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Thomas was upset.
All the sides could see this. The man didn't make it hard to figure out, as his emotions were always so vibrant. What was causing this; however, three of the sides didn't know yet.
Logan stood straight, looking around the room at his companions. He said, in his usual curt manner, "Alright. Thomas is upset. We need to fix this, and of course the best way to solve a problem is to find the source of it." He turned to the side sitting on the stairs, picking at his nails, "Virgil. You're Thomas' anxiety, the root of most of his stress."
Virgil stopped picking at his nails to rub at his arm. "It's not me," he muttered, "I haven't had anything that's stressed me out...more than usual, anyway." He sent a limp shrug Logan's way.
Logan gave off a slight hum of something that resembled approval. He turned to Roman, "I don't suppose his charasmatic side would have anything to do with it? Any...creative slump?"
Roman hummed, "Well, I've had a few ideas for videos, what with the upcoming holidays and all. Of course, we haven't expanded on the ideas because of-" Roman pursed his lips, "Well, because of all this."
Logan nodded, "Excellent. So it's not you." He tapped his foot, then gazed over to the third of his companions. "Patton? I wouldn't imagine you'd have anything to do with Thomas' mood?"
Patton, in his usual cheerful manner, answered, "Aw, shucks, Logan, no! I'm doing well!" He smiled over at the friend across from him.
Logan squinted, then said slowly, "I suppose you don't seem that upset, then. Of course, emotions aren't my field of expertise, but I think I should know the difference."
"Right-o!" Patton piggybacked on Logan's line of thinking.
Logan adjusted his glasses, "Well then," he sighed, "That just brings us back to our original problem. What could be making Thomas so upset with himself?"
Virgil eyed Logan, "I don't think it's really that he's upset with *himself.*"
"Is there really a difference between the forms of him being sad?" Logan quirked up an eyebrow, turning his attention from Patton to Virgil.
Virgil let out a dramatic huff, "Duh." He droned, "Thomas isn't upset with himself. Not this time, anyway. He's not really upset with anything."
Logan frowned, scrutinizing, "That doesn't make any sense. He's clearly not doing well. He must be upset with something."
The side that was dressed in colours that were somehow darker than before hugged himself, "It's complicated, Logan. You can be sad without having a reason." He looked down at his folded arms, "You can just want to-" he cut himself off by bringing a hand to his mouth, biting at his knuckles.
Logan looked around, "I don't...I don't understand. Did I say something upsetting to him?"
Roman 'tsk'd, "Well, clearly the cause of this is Virgil. We shouldn't be surprised. What we need to do now is to help *him*-" the prince gestured over to the curled up ball that made up Virgil, "-so we can help Thomas."
Logan nodded curtly, glancing once more back over to Virgil, "Right. Now what's bothering you? You obviously didn't tell us the truth before when you said you were doing better."
Virgil tensed up, his head ducked down, "I told you I was fine. It really wasn't me."
Roman sighed, exhausted, "Virgil, it was you. We know this now. Just tell us how we can help so we can get this over with!"
One of Virgil's hands was digging into the side of his opposite arm, the other still having its knuckle bitten by him. He swallowed thickly, "Let me leave."
Roman approached Virgil, oddly careful with him,"We're not trying to upset you, Virgil; we just want Thomas to be happy again."
The upset side clenched his teeth after finally dropping his hand from his mouth, "I said it wasn't me." His lower lip wobbled, "Leave me-"
"Fine!"
Logan, Roman, and Virgil all looked to the one who exclaimed, tears in his eyes, "Don't gang up on Virg! It was...It was me."
"Patton?" Virgil mumbled, confusion clear on his face, "How? Aren't you just all sunshine and happiness?" His tone was had a slight derogatory edge to it.
Patton rubbed at one of his arms, gaze on his feet, "I mean... I'm all of Thomas' emotions, so," he shrugged.
Roman frowned, his hand still lightly touching Virgil's shoulder, "What has gotten you down, Patton?"
Patton frowned, eyes wide and sorrowful, "I didn't mean to make Thomas sad! I really didn't! I was just...I was going through some old pictures. Yknow, of us! And I was thinking a lot and I just...I got-got-got kinda sad."
Logan stepped in, analyzing Patton's features, "What about pictures could have made you upset?"
Patton pouted, his expressive eyes drooping down, "I don't wanna talk about it. I don't wanna upset any of you!"
Logan could've sworn Patton's gaze lingered on him for a beat or two longer when he said that. He cleared his throat, "We do need to know. To help Thomas."
Virgil recognized the defensive stance Patton was sporting, "Hey, uh, Patton," he started, getting the side's attention, "You can, like, talk about it to just one of us. If it makes it easier."
To Virgil's surprise, Patton gave him a soft smile, nodding in agreement, "I think that's a real nice idea, kiddo." Virgil made his way to stand up before Patton gave him another surprise, "Logan? Could you..."
Logan blinked twice, "Me? Helping with," his nose crinkled up in distaste, "emotions? That's not ideal."
Patton gave him that same sad smile, "I'd appreciate it a lot."
Logan looked to the two others somewhat incredulously, getting a stern glare from Virgil. He sighed, glancing back to Patton, "Alright. That's doable."
Virgil nodded, about to leave them. He looked over to Princey, who continued to stare at the two. He groaned, "Roman. Come on."
The prince groaned, "I never get to see any of the drama!" He left the room with Virgil, who gave one last look at Patton.
Logan cleared his throat, "If I may ask, why-"
"Why'd I want you to talk to?" Patton finished his thought, a gently laced hint of tenderness in his voice.
Logan's lips tightened into a thinner line, "Right. That."
Patton sat down, his hands holding each other in his lap. He motioned with his head to get Logan to sit down beside him, which the other eventually did. Patton frowned, a look that Logan noticed didn't quite fit him, "I'm sorry about all this, Lo. I really didn't want Thomas to be upset."
Logan let out a small, approving sound, "Of course you didn't. Which is why I find it strange that you'd hold all this in. You know that makes it much worse."
Patton looked up at him, eyes wide and slightly bleary, "I know. But I know that if I told you, it'd upset you, too. And I didn't want that, either! I just want everyone to be happy!"
"I see." Logan eyed him, "Then why bring it up now? And why only speak of it to me? Am I an exception to your rule of wanting joy to others? Of course, I can't feel much true joy, so I suppose-"
Patton let slip a small laugh, "I only just came out with it because you were ganging up on Virg. And...it had to be you that I spoke with, Lo."
"The no true joy thing, correct?"
Patton laughed again, tears pushing at his eyes. He pressed his forehead against Logan's shoulder, "No, Lo." He mumbled something about that rhyming, then said, "The pictures brought back old memories, I guess. Remember back when Thomas was a kid? When Anxiety wasn't a part of his life and Creativity wasn't playing too big a part yet? When we helped him, just the two of us, really. Remember that?"
"Of course I do. We share the same memories."
Patton snorted, "Just in different perspectives, yeah." He reached over to set his hand over Logan's, causing the logical side to look down. "I-I'm not saying that I'd ever want to go back to that. I love Princey and Virgil with all of my heart, I really do! It's just...I miss you."
Logan tilted his head, looking down at Patton, who's head was still resting on his shoulder, "How could you possibly miss me? I'm right here. We're always seeing each other."
"There's a difference between seeing each other and *seeing* each other."
"I disagree. Those are the exact same words, Patton." Logan frowned.
"Listen to the emphasis, Lo. You gotta listen to the emphasis. The words on paper always mean something at least a little different than spoken words." Patton managed to slip his way under Logan's arm, his face buried in the crook of Logan's neck.
Silence fell as Patton gave Logan time to comprehend what he'd said and form the proper words to respond to it.
"I think I understand." This was all Logan said. Patton sniffed, about to move away from him in an effort to apologise, smile and say that he was just glad to have gotten it all out. The motioned stopped when Logan pulled him back down with the smallest of gestures; he hooked one finger through one of Patton's, as if to secure a bond in his simple way.
Patton threw his free arm around Logan's neck, grinning against the skin of his throat. The tears flowed freely now from his closed eyes. He wanted to tell Logan how happy he was, how incredibly, undeniably, almost too happy he was, but the sobs choked him.
Logan pressed his other hand against Patton's back, attempting in the best way he knew how to console Patton in this odd wave of emotions Logan couldn't begin to understand.
But, Logan thought to himself, that was alright. It isn't that bad to do something without completely understanding it, if it's for someone important. What Patton was to him, he wasn't sure, but he knew that whatever it was, whatever this was, it was something new, something different. And as scary as it was, he knew that it'd be worth it. This moment, as they're doing whatever exactly this is, is something he enjoyed.
Patton was right. Spoken words are stronger than written ones, but he failed to mention that those that are never spoken are somehow even more strong.
Logan held on to Patton.