#i love they...

"Deceit?" Oh. Good, good, good. That was Patton's voice.He could hear Logan shifting beside him. He was in the commons, how fun! Definitely not a terrifying prospect. "Are you okay,kiddo?"

He shifted against the stairs until he was leaning nonchalantly, and crossedhis arms, lifting an eyebrow. "Of course not," he said, digging hisfingernails into his arm to keep from coughing. He was met with four confused,disbelieving stares.

"I've got a more important question," Roman declared. "Arethose Scooby-Doo pajamas?"

Deceit's nose twitched with annoyance. "...No."

"They totally are!" Roman's laughter was like tiny explosionsagainst Deceit's aching eardrums. It took everything in him to not wince.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I wasn't allowed to have leisure clothes,"Deceit snapped. "You have oh-so-much room to judge, Roman, in thatsale-rack Halloween costume of yours."

If Roman's laughter was tiny explosions, his offended squawking was likeshoving a bazooka into Deceit's ear and firing. "'Sale-rack Halloween costume?'"he repeated, one hand clutched against his chest. "How dare you?!Do you have any idea how much effort I put into this outfit?! Weeksspent planning and sewing —"

"Falsehood," Logan cut in, raising an eyebrow. "You told meyourself you simply conjured it up on a whim."

"Wh — but — okay, but, the emotional effort —"

"Now, now, kiddos, let's not fight, okay?" Patton said, holding uphis hands placatingly. "Roman, your outfit is lovely. And Dee, yourpajamas are super cute!"

Deceit blinked. "...Thanks," he said drily, to which Pattonbeamed, completely genuine. "Alright, can we get to whatever dilemma youneed my help with? I wasn't in the middle of something."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure your midday nap is way more important thanhelping Thomas," Virgil said with a roll of his eyes. Deceit opened hismouth to retort, but Logan lifted a hand.

"Enough," he said evenly. "Deceit, I assume you're aware ofthe surprise party that Thomas plans to throw for Joan's birthday nextweek?"

"What? No!" Deceit placed a hand against his chest,feigning surprise. "Why would I know about that? It's not like I suggestedit!"

Logan continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Thomas is about to spend aprolonged amount of time with Joan to brainstorm ideas for the channel. We needyou to, ah —"

"Keep his mouth shut," Deceit finished, and Logan nodded."Well, as fun as that sounds, I do believe I'll have to pass."

"What? Why?"

Because his legs had begun to shake, and he doubted he could stay uprightfor much longer. Because his throat ached and twinged with every word out ofhis mouth. Because his head pounded, black spots dancing in front of his eyes,and he just wanted to sleep, goddamnit.

"I have some personal business to attend to," he said simply.

Virgil huffed. "'Personal business?'" he repeated, raising aneyebrow.

"Yes. I'm afraid I must nunya," Deceit said.

Patton's eyebrows furrowed. "What's 'nunya?'"

"Nunya business," Deceit said. He shoved away from the banisterand drew himself to his full height. "Roman is more than capable of comingup with excuses for our dear boy Thomas. Now, if you'll excuse me —"

"Hold on, you expect me to do your job for you? After you insulted myprecious outfit! Ha! Fat chance, Lyin' King!" Roman declared,setting his hands on his hips.

"Technically, you insulted his outfit first," Logan said. He dugaround in his pocket for a moment, drawing out an index card. "'Nocap.'"

"Well, yeah, of course there's no cap!" Patton said, a smilegrowing on his face. "Dee's not wearin' his hat!"

Logan's groan was like stepping on a landmine. Deceit couldn't help butwince, pain wracking through his skull, pressure building inside his forehead.Black spots danced before his eyes. When the world slotted back into placearound him he found every eye in the room on him, and he shifted beneath thesearchlights, eyes narrowing.

"You don't look very okay, kiddo," Patton said, with concern inhis eyes. Deceit's nose twitched.

"I assure you, I am fine —"

"Yeah, bullshit," Virgil said. "You look like shit. Well,shittier than usual."

"How kind of you to say, Virgil," Deceit said, with a roll of hiseyes. "I must say, you're looking quite shitty yourself, as usual."

Virgil hissed — and Deceit made the ultimate mistake of hissing back. Thecoughing fit that followed had him wheezing for breath, tears building in hiseyes, and when it finally subsided he was met with the worst punishment of all:pity.

"Oh, honey... you're sick," Patton said softly.

"Well, now the pajamas make sense!" Roman said, nodding tohimself, as if that was the most important aspect of their conversation. Deceittook a step back, eyes narrowing.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," he said, voice ragged. "It definitelymatters."

"Yes, it does," Logan said. "As metaphysical beings, we areincapable of dying, but that doesn't mean we can't get sick. Any illnesses wedo manage to catch should be treated properly, lest they become worse."

"Gee, sure wish I'd thought of that!" Deceit said, in ahigh-pitched tone that made his throat ache. "Oh, wait, I did. I wasresting before you all decided to drag me out here!"

Logan blinked. "'My bad,'" he said awkwardly, pulling out a vocabcard.

"Yeah, if I had known you were sick, I never would have made fun ofyou," Roman said, and to his credit, he did look genuinely apologetic."Your pajamas are quite becoming."

Deceit yanked his shirt into place and rolled his eyes. "Thank you,Roman," he said, only half sarcastic. At Roman's pressing stare, hesighed. "Your outfit is ridiculously ugly as well."

"Hey! Oh — wait, thanks!"

"Now am I allowed to go rest?"

"Of course." Logan straightened his tie and nodded. "Myapologies for dragging you into this, Deceit."

"I don't accept your apology." Finally he was free to sinkdown, and he did so with great relief, collapsing onto his bed with anexhausted sigh. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and pretended like the roomwasn't rocking around him.

And that's how he spent the five hours that followed: curled up atop hisbed, shivering and miserable. He considered it a worthy use of his time. Whatelse could he have been doing? Something productive? Unrealistic.

When the knocking first began, he had sunk so deeply into the throes ofexhaustion that he brushed them off as hallucinations. But then came a voice,muffled through the door: "Dee?"

Ah. Patton. Far be it from him to let Deceit simply rest. He lifted himselfas well as he could, wobbling dangerously, and hissed out a vague response.

"Okay, well, there's no need to be like that," Patton said."I've got somethin' for ya downstairs, if you feel down to seein'it!"

"I definitely need some inane movie night right now,"Deceit hissed, words lisping and slurring. His room had grown quite cold, buthe hardly had the strength to turn on the heat. "I'm doing just fine in here,thanks."

"Dee, I know you," Patton said. "You're probably hidin' inthere with the heat off, wallowin' in your own self-pity."

"... No I'm not."

Patton sighed. "Take it from me, hun," he said. "That's notgonna make anything better. You can't hide from your sickness and jus' hope itgoes away."

Deceit groaned. "I can damn well try!"

"No. No, you can't," Patton said. "I promise, it's not amovie night. Or, well — not technically. Would you just come down?"

"I'm afraid this illness is terminal, Patton," Deceit said."They've already had to amputate both my legs. I can't walk."

"Oh, poor baby," Patton cooed — and then he gently pushed open thedoor and stepped inside. He rubbed away the goosebumps on his arms, shivering."Oh, honey, it's like a freezer box in here! And you're not even under anyblankets!"

"I like the cold," Deceit insisted, stubborn as ever. Hesniffled, burrowing into his pillow so he didn't have to look at Patton'ssympathetic frown. "Leave me to die, Morality. It's far too late forme."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Patton rolled up hissleeves and — hefted Deceit into his arms, and oh, oh wow, he was reallystrong — and he nestled Deceit against his chest and carried him out of theroom.

Deceit hadn't the energy to struggle, but even if he did, he doubted hewould have. Patton's touch was burning fire against his skin and he melted intoit, eyes slipping shut. He hadn't realized how cold he'd truly become until thewarmth drove the ice from his bones, bringing feeling back to his fingers andtoes.

The living room had been thrown to chaos — the couches pushed aside, theircushions torn from their seats to become building blocks for the grandestblanket fort Deceit had ever seen. Patton set him down in the center and stood,brushing off his hands.

"Wh... what is this?" Deceit asked, eyes narrowing. The jolt ofwarmth had brought clarity back to his mind, and with it came that familiar,sharp suspicion. The living room was dark, the lights dimmed to a comfortableglow — and the Netflix startup screen shone on the tv. None of the others werein sight.

"Well," Patton said, lowering himself down to the edge of the fortto sit. "Virge told us about your tendency to hide away wheneveryou're feelin' less-than-okay."

Ah. A betrayal, then. He knew there was something shady behind this.

"And, well, I know the feeling..." Patton twisted his handstogether in his lap, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the back of his otherhand. "So I figured, if you gotta feel miserable, you might as well do itcomfortably!"

Deceit raised an eyebrow, and Patton stood. "You've got full access toNetflix, and there's a couple different heatin' pads in there. I'm cookin' upsome chicken noodle soup for ya, and then I'll get outta your hair. We'll all stayclear of the commons for ya."

Deceit blinked. He glanced around the fort, this time with wide-eyedconfusion rather than suspicion. "And you did all of this... for me?"

"Well, yeah!" Patton said, as if it made all the sense in theworld. "I care about you, hun. We all do."

...Huh. For the first time in his life, Deceit was stricken speechless, notby fury, but by care. He looked down to his lap, and then back up atPatton, and forced bitter truth to coat his words. "Thank you," hesaid, more genuine than he'd ever allow himself to be otherwise.

"'Course!" Patton beamed. "Alrighty, I'm gonna go finish up that soupfor ya! Then I'll stop botherin' you —"

"You're not," Deceit said before he could stop himself. Pattontilted his head to the side; the sight was undeniably adorable.

"Not what?"

"... Bothering me," Deceit finished lamely. "You don't haveto... leave. If you don't want to."

Patton's lips parted in a little 'o' of surprise — and then he smiled, andit looked like the sunrise. Deceit leaned closer to the heating pad at his sideand pretended that that was the reason for the flames blazing across his face."Are you sure?"

"I mean, it's not like I care either way," Deceit said. Brusquely,he snatched the remote from its pillow-throne and began clicking throughNetflix. His eyes narrowed. "As long as you don't get too close. I wouldn'tfeel terrible if you got sick."

Patton made a little squeak, almost inhuman in how touched and excited itwas, and he nodded, hair flopping down in his face. "Soup for two it is,then!" he said, and bounced off into the kitchen.

An hour later, Deceit fell asleep against Patton's chest.

A few days later, Patton got sick.