Roman was rinsing off the ice cream dishes to put in the dishwasher, humming a song from Hercules. The ice cream brand the Sanders kept in the freezer was magical and custardy. The hot water pushed the small remnants of the cream off of the bowls and spoons with ease, and he loaded them into the dishwasher after they were clear of food debris. He dried off his hands and stepped away, about to head up to his room to read. He was ready to be off his feet.

"Are you busy with homework tonight?" Thomas asked, taking over the sink area to rinse out the pressure cooker pot.

"Nope, finally free. Why? Do you need me to do something?" Roman leaned against the counter and took the weight off his right foot.

"Your clothes came in, I'd like it if you could try them on so we can return anything that doesn't fit," Thomas said. Roman froze, remembering his laundry.

"Clothes!" Roman blurted out and hurriedly headed into the laundry room. Son of a bitch, he really needed to remember to set an alarm on his phone or something now that he could.

"Are you okay?" Thomas called after him from the sink.

"Forgot my laundry," Roman called back and pulled his clothes from the washer to the drier and clipped up the things with elastic to hang dry. He was lucky it was just a few hours and he wouldn't have to re-wash them. He was also lucky he didn't get in trouble for hogging the washing machine here. Virgil leaned over in the doorway and smirked smarmily at him. Roman dropped what he was holding to sign to him.

'Fuck off,' Roman signed and rolled his eyes. Virgil silently laughed at him, then slinked away, but not before returning the sentiment. He was positive forgetting laundry was an eventuality of the universe thing, so he had no clue why Virgil was on a high horse.

"What was that about, kiddo?" Patton asked curiously from the kitchen table.

"Genuinely no idea," Roman shrugged and started the dryer. "I forgot what we were talking about, sorry," Roman apologized as he came back out of the laundry room.

"Your clothes came in the mail. I hid the prices. You can just try it on. There are just a few outfits to check and show me. Also, some stuff you shouldn't need to try on. And I want you to know that even if you see a price, I got them for cheaper," Thomas held up a wet finger pointedly at Roman before he dried his hands. "They're already up on your bed if you want to try them on now," He added.

"Okay," Roman swallowed. He was grateful since he had done some cleaning today to help assuage the bad feeling. It wasn't the first time a foster parent had purchased his clothes, but it had been a damn long while. The Finleys had bought him stuff when he grew out of them the last time, but he'd had to work it off with extra chores. He didn't enjoy cleaning house gutters or scrubbing out an oven, honestly. Though, if Thomas asked him, he'd do it in a heartbeat. "Do I have to show you?" Roman added, pleadingly.

"Your perception of 'fits' is a little iffy to me, I'd feel better about the things you want to return if I saw how they looked for myself," Thomas smiled reassuringly. Roman nodded and headed upstairs to his bedroom.

The clothes were folded on his bed as prophesied by the man with the mysterious 'dad' powers. Roman noticed the prices on the tags were covered by opaque tape. He could peel it back if he wanted to, but honestly, Thomas was probably right to do it like this. He wasn't a fan of the concept of trusting adults, but maybe, just maybe, Thomas and Patton were okay. At least about some things. He shouldn't count on them or anything, but letting Thomas cover up some numbers so Roman didn't freak out because they didn't reflect how much he actually spent seemed like something he could trust.

There were two unopened packs of socks that Roman checked quickly, and they were fine. He liked that they were black, those looked better with his new sneakers. The small pile of boxers was also all the right size. He wasn't sure if Thomas came in and checked his clothes for the sizes or eyeballed them. He didn't ask. He probably went up and investigated while Roman saved that village in the game. He tried on one of the new pairs of jeans and a baseball raglan. The scarlet red and gold on the sleeves were very striking. He stepped into the hall and was surprised to see Thomas leaning against the wall up there.

"Oh, great! Looks like it fits fine. I'm a little worried about the track pants. Can you try those on next?" Thomas said and held out a thumbs up. He agreed that they fit way better than anything else in his closet. "The other one of those should fit fine, they're the same brand. There's a pack of shirts I guessed on and a flannel I'm also not positive about," Roman nodded and headed back in his room. He examined the stack on the bed and pulled out a pair of track pants. There was a dark red pair and a black pair. He stepped back out into the hall after changing into the flannel and track pants.

"Honestly, the flannel is kind of big, but I think the pants fit well," Roman said, tugging at the big loose sleeve on the long sleeve shirt.

"You don't like stuff that's too loose, right?" Thomas asked. Roman shook his head. It was too easy for someone to catch hold of him with loose fabric. "All right, I'll return that one," Thomas nodded to him and Roman returned into his room. He felt like he was handling this okay. He went to the next pair of pants down in the pile. These had zipper pockets, which was eye-catching. Thomas managed to find something that a YA protagonist would wear for sure. Definitely a rebel hero jumping off a building look. He tried those on with a button-down top and came back into the hall.

"Looks like the pants are a little loose, but room to grow into them probably wouldn't hurt. What do you think?" Thomas asked.

"I like them. They're really cool," Roman replied meekly. They must have cost a fortune. He'd seen nothing vaguely resembling something like it on the clearance racks.

"Hey, do you need to take a break?" Thomas asked, standing up straight and walking over to Roman.

"You… you promise you kept it under seventy bucks?" Roman confirmed quietly, feeling very small.

"I promise the clothes were under seventy dollars," Thomas crossed his heart with his finger. "It's okay if you need a recess," Thomas reassured him again.

"No, I'll… be fine. I like them so far. I just… are you sure I can't pay you back some way?" Roman leaned against the door and looked to Thomas warily.

"I don't need or want to be paid back with money or labour. All I want from you is to take care of yourself," Thomas said. Roman had to stop himself from scoffing. It was a ridiculous concept. Thomas looked deeply concerned, though, and Roman felt weird. It made little sense, but it seemed like Roman was conflicted between two emotions he couldn't even identify. He leaned towards Thomas, who reached out and hugged him. It helped a little if he was honest with himself.

"I like the button down. I thought it would look dorkier, but I was wrong," Roman told him softly.

"A good fit will do that. It's helpful to have something dressier for presentations, in my opinion. It helps people take you seriously. There are a few more jeans, shirts, and the jacket. Do you think you can handle it? We don't have to do it all today," Thomas offered kindly and rubbed Roman's back.

"I got it," Roman shook his head and pulled off. "Thanks," He added quietly and turned back into the room. Roman tried on the rest of the clothes without much comment. There were only a few things that needed returning.

He went into the bedroom and picked up a three-pack of v-neck shirts in jewel tones, and his eyes caught on the jacket at the bottom. It was a brown leather jacket with red scale-like insets on the sleeves and the back of the jacket and zippered pockets. It was hands-down the coolest jacket he had ever seen in his entire damned life. Roman shrugged it on right away. It fit. It fits! He looked down at it and admired himself, holding out the sleeves to look at the red insets. Even the stupid gloves looked better with this jacket on. He stepped out of the bedroom right away.

"Thomas! Holy- Agh, you know what I mean!" Roman caught himself before he cursed. "This is the coolest!" He motioned to the jacket and spun around. "How did you even find something like this?" He said excitedly. He liked his bomber jacket, but this looked kick-ass!

"Determination and knowing what to look for. Does it fit well? Do you like it?" Thomas asked, grinning. Roman zipped it up swiftly and held out his arms.

"Yes, yes, and yes," He nodded happily. He paused and looked down at it again. "It wasn't…" Roman trailed off and looked up to Thomas with consternation.

"I got a reasonable price, I promise. It looks to be excellent quality. Hopefully, it will last a long time," Thomas held up his hand. "Let me help you get the tags off the stuff we're keeping," He said and Roman nodded in agreement.

"Hold on, I've got to change back into my clothes," Roman told him and closed the door. He didn't want to take off the jacket, but the tag on this shirt was itching to high holy hell and he wanted it dead.

Roman changed hastily and hung up the jacket in his closet before opening the door for Thomas to come in. He was already bearing a pair of scissors, so Roman peeled off stickers and Thomas handled those stupid plastic things that held tags on. Together they worked quickly and dumped all the new stuff in the laundry basket with a pile of the returns off to the side.

He was looking forward to having more pyjamas and clothes that fit better, as much as the fact that they spent more money on him stung. When he could run again, he had proper exercise clothes now. Moisture-wicking shirts and everything. He did not understand how Thomas pulled off getting so many clothes for cheap, but he appreciated it anyway.

"Leather can be stiff until you break it in, so it wouldn't hurt to put it on tonight if you wanted to wear it tomorrow," Thomas informed him. Roman paused, examining him. He honestly wanted an excuse to put it back on, and he wasn't sure if Thomas somehow knew that. The extent of mysterious dad powers was still unknown. "We're going to watch Parks & Rec downstairs if you want to join us," Thomas smiled pleasantly.

"Um, yeah," Roman nodded and went over to the closet to pull the jacket back out. He slid it back on and followed Thomas downstairs after ripping off a sticker on the chest.

"Kiddo! Looking-" Patton sputtered when Lita licked him on the mouth. "-fly!" Patton said brightly from the couch. Lita happily licked Patton in the face standing in his lap. Roman rolled his eyes. He was such a dad it hurt to watch.

"Pat, don't let Lita get away with that," Thomas groaned and motioned to Lita who was excitedly licking Patton's face. "Go wash off all that dog spit," Thomas pointed to the half-bath door.

"Fine," Patton giggled and patted the couch. Lita hopped off him and laid down next to where Patton was sitting while Patton went into the restroom.

"Oh, Roman. Since we let Virgil pick the movie last week, we thought we'd have you choose this weekend. I wanted to give you some heads up to decide. You don't have to if you don't want to, though," Thomas said as he sat down on the couch. Lita made a frustrated face at him and put her head back down. She must have been sour about Thomas making her stop. Roman paused to think. They watched I am Legend last weekend. Patton had not stopped crying. Though he'd cried too, so he probably shouldn't judge. Even Virgil had teared up at that one scene.

"Um, sure," Roman replied, still considering it. Patton liked romance movies and Virgil liked demons and stuff. Thomas seemed to like a wide variety of media, as Roman did. There wasn't a lot of crossover with romance and monsters. Well, actually… "I already know which movie to pick. Warm Bodies. It's also PG-13, so it's okay," Roman smirked. If Virgil hadn't already heard about it, Roman had a chance to troll him into getting invested in a horror flick just to have it turn out to be a romance.

"Isn't that another zombie movie? Do you like those?" Thomas raised an eyebrow.

"I just think you guys might like it," Roman grinned and settled on the edge of the couch where he normally sat. "I like adventure comedies the most, but I'm not picky," He added.

"Are you picky about anything?" Thomas asked, sounding somewhat weary. Roman wasn't sure if that was rhetorical or not. He didn't think it was. There was one thing he was extremely particular about that he probably shouldn't admit considering it would likely piss off Thomas, so he settled on something more mundane.

"I'm kind of picky about art supplies. I don't appreciate pencils or something breaking and messing up what I'm working on," Roman responded off-handedly.

"It looks like you don't care about the paper quality much, it looks like school notes next to that sketch," Thomas smiled and pointed at the notebook on the table. He had entirely forgotten about his earlier art plans.

"Oh, I was going to trace that into my sketchbook. Sorry," Roman mumbled and gathered his things. He had no idea where his brain was, but it was certainly nowhere useful.

"No, Roman, it's fine. You can draw on the coffee table, we don't mind. Right, Pat?" Thomas looked up to Patton stepping out of the hall bath.

"Oh, of course not, kiddo!" Patton said brightly and sat down next to Lita, who stood up to lie against Patton.

"I, uh, I meant I'm sorry for leaving it out. I got distracted. The table was dirty and, um, I got a little carried away cleaning, I guess," Roman admitted quietly.

"I thought the TV looked clearer for some reason," Patton mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Did you clean the entire living room?" Thomas asked curiously, looking around.

"No, I just picked up the table and did all the glass. Well, in here and in the kitchen, anyway. And cleaned my room. Though I should probably still vacuum," Roman replied offhandedly and tapped his chin distractedly. He should do that. Roman started to stand up.

"Roman, you cleaned plenty. Sit back down," Thomas responded firmly and Roman flushed as he sat down at the coffee table.

"Sorry," Roman muttered, looking down at the floor.

"No need to say sorry. Thanks for doing the glass, it looks nice in here. That explains why I found cleaner on the kitchen counter," Thomas said much more brightly as he reclined comfortably into the couch.

"Sorry," Roman wrung his hands. He forgot to put it away because he got distracted again. Patton cleared his throat and Roman's eye's shot up to him.

"Take it back," Patton held up a finger and stared at Roman.

"What?" Roman was completely baffled.

"You've said sorry enough for things you don't need to apologize for. Take it back," Patton clarified emphatically, looking resolute.

"Um, I take it back?" Roman repeated what he was told to say.

"Thank you," Patton smiled softly. "Do you have enough light to draw? Should we turn up the overhead light?" He looked up to the light that was turned down halfway.

"No, actually it's better if it's darker in here," Roman shook his head, still feeling very confused.

"Won't you hurt your eyes?" Thomas asked curiously.

"I'm using the table as a lightbox, it won't hurt. It's fine. Go ahead and start the show," Roman motioned with his head to the TV. Thomas shrugged lightly and grabbed the remote off the couch.

The intro music started up and Roman hummed along with it while he opened his sketchbook to a blank page and used the spiral to make it the only page out and did the same to his notes spiral, then turned on the flashlight on his phone and put it on the floor under the drawing to trace it over to the sketchbook. He could see the lines from the notebook paper shadowing through, which hopefully wouldn't mess with his tracing too much.

"Oh, that's clever!" Patton said brightly, sounding impressed. "I was wondering what you meant," He hummed.

"I was confused too. I'm used to the 'lightbox' meaning type of stage lighting. That is smart," Thomas laughed. "So why was it in your school notes?" He inquired, and thankfully he didn't sound annoyed about it. His teachers sure didn't like it.

"I just can't focus in class without sketching, sor-um… I mean…" Roman trailed off. "There are still notes and all, I'm not slacking off. I wanted to color it and stuff so I've got to put it on paper that won't rip," Roman explained and pulled out his new kneaded eraser to clean up where he messed up.

"Do you need any art supplies?" Patton asked nicely and Roman stiffened.

"I, uh," Roman fought the urge to say sorry again. "I appreciate it? But… I already received new clothes. Thank you again for those… and… it's just… a lot," He said carefully. "The sketchbook is new and Thomas just got me a new eraser set, so I have the basics and it's fine," He swallowed nervously. He hoped they would drop the subject.

"If you run out of something, will you let us know?" Patton asked gently. Roman sighed and nodded. The essentials of the basics for art supplies were cheap. He could get over that, probably. He focused back on transferring the drawing over while he listened to the show, occasionally looking up to watch.

When he finished, he picked up everything and grabbed his phone to turn off the flashlight. He put it all on the side table next to the couch, took a seat to watch the program. He got enough of the sketch transferred, and he was much more interested in the show than sketching. The comedy distracted him and he wanted to put his feet up.

Roman enjoyed watching the show and checking out things on his phone again. It was something he'd gotten used to doing, and it was relaxing to him. Patton still thought it might be too much activity when he should be getting ready to settle down for bed, but it was the exact right amount of attention for him. He didn't have to get distracted by anything he didn't want to think about.

He was enjoying having unfettered access to the internet. He could look up every stupid thing that came to his mind as long as he was on wi-fi. Roman felt the neat layered leather inset on the sleeve and pulled up his feet to lean against the couch contentedly. He watched Ron Swanson insult people while he researched reference images of cool swords to draw on his phone. Roman wasn't sure, but he was nearly positive he caught Thomas looking at him out of the corner of his eye. What was that about?