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Patton tried his best not to scream into the pillow he had pressed to his face. He had been minding his own business, just idly tidying up the living room as he sang to himself, and he had taken a moment to sit on the couch when Logan had come down the stairs. That in itself wasn’t the problem, no. It was what Logan had said.
“Patton, sweetheart, could you help me real quick?”
Patton froze, his heart rate skyrocketing as he could feel his face turn bright red. He had turned, seeing that Logan looked rumpled, as if he had been sitting in one spot for too long, and he wasn’t even looking at Patton. He didn’t even seem to know what he had said. Patton debated for a moment, before slowly saying, “Yes, dear?”
Logan hadn’t reacted, only walking closer to ask about some fact or information for the script, and Patton had helped and sent him on his way, getting away with calling Logan ‘hon.’ He thought that he would survive the encounter with just being called ‘sweetheart’ but then Logan had to go an call him ‘dear!’ And squeeze his shoulder! As soon as Logan was out of the room, Patton had slammed his face into a pillow to hide the blush that was no doubt taking over his entire face.
In truth, Patton wasn’t entirely surprised. Logan had been slightly out of it, focused more on the script than he was the world around him. Of course, one of his little nicknames for Patton would slip out. What really got to Patton was the… the domesticity of them. He wasn’t dense, he had heard and understood a few of Logan’s aborted attempts at nicknames that didn’t pass what Patton had termed the ‘Logan Level of Sentiment.’ Anything that was too sentimental or soft was cut off before it fully left Logan’s mouth, leaving him to say small things like ‘Pat’ or ‘Mo’ or, Patton’s favorite, ‘Patty.’ Which meant the few times he did call Patton something sentimental, even accidentally, it flustered them both.
Like the time he had Patton ‘honey.’ Patton knew that Roman and Virgil had set them up for that one, and while some part of him was giddy that Logan had seemingly called him that, the panicked way Logan had left the room had made him more worried than anything.
He knew that Logan wasn’t the best at emotions, and Patton had guessed that the nicknames were Logan’s way of easing himself into being friendlier and more relaxed with the other sides. He didn’t want to ruin Logan’s progress by pushing him to call him nicknames that bordered the sentiment level, or that seemed too romantic.
Patton leaned back with a wistful sigh, looking up at the ceiling. Oh, how he wished those nicknames would be romantic. He had liked Logan for so long and had just come to terms with the fact that he maybe loved Logan, and the nicknames didn’t help. Logan was just so sweet with them! He always had this small little smile, his eyes soft and voice gentle, and it made Patton weak at the knees every time. And that was for stuff like ‘Patty!’ He knew that it would kill him if Logan ever went further than that, but he could dream, right?
Patton pushed himself off the couch, determined. He could dream, yes, but he couldn’t push Logan. He’d let Logan go at his own pace with the nicknames, and not expect anything more from him. It was just friendliness from Logan’s side, anyway.
As he went up the stairs and towards the sides’ rooms, Patton nodded to himself with a small smile. He wouldn’t push Logan, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t talk with someone else about it.
***
“And then! Then, he called me dear!” Patton exclaimed, throwing his arms wide as he fell back against Roman’s bed.
He had planned to talk to Virgil about it, but when he saw that the anxious side’s door was open, he didn’t even pause in his stride as he changed course to Roman’s door. There he found both sides, Roman with his hair pulled back by a headband, and Virgil with a face mask on and applying one to Roman’s face.
They had quickly pulled Patton into their little spa session, pulling his curls back and giving him a face mask as he dived into the story of what just occurred.
Roman leaned over him on the bed, giggling at his slightly disgruntled expression. “How truly awful of him, Padre, to call you that.”
Virgil nodded, not looking up from where he was painting Patton’s nails. “Terrible. How could he.”
Patton huffed, before laughing a bit. “Oh, I know it’s not bad, honestly. I just… oh, it does something to me, y’know?”
He sat up, and Virgil paused in his painting to look at him. Roman sat back, nodding for him to continue.
“Every time he uses one of those nicknames, it gives me butterflies. I don’t know why though! I like him, I do, and that could explain some of it, but the fluttering, and the way my face goes red? Those don’t make sense!” Patton pouted, tapping the fingers not painted against his leg. “They’re just nicknames. Nicknames shouldn’t make me feel like that.”
Virgil and Roman shared a look. “Pat,” Virgil started softly, “Have you considered that they aren’t nicknames?”
“What else could they be?”
Here, Roman leaned forward, resting a hand on Patton’s knee. “They’re pet names, Patton. That’s what they are.”
Patton shook his head, ignoring the little seed of hope in his chest. “Well, that wouldn’t make sense. They can’t be pet names, he has nicknames for you two, too, and I don’t see you two getting all flustered about them!”
“Patton, he doesn’t have nicknames for us.” Virgil said, confused.
“Yeah, he down right refuses to, it seems.” Roman continued.
Patton furrowed his brows, confused. Logan didn’t… now that he thought about it, Logan didn’t seem to call the other two anything but their names. The few times he did for Roman, it was usually a thinly veiled insult during an argument that he later apologized for. Logan only had nicknames—no, pet names, for Patton. The little bit of hope in his chest grew.
He sat back on his hands, suddenly breathless. “Huh.”
Roman and Virgil both smiled at him, and Roman patted his knee.
“So,” Virgil said, picking Patton’s hand back up to resume painting his nails, “What are you going to do about it?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what are you going to do about the pet names? Are you going to say them back?”
“Yeah!” Roman cut in, punching a hand into the air. “You should go and conquer his heart!”
Patton laughed a little, staring at his hand as Virgil added another stroke of dark blue paint. “I don’t know about conquering, Ro. What if he doesn’t like it? Are we sure I can even do it?”
“You didn’t seem to have any problem doing it earlier, and are you kidding?” Roman through his hands into the air. “He gives you pet names, for Shakespeare’s sake! Of course, he’ll like it!”
At Patton’s uncertain look, Virgil said, “At least start with nicknames. They’re personal, and it’ll give you a better idea of how he’ll react.”
“Something other than Lo or L or Specs, though, we already use those.” Roman said.
Patton hummed, thinking it over. It couldn’t hurt, right? If Logan liked them, he could ease his way into more pet names, ones like what Logan called him. And if Logan didn’t like them, and asked him to stop? Well, no harm done! Sure, Patton would be a little hurt, but at least their friendship wouldn’t be hurt. He nodded, mind made up.
“Ok, I’ll try the nicknames, see how it goes.”
“Cool.” Virgil said, dropping the nail polish brush back into the bottle and standing. “Be right back.”
“What-?” But Virgil was already out the door and Roman was picking up where he had left off, taking Patton’s other hand and continue the even strokes Virgil had been doing.
Patton didn’t have to wonder what he was doing for too long, because soon enough he could hear Virgil and a protesting Logan coming closer.
“I have work, Virgil, I need to finish the script!”
“You’ve been working all day, Logan, you need to take a break.”
“But a spa break? I don’t want-”
He cut off as Virgil pushed him into the room, and Patton was thankful for the face mask that covered his blush when he saw Logan and the events from earlier came rushing back to the forefront of his mind.
He smiled up at him, waving with the hand that Roman wasn’t painting. “Hey, Logan!”
Logan stared at him, mouth agape. After a moment, he seemed to collect himself, reaching up to adjust his glasses.
“I… I suppose I can take a small break for a spa session.”
Roman gave a quiet cheer, and Virgil grinned. “Awesome. Sit down, I’m putting a face mask on you and you’re gonna deal with it.”
He settled on the bed across from Patton, letting Virgil pin his hair back and apply the face mask with little complaint. Roman conjured them some wine, and they sat and talked for a bit. Eventually, Patton got up to wash his face mask off, but decided to keep the head band on to keep his curls out of his face.
When he came back into the room, he took a moment to stare at Logan. He was glancing through the nail polish that Roman had, his glasses pushed up into his hair. Even with the face mask, he still looked pretty, and Patton took a deep breath to settle his heart rate a bit. He made eye contact with Roman, his nails a dark purple now, courtesy of Virgil, who glanced at Logan and gave Patton a quick thumbs up.
Patton nodded, steeled himself, and said, “Hey, Lolo? Can I paint your nails?”
Had he not been looking for it, Patton might have missed Logan’s reaction. Logan froze, his eyes going wide and his cheeks flushing a light pink. It was quick though, as Logan took a breath and turned to Patton, giving him a small smile.
“Of course, Patton.”
Patton beamed at him, and he watched as the light pink turned a little darker. As he sat back on the bed, Patton let the hope in his chest grow a little bit bigger. Maybe there was something there. Maybe Logan liked him too.
Glancing at his own nails, Patton grinned, picked up a light blue polish, and got to work.
***
“Logy, do you have a sec?”
Patton had just popped his head into Logan’s room to see if he had time to help him with lunch but stopped short at what Logan was wearing. He had a three-piece slate gray suit on, a dark blue shirt underneath it. Logan was in the process of tying his tie, the black one with light blue stripes that Patton had gotten him for Christmas last year.
Patton sighed, stepping into the room. “One of those debates, huh?” he asked quietly.
After the callback/wedding debate, Deceit and Logan had taken up debating each other in the courtroom. Sometimes it was for fun, and they would just wear their regular clothes, sometimes something more relaxed, depending on the topic. Other times though, the debate would be something more serious, something for Thomas, so they would get a bit more serious, a bit more dressed up. It looked that today was a serious debate today.
Logan, who had frozen when Patton had first spoken, seemed to catch himself, giving Patton a small smile and nodded, “Unfortunately, yes, it is, Pat. I’m assuming you were going to ask for my help for lunch?”
Patton nodded, stepping closer and taking the half finished tie out of Logan’s hands. Absentmindedly finishing the knot, Patton said, “Yeah, but no worries! You have important things to do right now.”
Logan stared at him a moment; cheeks slightly pink.
“Helping you is important too,” he said, “I can help with dinner tonight.”
Patton grinned up at him, feeling light. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Logan smiled.
They stared at each other a moment, just smiling, before Logan cleared his throat.
“I, uh… I should probably get going.”
Patton started, and realized he hadn’t let go of Logan’s tie. “Oh! Right, sorry.”
He quickly tucked the end of Logan’s tie into the vest of his suit, and fixed Logan’s collar before stepping back. “There you go! Looking good, Lo!”
Logan nodded, clearing his throat again. He stepped around Patton and out of his room but paused in the doorway. “Thank you, Patton. Save me some lunch?”
“Of course!” Patton bounced on his toes once, grinning at the little laugh Logan gave. Logan nodded again and moved to head towards the mindscape’s courtroom. Patton followed him out of the room, calling after him, “You’re gonna do great, honey!”
And if Patton’s grinned widened at the way Logan tripped over his own feet a bit at the pet name? Well, Patton kept that little bit of knowledge to himself.
***
Patton hummed to himself, puttering around the kitchen. Lunch had come and gone long ago, and Patton was starting to work on dinner, and Logan still hadn’t come out of the debate room with Deceit. He was a little worried, but two knew what they were doing and knew how to take care of themselves.
He heard heavy footsteps on the stairs and then someone enter the kitchen with a sigh. He turned, expecting Virgil after a nap or even Roman, but was pleasantly surprised to see Logan, still in his suit. That surprise was quickly replaced by concern at Logan’s rumpled appearance and tired expression, and he hurried over to the logical side.
“Lo, are you okay?” His hands fluttered around Logan’s shoulders and face, unsure where to land, but they finally settled on his arms, Patton’s thumbs rubbing up and down soothingly. Logan hummed, blinking slowly.
“Yes, I am alright, Patton. Just…” He and leaned down and forward to rest his forehead on Patton’s shoulder, causing Patton’s eyebrows to shoot up into his hairline. “Just tired.”
Patton hummed sympathetically, bringing his arms around Logan in a loose embrace. He rubbed Logan’s back, tilting his head to lean it against Logan’s. “The debate was rough, I’m guessing?”
Logan shrugged one shoulder, leaning more heavily into the embrace. “Yes and no. It was long, and arduous, and I’m hungry now, but,” Patton could feel Logan’s proud grin against his shoulder, “I won, so I’m overall satisfied with the outcome.
Patton giggled. “I’m proud of you, hon.”
He felt Logan’s grin grow wider, and Logan’s arms came up around him to give him a quick squeeze before Logan stood back up. Patton dropped his arms, taking in Logan’s tired expression again.
“Why don’t you go take a nap, Logan? I can manage dinner on my own tonight.”
The small smile Logan had been sporting dropped into a frown for a moment, and he shook his head. “I’ll be fine, Pat. I couldn’t help you with lunch, and I said I’ll help with dinner.”
“Lo, it’s fine, you’re tired, you don’t have to—”
“Patton,” Logan cut him off, reaching forward to rest a hand on his arm. “I want to help, please?”
Patton ignored the heat in his face as he scrunched his mouth to one side, thinking. At Logan’s earnest expression, and the way he had started to gently rub his thumb back and forth on Patton’s arm, Patton huffed out a breath.
“Okay. But if you get too tired, feel free to just go take a nap before dinner, alright?”
Logan smiled, small and happy. “Alright, Pat.”
They got to work, Logan leaving the suit jacket and vest folded over a chair and pushing up the sleeves of his shirt. Patton took a moment to appreciate Logan’s arms before getting back on task, giving Logan a knife and instructions to start dicing the vegetables. They mainly worked in silence, moving around each other in a familiarity made through countless meals made together. Sometimes the others would come and help, and they’d make a whole night of cooking as a family, but often it was just Logan and Patton working together.
Eventually, they were able to put what had become a chicken and vegetable soup onto the heat, and as Patton was adjusting the heat, he called over his shoulder, “Sweetheart, can you grab the timer for me?”
There was a clatter from the sink, where Logan had been putting some dishes, but a few moments later he was by Patton’s side, timer in hand.
As Patton went to grab it, Logan, voice shaky, asked, “Did you call me sweetheart?”
Patton froze, rethinking the past minute, and cursed in his head. There went his plan to be subtle.
“I—” Patton sighed, taking the timer, setting a time, and putting it on the edge of the counter before turning to face Logan. “I did, yeah.”
Before Logan could say anything, Patton plowed ahead. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything, I just,” he sighed roughly, running a hand through his hair, “I’ve liked you for a long time, and you were so sweet with your nicknames, and so I tried to give you some, but I guess me liking you influenced ‘em, huh? Again, I’m sorry, the last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable or hurt our friendship, so if you want to forget this happened, we can just—”
Logan’s hands cupped his face, and Patton cut off with a strangled noise. Logan was looking at him with such joy and fondness, and it made his breath catch in his throat.
“I don’t want to forget it, love.” Logan said, causing another noise to leave Patton unbidden. Logan leaned forward, searching Patton’s face for any sign of discomfort. His eyes flickered down to Patton’s lips, and Patton’s mouth went dry.
“Can I…?” Logan asked quietly. Instead of answering, Patton leaned forward and closed the gap, delighting in the small gasp Logan gave. He pressed forward, hands coming up to cover Logan’s, and Logan seemed to snap out of his surprise. He pressed against Patton, eyes slipping shut. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss as he pressed Patton against the counter, grinning at the happy noise that Patton made. The clatter of the timer hitting the ground startled them both, causing them to break apart.
They stared at each other, breathless, before Patton started giggling, which quickly turned into bright laughter as he collapsed forward into Logan’s chest. Logan quickly joined in, laughing quietly as he wrapped his arms around Patton’s waist. They stood there laughing for a while, and when their laughter finally died down Patton looked up at Logan with a bright grin.
“I’m guessing you don’t mind the pet names then?” Patton asked, teasing tone coloring his voice. Logan snorted, pressing a quick kiss to Patton’s forehead.
“As long as you don’t mind mine, dear.” Logan said, grin growing at the flush that quickly colored Patton’s cheeks.
Patton huffed, slipping out of Logan’s arms to pick up the timer and set it back on the counter. He was quick to jump up and sit on the counter next to the timer, looking at Logan with a grin.
Logan stepped into the space between his legs, setting his arms around Patton’s waist as Patton’s arm came up to settle around Logan’s shoulders, one hand playing the hair at the nape of Logan’s neck. Logan couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he pressed another kiss to Patton’s cheek, delighted at the giggle it caused. They stayed like that, talking quietly and sharing small kisses until the timer went off.
Logan took the soup off the heat and called for the others before moving back to Patton and settling back into their earlier positions. That was how the others found them, and they both ignored how Remus cheered as Deceit muttered, “Finally,” and how Roman grumbled as he handed a smug Virgil a ten dollar bill. They were too wrapped up in each other as they passed out dinner and continued into movie night, passing each other smiles and pet names through out the night.
***
Patton was careful in opening the door with his hip, not wanting to spill the tea and water he was holding. He could hear the sink running in the connecting bathroom, and assumed Logan was brushing his teeth for the night. He set the tea down on Logan’s bed table and moved around the bed towards his.
A few months after they had gotten together, they had asked Roman to help them create a neutral room that wouldn’t affect either of them, unlike their regular rooms do. They’re rooms became places for them to work or get away, but most nights found Patton and Logan in their shared room. He moved to set the water down but paused when he heard the door to the bathroom open.
“Love, you know you left your glasses case in the bathroom, right?” Logan said.
“Can you grab that for me, moonbeam?” Patton asked over his shoulder, setting the glass of water down.
“Moonbeam?” Logan asked, confusion and amusement clear in his voice.
Patton turned, shrugging with a grin. “Yeah. You like space, so I thought ‘moonbeam’ would be cute.”
Logan moved towards him, wrapping his arms around his waist, humming. “I do like space, but I like you even more, darling.”
Patton sputtered, flushing, then laughed as he lightly batted at Logan’s chest. “Hey, I’m trying to make you flustered, not the other way around!”
Logan grinned and pressed a kiss to Patton’s forehead. “Of course, dear. You always do.”
Patton huffed, looping his arms around Logan’s neck. He pulled him down for a kiss and wasn’t able to keep his smile at bay.