Warnings: Food mention, sort of crying

Ship(s): Platonic Royality

Roman was not having a good day. The stress and anxiety from Thomas' more recent endeavors had left him thoroughly drained of creativity, and he had trudged up to his room for some alone time. Patton had given him a pleading look as he stalked up the stairs, but he'd just given him a weary smile, gone upstairs, and collapsed on his bed. He screamed into his pillow, briefly reminding himself of the time he sang that little song about what he said when thinking about his worries and strife.

"Hey kiddo, you doing alright in there?" Roman groaned at the familiar, somewhat annoying voice of Morality. Or Patton. Whatever. same difference. He rolled over on his bed but made no move to get up or answer the fatherly trait. After a while, Roman thought he had been victorious and that Patton had given up and gone away, and he almost smiled to himself. But then he heard another knock. Growling, Roman got up, smoothed out his hair, and stormed over to the door. When he yanked it open, he straightened, blinking in surprise.Patton stood before him with wrinkled clothes, horribly knotted hair that competed Thomas' when anxiety was gone, a strained smile on his face, and tears in his eyes and slipping down his cheeks.

"Hey, um...I was just wondering if you, uh, if you wanted to-" Roman cut Patton off by wrapping his arms around him in a loose but comforting hug. Patton started to sniffle and leaned his head against Roman's chest, arms limp at his sides.

"How many, dad?" Roman asked quietly. Patton blinked, confused.

"W-What?"

"How many cookies do you want to make?" Roman continued patiently, running his fingers through Patton's hair. The dad figure sniffled again. So, Roman understood.

L-Lots...I have everything set out already," Patton muttered. Roman smiled and scooped Patton into his arms, making him yelp, and pranced through the hallways and down the stairs to the kitchen. Patton wrapped his arms around Roman's neck and giggled, but didn't laugh. It looked like the poor man was having an even worse day than Roman was. When they arrived in the kitchen, Roman was astonished to see a number of baking materials covering practically every surface, all of them necessary for making chocolate chip cookies. After setting Patton down and grabbing an apron, he looked at the other trait solemnly.

"Who hurt you? Allow me to do my duty as your surrogate son and destroy them for you, Patton," Roman said, his voice dead serious, pulling a sword from out of nowhere. Patton squeaked when the blade came within inches of his face and gently pushed it down.

"No need for that. Just help me out, alright?" Patton said, putting on his own apron and pulling a cookbook off one of the shelves. Princey sighed and returned his sword. As Patton turned his back to him he smirked, reaching into one of the bags of flour. Patton shrieked as he was hit in the back of the head with a fistful of flour that exploded over his head and back and got all over the floor.

"Roman Creativity Sanders!" Patton said, trying to sound strict, but the huge grin on his face and the flour he scooped up into his own hand took away the effect. Roman's eyes widened and he ducked behind the table as a wad of flour and water came spiraling towards his face.

"Oh, it is so on!"

Three bags of flour and two hours later, Patton and Roman were pale, giggling messes on the couch in the common area, hugging each other and wishing the day would never end.

"T-That was so much fun!" Patton managed to choke out between his laughter. Roman nodded in agreement, face bright red from how hard he had been laughing.

"So...dad. Do you still want to make cookies?" Patton smiled and shook his head, nuzzling into Roman's chest. Pride and relief welled up in Roman's chest and he held his friend/fatherly figure just a little tighter, closing his eyes and laying back.

"I love you, Pat," Roman said softly, slowly slipping off into sleep. Patton smiled and kissed his nose before settling back down on his chest.

"Love you too, Roman."