#im not too proud of this i just had a cpuple concepts i mashed into one and no real plot lol

[marsupials-of-mars]

Don't Lie to the Right Eye

Summary: A bunch of concepts I liked in one, Deceit hates Patton's dark light system but he knows his only chance to see Virgil is to find a way to appeal to Patton.

Patton felt bad. Incredibly bad. He might have gone as far as to say he felt entirely awful. A horrible sense of loss overwhelmed him. It was something he felt every now and then. He usually never did much about it but recently it had been more...unbearable...than usual. And of course, he entirely knew why he felt the way he did, though he pretended he didn't, pretended in a way that fooled even himself most if the time. But this time he had to confront it. Maybe not directly, maybe in the wrong way, a way that might not get him closure. But he'd already made up his mind. That was why he looked the way he did. Like Patton. He adjusted his cardigan so the sleeves alligned on his chest, checking in the mirror for any other abnormalities. He pushed his glasses up his nose, the last glint of gold in his eye dimming down into a baby blue. He shrugged his shoulders into a more loose, Patton-ish posture. He'd never done something like this before. But he'd also never felt this bad before, so it evened out. He took a deep breath and flashed himself a warm Patton smile in the mirror. It didn't help. It wasn't real. He felt the static build in his mind, threatening to escape through his waterline. That was okay wasn't it? He cried all the time. Patton cried all the time.

He turned on his heel and left the room, in search of his solution.

It was too bright upstairs, too shimmering. The blacks and purples of Virgil's door proved to be comforting under such a glaring light. Patton's fist raised, seemingly on instinct, as if he'd never been forbidden from ever approaching that door, forbidden from knocking on it for any reason. Though that made sense; Patton hadn't been forbidden from any of that. He knocked.

Virgil didn't answer at first, probably busy rupturing his eardrums with MCR. Patton grabbed the doorknob. Virgil loved him, Virgil wouldn't yell at him for coming in uninvited. Not when he was a member of his REAL family. He tugged open the door and stepped in. He was immediately flooded with comfort; the darkness, the the dread, the Virgil scent. Pattons tongue flicked out instinctually to draw it in more, but he managed to quell the urge before Virgil turned around. He pulled his headphones off.

"Patton? You good? Did you need something?"

Patton took a breath. Virgils voice was calm, kind. No tension, no annoyance, no anger. "I... can we-" He grabbed the loose sleeves of his cardigan and squeezed his eyes shut. "Can we cuddle?"

He opened one eye, hesitantly. Surely he'd be found out, surely Virgil wouldn't... His train of though was cut short. Virgil was smiling. Virgil was SMILING at him. Relaxed, unafraid, not hidden behind a hand, honest and caring. And Patton couldn't hold it anymore. He cried, a flood of suppressed tears escaping in a single disgusting sob. He threw his hands over his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to cut it out. Tears of happiness surely, because Virgil never smiled like that with the Darks. Because clearly his new family was better for him, because clearly he was so much happier here. And Patton was his new family. So he sobbed, with horrible, horrible joy.

"Woah, what happened?!" Virgil ran to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Cmon, sit down." He led Patton to the bed and sat him down, letting him lean into his chest. Patton buried his face in Virgil's hoodie and let him pet his hair. "Talk to me pops."

"I don't know if I want to..." Patton muttered, muffled by hoodie.

"That's fine. But crying like that... it seems like you've been holding something in. And you know what happens when you hold things in." He sounded concerned but stern, a tone he used to so commonly hear directed toward himself.

Patton's lip quivered. "You're so good at that."

"Hm? At what?"

"Being mature like that, you weren't like that... before." He stopped himself from saying what he really meant. That Virgil wasn't like that with his old family. His family of bad influences. "I'm... so proud of you Virge."

Virgil smiled. "I know. You say that all the time."

Patton sat up and layed his hands on Virgil's shoulders. He met his eyes.

"I mean it. It's not a throwaway line. I don't want to oversaturate it. I'm so INCREDIBLY proud. Everyone is. Everyone."

Virgil scoffed and averted his eyes. "Not everyone. I know a couple sides who are pretty disappointed with how I turned out. Not like I'd care to please them."

Patton shook his head and his stare grew more intense. "They might not say it. But I'm sure they are. They may be incredibly upset with you for some of your choices, but they do care."

Virgil huffed a laugh out his nose. "You really do like to see the best in people don't you Pat?"

Patton groaned internally. He did see the best in people, when he couldn't afford to. He hated to be agreeing with himself on that point. "It's what I do, isn't it?" He flinched at the words. "I think despite your differences, despite their... unpleasantness, they want the best for you."

Virgil groaned and leaned back. "I dunno. Why are you bringing them up now?" He seemed to realize something. He sat upright. "Did they do something to you? Did HE do something to you? Is that why you're crying?!"

"No no no! I'm just emotional, I get that way sometimes don't I? Mushy Patton feelings." His right eye twitched at the lie. Virgil didn't seem to notice. "I've just been thinking a lot. About you. About how much you've changed, how much you've grown... it's spectacular."

Virgil relaxed a little. "I dunno. I'm still laps behind you guys... yknow. With the goodness."

Patton felt rage build in him. "Is that how we make you feel?! Like you're lesser than?! Because why? Because you're dark?"

"I WAS dark. I'm light. But yknow, like... what's better for my ego? Being a nearly good dark side? Or a barely good light side?"

Pattons face was red. Was this how he felt? Because of the lights? Because of Patton? Because of his stupid good bad system? Patton growled and crumpled his khakis in his fists.

Virgil looked to his white knuckles and back up to his eyes, now shaded with tension.

"You're acting... off. Are you sure this isn't something bigger?"

"I want you to feel better, I want you to like yourself! I want to be there for you like I haven't been, I-" He stopped himself from saying what he really wanted to. That he missed Virgil. So much. That he was sorry.

"What do you mean you haven't been?! Patton you're amazing!"

"I am NOT! I'm a fraud, you think I make you feel better but I DON'T!" His eye twitched and he slapped a hand over it. "Forget it. Forget I was ever here. I'm fine."

Virgil held out his hand but Patton dodged it. "Patton wait, where are you-"

"This was a bad idea!" And Patton left the room in a rush, before he could screw anything else up. Bad idea. It was all a horrible idea to start with. He quickened his pace down the hall toward the basement door. He turned the corner fast enough for the soles of his shoes to squeak against the hardwood, and quick enough that he didn't see what was in front of him until it was too late. He rammed full speed into a side, falling backward with a grunt. He looked up, and he looked back down at himself. PATTON looked back down at him.

"Oh, pardon me Patton!" He reached a hand down to help but paused. "Wait... something's fishy here..."

Patton panicked. His features flickered, the gold in his eye reestablishing its place over the baby blue, and scales rippling their way back up through his flesh. He lifted a hand to the brim of his hat, now once again present, to straighten it. He managed to quell his panic to reestablish his cunning, to partial success.

"Deceit?! What are you doing up here?!" Patton crossed his arms.

"Just paying my..." He looked up from under the brim if his hat, his eyes blinking back to baby blue. He fluttered innocent, paternal puppy dog eyes. "KIDDO... a visit. Is there a problem?"

Patton seemed unsettled. He subtly averted his eyes, but managed to hold his ground. "Yeah there's a problem! Virgil doesn't want to see you, and that doesnt mean trick him into thinking it's not you!"

"I just wanted to see him, I wouldn't hurt a hair on his head I hope you know that. Purely therapeutic, no harm no foul."

"There was harm! Dishonesty is harm!" Patton grabbed Deceit's arm. Deceit drew in a breath and managed to keep from hissing. Patton softened his grip and calmed down, though still stern. "I can take you back to the basement if you don't want to go yourself."

Deceit narrowed his eyes. "Oh you want to go to the basement? Let's go then." He yanked his arm out of Patton's hold and quickly seized his shoulders, gripping him around the torso with two other sets of arms. Patton yelped but barely had time to squirm before he was yanked down into a tunnel of darkness, falling down, down, finally appearing in a dark stone cell.

Patton huffed, scrambling out of Deceit's hold as he released him.

"Where are we?! Is this prison...?"

Deceit let out a dry chuckle. "You'd think..."

He breathed in the humid, terrarium air.

"Why am I here? What are you going to do?!" Patton stepped back when Deceit turned to him, tripping over a snake enclosure and nearly tipping it on its side.

"Careful!" Deceit hissed, falling to his knees to make sure nothing was broken. "I'm not going to do anything to you, I just can't have you running off to Virgil before we've had a little chat."

"I have nothing to say to you. You're a bully, and I dont associate with bullies." Patton crossed his arms and turned up his nose.

"Oh, am I a 'bully' now?" Deciet drawled. "Tell me what I've done. Have I made Virgil feel inferior in the arbitrary faction I created? Have I turned him against you through my radical black and white beliefs? Have I denied you a platform to reconcile because of the extremist values of those beliefs? Have I torn apart your family in pursuit of my personal values? Though I suppose that's a bit worse than bullying when you lay it all out..."

Patton blinked. "Is... are you saying that I did all that?"

Deceit rolled his eyes. "No, of course not, clearly, you aren't the bully." His right eye fluttered.

Patton stammered. "But- but that's- it's different! You want him to be bad!"

Deceit clapped his hands together and grinned. "And there we have it! Exactly what I'm talking about! What is 'bad'? What about me is 'bad'? What about US is 'bad' according to your system?"

Patton pushed himself up off the floor. Deceit straightened himself as he was forced to acknowledge the height difference between them. He managed to keep himself from reflexively hissing so he could keep at least his metaphorical higher ground.

"Dishonesty hurts Thomas and the people around him! And all the other darks do too! That's my system, to do what's right for everyone!"

"And who says that what we do isn't 'right'? And doesn't protect Thomas and his friends? Are you really so self absorbed to think that your own view of right and wrong is what's 'right for everyone'?!"

"I am NOT self absorbed! I put myself last whenever I can for my family, for the people I care about, dont you DARE call me self absorbed!" Patton's character seemed to have shifted in an instant, red and furious, so violently that Deceit couldn't help but shrink in on himself the slightest bit.

"Well if you aren't, you wouldn't be so opposed to hearing me out, accepting criticism, because if you're confident in your morals you'd be sure I'd say nothing to change your mind anyway." He calmly examined his gloved fingertips. Patton scoffed.

"I wouldn't mind hearing your side of the story if you wanted to tell me, but you never do, you're always so secretive or completely dishonest. I dont think you even have the ability to be honest. You could be lying right now!"

Deceit laughed humorlessly. "Oh could I now?" He clasped his fingers under his chin. "Am I lying?"

"Yes! And you never cooperate, you don't try to be better, you want it your way or nothing and a compromise would never be good enough!"

"OH! Wouldn't it?!"

Patton paused a moment. "Yknow I think this is a conversation but you're kinda just repeating what I'm saying and I'm not quite sure your angle-"

"I don't compromise! My way or nothing! How wrong of me! How wrong of me to be so dastardly as to take it MY WAY OR NOTHING." Deceit grit his teeth and pulled his hat off, brushing his hair off his right temple. With a touch of his hand a thin metallic device rose to reveal itself from his skin. "You think I'd leave Virgil here with no attempts to get him back? You think I haven't realized that trying to force him dark is wrong? He doesnt want to be dark! And he believes in your system for the time being, so what do I have to do? I have to be 'better', I have to cater to your rules, and I've figured that out finally, because if I cant teach you my side I have to bow to yours! So I'm being 'better'! Just like you want!"

Patton blinked in confusion. "What is that? I don't understand..."

Deceit grabbed Pattons hand and placed his palm against the device on his temple.

"You think this is all a lie? Think I've been manipulating all of this? I can show you you're wrong."

Patton tried to pull his hand away but Deceit held firm.

"Let's see what happens when I, DECEIT, dare to follow my nature." He took a breath. "Ask me something."

Patton gulped. "Um... what's your favorite... color?"

Deciet narrowed his eyes and looked Patton up and down. "Blue."

Patton yelped as he felt it. Deceit knew Patton felt it because he felt it too, a piercing electric pulse into his temple, a zap that made his right eye flutter and water and made his his jaw tense and grit together. He drew in a sharp breath and squeezed his eyes shut.

"What was-?!" Patton tried to pull away but Deceit wouldnt budge.

"You think I don't care about Virgil and you're RIGHT! You think I love being the bad guy and I DO! I LOVE being talked over every time I show up, how I LOVE never getting a point across because who would listen to the villain, I want to cause HARM!"

Patton was near tears, trying to pull his hand off the electrode, the muscles in his wrist tensing spastically with each shock. But Deceit knew he could take it. After all, Deceit had taken it into the skull for months now, time and time again, and he never cried. He learned.

"I ADORE how my family has been ripped apart, It was the RIGHT choice to make on Virgils part, I'm sure the way you treat the lot of us 'darks' WASN'T manipulative to his choices in any way!" His breaths were short and his nails dug into Patton's wrist out of his own pain, but he persisted. "I WISH we could all be happy lights making Thomas's life all fluffy and fun! And I'm ASHAMED of who I am! I'm ASHAMED of the family I have, and the choices I've made, the only thing I'm PROUD of is letting Virgil leave me for your doctrine! I HATE MYSELF! And I DESERVE this!"

"STOP IT! DECEIT, STOP RIGHT NOW!" Patton was in tears, having given up trying to pull away and now simply gripping his wrist as if it would dull the pain. Deceit complied, dropping his hand to wipe his watering right eye.

Patton cradled his hand against his chest and took deep, shaking breaths.

"So what do you say? Did it look like I was lying?"

Patton sank to the floor and drew his legs up to his chest. He quickly shook his head, burying his face in his knees.

"Aw cmon, don't be pathetic." Deceit couldn't help feel a little joy upon regaining his height advantage.

"I... I'm sorry..." Patton mumbled through his knees. "I don't want... I just..." He sniffed, his breathing quick and jagged. "I want Thomas to be good... I want everyone to be happy and good... I dont want good people to be sad. That's not fair."

"Who constitutes as a good person? What's the criteria? Because to me it seems like you want us, the villains, the bad parts of Thomas... to bury it all down or never show ourselves. Would I be a bad person? Maybe you dont like lying, maybe you don't like lost of the things I do, but why would I be here if Thomas isn't bad? It's how you perceive us. You'd never call yourself a perfect person, and I wouldn't say that I've always done the right thing. There's a spectrum to things. Some people are more bad than others, but they've got merit. Some people are overall pretty sweet and kind, but oh how they've made mistakes."

Patton listened with a mix of curiosity and shame. "But... that's my job, to say yes or no, to place things here and there, good and bad... how should I know when to draw that line?"

Deceit shrugged. "You're morality, not me. You just have to know when to consider rather than stand your ground. Critical thinking, I know Logan talks about it all the time."

"Am I... am I bad? For doing it wrong?" Patton looked up at Deceit. It took every ounce of willpower not to say yes.

"You're morality. Not me. You're the judge. But I'd say up here in Thomas's mind, it's best if we got along. The world it tough enough to sort out isn't it? So let's make it a bit easier in here. How about you sort ideas, not sides?"

Patton took a few deep breaths. "That'll be... different."

"It will be. But a judge makes tough decisions. And that means the most important ones."

Patton gulped. "I don't... I don't want to make important decisions. I don't trust myself."

"You can ask for help. The heart's good for a lot of things, but you can't do it all." Deceit was amazed to have gotten this far, but he wasn't backing down.

Patton thought for a long moment. He nodded. "That sounds better... but I'll need some time. Me and everyone else. This is... big."

Deceit reached up to the electrode and grasped it with his fingertips. "So, I'll try not to cause trouble within the mind... IF you let me... US...contribute to the discussion."

Patton looked up at Deceits fingers on the device. "Yeah, just... please take that off. I don't care if you white lie up here I just don't... i don't want you hurt because I screwed up what I wanted from you."

Deceit sighed in relief and wasted no time plucking it off and crushing it in his fist.

"That thing... on your temple... it must've been awful." Patton grabbed Deceits arm as he offered it and stood himself up.

Deceit rubbed the patch of skin where it had been.

"Nah... it wasn't so bad." And he smiled at the wonderful absence of a shock