beginning I'd written.

The great dragon-witch was almost all but a legend.  He’s a magnificent creature, rumored to have been around longer than humanity itself…

I have to admit.
 
The emo had given some good advice.

“You need to give your prince internal obstacles or at least a personality for crying out loud.  I mean, you didn't even give your prince a name," the purple stranger commented, making me speechless with the sudden realization that he was... absolutely right.

I bit my lip, trying not to cry as I looked down on the screen.  I already knew exactly what name I was going to give to my prince… the person in my life that was about as close to a Disney Prince as you could get…

The great Dragon-witch was almost all but a legend.  He’s a magnificent creature, rumored to have been around longer than humanity itself.

Legend told that the beast’s reign of terror would end, at the hands of prince that was both powerful and good.  Since the legend was foretold, no such prince had come along, though many died trying to prove themselves as such.

Until Prince Thomas...

I pulled my trembling fingers back from the keys, taking a deep breath.  It - It felt right, having him there, on the pages on my book.

…

It felt right.
____________________
Whooooooooo :D
I'm so happy to be writing this again.  This is, roughly, when the story starts changing AND IM KINDA EXCITED AND SCARED SO UH YEAH WHOOOOOOO

- (An unusually giddy) Max :>