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Patton wants to know what Deceit's name means. He can't ask Mother or Father, they would never tell him. Deceit's just a baby, so he can't ask him either.
He can go to the library and let Deceit sit with Mister Thomas while he looks it up. Deceit starts crying on the other side of the room and Patton goes over to pick him up. Maybe he won't bring Deceit to the library. He's been crying so much every day. You can't have crying babies in the library.
Patton puts Deceit back in his crib and goes to the kitchen, sneaking past Mother. She smells like smoke and looks out of it. Patton grabs a baby bottle and baby formula and quickly makes a bottle for Deceit. Then he returns to their shared bedroom and tries to feed his little brother. Deceit just keeps crying and it breaks Patton's heart. Deceit hardly eats. He's so tiny. Patton is always afraid that he is going to wake up one day and Deceit will be dead in his crib, having died in the middle of the night while Patton was sleeping.
Patton doesn't want Deceit to die. He's always wanted a little sibling. He wants a little brother to care for and hug and kiss and love. Patton presses a kiss to Deceit's forehead and the baby stops fussing. He starts to drink the formula. "That's it," Patton says softly. "There you go."
As Deceit drinks from his bottle, Patton's mind wanders back to Deceit's name. He knows of one way to find out what "Deceit" means. He'll just have to be very careful about it.
Patton finishes feeding Deceit and puts him back in the crib. Then he gets working on his homework. He's homeschooled so his parents don't have to worry about him running off, the classes he has with Mister Thomas are a privilege that can be taken away. Once he finishes his homework, Patton looks over at Deceit, who's sleeping peacefully in his crib. Perfect. Now to go find out what "Deceit" means.
Patton sneaks into the front room where Mother lays sprawled across the couch, snoring. He carefully takes her phone from her purse and unlocks it. It's the same code as it always has been, 1501, the day Patton was born. Patton sometimes thinks back to when his parents loved him very much and thinks that they loved him then as much as he loves Deceit now.
Patton opens up the Google app and searches "Deceit definition"
deceit
dəˈsēt
noun
action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting truth
Patton frowns and puts Mother's phone back. That's not a very nice word. He needs to call Deceit by some other name but it needs to be close enough to it so he can just say he's having a hard time pronouncing it. Patton often has a hard time pronouncing things.
Patton goes back to his bedroom and looks down at Deceit. Something that sounds like Deceit...
"Des," Patton says. "Your name is Des." Patton holds his little brother's hand. "Your name is now Des. Not Deceit. Des." Deceit, no, Des grips his brother's hand tightly in his sleep. Patton smooths Des's hair and says, "I like that name. Once you grow up, I think you'll like it too."