He slid into Patton's room again, the citrus smell less confronting and more...familiar. Deceit still wanted to gag, feeling the scent stuff itself up his nose and down his throat. These damn Light Sides and they're sensitivities. Deceit despised them. 

How could Virgil stand to be around them? Just being in Patton's room made Deceit's head hurt, made his stomach turn, made his skin itch. Every atom in his body was begging to flee, flee, get out, get out. He wasn't made to be here, he wasn't supposed to be here, where were the shadows, why was it so bright and not-heavy and why why why whywhywhy-

Deceit threw himself back into the darkness moments before Patton appeared in his room. Deceit almost let himself be sucked back to his own room, but something about Patton's face gave him pause. The Light Side's eyes were cold and vacant, filled with a twisted emotion Deceit had never identified in Morality before. He almost wanted to reach into Patton's soul and dip a finger in that darkening mark. He wanted to pull the thread and watch Patton unravel. How deliciously vicious it would be.

"You know, Patton, you're an astonishingly complex being," he crooned, stalking out of the shadows. Patton's heated glare fell upon him and Deceit almost shuddered. He'd never seen Patton look so...dark. He smiled. "When I imitated you the first time it was almost too easy, too boring. How dull it was to play you, what with the others rendering you nothing more than an over-emotional fool who knew nothing of value."

Patton's eyes flared brighter, but there was something defeated there too and Deceit smirked. Forget his own troubles when exploiting Patton's was so enjoyable. He let himself go a little and giggled, feeling something hysterically maniacal claw its way up his throat. The Duke must have infected him with something. 

"Such power you hold over them," Deceit purred quietly, feeling that sense of power send him higher and higher. "Such power you have over Thomas. You're truly the most important side."

For once, he wasn't really lying.

"Stop it," Patton said quietly, but where Deceit expected a pleading tone of voice, there was nothing but a dry sense of finality. The Light Side hummed to himself, expression flat. 

Deceit had to push harder, had to dig his fingers in a little tighter. "If I were to imitate you again, it would be far more difficult, I expect. So many layers. Complex, tangled emotions." Deceit peered into Patton's eyes, and his malicious grin widened. "Denial. Mm, that one is my personal favourite. Seriously. Cross my heart."

There was that delicious anger, that simmering over-flow of negativity and fear and self-deprecation. Deceit had been waiting for it to come out, had been waiting to see how seep the rabbit hole really went. "I think that you're only scary because we don't want to admit what you mean for Thomas." Deceit raised an eyebrow, because maybe Patton thought he sounded steady, but there was a sort of wild worry to him that made Deceit feel so much better. "Listen," Patton continued. "I don't want nor need you hissing in my ear all the time. Just...Go away."

Deceit pouted. "But Patton, dearest, why would you send me away when I'm the only person you can trust?" Push, push push.

Patton scoffed. "Trust you?"

"A dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest," Deceit quoted. "Honestly, it's the honest ones you should watch out for." He had no excuse for the shameless pop culture references. He just loved Pirates of the Caribbean.

Patton sighed. "Pirates of the Caribbean?" He asked, and Deceit could see the walls lowering, could see Patton softening, could see his way in. "Wouldn't have pegged you for the type."

He was getting in. He was getting through to Patton. "There's so much deception and backstabbing in those movies," Deceit responded coyly. "How could I not love them. Movies aside, the quote is relevant." Time to step it up. "I am not honest, but you can trust me to be dishonest. Can you trust the others, Patton? Can you trust that they won't lie to you and hurt you and twist you around their fingers?"

Patton's head lowered, his chin touching his chest as he chewed on his bottom lip. Deceit could see the thoughts behind those brown eyes. Patton was weakening, Patton was doubting, Patton was darkening and breaking and giving in and it was glorious.

But it was taking too long, causing too much trouble. Deceit wanted Patton to surrender now, without fight, without argument. Deceit needed time to get to Virgil, but he didn't have time. 

'Tick Tock, Deceit.'

Patton was quiet, and Deceit was growing impatient. How far in denial did the Light Side have to be? He opened his mouth to push some more but Patton raised his chin, looked right into Deceit's eyes, and said, "You don't bother me."

Deceit hummed, the playfulness suddenly gone. He didn't have the time or the patience for this. He loved to play games, but only when he was winning and he wasn't sure he was winning this one. "And yet I bring out your anger," he hissed. "I bring out your aggression. I bring out everything you despise in yourself. Think, Patton, and wonder why it is that you're always so defensive around me. Denial is a wonderful thing."

"You don't bother me."

"Do you want me to lie to you, Patton? Do you want me to say that I won't break your friendships apart, that I'll leave you alone, that I'll forget about Virgil? Do you want me to say that I'll let Thomas forget me so you can feel better about yourself?"

"You don't bother me."

Deceit bared his teeth, eyes alight with a savage wildness. "You won't ever outrun this," he swore. "That is the truth you must bear."

He let the shadows swallow him, and pretended he didn't hear a clock ticking somewhere in the darkness.