("D-Deceit I'm scared!" "What? Why not?" Patton removes his shirt with tears in his eyes, revealing small cracks running over his chest. "What's going on? What's happening to me?")

(Prompt)

🐍Totally not Deceit's P.O.V🐍

I walk out of my room and to the kitchen, careful not to wake anyone up. If I woke them up, I'd be shunned again. I can't go through that again. Not like that.

I get into the kitchen and open the fridge. Nothing of interest. I turn and jump, seeing Patton standing pretty close behind me. His eyes are watery?

"Patton? Isn't everything ok?" He just shakes his head and walks closer to me. He walks into me and I wrap my arms around him. Whatever is happening must have him terrified if he's willing to approach me.

"Dee... 'm scared.." His voice is muffled and I feel my shirt start to get wet. Is he crying? I pull away from him a bit to see his face. He walks backwards a little. He is crying.

"Why? What's wrong?" Patton removes his shirt with tears in his eyes, revealing small cracks running over his chest. I just stare in shock.

"What's going on? What's happening to me?" I get closer and run my hand over his chest. I see little flakes of skin fall to the ground slowly. I remove my hand and just stare at it.

"I... I don't know Pat... Does Lo-"

"No. You're the only one that knows. I don't wanna freak Logan out." I nod, though I want him to tell Logan. He can help him. I... I can't.

"You should tell him. He might be able to help you." I look up at Patton and see the tears running down his face.

"I-I can't.. He can't know. Please don't tell him" I sigh and nod. Patton is making a terrible mistake. I'm sure I am too.

(Two years later)

🌩Virgil's P.O.V🌩

I sigh and go over the scenario in my head again. If I knock on Patton's door, I'm not sure he'll answer. In fact, I doubt he will. I'll just be standing out here looking like an idiot.

I knock anyways and take a deep breath. Patton's been in his room ever since Thomas's crush committed sudoku.

I hear small, quiet footsteps from inside the room. Please Patton, please answer me.

The door opens and I see Patton in his cat hoodie. He hasn't worn that since Logan gave it to him last year.

"Hey kiddo.. What'cha need?" He sounds exhausted. Now that I look at it, his eyes are bloodshot, his face is red, and he has bags under his eyes. If I'm correct, then he hasn't slept and he's been crying.

"I just.. Came to check on you. I uh.. Wanted to make sure you're okay." Patton yawns and nods his head.

"Yeah.. 'M fine. I've been really tired though. Don't worry about me." Patton slowly rubs his shoulder and his face distorts in pain.

"Pat, please, what's going on?" Patton sighs and walks into his room, inviting me in. I walk in and freeze.

The walls are cracked, his bed is in the corner, and his room is near empty. This is the part of his room that resembles him. It being near empty means that he hasn't felt a lot of feelings. His bed being in the corner resembles isolation. I don't know what the cracked walls mean.

"You ok kiddo?" I look at Patton, who's leaning against the now closed door. I walk over to him and just watch him. He looks nervous. What is he hiding from me? From us?

"Pat... Why are your walls cracked?" Patton looks around, probably trying to pretend he didn't notice. Or maybe he's trying to convince himself they aren't.

"I.. I don't know. They've been like this for a while." Wait. He's actually telling the truth? I thought he'd lie to me.

"Does anyone else know?" Patton looks down and rubs his arm, flinches, and pulls his hand away. I can tell you, that's probably the most suspicious thing he's ever done.

"Uh.. D-"

"WHAT?!" He flinches and whimpers. What does he mean Deceit knows?! Even if it isn't Deceit the only other person it could be is the Duke.

"C-calm down it's not a big deal.." I take a second to breathe and think. I look Patton in the eyes.

"Take your hoodie off." My voice is deep and has doubled. I watch his eyes widen and he sighs, giving in. I don't like doing the double voice thing. It freaks people out. It's effective, but I hate it.

Patton slowly pulls his arms out of the sleeves, flinching every now and again. Tears run down his face and I feel a tinge of regret. He pulls the hoodie off of himself, revealing two things.

1. He isn't wearing a shirt.
2. His chest is cracked. His arms look to be in the process of sharing the same fate.

God only knows what his legs look like.

"P-Pat... What?" He moves his arm slightly and flakes of skin start falling to the floor.

He's really skinny and his arms are small, a lot smaller than they used to be. I can only imagine he's wearing baggy pants.

"I-It's been two years since this started.. The day Thomas broke up with his ex." Patton... He's Thomas's heart.

"T-Thomas can only take so m-much heartbreak bef-before he feels numb." My hand covers my mouth and for once, I wish I could hug him. I wish I could hug him and tell him it'll be ok.

I'll just have to work harder. Yeah.. If I work to keep Thomas from finding love, then Thomas's heart can't break. That's how it works right? Right?!

"Pat.. Is this why you've been hiding from us?" He slowly nods and looks down at his hoodie.

"The hoodie is supposed to keep the skin from peeling off but, b-but it still happens anyway."

I don't know what to do. Patton could've disappeared completely and we would've had no clue.

"Why did you keep this from us? From me?" He wraps his arms around himself and keeps his head down.

"I-I didn't think it'd l-last this long." I can tell he's crying but I don't know what to do.

"Ok well, why don't we get Logan in here. At least. He has a bigger chance of knowing what to do than me." Patton lets out a shaky sigh and nods. I bet he doesn't want to. Why would he? He's been in here for 3 months I'm sure Logan's first reaction will be to hug him.

"Get a shirt on. Do you have any long sleeves?" He shakes his head and I sigh, contemplating my next action.

"I'll give you mine just give me a second" I take my hoodie off and wrap it around my waist. I'm wearing a black long sleeve shirt and while it's not really Patton's style, we really don't have any other choices.

I remove my shirt and hand it to him, watching him stare at my arms. "Yeah, I know, now put it on. The sooner we get to Logan the better."

He takes the shirt and carefully puts it on, his eyes staying on me. I know he's probably confused and really disturbed, but I can't care about that right now. He needs me.

I put my hoodie back on and lead him out of the room. I bring him down the hallway and to Logan's room. I knock and wait impatiently.

He opens the door and I hide Patton halfway behind my back. "Virgil! How did you-"

"That doesn't matter right now we need your help." Logan looks at Patton and he looks him up and down.

"Alright. Come in." He holds the door open for us and we walk in, Patton going and sitting on his bed, probably exhausted, while I lean against the wall. Logan closes the door and walks over to us.

"So, what is it?" I look at Patton and see him silently pleading for me to explain. I sigh and walk over to him.

"Well, Patton has a bit of a predicament and we need your help. You are the smartest out of all of us so I'm hoping you will know how to help."

I lightly tug at the hem of Patton's shirt, telling him to take it off. He does so and looks away. I look at Logan and see him gawking at Patton.

"Wha- how long- when did this happen?" I look back at Patton and he shakes his head. Of course he doesn't want to talk. It's probably embarrassing enough that he's half naked with two  of his close friends watching him closely.

"It started around two years ago. Don't worry, I got mad at him for you, but this is really scary and I don't do good with this type of stuff so I need you to do something.

He walks closer to us and takes Patton's hand in his, running his other hand down Patton's arm. Patton flinches and looks away, holding in his pain.

"Well the good news is we can stop this."

"And what's the bad news?"

"From Patton's reaction just now, it'll hurt like hell."

Word count- 1569

A/n
Do you guys want a part 2 of this? It'll be a while if so I have a lot of other ideas that are on the way and I'll have to get those done first.