"You have no place here anymore," Roman declared, drawing his sword and moving across the room. "Leave now, villain. Don't make me tell you again."
"Well, this is just lovely, isn't it," Deceit asked, completely ignoring Roman to look back at Logan and Patton. Logan had shifted himself so he was in front of Patton. "You being protective? Logic, I could've sworn that protectiveness was an emotional response."
"I've got plenty more emotional responses in store for you if you don't leave right now." Logan's growl shook Patton's insides. He'd never heard Logan like that before.
"Is that so? Well, in that case, I suppose I should leave and never come back."
"That's exactly what you should do." Roman didn't seem to realize how much his influence wasn't helping. He was trying, bless him, but he didn't have any affect on Deceit.
"Then I guess I'll just have to do that," Deceit teased Roman. Virgil came up behind Roman, a hand on his shoulder and a soft look all it took to get Roman to put his sword back in its sheath.
"Just go, Deceit. Don't make a scene out of it."
"Now look who's telling who not to make a scene?" Deceit glared down a resilient Virgil, neither of them breaking eye contact as though they were having some kind of silent dual. Deceit finally chuckled, moving away from Virgil towards Patton and Logan. Roman tried to follow, to assist Logan in being a barrier between Deceit and Patton, but Virgil held him back, knowing how easily swayed by flattery Roman could be and not wanting him to get sucked in.
Watching Deceit slither closer, Logan felt Patton clinging to the back of his shirt. He reached back to him, trying to reach a place he could touch so Patton could feel his stability, but Patton was positioned so that couldn't happen. It was just his arm stretched backwards while the other was at his side, hand clenched into a white-knuckled fist.
"I'll leave this place," Deceit purred around Logan, his smirk revealing a fang among his teeth. "You won't see me again for a while, but you'll never be without me, Patton. I will keep you up at night, I will make it impossible for you to sleep, I'll be with you every moment of your life from here on out. Every time you retreat into your room or into your memories, I'll be there. I sincerely hope you-"
His monologue was cut off by a fist clenching his throat. He was forced backwards as Logan stalked forward, keeping the dark side at arm's length. Yellow gloves grabbed at Logan's wrist as he pushed Deceit into a wall. Logan's face was expressionless, but the anger blazing behind his eyes could have burned the entire house down if it had been set loose. Deceit's laughter managed to slip through what little opening his throat had.
"Never thought you would be the first one to go dark, Logic," Deceit hissed. "Go ahead, do as you please. It's not like I deserve it, or anything." Clenching his fist by his side, he felt the urge to break his nose radiating from his very core. He wanted nothing more than to beat the dark side senseless, to hold him there until he'd completely suffocated. Asphyxiation wasn't the most efficient way to get rid of someone, but it was definitely a way...
Something stopped him, though. It couldn't have been any of the other sides, because none of them said anything. He could even feel Roman and Virgil egging him on. Maybe it was Patton's influence, maybe it was Thomas's natural pacifist behavior, Logan couldn't tell. All he knew was how hard it was to force his hand from the snake's throat, to make himself back away.
"You're not worth it," he finally determined through a deep breath. "Leave." Deceit smirked at Logan before looking back to Patton once again.
"I'll be seeing you soon, Patton." He was gone before anyone could say anything else.
The others all turned around to Patton, who was still staring at the empty space where Deceit had been standing seconds ago. His eyes were misty, burning with tears of both relief and fear. His chest heaved, unsure of whether or not a weight had really been lifted off of it. He was still shaking from head to toe.
Virgil was the first to get his arms around Patton, Roman joining quickly to help Virgil swallow Patton in a group hug. Patton put an arm around each of them as they sandwiched him, but he was still distracted, still staring somewhere beyond the spot against the wall where Deceit had been.
Stepping forward, Logan sat at the foot of Patton's bed, watching him as the other two squeezed him. Logan tried to smile as Patton's eyes flicked to him from the wall. Logan could see something behind the mist in Patton's eyes. A shimmer, a spark.
When Roman and Virgil released him, there was a moment of stillness. After a moment's hesitation, Logan held out his arms to Patton, offering him their embrace. Patton huffed something between a laugh and a sob, crumbling once again into Logan's arms. Logan nearly fell off the edge of the bed with the force of the hug, but stayed upright to hold Patton close. Roman and Virgil left them without a sound.
Patton was trembling. Everything about him, his hands gripping at Logan's back, his chest as his lungs tried so desperately to breathe steadily, his entire body shivered through his cardigan against Logan's warmth. Rubbing his back, stroking his hair, Logan did everything he could to be stable for Patton. He knew, though, that Patton's ear was right up against where his heart was, and he could hear how frantically it was pounding in light of recent stress and adrenaline.
"Did you mean it," Patton asked into Logan's chest.
"Yes." Logan didn't need to hear specifically what Patton was talking about. "I meant every word I said."
"So... you love me?"
"Of course I do, Patton." Logan waited for a response. "I understand if you don't reciprocate, but-"
"Of course I reciprocate," Patton laughed. Logan smiled at the glorious sound. "I've only been flirting with you for, like, a year now. Lord, you might be the dumbest genius I know."
"Taking a page from your book, I'll take that as a compliment." Patton huffed another laugh. Smiling, Logan tried to determine how long they'd been sitting there. He'd never felt time fall to obscurity the way it had then.
"I don't want to stay in here," Patton muttered after another few minutes of hugging.
"We can leave whenever you want. Just say the word." Logan did his best to be gentle.
"I want to leave." Logan started moving to get up. "But first," Patton trailed off, moving off his bed towards the closet. His steps were unsteady, but he kept moving nonetheless. Opening the closet, he removed his cardigan, hanging it on a hook on the inside of the door and reaching up to the top shelf. Before Logan could determine what the bundle of cloth was, Patton had slipped it on. The cat hoodie he'd given him the last time he was heartbroken. Logan smiled.
Eared hood still up, Patton took a box from the top shelf, replacing items around the room that Deceit had made him remove. Logan's awards, Roman's playbills, Virgil's card, everything was back in its place.
"Okay," Patton settled. "Let's go." Logan took Patton's hand. The sleeve of the hoodie covered all but Patton's fingers, allowing him to intertwine his fingers with Logan's. They went to the living room without another word.
Sitting on the couch with Roman and Virgil cuddling at the other end, they started a Disney movie marathon, kicking it off with Patton's favorite, Winnie the Pooh. Patton kept Logan's fingers tangled in his own, leaning his head on Logan's shoulder.
Logan didn't want to make any move to hold Patton without his expressed permission, and since asking would only disrupt the movie, he decided to leave himself where he was. It was only when Patton rearranged himself so Logan's arm was around his shoulders and he was flush against Logan's side that Logan thought what they were doing could really be called "cuddling."
Neither of them asked the question. Neither of them pushed the other to make a decision about their status. Neither of them asked what their feelings meant. Asking questions like that would only complicate things and stress both of them out, and neither of them needed that at the moment, especially not Patton. They didn't need to know what they were in relationship terms.
For the moment, they were together. They were enjoying classic movies with happy endings, they were holding each other, and before long, they were asleep together, unconsciously hugging one another tighter when one of them shifted.
For the moment - if only for a moment - they were okay.
And maybe soon, they could be good.