Forever Lies

~3~

As I walked down the hallway, hands shoved in my pockets, I froze when I reached the end of the hall. From here, you could see through the living room into the kitchen, where Patton was reaching in a cupboard for a bowl. When he turned to set it on the counter, he caught sight of me, causing his face to light up.

"There ya are, Virge. I was starting to think you ducked out on me." As I opened my mouth to speak, I heard him mumble a small "quack" to himself. I chuckled.

"Nah, I just needed a few minutes to get ready." I said, crossing the length of the living room over to the kitchen sink. As I turned on the water to wash my hands, I asked, "So what are we making anyway?"

"I figured we could make some pancakes from scratch, and just keep it simple today. Nothing too hard, you know?" All the ingredients were already out, so I grabbed the flour to add in the bowl. "Sounds good to me."

As we worked, Patton hummed the tune to various songs, mainly sticking to Disney. I mostly stayed quiet, enjoying the soft rhythms formed by the notes.

When we got to cooking, Patton flipped the discs while I added batter to the griddle and loaded the plates. As I set a stack of 6 down on the fold-out table, Roman came out of the hall, putting his hands on the back of a chair.

"Good morning Virgil." he said, the usual charm in his voice. "Would you mind if I joined you two for breakfast?"

Before I could even think of a response, Patton chimed in. "Well, of course! Take as many as you want, we went a little overboard with the batter today." he said, giggling.

We all took our seats as the last pancakes came off the griddle. The first part of the meal was mainly silent, with Patton or Roman making a small remark occasionally. My mind, however, drifted to the world on the other side of the hallway, hidden behind the wall. A doorway only I knew about. I grimaced as I remembered the "kitchen"; a fridge tucked in the living room corner, with a dresser next to it to serve as a pantry. Easy access, they had said. Yeah right.

"But Aladdin never technically said the words, the genie said them for him." Roman said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Oh come now, Aladdin was a good person. He knew it counted as a wish. Besides, he had been trying to rub the lamp, he just couldn't reach it in time."

"Well..." Roman stammered, looking around for a second before focusing back on Patton. "Virgil agrees with me. Don't you, Virge?"

I raised my head up, surprised to be pulled into the conversation, especially by Roman.

"Umm..." I thought, trying to quickly figure out what the topic was and compile an opinion. "I mean, you guys know what I think of Aladdin. He deceived his way into the castle and all that. So, he's not too good a guy, and we've seen him swindle before. I actually have to go with Sir Sing-a-lot on this one."

"Yes!" He said, giving a small fist bump. "I mean, you're utterly wrong in your reasoning, but you agree with me, so I win." He smiled, a genuine one as opposed to his "show smirk."

"Well, I'm just glad you joined us today, Roman." Patton said with a grin. "I can take your guys' plates if you need." he said, standing up.

"I'm good" I said, shrinking into my shoulders a bit. At the same time, Roman replied with a "No thank you, Patton."

"Welp, I'll leave you to it." Patton said, and with that, he left. Roman gave me a look before turning back to his plate. I wasn't sure why, but I just moved on and continued to eat. I finished my last bite, then stood to wash my plate. Roman mimicked me, and we walked toward the kitchen.

After I washed my own plate, I reached to grab his. He handed it to me with a small smirk, then moved to my other side to dry the clean plate.

We both stayed silent during this, and I stole a few glances over at him. He looked so calm, off in his own world as he dried the plate. I wanted nothing more than to know what he was thinking at that moment, what could cause the corners of his lips to tilt up slightly, other than a Disney song. What put such a content gleam in his eye as he moved the towel over the china? But, I pushed the thought from my mind.

When I finished the second plate and handed it to him to dry, that smile got a little bigger before he turned back to his work.

I turned around, leaning on the counter in front of the sink, my arms folded across my chest. I waited for Roman to finish, lightly tapping my finger on my sleeve to the tune of a song. As 'When the day met the night' played through my mind, I kept glancing at Roman occasionally, trying not to hum the tune.

He finished drying the plate, and instinctively reached out to grab another one, focused on his own thoughts. Instead, he caught hold of my sleeve.

We both turned to look, the loose dark fabric tucked between his fingertips. Neither of us moved, both just looking intently. After what felt like days, I jumped back a bit and his hand fell to his side.

"I, um." I stuttered, looking down at the tiles. "Yeah, of course." he said, and I saw his hand sweep up to mess with his hair, something he did whenever he got nervous.

I turned toward my room, hoping I wasn't going too fast as my face heated up.

When I reached my room, I went to the mirror, looking closely. The pink tint on my cheeks came through brightly, without so much as my normal foundation to cover it.

"What on earth is wrong with me?" I said, falling back onto the floor. "It's Princey. The dude who tormented you more than anyone." The one who helps you more than anyone. He didn't mean to grab you. He didn't break the contact, did he? That was you. He's just being princely, just being himself. And that him doesn't hate you.

I sighed, grabbing a ball from under my bed, throwing it as high as I dared without touching the ceiling. The voices went back and forth, over what I felt, and what he did. I just continued to toss the orb up and down, feeling strangely pulled toward the positive voice. For some reason, I believed it. And in that moment, that was enough.

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Sorry it took so long for me to post, the end of the school year led to a pretty hectic experience. But, I should be posting every Monday and Friday from here on in. Thanks for reading! Peace out!