Chapter Text
It was movie night in the Sides household. Not that that was any unusual occurrence, Janus found out that movie nights were quite common for the Sides. And yes Janus was joining them, Remus was being chaotic and he just wanted to relax with a good bottle of grape juice and stare at a thousand pixels for an hour or so. He was sat in the corner of the sofa, Roman and Patton either side apart from Patton was on the floor. Virgil was at the other side of the sofa - although that sentence would imply he was sat on the sofa which he wasn't. He was instead sat on a shelving unit just above the sofa that was meant to store a dozen or so of Logan's books but was for now empty. Logan was nowhere to be found - Patton assumed in his room. Logan allowed no-one into his room on the best of days.
"How is the psychology book he's reading more important than Brother Bear?" Roman exclaimed with high offence, leaning of Janus slightly but was shrugged off within the minute. Janus had enough touching from Roman's twin brother. "Brother Bear if the best bear themed film in history! Brave was just a cheap cop out compared to it..." He scowled again and continued his speech on the Disney film, probably spoiling the plot already, but the Sides never really cared if the plot was spoilt or they knew the storyline already - watching a movie together was more of a 'bonding experience'.
Who knew the Light Sides were so sickly sweet?
The only Side that didn't make Janus feel like he was facepalming into a pile of candy floss was Virgil. He didn't care that much for movies anyway so wasn't listening to Roman, instead listening to his own pop punk music and staring at his feet. He might have been thinking, he might just be remembering the posts from his last time scrolling through Tumblr to relive his favourite hobby. Either way, yet again he wasn't ready to speak to Janus. He was alright with that, Janus might be lies and fake smiles embodied but he knew he should give Virgil time to process such a big change and not force a friendship on him nor expect that of him. They could just be acquaintances - or coworkers - for as long as Thomas lives and Janus would be fine with that. As long as Virgil was comfy.
The sound of footsteps on the wood dragged Janus out of his thoughts. Logan stood in front of the four on the sofa, with the straight face he always had and the suit and tie he always wore. The rest of the Sides at least tried to dress more casual in our onesies or for Janus a jumper, black jeans, and his cape. Logan never removed his suit and tie.
"I have a favour to ask." Logan said gently, still with a neutral expression. Roman, Janus and Patton nodded to usher Logan on while Virgil removed one of his earphones to show he was also listening and present. "I've been working really hard on an experiment, it involves this video." Logan made a DVD appear in his hand. "Can I play it just before the movie starts? It's only around 10 minutes long." The rest of the Sides nodded, settling down and silencing - even Virgil made his earphones and phone disappear. "Just keep your eyes on it." Logan said as he put the DVD in the player and sat down between Roman and Virgil.
All eyes were glued on the TV screen. The video seemed simple enough, in the centre of the video a clock was ticking - starting at quarter pas three - and around it were lights slowly flashing. The lights were at the corner and showed four colours: light blue, dark blue, red and purple. In the centre of the clock was a non-flashing yellowy beige light. The only sound from the video was a small hum. It was quite boring to watch.
Janus kept his arms crossed and drank his grape juice, his eyes glued to the video as he was instructed to do. Eventually the boredom was over and Logan stood without saying anything and retrieved the DVD.
"Are we meant to feel anything?" Virgil asked after a minute of silence, everyone else mumbling as if to ask the same question. A small smile appeared on Logan's lips put quickly went as he sat on the sofa. "Because my brain isn't doing any psycho-shit stuff right now."
"You were meant to feel boredom." Logan chuckled, putting one knee over another and making a notebook appear which he then scribbled on. "I wanted to see if you truly cared about what I was doing long enough to endure a near-silent boring clip purely for a reason you did not understand."
And Janus never understood Logan. That was a given. They did both have a similar thought process of disregarding sappy emotions but some - eccentricities - were only Logan's thing.
"So... Who's excited for Brother Bear?" Patton cheered after another longer silence, jumping up and putting in the DVD for Brother Bear. Roman also cheered some kind of agreement with a mix of fanboy, Logan put his notebook away and nodded and Virgil mumbled and stared at the TV. The movie played and the Sides watched.
When the movie finished the Sides all said goodbye to each other before going to their respective rooms. Janus stayed in the living room for a little longer, bracing himself for seeing Remus again. The chaotic twin never slept even though his brother slept like a baby. He contemplated sleeping on the sofa that night but decided against it as he didn't want Virgil to be the first one to discover he stayed the night and starting an argument. But overall the night was normal, and nothing was weird.
Well, for now.