Chapter Text
“We have a problem.” Virgil appeared in Patton’s room, already nervous without the effects of the room exaggerating things.
“What’s that, kiddo?”
“Roman and Logan won’t talk to each other, and Roman doesn’t even want to talk to you…”
Patton looked up in a sudden mixture of alarm and sadness.
“Sorry… I know you were just trying to keep things under control, but he’s… He’s pretty hurt about the whole thing, and it feels like you’re a part of it. To him, not me.”
“Are you mad at Logan too?” Patton looked a little relieved, but still showed signs of deep loneliness. Being separated from other sides was basically torture for him, and that fact didn’t do anything to calm Virgil down.
“I keep trying to find excuses to forgive him, but he’s not giving us anything to work with, Pat. He won’t even explain what happened… This is personal for me and Roman, and it’ll take some work on his part for us to get over such a major… betrayal…” He trailed off uncertainly when he saw tears in Patton’s eyes.
Patton blinked rapidly and forced a wobbly smile. “Well, we’ll just have to act as messengers then. Anything we need to communicate between the two of them or between me and Roman about videos and stuff can be passed through us!”
Virgil pursed his lips. “That should work, but are you ok? With all this, I mean…”
Patton sighed. “I have to be, I guess. Logan won’t talk to me about it either… Let’s just hope it all gets resolved soon, right kiddo?”
Virgil only hesitated a moment before pulling Patton into a cautious hug. “I’ll be here this time, ok?”
Virgil could no longer see Patton’s face, but he felt him squeeze back just a little bit tighter.
***
“Don’t bring it up during the video, ok? Thomas doesn’t need to know yet, and the viewers certainly don’t…” Virgil added the puppy dog eyes he’d been practicing for good measure.
Roman’s glare let up slightly, and he sighed in resigned exasperation. “Fiiiiiiine, but he better not start anything either…”
“Trust me, he won’t. He’s probably having this same conversation right now. Let’s just have a fun, relaxing video, and maybe he’ll…” Virgil trailed off, suddenly dizzy.
“Virge? Is it happening again?” Roman looked like he wanted to reach out, but he knew better than to unexpectedly touch Virgil.
“I’ll be fine. Must be all the stress…” It probably wasn’t, and he knew what it probably was, but he wasn’t about to have that conversation right now. He couldn’t help feeling guilty that he was still keeping his secret despite everything going on with Logan, but he couldn’t deal with this one yet. He couldn’t make it real.
“V?” Roman actually did grab his arm this time, which probably meant he’d called his name a few times while Virgil was lost in thought.
“Sorry… Think I might lay down for a bit before I need to get in costume. You good?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m golden, just…” Roman sighed before pulling him into a hug. “I know you’re taking on a lot of Logic’s job right now, and I just want to make sure you’re not overworking yourself.”
Virgil returned the hug briefly before wiggling his way out. “Yeah, working on that… Later, Princey.”
***
“Of course you can’t come, Deceit, did you really think I’d let you?” Patton glared at the Dark Side.
“No, I just came here assuming it was pointless.” Deceit grabbed his costume from the bed, being sure to mess up Patton’s neatly folded costume in the process.
“Hold it, wait right there.”
Deceit stopped immediately, looking mildly annoyed at the use of the dad voice.
“Hand me the name-tag. I can’t have you deciding to show up anyway, and I know you wouldn’t dare appear before Roman with an incomplete costume. You get your pride from him, you know.”
Deceit’s glare was venomous, but Patton simply took the name-tag and looked pointedly at the door. Deceit had no power over him. He looked at the time and gasped in surprise. He was about to be late for filming! He’d have to trust Logan not to start any fights… He didn’t have time to tell him not to.
***
Roman had only just popped up, and Logan was already telling him to leave. Rude much? Still, he told Virgil he’d play nice, so he elected to simply ignore the jab. When Logan’s attitude did not change, he briefly considered a verbal counterstrike before Thomas actually took his side for once and told Logan to stop. He smiled to himself at the small victory.
His smile didn’t last long, however, because, at that very moment, Patton chose to make his appearance. Then again… Patton did seem a little off. Perhaps he, too, is making up for Logan’s slack work recently? Yes, planning details for next Halloween should not be weighing on Morality at all—certainly not in December…
***
Virgil, listening from behind the stair railing, winced when he realized he had forgotten to tell Thomas to wear a scary costume. With all of the content-related messages being passed around, that one had slipped his mind. Roman covered for him, though.
Still, Roman could’ve at least pretended to be scared… No, wait, he doesn’t want him to lie about it, just- Maybe it wasn’t Roman’s fault, but he wasn’t helping…
“Sorry, bud, I just don’t think that we… find you as… scary, anymore.”
“What?” Did Thomas really just say he can’t scare him anymore? What’s he doing wrong? Is his secret starting to affect his ability to do his job?
He tried to focus on Logan’s claim to be fearless and powerful, but even another side’s blatant denial (that they had presumably conquered already) couldn’t distract him from what he was hearing.
Also, why was Logan lashing out at him so much? It’s not like he’d been doing much of his job lately either… He took a deep breath. He couldn’t get into that right now. Not after he promised Patton that he wouldn’t. Especially now that Pat was defending him… Yeah, he definitely couldn’t start a fight with Logan right now.
And Patton just illustrated why he didn’t actually want them to fake it… Great. Still, he immediately regretted snapping at him. He was doing his best.
Well, it looks like he had to make a point here. Might as well show off the new skill he’d been practicing with Roman… Startling him, apparently, judging by his immediate scream. The darkness was actually a little calming for him, but it was like a taste of his room. It made everyone else a little anxious.
***
Logan immediately felt the anxiety fighting with Apathy’s influence, but his Dark Side didn’t let it push him away completely. Still, he had a moment to wonder if Virgil might accidentally free him in the process of making his own point. Maybe his own uncaring, thoughtless comments about Virgil not doing his job would turn out useful after all. He felt a moment of anger towards Apathy before the latter had regained control.
***
Virgil managed to replicate the approximate sound of his scary voice without actually using it, hoping Thomas and his viewers wouldn’t notice. As much as he wanted to influence the others right now, he had to stay in control, and he was already slipping fast. The taste of his room had helped a little, and it felt good to subtly lash out at Logan through his costume, but he was getting more anxious by the second. He just wanted Apathy, but he had to see this through. They had to understand.
He was actually really proud of Roman for being so genuine, but he had to make clear to Princey that he wouldn’t be exempt from all of this. He had to learn this lesson too. Still, he did heed Patton’s nervous warning enough to pull back when Roman retaliated. This didn’t need to become a verbal battle to make his point, so he relented.
He was honestly a little surprised that Logan hadn’t figured out his plan yet. Still, he could be a good manipulator when he needed to be. After all, he trained with the best… “You should just let the past die. Kill it, if you have to.” Perfect. Now they were starting to argue the basics of his own point against him, and he just had to eventually let them win.
He was starting to feel pretty confident about this whole thing when he managed to actually hit Thomas in the face with a rock. Really? Did he not have enough going on already? His emotions were definitely starting to get to Thomas, judging by his reaction to his time in the closet… He’d have to let up a bit.
***
Patton thought he knew what Virgil was up to, the smart cookie, so he offered himself up as the next “victim”. “How about me next, ya bat-winged cherub?” He knew that would make it sound like he hadn’t learned the lesson yet, so Virge could keep going. The others certainly didn’t get it yet, although Logan probably should… What was going on with him?
Also, why was Virgil faking his scary voice like that? Was he trying to make sure not to actually scare them too much? Aw, the kiddo was still worried about everybody… He felt a rush of pride for the younger side. Maybe he could reference some emo lyrics… That’s basically Virgil’s version of a hug.
***
Roman could tell by the look on Virgil’s face when they started quoting lyrics that he wasn’t actually trying to hurt anyone right now—especially since he wasn’t even using his real scary voice. Still, he thought he’d keep up a playful back-and-forth. It seemed like Virgil was going for mild conflict, and, even if he wasn’t, he tended to enjoy their banter.
***
“And now we’re basically style twins!”
Virgil would have to tell Patton to tone it down a notch, or he’d ruin the plan… He was supposed to be overwhelmed by the Emo phase, not proud of it… He took it surprisingly well, too. Had he already figured it out? He tried to hide his smirk.
Unfortunately, Thomas clearly still didn’t get it, and he didn’t think Logan did either.
“…lyrics that resonated with me and made me feel less alone.” Well, maybe Thomas was getting closer…
He thought about how he could give Roman a subtle heads-up that he wasn’t actually about to attack his self-esteem. Maybe if he tried to sound a bit like Deceit? “Princey, Princey, Princey… So naïve…” Judging by his reaction, he seemed to understand that this was going to be a fake attack. That was a relief… He didn’t want to have to try to prove it to the Creative Side later.
Apparently, Roman felt like playing along… “Hate to say it, but this is a miserable failure on your part.” Roman would never tell him that—in those words, specifically. He knew Deceit used to tell him that.
***
Patton looked at Virgil worriedly when Thomas screamed about the whole vine thing. Roman clearly wasn’t actually upset by it, but was just playing along for Virgil’s sake, so the fear and insecurity must be coming from Virgil himself. Since it couldn’t be the fake scary voice, Virgil must be getting overwhelmed. He should probably take over Thomas’s attention and emotions for a bit to give Virgil a chance to calm down.
“Oh my god, you’re awesome…” Apparently, Thomas appreciated it. He turned to Logan to make sure he didn’t feel left out.
Patton was genuinely surprised when he heard Logan swear. Why would he be so upset just from a few puns?
***
Logan felt the anxiety decreasing again, and realized that Patton had taken over Thomas’s emotions, giving him nothing to fight Apathy with. Judging from Patton’s expression, his cursing must have been aloud, but he now couldn’t bring himself to care. Again.
***
Roman looked up in surprise. Did Logan just swear? On camera? What was going on with him? Something was clearly wrong… He decided he could probably manage a little better than tense but civil, under the circumstances. Besides, he really had been talking to Logan about this same point before… Well, a few months ago.
Virgil gave him a look, and he immediately understood what the younger needed. He could already feel a bit of the anxiety himself, so he wasted no time in taking over Thomas’s emotions for a bit. Everyone would just be a bit more… dramatic, that’s all.
***
Patton let himself stay behind a moment to talk to Thomas. He was getting a little overwhelmed himself, and he wanted some advice on how he could better help Virgil. The poor kiddo clearly wasn’t doing as well as he should be, and that just wouldn’t stand.
“And I think… you’re doing a really great job.” Patton let that sink in. Yeah… Maybe he was doing alright.
***
Finally, Virgil could just sink out and try to relax before inevitably taking over Thomas by accident. Maybe he wouldn’t have to if he just… Who was he kidding, there was no way he wasn’t going to Apathy right now. He needed it.
The door opened before he even had a chance to knock. “Virgil, I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow… Should we plan to do this more than once a week?”
“No! No, just… Today was a lot, and I need… Don’t make me say it, you know what I mean…”
“Indeed,” Apathy smiled in a way that made Virgil uncomfortable before reaching out his hand.
***
Logan was shocked to discover that Apathy had not followed him back to his room. Would he actually get a moment of reprieve? What should he do with this opportunity? There were hundreds of possibilities, and he had considered and decided against about 68 of them before Apathy returned, looking happier than usual.
“You didn’t actually think I’d just leave, did you?”
Honestly… no, he didn’t. Still, he had hoped… But, it didn’t matter. He resigned himself to another evening of overwhelming emotions as Apathy grabbed his hand.
***
Virgil felt barely a flutter of anxiety when Deceit showed up. Maybe Apathy had gone a little too far… He hadn’t even locked his door.
He felt a bit more than a flutter when Deceit reminded him where his love of Halloween comes from… Sure, it was ultimately from Roman, but he had learned to love it as a Dark Side, and Deceit had been the one influencing him at the time, not Creativity.
He was about to lose it when Deceit tore down all the peace he had just gotten from Apathy with one lie. And what did that even mean? How could he be rid of all of them? Feeling his panic rising, he realized he would have to go to Logan to figure this out. But… Could he? Could he handle everything with Logan right now? What if Roman felt betrayed? Especially if his own secret comes out in the process… Roman would never forgive him, and Logan would never feel the need to explain himself. He would just argue that Virgil’s secret was worse. And it probably was, too. He steadied himself on the wall. He had no choice.