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The day at the mall had been eventful to say the least. Roman wouldn’t stop spinning around the living room, occasionally blocking the TV that Logan was trying to use to watch some nature documentary. Virgil wasn’t completely sure, he wasn’t paying attention. Instead, he was pacing back and forth behind the couch. It was obvious the two of them were getting on Logan’s nerves, but for once, Virgil wasn’t worried about that.
Okay, maybe he was a little worried, but he had larger worries to worry about currently.
“I understand why you two are so full of emotions currently,” Logan said slowly, trying to keep a lid on what little patience he had left. “But if you must be this ‘extra’ about it, would you mind going and finding someone else who also deals with emotions?”
“Right, because you’ve never felt a single emotion in your life,” Janus smirked, walking in. The snake didn’t need to be filled in on today’s events. After all, he had been the one sprinkling lies in Thomas’ head all day. He just didn’t feel like making a physical appearance to get his point across.
“Still operating in the shadows I see,” Virgil said.
“You do realize that keeping Thomas high strung all day just makes it easier for me to do my job, right?” Janus asked. “Can’t always fight or flight. Sometimes you have to fib to get out of a situation.”
Roman snapped his fingers and waved them at Janus. “I see what you did there.”
Logan sighed and paused his documentary. “Patton. You guys could go find Patton and talk about today’s happenings.”
Speak of the father figure and he shall appear. Patton came running down the hall into the living room, a huge grin plastered on his face. His eyes had this lively spark to them that the others hadn’t seen in awhile. Like Thomas mentioned before, Patton was the center of a lot of Thomas’ feelings, and after today there were so many feelings being felt. Virgil was surprised that he didn’t show up at the mall earlier when everything was happening.
“Virgil!” Patton cheered. He ran over and hugged the anxious side. Normally, Virgil would be against it, not liking the sudden physical contact, but he was too overwhelmed in a good way to care and returned the hug.
“I’m so proud of you, kiddo!” Patton said, giving Virgil one final squeeze before stepping back. “I wish I could’ve been there, but I didn’t want to step on any toes and ruin the moment!”
“Patton, you know we wouldn’t have shoed you away,” Roman said.
“Yeah,” Virgil nodded. “We wouldn’t-“
“Did you see what I did there?” Roman asked, cutting Virgil off. “I said ‘shoed’ you away instead of ‘shooed.’ To go with Patton’s toe comment.”
“Roman, that pun doesn’t necessarily work in a verbal conversation,” Logan sighed.
“I understood what you were saying,” Janus said.
“I’m glad someone here at least appreciates my hard work!” Roman said, gesturing to Janus.
Virgil wanted to take a moment to remind Roman that Janus was still Deceit and lied more often than not, but he decided explaining it again would be a waste of breath. He’d get it eventually. Maybe.
“Alright, fine, if you all want to discuss this now, sit down,” Logan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I can just finish this some other day.” He turned off the TV and waited for the other sides to get situated. Roman and Patton took a seat on the couch while Janus hung around the entryway leading from the dinning room to the living room, and Virgil sat on the floor by the TV.
Logan leaned forward in his chair and gestured to both Virgil and Roman. “You two did something unexpected. Somehow, you managed to convince Thomas to ask out an attractive stranger that he met at the mall today.”
“He was so flipping cute!” Roman groaned.
“He seemed really nice from what I heard,” Patton said. “He went out of his way to give Thomas back the food he left!”
“You mean the food Janus had him buy?” Virgil asked, shooting the serpent a look of disdain. Having Janus around to keep Thomas’ mental health in check was one thing, but the number of lies Thomas told in one day today was too high for Virgil’s liking.
“A few dollars spent at a fast food place in exchange for valuable information that led to Thomas asking someone out was such a waste, I agree,” Janus said, rolling his eyes.
“To be fair, that money could’ve gone to a better cause,” Patton tried to argue.
“Spending money at a business like Karrot King is actually beneficial to the employees working there. More sales equals more business which eventually leads to that location earning more in labor hours, which would allow more people to work and make a living, as well as lower the stress of the current employees since they would have extra coverage and no longer need to worry about shortages when it comes to their staffing,” Logan explained.
Roman stared at him for a moment. “Did you stop to breathe at all during that?”
“Here’s my question,” Logan said, ignoring Roman. “What’s the plan? Thomas had a pleasant time today, he got Mr. Flores number-”
“Why are we being so formal with his name?” Roman cut in again.
“Where does Thomas go from there?” Logan asked.
Virgil scratched the back of his head. “Teach, isn’t planning normally your field of expertise?”
“For certain things, yes,” Logan nodded. “Scheduling, organization, video ideas I’ll even help out with, but romance? That’s the feelings department, and you all know I play no part in that.”
“I myself would looooveeee to help out with this,” Janus said, sarcastically dragging it out, “but like Virgil mentioned earlier- wouldn’t want to start a new relationship with a lie.”
Virgil glared at the snake. He still stood by what he said to Thomas earlier in the mall, but he had a feeling Janus was just using that statement to get out of helping them come up with a plan.
“I feel like we’re getting ahead of ourselves by calling this a relationship,” Logan said.
“Better to get ahead than to fall behind!” Roman countered.
“Thomas deserves a win,” Patton said. “Today went well. I don’t see any reason to not celebrate!”
“Exactly!” Roman agreed. “Besides, Virgil said Thomas is ready for this, and if Anxiety is on board, then you know there’s nothing to worry about!”
The look Janus gave Virgil annoyed him to no end. He could understand why Thomas needed to give the snake a seat at the table, but Janus knew Virgil almost better than any of the other sides. They had a history together, and unfortunately, that history gave Janus an edge when it came to seeing through Virgil’s bullshit.
“Oh, well if Virgil said so,” Janus smiled. All fake joy, but none of the other sides caught it.
“We should bake cookies!” Patton said, jumping up to run into the kitchen. Roman followed him, just excited to do something. Logan rolled his eyes, but stood up anyway.
“Are you two coming?” Logan asked.
“In a minute,” Janus answered. “Would you mind giving me a moment with Virgil?”
Logan glanced over to Virgil, silently checking if he was okay. Virgil nodded. He could handle Janus, especially now that he was working with them. Logan frowned, but left to follow the two overly emotional sides into the kitchen.
“Don’t know what you need a moment with me for,” Virgil said, immediately going on the defensive.
“You’re happy.”
“You’re surprised?”
Janus sighed. “Virgil, you were happy today back at the mall. You were ecstatic when Thomas got home.”
“You’re speaking a lot of truth all of a sudden, Janus,” Virgil smirked. “What, did you forget your role here, or did you use up your daily lie supply earlier?”
“Why don’t you think Thomas is ready for this?” Janus asked, ignoring Virgil’s attempts at sidetracking the conversation.
Virgil tucked his hands into his pockets. “I do think Thomas is ready.”
“You can’t lie to me, Virge.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Two for two! One more and you strike out,” Janus said, clapping his hands together.
“What happens if I strike out?” Virgil asked.
“I go and tell the others that you’re having second thoughts about today.”
“Why do you care so much about Thomas’ relationship status?” Virgil snapped.
Janus shrugged. “I don’t care.”
“Now look who’s lying.”
“It’s my job,” Janus deadpanned. “But a real answer to your question would be I don’t necessarily care about whoever Thomas likes. I just know that if Thomas is happier regarding events in his life, then I won’t have to work as hard to get him to take some selfish time away from work.”
“Relationships aren’t about being selfish,” Virgil corrected.
“Well then it’s a good thing Thomas doesn’t only listen to me,” Janus said. “You hate lying so much, so why don’t you tell me the truth behind your hesitations.”
He hated when Janus threw his own logic back at him. Virgil sighed and ran a hand through his hair, pushing his bangs back for a moment before letting them fall back into place. “I don’t know, it’s just a big change. Sure, he was nice at the mall, but what if he’s completely different on a real date? Or what if he hates Thomas’ friends? Or Thomas’ friends hate him?”
“If you’re worried about the date going wrong, I could definitely come up with a good excuse for Thomas to leave early,” Janus offered.
Virgil chuckled. “I’m sure you could.”
“And if you’re worried about Thomas’ friends and their opinions on Mr. Flores-“
“Seriously, why are we being so formal with his name?”
“-then that’s a call Thomas is going to have to make,” Janus finished.
“That doesn’t really make me feel better,” Virgil sighed.
“Would you rather I lie and say everyone will for sure get along and Mr. Flores is Thomas’ soulmate and in a few years we’ll be hearing wedding bells?” Janus asked.
“That is a nice thought,” Virgil smirked.
“See? Lying isn’t all bad,” Janus teased.
“Is this moment over now? Because I want to go make sure they’re making chocolate chip cookies,” Virgil said, pointing toward the kitchen.
“Yes, moment over, run along,” Janus waved off. “I’m going to check on Remus and make sure he didn’t eat through the drywall again.”
“Again?” Virgil asked. Janus ignored him though and left to go find the Duke. Being on good terms with Janus again was nice, but he did not miss having to deal with Remus’ nonsense.
Virgil joined the others in the kitchen. Watching the three of them attempt to bake cookies from scratch was a familiar sight that took Virgil back. Logan was cleaning flour off of his glasses while Roman added extra chocolate chips to the cookie dough. Patton was reading through the recipe, but he paused and looked up when he heard Virgil walk in.
Patton smiled at the sight of the anxious side. “Ready, kiddo?”
Virgil smiled back and nodded, walking over to join them. “Yeah, I’m ready.”