Warnings: deceit (sympathetic), mention of past touch starvation, secret relationship, fear of not being supported, slightly sad patton

,,,why am I writing a ship fic with two of the three characters I'm the worst at writing

this is likely disgustingly not in character

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Patton laughed, loudly, as Deceit swatted his hands away from his face. He gripped Deceit's hands instead, pulling them up from his face and first kissing the back of his right hand and then the left.

Deceit's human half of his face flustered a bright pink and he looked away, scrunching his nose in distaste. He saw how Deceit glanced at him and clearly fought all he could not to smile. The corner of his mouth that Patton could see near twitched into a smile, but Deceit kept his lips pressed together in what was probably supposed to be a disapproving frown.

"Dee," Patton cooed, attempting to drag him closer by pulling at his hands, and at last Deceit turned face to face to Patton, "stop hiding."

"Alright then, I will keep hiding." Deceit said with a suffering sigh, allowing Patton to lean in close and brush their noses together. It was easy with how they were sitting face to face on Patton's bed.

"Nose kisses." He said with a grin and Deceit didn't say anything, he only brought his lips to Patton's in a soft kiss, and Patton let go of one of Deceit's hands in favor of cupping his cheek as he kissed back. They reluctantly parted, Deceit slowly blinking at him and Patton was reminded how cats would blink slowly at humans to say hi. He couldn't help giggling at that.

"Patton you are too goddamn cute." Deceit said fondly. And Patton was torn between scolding him for swearing and kissing him again.

"Language, Dee. And did you run out of lies again?" He said, finger prodding Deceit's cheek, the one on the human side of his face.

"It just becomes exhausting after a while, you know that. And I keep forgetting that I don't have to only lie around you. It's a habit I'm so very used to." Deceit said, only briefly meeting Patton's eyes before glancing down

"I know." Patton kissed his forehead, and Deceit looked at him in such a way that made Patton utterly confused over how Deceit could possibly have used to scare him. He sighed to himself, tilting his head slightly to the side and letting his eyes roam over Deceit's face, attempting to imprint every detail into his mind.

Deceit met his eyes with mild confusion, apparently not enough to ask and he instead let Patton be as he noted the color of Deceit's eyelashes and the way the soft light from his nightlight mirrored in his eyes and how smooth his scales covering his cheek and the side of his face looked.

All those important small details about his lover.

"Can I touch your scales?" Patton wondered, knowing very well that the answer was not always the same and asking was the safe way to go.

"Suppose so." Deceit said, not flinching or pulling away from Patton's touch as he slowly let his fingers trail over the scales covering Deceit's cheek. But only a few seconds later Deceit pressed a hand to his mouth to barely hide a laugh, swatting Patton's hand away.

"Aw, ticklish?" Patton asked and Deceit scoffed after having lowered his hand, opening his mouth but still taking a second or two before speaking.

"...No." He said stubbornly, so Patton of course brushed his thumb across Deceit's scales, him letting out a surprised giggle which might have been the cutest thing Patton had heard today.

"Stop." He said and Patton was unsure if he was serious or not but he kept his hands away anyway, instead he reached a hand out and grasped Deceit's hat, pulling it from his head, putting it on his own and grinning at Deceit who was pouting at him. Patton tried to pull off the same expression, staring at his boyfriend.

"I'm Deceit, I always tell the truth. My favorite animal is not a snake, and I'm never adorable." Patton said, trying to mimic Deceit's voice as it sounded when he was talking in that slow and almost teasingly sassy way. Deceit gave him a quite unimpressed stare and Patton suppressed a laugh.

"Can I have my hat back now, darling?" Deceit asked, leaning in close until their faces was a mere inch apart, and he blinked slowly, eyes flicking down to his lips and then back up, and Patton had to use up most of his self restraint not to give in immediately.

"No." He said pressing a quick kiss to Deceit's lips and then sticking his tongue out at him as he leaned back.

"You're lucky I love you." Was all he said, and Patton couldn't keep himself from smiling widely and he leaned closer and wrapped his arms around Deceit, squeezing him tightly before leaning back a tiny bit again.

"I love you too." Patton said, hands fixing Deceit's collar, smoothing down the fabric and he raised his gaze and met Deceit's eyes with a smile.

"Do I look cute in your hat?" He asked, watching how Deceit's eyes softened as he looked at him, the tiniest of smiles being shown.

"Absolutely adorable." Deceit said, and Patton really didn't doubt if Deceit was being truthful or not. There was just something in how he looked at Patton when he was speaking the truth that always assured Patton that he was in fact being truthful, but Patton couldn't pinpoint what it was.

He reached his hands out, letting them run through Deceit's hair, messing it up and knowing that Deceit was going to be pretending to be all huffy and annoyed about it even though he was pretty sure Deceit actually liked it. The way he leaned into Patton's touch and sometimes closed his eyes. It'd almost surprised Patton when they first got together and he realized how touch starved Deceit had been, but then as he thought about it maybe not. Deceit was a 'dark' side, after all.

He pulled his hands back, biting his lip not to giggle at how messy Deceit's hair was now and how cute he was when he was trying to give Patton a stern look but obviously failing because he couldn't help but smiling.

"Oh, be right back, Dee, I'm being summoned." He said, and Deceit quickly let go of Patton. It wouldn't look too good if they appeared together. For all the others knew he and Deceit weren't friends, and definitely not anything more than that.

"Hiya, guys!" Patton said and grinned at the others as he appeared in the living room before his three fellow sides and his host. A grin that faded fairly quickly as the others stared at him.

"Uh..." Thomas said, giving Patton a cautious glance that confused him. He acted as if Patton had done something wrong, and he was confused over what that could be. He'd just showed up, how could he have had the time to upset anyone?

"Honestly Dee, you have seriously been slipping lately." Roman said and gave Patton a very unimpressed stare that had Patton feeling even more confused. What was this about? Did they think he was being impersonated by Deceit again? What would make them think that?

"What?" He said, eager for the others to explain.

"You're still wearing your hat." Logan said, making a gesture to the top of Patton's head, and Patton glanced up at the realization.

Oh.

"Oh no, I'm actually Patton." He said, and the other three sides plus Thomas gave him clearly doubting stares. Patton sighed, wondering how he'd convince them, but at the same moment as he thought that Deceit popped up next to him.

"I won't take that, thank you." Deceit said, snatching the hat from Patton's head and they exchanged a quick glance before Deceit sank back out.

"Sorry about that." Patton said with a small laugh that perhaps sounded more nervous than it should have.

"Why did you have Deceit's hat?" Thomas asked and looked at Patton in a way he did not like at all.

"Um." Was all Patton could think to say, he needed a moment to come up with a suitable excuse.

"Because I took it from his head and put it on my own head?" Patton said and Roman narrowed his eyes at him and no one really said anything for the next few seconds. Patton tried not to show his discomfort.

"Pat, were you two... hanging out?" Roman asked carefully, and Patton clicked his tongue, trying to think of the best way to respond.

Patton doubted very much either of the three others would be very happy to hear about his and Deceit's relationship, for good reason, Patton supposed. Neither did he want to have to explain their relationship or try and justify why he felt this way for Deceit, so keeping their relationship a secret was for the best.

"Yes, we were." He didn't need to be any more detailed than that.

"Uh, may I ask why?" Roman said, eyes narrowing suspiciously as he glared at the spot where Deceit had stood a few seconds ago.

"Why, because I like his company." Patton said, and the other four all exchanged worried and doubting glances. Patton knew the others were just looking out for him, but it made him feel more annoyed than he should.

"Guys, don't worry. I can take care of myself, okay? I wouldn't let him near if he was hurting me in any way." Patton said, thinking of how absurd it was to think that Deceit would hurt him. Of course he saw where their worries came from, the others hadn't gotten to know Deceit outside of the filming for Sanders Sides, when Deceit would put his guard down and be himself, Patton had to say that Deceit was a lot sweeter and friendlier than he pretended to be.

"Alright then, Patton. But if he hurts you I will hunt him down and help him shed his skin." Roman said, smiling. Patton grimaced.

"That's thoughtful of you but please don't. He won't hurt me." He said, smiling as reassuringly as he could. Virgil gave him a calculating stare, not looking all too happy about the situation. Then Virgil sighed loudly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't like this, and I don't trust him, but you have the right to be friends with whoever you want, I suppose. It's not really any of our business." Virgil said regretfully, and Patton sent him a grateful glance.

"Thank you, Virgil. Now what was it you guys needed me for?" Patton asked, assuming that he was summoned for a reason.

"Oh right-y, you need to help us settle which friend Thomas should hang out with today," Roman said, giving Virgil a pouty glance, "we asked Logan but he wouldn't give an opinion and kept saying Thomas should be working on videos instead."

"I have no part in this and I told them not to bother you about something so stupid." Logan said deadpan, also stood with his arms crossed over his chest and he looked quite irritated.

"Well... have you two asked Thomas who he wants to spend time with?" Patton asked, Roman and Virgil both immediately turning to Thomas who looked pleasantly surprised at the attention.

"Oh. Thank you, Patton." Thomas said, apparently not having been asked his opinion yet.

"I was thinking... I just invite more than one friend? Then I don't have to choose and we can have a movie or gaming night." Thomas glanced between Roman and Virgil who were now staring at each other while thinking it over.

"You know what, I got nothing negative to say about that idea... yet, so go ahead." Virgil said with a shrug, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Roman nodded, seemingly not finding anything to argue about either.

"Great, I'm going to go back to my room now. You kiddos play nice." Patton said, sinking out and back up into his room.

Deceit was sat on his bed, just as he had been as Patton had left, the only difference was that he now had his hat back on his head. Patton crawled up into bed, sitting down face to face with Deceit as they'd sat a few minutes ago, and he placed his hands on Deceit's knees.

"You good, Dee? I'm sorry I forgot I was wearing your hat." Patton said, knowing very well that the two of them were keeping their relationship a secret for Deceit's sake more than his own, and that it didn't bode well how much the others had disliked hearing he and Deceit were friends.

"It's alright darling, it was hardly intentional. And don't you worry for me." Deceit mumbled, leaning in and letting his lips brush an almost kiss to Patton's lips, and Patton almost forgot that he needed to breathe. The others dislike towards Deceit always made him sad, but Deceit always made him feel better.

"Would you like to watch the new season of She-Ra with me?" Patton asked, remembering that he hadn't gotten around to doing that yet, especially as he and Deceit watched the show together and it was sometimes hard to find the time.

"Sounds wonderful." Deceit said and shuffled backwards on Patton's bed until his back was resting against the wall and he patted the space next to him. Patton didn't hesitate to climb into bed and curl up to his boyfriend's side, resting his head on his shoulder and watching as Deceit was putting the show on.

Deceit wrapped an arm around Patton's shoulders, holding him the slightest bit tighter than he usually did, perhaps noting that Patton was feeling slightly sad.

He wished that he could know for sure that he and Deceit could tell the others of their relationship and be supported, but he didn't know if the other sides and Thomas were ready for that yet. It was not as if Patton could not understand their concerns, because he could. They would be worried for him, worried that he'd get hurt.

But that was not their responsibility, and Patton was convinced Deceit would never intentionally hurt him. It'd gotten obvious pretty soon after they both admitted their feelings to one another that Deceit was very serious about his claim to have fallen in love with Patton. No lies or tricks were involved. This was simply the two of them being in love and acting on it.

A kiss was pressed to the top of his head and Patton smiled to himself as the intro to the episode began playing. The others were not a problem to focus on right now. In this moment he had all he needed right here with him.

--

Written: 13th, 14th August 2019
Published: 8th November 2020
Words: 2540

mmmmh so out of character

There's no puns in this because I don't hecking know any

also this was written like a year before janus name was revealed and i am not fixing it lmao

Yes, do yell at me to publish more often