Chapter Text
Logan watched fondly as Patton cleared a table and busied away, assisting his customers with smiles and pleasantries. Logan caught Patton glancing at him with a smile before he focused his attention on the customer who walked in.
“Hey Lo.”
Logan jolted and glanced up at Thomas, who was giving him a rather amused glance, “Salutations Thomas, how might I help you?”
“Still on work mode?” Thomas said with a laugh, sitting down across from him.
Logan frowned, “I- no?”
Thomas shook his head and glanced at Patton, “The bakery’s doing pretty well it seems.”
“Yes, Patton needs some additional staff if he wishes to keep up with the morning and afternoon rushes he gets.” Logan sighed, “I offered my assistance, but he refused.”
Thomas nodded as though Logan had said something quite profound and then let out a hum of a sigh, “How do you think Princey and Anxiety are doing?”
Logan blinked, “They appear quite alright. Roman has yet to antagonize Anxiety in any purposeful way, and Anxiety has managed to reduce the effects of his abilities that he can now touch people without causing them panic.”
He smiled, “That’s good.”
Logan’s eyes flickered over the young adult, raising a brow, “Why do you ask?”
An uneasy laugh fluttered out and Thomas rubbed the back of his head, “I just. I’ve, occasionally, felt, weird. And, I’m fairly sure it’s coming from one of them.”
“They are teenagers.” Logan supplied, “They are much more prone to chemical imbalances.”
“Logan, you and Patton are also kinda young.”
Logan sputtered before crossing his arms, “I may not have reached biological adulthood but I am not as prone to chemical imbalances as two 15-year-olds.”
“They’re both 17 Logan. Roman’s 18 in June.”
“Oh my god, you’re right.” Logan’s eyes widened, “Roman’s nearly a legal adult! That’s honestly quite frightening.”
Thomas laughed and rolled his eyes, “Well if you find out anything’s going on, just, tell me, ok?”
“You are the one with the mental link between us all, why don’t you simply-”
“I don’t know, it feels- wrong.” Thomas groaned, folding his arms up on the table, lulling his head in the crook of his arms, “I don’t want to pry into their lives just ‘cause.”
“Well,” Logan said softly, “I understand and appreciate your respect for our privacies, but, if any of us are causing you emotional or physical distress, please, tell us. And I extend this to myself as well, Thomas. We might not always be aware that things are distressing you or, even ourselves.”
Thomas smiled softly and nodded, “Ok Lo.”
“What’s going on here?” Patton announced cheerfully as he walked over towards the two, “How’s two of my favorite boys?”
“Satisfactory,” Logan replied, the fond smile returning to his lips.
“Doing good Pat,” Thomas said, smiling widely.
Patton smiled brightly, “Ah, good to hear!” He twisted back and forth slightly, “So what have you been up to Thomas?”
“Theater stuff,” Thomas answered, rubbing the back of his head, “Mostly. Oh, and Joan and I are starting to write some vids together.”
“Oh, that’s great kiddo! Sounds exciting! On the youtubes, right?”
Thomas laughed, “Yes Pat. On the youtubes.”
“What are the proposed theme of these ‘vids’?” Logan inquired, tilting his head.
As Thomas opened his mouth to reply, Patton gasped softly. Thomas abruptly straightened. Logan raised a brow at the two’s sudden rigidness before he remembered- empaths.
Thomas and Patton glanced at each other and Patton turned towards his assistant manager, “Cover for me, Rem!” Patton announced, light blue flashing over him as he took to a run out of his business.
Logan stood, and in a flash of deep blue, his attire changed as well.
He glanced at Thomas, whose eyes were wide, “Go, now. I’ll summon Creativity and Anxiety.” He swallowed, “I think you’ll need them.”
Logic nodded and ran out after Morality.
Roman was in the middle of his last period when he heard Thomas’s voice ring through his head. He stood up, without warning, causing the class to pause and glance at him. Roman gave an uneasy smile to his teacher, “Duty calls.”
“If you must-” they sighed, “Just-” In a flash of red, Creativity was bolting out of the room, not even bothering to collect his book bag. “Collect your… Homework. Well, that was hopeful thinking.”
Virgil yelped, loudly. Breaths harsh and panicked when the thoughts that weren’t his demanded attention. “I, I need to go,” Virgil said, stumbling out of the classroom before the teacher could protest.
‘Sorry for pulling you out of classes,’ was the final part of the psychic message. Virgil rolled his eyes. Always the considerate one. He turned a corner, glanced for any possible intruders to his hiding place before he let the dark purple light wash over him. Anxiety blinked a few times before glancing down at his hands. Black fingerless gloves reducing the surface area of skin his powers would be strongest with.
He let out a breath and raced towards the apparent site of trouble.
Anxiety swore.
Which was quickly shot down with the shout, “Language, Anxiety!”
The riot in the central shopping square of the town had no apparent reasoning, other than complete and total chaos. Anxiety stared, eyes fixated on the chaos of people yelling and screaming and being general terrors. Patton was currently holding an expanse of white string holding several individuals into passivity, while Logan had managed to contain certain individuals in pockets of reduced gravitation.
“Just let it go Plebeian!” Creativity shouted, snapping Anxiety out of his observation of the older two’s actions. Creativity was struggling to reacquire his drawing tablet (his preferred ‘weapon’ as he liked to call it) from a woman who was cackling madly from her place avoiding the princely figure. He was then promptly tackled by a small crowd.
“My power is literally the worst thing to add into this mix,” Anxiety deadpanned, before racing into the fray to get to the overwhelmed Creativity.
He could distantly hear Logic rambling on, most likely to Thomas within their psychic connection, about the situation and possible solutions.
“I just don’t understand the cause of the riot!” Logic complained.
“We can handle that later, we need to get everyone affected away from each other!” Patton announced loudly.
Anxiety blinked. Away.
“I’m gonna try something!” Anxiety yelled out. He swallowed, whispering, “Thomas, you better be listening because you need to calm them all back down after I touch them.”
He could hear distant affirmations and one clear, “Good luck.”
Anxiety closed his eyes, trying to focus on the part of him that wanted to run, to run away and get away from the chaos, to leave, and let it out through his fingertips. Eyes snapping open, feeling the anxious energy tingling through his arms and pool into his hands. Some people yelled from his touch, others shivered and gasped. Anxiety gritted his teeth, searching for Creativity. He just needed to break through enough of this crowd to let everyone else take over and fix this.
“Where the hell is that jerk?” he whispered, eyes darting back and forth. White and red- where the hell is that stupid white and red outfit? Anxiety let out a groan and raced in the direction he hoped would be right.
Thomas hushed a young woman as she cried out the last of Anxiety’s effect on her, glancing over the other individuals he’d incidentally collected. His throat was getting slightly sore from the constant use. He glanced down at her hands. “Hey, where’d you get that?”
She blinked, before glancing down at her hands, “I- don’t know,” she said softly, turning the device around in her hands, “It’s not mine.”
“May I?”
She nodded and Thomas turned the tablet around, “I think I know who’s this is. I can get it back to him later.” He set it down and looked at the woman, “Do you have any idea about what happened?”
She furrowed her brow, wringing her hands, “I, it was almost like I was hypnotized. Everyone seemed to think everyone else was out to get them. I, remember a voice. Maybe over the speaker system? I can’t-” She hugged herself, “Sorry, this isn’t very helpful.”
“No, no, it’s perfect, more than we knew before. Thank you. Are you okay here? Should I get someone to sit with you?”
She shook her head, “I’m fine. Thank you.”
Thomas flickered a smile before racing over to the next panicking individual running his way, remembering to grab Creativity’s tablet and stuffing it awkwardly in his jacket.
Creativity was staring at his hands when Anxiety finally found him, hidden behind a sculpture piece, easier to find now that most of the crowd was either collected, sent fleeing, or calmed.
“Creativity?” Anxiety asked, brows furrowed. He straightened instantly, eyes focusing on Anxiety.
“Hi, yes,” Creativity swallowed and blinked a few times before giving a too-wide smile, “I uh, lost my drawing tablet.”
“Yeah, I noticed.” Anxiety muttered slowly, “Are you ok?” Anxiety asked, flickering over Creativity’s appearance.
“Oh fine! I-” he blinked as he turned to look behind himself to find Logic lowering himself and his captive individuals to the ground. Somewhere in the fiasco, the police had arrived. He turned back up towards Anxiety, “I’m fine. I simply didn’t have much assistance to lend to the situation this time around I suppose.”
Anxiety nodded softly and leaned back on the balls of his feet and back, “Right. Um.”
Creativity smiled gently, “Shall we assist the wrap-up?”
A heavy sigh billowed through Anxiety’s lips, “I’m honestly exhausted.”
“Then you head home, or wherever you go to rest, Dark and Dreary Knight” Creativity said, “I’ll do what I can here.”
Virgil only slightly reluctantly returned home, eyelids heavy and refusing to stay open. He fell onto his bed and pulled out his phone, scrolling through his Tumblr feed. Only to find, of course, videos of the recent situation. Virgil groaned. He followed too many people interested in his friends.
He blinked as he noticed a video with the screen cap of Creativity. The caption under it only surprise emojis and an “OMG”. His thumb hovered over the play button and he sighed. He pressed play.
The video was shaky, likely taken from a farther vantage point and zoomed in on, and there, a crowd was surrounding what Virgil could only assume was Creativity. He chewed on his lip, waiting for something to happen. Anything. Then the crowd was thrown back by some unseen force, and Creativity was left standing in the middle. Virgil furrowed his brow, was he shaking? Creativity lifted his hands to his face, covering his mouth before he ran off.
Virgil opened the video’s notes feed, scrolling through the various reactions and theories. All of which pointed to one conclusion. Creativity had some kind of power that the general population didn’t know about. And, that, from the looks of it, he didn’t know about either.
Virgil frowned and scrolled along, finding another video. A more professional one.
“Creativity, you seemed to be missing from a majority of the action today, care to answer why?”
Virgil sneered. “Reporters.”
Creativity’s eyes widened and he glanced toward the camera, but he smiled despite the uncertainty in his eyes. “My drawing tablet was taken from me and, seeing as the crowd was mostly innocent citizens, I opted not to act. I wish I could’ve offered my assistance, but there was simply too much happening for me to do so safely and effectively.” Creativity glanced at Logic and Morality before smiling more genuinely. “Besides, Anxiety did a wonderful job in generating a quick solution with minimal damage.” He looked directly into the camera. “He’s proving to be quite the effective little hero.”
Virgil smiled and before briefly glancing through the notes on that video, not actually reading them, he turned off his phone, letting his eyes close.
“The question that really all brings us to is, who caused this mass hysteria?”
Patton frowned at the television before he glanced over to Logan, who seemed deep in thought.
“What do you think?” Patton asked, pumping his legs from their crossed position like a little kid.
Logan glanced up, eyes flickering over Patton, “Uh, it’s nice.”
“No, about the incident today. I’m not asking you about my hair or something.”
“Well your hair is quite nice.” Logan said, glancing up, “The blue suits you.”
Patton hummed, pulling on the ends of the curly died hairs, “I think I liked the full purple more.”
Logan giggled, “I still don’t understand why you enjoy dying it so much.”
“It’s fun! I think I’ll do a full on rainbow next. Or maybe the trans colors. Ya’ know, Roman said he’d let me dye his hair with purple sometime.”
“Roman? Purple?”
“Ace.”
“Oh!” Logan nodded, “I can see that then.”
“Anyway,” Patton said, shaking his head, “News.”
Logan sighed, “I, don’t know. I can only assume it was the work of a powered individual such as ourselves. One with the ability to coerce or ‘hypnotise’ others.”
“Like- a Dark Side?”
Logan froze. “Do you remember-”
“Deceit,” Patton breathed.
Logan looked up, finding much more emotion in Patton’s eyes than he thought he would. “Yes.”
Patton rubbed his arms, brows furrowed.
“Patton?” Logan asked, tilting his head.
He glanced up, “I think whoever it is has been sending me notes.”
“Wait, what?” Logan yelled, eyes wide.
Patton sighed and collected a box, which revealed several multicolored papers, with various styles of lettering. Logan shifted through them silently, eyes widening with every new note he took from the box.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Logan exclaimed, looking at the collection of notes.
Patton groaned, “I didn’t think it was that important! I didn’t want anyone to worry!”
“They threaten you and others in several instances! And what sane individual talks like this?” Logan complained. Slamming the pieces of paper down on the table.
“I don’t know!” Patton complained.
Logan ran a hand through his hair, “How- where are these being left?”
“In my bakery,” Patton murmured, “I usually find them in the kitchen.”
“They’ve been in your place of work?” Logan yelled.
“Logan, it’s fine!” Logan took in a sharp breath. Patton looked at him, eyes dangerously cold in their stare. He let out a wavering breath, “I’m dealing with it.”
“Just.” Logan’s voice cracked. “Be careful.”
“I know what I’m doing.” He smiled gently, “Just trust me.”
“I do.” Logan sighed, “More than most anything. I just don’t want you hurt. I- I-” Logan swallowed. The final words lost on his tongue. He softly took Patton’s hands, “Promise you’ll tell us if you get another note?”
Patton nodded, “Yeah. Promise,” he said, giving Logan’s hands a quick squeeze.
A small moment of silence passed before Patton cleared his throat. “So. Sleepover or home?”
Logan smiled wearily, “If you don’t mind?”
“Can I watch The Office until 4 am?”
The small smile was squashed. “Patton.”
“Kidding!” Patton giggled. He twirled away from Logan and in just a loud enough whisper, said, “Maybe.”