"Girl, if you keep staring this hard, he's gonna notice you," Remy said, poking Emile's arm to get his attention.
Emile jumped, startled, like he had just forgotten that his best friend was standing just beside him. His face reddened slightly, and he finally tore his eyes away from Patton, who was stood across the hallway, talking cheerfully with his friends.
"I- I wasn't staring," he protested, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head with his hand, a sheepish expression on his face, like he had just been caught doing something he shouldn't.
Remy gave Emile an unimpressed look.
"Babe, I'm not blind, and neither is he. If you keep looking at him like that, he's gonna notice you." He paused, sparing a glance in Patton's direction, before he turned back to Emile. "Though, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing."
"What? Of course it would be a bad thing! It could make things awkward. It could ruin our friendship. It could make him hate me!"
"Uh, it's Patton. The only people he hates are the ones that absolutely, absolutely deserve it. And you're no monster. You're you. You're as much of a literal angel as he is."
Emile turned and looked at Patton again, letting out a sigh. His expression was wistful, like he desperately, desperately wanted to go over there and kiss Patton breathless.
Knowing Emile, that was probably what he was thinking about in that exact moment.
"He is an angel, isn't he?"
Remy snapped his fingers in front of Emile's face, catching his attention again.
"Em, focus!"
"Sorry, sorry," Emile said sheepishly. "What were we talking about again?"
"I was just saying that it wouldn't be that bad if he found out how crazy you are about him."
"But- oh, oh my gosh- shh, shh! He's coming over!"
Remy rolled his eyes, but obediantly stayed quiet as they watched Patton approach them. His eyes glanced at Remy for a moment, before they settled on Emile and a smile appeared on his face.
Damn, they had it bad for each other.
"Emile, Remy, hi!" Patton greeted.
"Hey," Remy responded.
"Hello!" Emile said, perhaps a little more enthusiastically than necessary. "How are you doing?"
"I'm good!" Patton responded, already seeming like he had forgotten that Remy was there, too. "How are you?"
As Emile responded to that question, Remy's gaze drifted to where Patton's friends were stood at the other end of the hallway. They were both watching the exchange between Patton and Emile: an excited expression on Roman's face, and a nervous one on Virgil's.
Suddenly, Remy got the feeling that something important was going to happen, and that he probably wanted to watch the conversation between Emile and Patton. He turned back to his best friend and best friend's crush.
"Um, I wanted to ask you something," Patton asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
"Oh, what is it?" Emile responded.
"Um..." Patton glanced back at his friends, and Roman gave him an encouraging thumbs-up. He turned back to Emile. "Would you like to come see a movie with me this weekend?"
Emile's eyes widened, and Remy's eyebrows shot up.
Well, he had certainly not expected that to happen. He had thought that it would take way longer for one of them to get the courage to ask the other out.
Remy let out a startled laugh. He threw his arm around Emile's shoulder.
"Em would love to," he answered, seeing that Emile was at a loss for words, his mouth having fell open.
Patton gave Remy a confused look, before he turned back to Emile.
Remy nudged Emile.
"Oh!" Emile said, suddenly remembering that he needed to answer. "Yes, yes! I would love to come see a movie with you."
Patton straightened up, beaming.
"Really?"
Emile beamed, too, like he had suddenly just realised that his crush had just asked him out on a date.
"Yes!"
"Great! I, um, I should get to class, but... I'll text you the details later?"
Emile nodded enthusiastically. "I'm looking forward to it."
Patton gave Emile one last smile, before he turned and began walking back over to his friends. When he stopped beside them, they seemed to exchange a few words, before Roman pumped his fist in the air.
"Yes!" He cheered, loud enough that both Remy and Emile could hear, too.
Remy turned back to Emile.
"I think this warrants an 'I told you so'," he said.
The moment Patton's finger pressed send on the 'good morning' text, the notification for Emile video calling him popped up onto the screen.
Patton immediately beamed, and pressed accept without a second thought. When Emile's smiling face appeared on his screen, Patton's smile widened even more, and his heart did a flip in his chest.
Emile was still in his pyjamas - ones that Patton recognised from just a glimpse of his collar: pink Steven Universe ones. His hair was a mess, and he appeared to be in his bedroom, based on the wallpaper that Patton could see in the background of Emile's video.
"Happy birthday, honey!" Emile said, looking excited just to see Patton's face. "I hope you have a wonderful day!"
"It's already wonderful, 'cos I get to see your face," Patton flirted immediately.
Emile laughed. "Oh, you flatterer."
"I'm no flatterer!" Patton countered. "I'm simply honest. My wonderful boyfriend is the most handsomest man alive."
"Oh, I don't know," Emile said, pretending to think about it with a smile. "I'm pretty sure my boyfriend is the most handsome man alive."
Patton gasped. "No! You take that back, or I'm gonna fight you!"
"Fight me?" Emile laughed. "Really?"
"I'll fight you with hugs!"
"Hugs?" Emile teased. "That sounds ineffective."
"Oh, trust me, honey. It's very effective!"
"Well, your hugs are the best hugs," Emile admitted. "And I'll be lucky to have them when you come over later!" He paused. "Ooh, that reminds me: I have a few presents ready for you to open!"
"Aww, a few? Honey, you're the best." Patton smiled, and Emile smiled back: a wonderful sight, even over the phone. Then, after a moment, his smile turned slightly mischievous. "Are kisses one of my gifts?"
Emile laughed. "Of course!"
"Well, then I'm very, very excited to see you later!"
"Pat, sweetheart, what do you want for Christmas?" Emile asked as he sat down on the couch. "I have a few ideas for you, but I just wanna make sure I get it right!"
He carefully balanced his laptop in his lap, before turning to Patton - who was sat just beside him - and giving him a smile. He had many, many tabs open, and all of them were shopping for Christmas presents for all of their various friends and family members.
Emile was a dedicated Christmas shopper, and somehow always seemed to get exactly what everyone wanted.
"Hmm..." Patton thought about it, tapping his chin with his finger in obvious thought. "I dunno."
He shrugged.
"Unhelpful, but I do appreciate the honesty."
Patton laughed. "Okay, okay. I'll try to think of something."
"Try not to take so long, dear," Emile said with a teasing smile. "I'm doing my Christmas shopping now."
Patton paused, humming again and thinking about it. Then, he seemed to get an idea, and he straightened up with a cheerful, but slightly mischievous, smile.
"I know what I want!"
Emile reflected Patton's smile with his own teasing one.
"Oh? Is it me."
Patton laughed, shaking his head.
"Nope!"
"What is it then?"
"Kisses! All the kisses." He paused for a moment. "
Emile laughed.
"Honey," he said. "I don't think that counts as a gift, but I can give you your kisses now if you like."
"Kisses make the best gifts."
"They do," Emile conceded. "But I wanna give your a proper gift, too."
Despite that, he - of course - still wanted to kiss Patton. He always did, really, but he especially did in that moment.
Patton reached towards him before Emile could first, clumsily cupping his cheeks with both hands and leaning in close. Their noses bumped first, but then Patton adjusted his position and kissed him properly and softly.
He then kissed him again and again and again - sweet and chaste and happy and loving - until they were both happy giggling messes - their kisses more smiles than kisses.
They were so distracted that the laptop began to tip off of Emile's lap, which he almost didn't notice. But he did notice, and caught it just in time, pulling it back into his lap between the two of them.
Patton's expression remained cheerful and mischievous when he eventually pulled back.
"Yes, honey?" Emile called out, leaning out of the kitchen door - where he was decorating - to get a look at his husband, who was stood just in front of the living room window.
Patton turned to look at him, holding up the two sets of decorations that were in his hands. One was a long string of white cobwebs, with little spiders stuck in multiple places. The other was a string of cute bats.
"Which one goes in the window?" Patton asked. "And which one should I put on the wall?"
Emile hummed, tapping his chin in thought.
"I think... bats in the window, and cobwebs on the wall."
Patton glanced back at the decorations in his hands, and then to the window and the wall. He looked back at his husband with a smile.
"Perfect! You're a genius."
"Aww, honey!"
"I'd give you kisses," Patton said. "But I wanna finish decorating first, so I don't wanna get distracted."
Emile hummed. "Just one kiss?"
Patton pretended to think about it, clearly stifling a giggle.
"Okay," he finally gave in. He placed the decorations on the couch, and made grabby hands at his husband. "C'mere."
And, of course, Emile could never say no to an invitation like that. He walked over to him, abandoning the Halloween snacks he'd been preparing in their kitchen.
Patton reached out, cupping Emile's cheek with one hand, leaning in and kissing him softly. The kiss was gentle and warm and everything Emile could ever want in a kiss, so, of course, Emile couldn't possibly pull away.
And perhaps Patton had been right to call kisses a distraction, as Emile suddenly had nothing more on his mind than his sweet, handsome husband.
Emile sighed into the kiss, and that seemed to have been enough for Patton to snap out of it.
He pulled back, and Emile barely suppressed a whine, instead pouting.
"We can kiss after we decorate," Patton said, looking no more happy with that than Emile.
He’d read as much as he could about them, memorised every little description he could find and asked anyone he knew who could see them to tell him the colours of everything around him.
He knew of the warmth of red – the way it was like sun on your skin, anger and love and everything hot and burning. He knew of the coolness of blue – like sky and water, all that was wet and cool and calm. He knew of the life of green: vegetables and vegetation and the way you could practically taste the colour on your tongue when you ate your greens.
He knew exactly how every colour felt, had a basic idea of what each of them looked like, but he had never seen one.
His vision was grey, just like everyone else who had a soulmate but had never met them. Some people were born with the colours in their eyes, but Emile was not one of them.
He was glad he had a soulmate, and he was so, so excited to meet them, but he was just as excited to finally get to see the colours: to watch all his favourite cartoons the way they were meant to be watched, to see life the way it was always meant to be seen. He couldn’t wait for the moment the world turned bright and vibrant.
So, it was strange that the moment that colours first filled his vision, he almost didn’t notice them.
He was lost in a pair of soft, grey eyes.
The prettiest eyes he’d ever seen.
But then, he noticed the pink at the corners of the whites of the eyes – a colour he’d never seen, but one he’d researched and knew the name of. The cheeks were pink, too, as were the parted lips, and the hair was light and curly and a colour that Emile assumed was blond. There was freckles across the bridge of his nose, and Emile suddenly realised that he’d leant in much closer the moment he realised that he could finally see the colours.
It was okay, though, because the other man had leant in just as much, too, so close that it would’ve only taken a slight movement for their noses to bump and their glasses to collide.
(In the past, when Emile had imagined meeting his soulmate, he’d always thought that he’d spend minutes, possibly even hours, looking around at his surroundings and taking in all of the colours. But, right now, all he could do was stare at the other man. There was nothing else he wanted to look at.)
“Wow,” the other man breathed, finally snapping Emile out of his daze and prompting him to take a step back, out of his soulmate’s space. “You’re my soulmate.”
He sounded so, so happy, which was a mood reflected exactly in Emile’s heart, and Emile couldn’t help but let out a delighted laugh and beam at him. He opened his mouth to speak, and what he’d meant to say was ‘they’re so pretty,’ referring to the colours that had blossomed in front of him, but something else came out instead.
“You’re so pretty,” he said softly, and then his eyes widened and his hand flew up to cover his mouth when he realised what he’d just said.
His soulmate blinked at him, startled, before he brought his hand up to his mouth and giggled.
Emile’s heart skipped a beat in his chest, and he suddenly felt all warm and fuzzy inside, as that laugh was now his new favourite sound.
“Gosh, you’re just- wow,” Emile’s soulmate smiled sweetly, before he held his hand out for Emile to shake. “I’m Patton,” he introduced himself. “Patton Sanders. You?”
Emile took Patton’s hand without hesitation, shaking it. “Emile Picani.”
“Emile...” Patton repeated slowly, like he was savouring the name. “That’s a pretty name.”
“Thank you.”
“So, Emile,” Patton said, smiling. “Are you doing anything today?”
“Nope, it’s my day off.”
“Great! Can I take you out, then?”
“I’d love that,” Emile said genuinely, with a soft smile that matched Patton’s exactly.
“Oh, wonderful!” Patton beamed, but when he opened his mouth to continue talking, likely about the date, he suddenly cut himself off with widened eyes when he finally took his eyes off of Emile’s face. “Oh my gosh, look at all the colours!”
That prompted Emile to do the same thing, and he was no less astonished and amazed when he took in all of the colours around them. The world had never been more vibrant, and it had never been more beautiful.
The first thing Emile looked at was the sky. The fluffy white clouds were the same as they’d always been, but this time against a backdrop of a colour he knew was named ‘blue,’ inside of grey. It was the exact same colour of the polo-shirt Patton wore, under his grey and white cat hoodie. The bricks of the nearby buildings were a warm dark colour he assumed was red. The grass and the bushes in the park across the road were a colour he knew was green. The flowers in the windows of the shop they were stood in front of were all kinds of colours, and now far more pretty than Emile had ever found them before.
He looked down at himself, and found he really liked the colour of his tie – which his brother had called pink: like red, but lighter.
“Those flowers are gorgeous!” Patton said, sounding just as breathless and amazed as Emile felt as he admire the flowers that Emile had just looked at.
Emile straightened up. “I’m going to buy you a bouquet,” he announced.
Patton turned back to him. “Aww, really?”
“Yup! Come on.”
Emile hesitated for a moment, before he held his hand out to Patton. Patton took it immediately, and Emile found that his hand was warm and soft and he never wanted to let go of it again. Emile squeezed his hand, and Patton squeezed his back.
As they pushed the store door open and stepped inside, Patton spoke up again.
“Do you like puns?” He asked.
“Of course, I like puns! Who doesn’t?”
“How about dad jokes?”
“They’re the best kind!”
“Wow, you really are my soulmate, huh?” Patton joked, and Emile laughed.
“Do you like cartoons?” Emile asked.
Patton nodded eagerly. “Of course!”
“Disney?”
“Yup! I’ve got all of their songs stuck in my head, like, all the time.”
Emile beamed. “Oh my gosh, we have got to have a movie marathon some time.”
“I’ll bring the popcorn!”
“It’s a date!”
They stopped in front of the flowers, and Emile found that they were all much prettier and more vibrant up close. They weren’t as gorgeous as Patton, of course, but Emile got the feeling that that was pretty much impossible.
“Which ones are your favourite?” He asked Patton, gesturing with his free hand.
Patton hummed, looking them over. “Gosh, I really don’t know! They’re just all so gorgeous, you know? Who knew that colours were so beautiful!”
“Yeah,” Emile nodded in agreement. “Ooh, how about these ones? They’re the most colourful.”
“Oh, they’re so pretty!” Patton agreed. “But, dang, you know, I really wish I knew the names of all these colours. They’re all so pretty!”
Emile picked up the bouquet with his free hand, looking it over. He then pointed awkwardly at one of the flowers with the hand still in Patton’s. It likely would’ve been easier to point if he let go of Patton’s hand, but he definitely didn’t want to do that.
“I think this one is blue,” he said. “It matches the sky – same as your polo-shirt.”
Patton looked down at his shirt as if he hadn’t noticed it. “Oh, you’re right. I think this is my favourite, it’s so pretty!” He then looked back up at Emile, meeting his eyes and giving him a soft smile. “And it’s the same colour as your eyes.”
Emile smiled back. “Yeah, my brother told me that.”
“Oh, you have a brother?”
“Yup! His name is Remy, he’s three years older than me and he’s gotta be the coolest person I’ve ever met. He met his soulmate, Logan, when they were twelve, so he’s been telling me about colours for a while.”
“Aww, that’s sweet. I have a brother, too. His name’s Virgil and he doesn’t have a soulmate so he’s always been able to see them. He’s my roommate, and he keeps telling me that the colours of my socks always clash, but I think I prefer them that way.”
Emile looked down at their feet, and saw that Patton’s socks were two different colours, one that he recognised as a dark blue, and the other that he didn’t know the name of, though it was bright and looked like the opposite of blue, so he assumed it was orange. The blue one had many differently-sized white spots across it, and the orange was covered with dark and light grey cat faces.
He loved them.
Emile smiled at him again. “I like them.”
Patton beamed. “And are those foxes on your socks? Where did you get them?”
“I’ll have to ask Remy, he got these for my birthday,” Emile said, before gesturing with the bouquet he still held. “So, these flowers, do you like them?”
“Oh, yes, they’re perfect.”
As the pair made their way to the checkout for Emile to pay for the flowers, Patton squeezed Emile’s hand to catch his attention.
“Hey, what do you call a girl with a frog on her head?”
“What?”
“Lily!”
Emile laughed, and Patton gave him the fondest look imaginable, seeming incredibly pleased with himself and his pun.
“Okay, okay,” Emile said. “Why did the woman not like camping?”
“Why?”
“Because she found it too in-tents!” Emile laughed at his own joke. “Get it, ‘cos you camp in tents?”
Patton giggled. “Ooh, what do you call it when two flowers start falling in love?”
“I don’t know, what do you call it?”
“A budding romance!”
“Aww, that one’s cute.”
The cashier gave them an amused look as they handed her the flowers and she scanned them.
“First date?”
“Yeah,” Emile said. “How’d you guess?”
“You guys just have the look,” she said, as Emile handed her the money.
“Yeah, uh...” Patton gave Emile a fond look, squeezing his hand. “We’re actually soulmates. We just met.”
She smiled at them as she handed Emile the flowers. “Aww, that’s sweet. Well, I hope you have a nice date.”
“Thank you,” Emile smiled at her.
The couple walked away, and the moment they stepped out of the shop, they stopped. Emile turned to Patton, and made a show of dramatically handing him the bouquet. Patton giggled, taking them happily.
“You’re quite the gentleman, aren’t you?”
“Oh, they’re just flowers,” Emile responded. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Well, I can’t wait.”
Patton held the flowers up to his nose, taking a deep breath and then sighing happily.
(Emile had been smiling so much he could already feel his face start to ache. But it was impossible to stop: it was impossible to keep his immeasurable joy from bubbling up. He and Patton had only just met, but he was already excited to spend the rest of his life with him. That voice was already his favourite sound, and that smile was already his favourite sight.)
“So,” Patton squeezed his hand, and Emile automatically squeezed back. “How about ice cream?”
“Sounds great.”
“Okay! There’s a place just a few streets away, I go there basically every week. The ice cream’s just so good!”
Emile nodded, and Patton immediately began walking in the direction of the ice cream place, gently tugging Emile along. Emile went along with no complaint, and he already knew he would follow that man anywhere, to the ends of the earth.
When Patton glanced back over his shoulder to smile at him, he caught another glimpse of those pretty grey eyes, and he couldn’t help but smile back.
Emile had been daydreaming about colours since he was old enough to daydream, but never had he once considered that his favourite colour would end up being grey.
Uhhhh human au where all the sides are siblings but not in the order they're usually in
Remus and Roman are the oldest
Then Virgil
Then Logan
Then Janus
Then Patton
Patton's the baby and he's in high school and he lives with all his brothers and one day he comes home and is like ":O guys I'm in love!!!"
And his brothers are all 👀👀👀👀👀 but also they're like "who is he we're gonna FIGHT HIM" but ofc Patton is probably a bit oblivious to the protective part cos the brothers are just trying to get info about the guy out of him
And so Patton invites him over and they're preparing to be threatening but SURPRISE
It's this guy in a cardigan, tie and glasses who keeps talking about cartoons (and his super cool older brother) and honestly they're almost tempted to threaten PATTON to make sure he he doesn't hurt Emile
And yeah Patmile high school au
Two smitten sweethearts who spend the whole time dancing around each other cos theyre friends and they dont think the other has romantic feelings for them (but they DO ofc) and their older brothers are playing matchmaker the whole time and yeah
Emile spoke softly, gently, and Patton looked confused when he was done. His brow creased, and his hands twisted the fabric of his shirt. He looked nervous, a little uncomfortable, and shifted awkwardly.
"I- I know that," He said.
Emile tilted his head, his brow creasing, too, in thought. Then, he spoke again.
"Okay, but you know it's okay to feel bad, too, right?"
Patton didn't say anything at that. He looked down at his lap and avoided eye contact.
Emile sighed. Then, he reached forward, gently taking Patton's hand in his own and squeezing it. Patton finally looked back up at him.
"This- this isn't healthy, Pat. You need to let yourself feel bad. It's okay."
"But... I can't. I can't. I'm supposed to be happy."
"You're supposed to be yourself," Emile corrected him softly. "And I want you to be happy, but I also want you to feel every other emotion you need to. You feel what you feel, and if you suppress your emotions, it'll just get worse."
"But it's- I... I'm fine."
That last part was said quietly, with very little conviction.
"It's okay if you're not," Emile reassured, placing his other hand over the one he held and rubbing reassuring shapes with his fingers. "It's okay not to be fine."
There was a beat.
Then, Patton swallowed.
"Is it?"
His voice was small, and it broke Emile's heart, but he didn't let himself react. He gave Patton a small smile.
(200 ficlets, all since November! Wooo!!!!! This is the 202nd!!! I am posting 27 ficlets today in celebration (all written yesterday oop), as I will take Any excuse to dump a ton of ficlets on you guys lmao)
"Ooh, ooh! This spot's perfect!" Patton beamed, squeezing Emile's hand as he led him across the field.
He stopped at a particularly pretty patch of grass - half in sunshine, half in shade.
(Patton always preferred sitting in this sun, while Emile always preferred the cooler shade. The perfect picnic spot accommodated both of them.)
Emile nodded when Patton turned back to smile at him - as bright as the sunshine that haloed his dark hair.
Patton dropped his hand, taking the blanket that was tucked under his arm and carefully laying it out across the grass. He sat down, smoothing out the creases, and then patted the shady spot beside him.
Emile sat down carefully, bringing the picnic basket with him and placing it down between them. Before he could open it, however, Patton beat him to it.
"I packed all your favourites," Patton explained as he pulled out two paper plates, followed by plastic cutlery, before unpacking the numerous containers of food, too.
"When did you find the time to make all of this?" Emile asked, a little in awe.
Despite the fact that, by now, the couple had been together for years, Patton still managed to surprise him on a semi-regular basis.
"I woke up really early! Do you like it?"
"I love it," Emile smiled, taking Patton's hand again and squeezing it. "And I love you."
