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Logan. From the essay writing component logos- the appeal to logic. Logic, his other name. Not the only one- Roman made sure of that- but the most important one- his function, his purpose. What he was made for.
But.
Sometimes things weren't quite so logical. After all, if you went for pure practicality, you'd kill everyone in front of you whenever you had to wait in a line, wouldn't you?
So that was where Morality came in. Patton, from pathos, the appeal to emotions- his other function. It makes sense, of course, that those two would be intertwined. After all, what's "incorrect" or "nice" seems quite close to what will make others, and therefore yourself, "happy" or "ashamed." Emotions. Those were Patton's forte.
...so why should he have any? Not that he ever believed he did of course, he told himself so as he perfected his hair in the mirror. A well-kept appearance was key to looking professional, and that was just what he was. Professional. Emotionless.
Janus yawned from the corner. Janus, named after the Roman god of deceit, and the keeper of Thomas's lies. Logan turned to him, hardly shocked at this appearance (not that he ever was, shocked was an emotion and we just established Logan's feelings stance on those). Janus seemed to be popping into his room more and more often, convinced he was lying to himself about some big secret or other. Not that Logan believed him, what reason did he have to lie to himself? That would be illogical of him. Janus strode towards him.
"You know, for someone who prides himself on intelligence-" Janus picked an imaginary piece of dust off Logan's shoulder, "-you really are quite dense about this, aren't you?" He settled a hand on one of Logan's shoulders, staring him down in the mirror. Logan ignored him, both his words and the burn that hand left behind in its wake. When it became clear Logan wasn't going to say anything, Janus sighed and slipped off of Logan, nudging him over to see in the mirror himself.
"I don't see why you won't let me help you with this," Janus adjusted his hat, "It's clearly causing you some stress. Maybe getting rid of it will help you loosen that tie a little, have some fun." He pulled at Logan's tie to emphasize his point.
Logan stepped back and crossed his arms, fixing his tie, "Janus, it is much too early for this... nonsense. If you don't mind, I'd like to get ready for my day, please."
"By what?" Janus stepped further forward with each question, voice rising, "Lying to yourself over and over again like your morning routine has become? Moping around? Making my job harder by adding in even more lies to keep track of?" By now, they were face to face. "Pray tell, Logic, what."
Logan's eyes widened, then he swiftly schooled his face into neutrality. He huffed, pushing Janus away, controlled and firm. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but simply sighed again.
"See? I'm right."
"No, you're irritating and being irrational, so I've decided to ignore you." Logan showed emotion openly for the first time in this conversation, his brows furrowed and voice tight.
"Says the one whose morning routine consistently includes summoning the personification of lying." Janus gestured to himself, then crossed his arms, equally annoyed.
Logan, sensing the conversation was going nowhere, walked toward and past Janus back to his mirror.
He fixed his mussed up tie and checked for any other imperfections. He saw a now-familiar scaled face peeking over his shoulder. Giving Janus but a glance, he returned back to his grooming.
Pleased with his results, he then stopped by his door for his shoes, only to find Janus had beat him there and was leaning in front of the door.
"Janus. What exactly do you think you're doing?" Logan dropped his head into his hand, thoroughly unimpressed.
"You're not leaving this room until you confront your lies." Janus stated simply.
Logan leveled him an annoyed glance, before sitting on his bed to tie his shoes, ignoring the problem for now. Janus, meanwhile, summoned 2 extra arms to hold the door closed for him as he moved to join Logan on the bed.
Logan continued to ignore him, until he finished tying his shoes. He then looked over at him, adjusting his glasses. Janus smoothed his cape. They watched each other, waiting. Janus made the first move.
"I am..." He paused, clearly unfamiliar with the words he was saying, "Sorry for yelling at you, as well as for making it sound as though I were only in this for my own personal gain. While that is certainly one of my motives, another is concern." Janus reached for Logan's hand. Logan allowed it.
"Apology accepted." Logan bluntly said.
"... Anything else?" Janus probed, leaning in expectantly.
"No." Logan moved his hand to his lap, away from Janus.
"Nothing? Not- oh I don't know..." He waved his hands around as if thinking, "A confession of what you've been lying about? ...Or something like that." Janus looked at his gloves as though he could not care less about what he was saying.
"No, I am finished." Logan abruptly stood up, smoothing his shirt. "Now would you please stop holding me hostage inside my own room, so that we may both get on with our days." He requested.
"Ah, about that," Janus lounged backward onto the bed, "I'm afraid I can't do that, dearest Logic." Logan paused for a beat, closing his eyes and sighing through his nose.
"And why is that?" He said tersely.
"Well, you haven't confronted those lies I'm here for, have you now?" Janus continued to get more comfy on Logan's bed. Logan refrained the urge to pinch his nose bridge at the thought of the wrinkles he was causing.
"If you're going to dishevele my bed like that, could you at least have the courtesy to take your shoes off first?" He snapped.
"Oh, good point, Logan. It does seem like we'll be here for a while, after all." He kicked them off, thoroughly undisturbed.
"You realize the other sides will come looking for me when they realize I haven't come down yet, right? I thought you were trying to improve your image." Logan pointed out.
Janus sat up, "On the contrary, you skip breakfast often enough this is hardly out of the ordinary for you." He leaned onto his knees, steepling his fingers, "Should have thought of that before putting work over your own well-being, hm?" He bent over to put aside his shoes, tossing them with a clip sound on the floor, oddly reminiscent of tap shoes.
"..I doubt this scenario is a reasonable outcome to suspect to come of skipping meals, but point taken nonetheless."
"Great to hear you finally agree to practice self care," Janus resettled himself, "Perhaps next you should try sleeping on this luxurious bed more often. Listen to your own advice, no?" He stretched out, faking a yawn and patting the space next to him in invitation.
"That advice was for Thomas, a human who is affected by both malnutrition and sleep deprivation. I, however, am not a physical being with such needs." Logan crossed his arms defiantly.
"Suuure you're not," Janus cocked an eyebrow. "It's totally not like Virgil cooping himself up in his room showed us the adverse effects of that on Thomas as well as himself." He rolled his eyes. "And you certainly haven't done experiments on lack of eating and sleeping with Remus that found our limits to be similar to that of humans." Janus sat up, calmer this time, more confident.
"I-" Logan shuffled, "that is irrelevant." He projected confidence- best not to let Janus catch any weakness. "It's unknown if this applies to all sides or simply Remus, since he is the only willing test subject. Therefore, due to my function, it may be different. After all, the creativities are the best at manifesting and similar activities." He crossed his arms and pulled his shoulders back..
"Ah, but should we really test it? Not to mention, your function could have similar implications, since you are the one often convincing Thomas to do things like that." He leaned in toward Logan, looking him in the eyes to drill his point home.
Logan sighed and sat back down, away from Janus.
"Alright, I'll treat myself like a human. Is that all?" Logan was getting quite sick of this debate, finally giving in. Janus had made some good points, he supposed.
"No, not quite. That was certainly part of your troubles, but I don't think it was all of it. There's still something you're denying." Janus leaned into Logan, looming over him. Logan leaned back on his palms to avoid him.
"I've told you, there is nothing I'm lying about." Logan crossed his arms, forgetting said arms were holding up his weight. He fell toward the bed. Janus made to catch him, missing with his main arms and pulling out an extra, succeeding this time. He was now pinning Logan to the bed with 2 arms, the 3rd holding his arm to slow his fall. Janus was very lucky he didn't blush. Logan, not so much.
He pushed Janus to the side, not unkindly, and propped himself up on the bed frame. He smoothed out his clothes, calming himself down by adjusting his tie.
"...thank you." He fixed his glasses.
"You're welcome." Janus awkwardly retracted his arm back into his body.
They both avoided eye contact for several moments. Eventually, Logan thought himself composed enough to speak more.
"My apologies for such a lapse in judgement. It is quite unlike me. I promise it will not happen again." Logan held his hands together in his lap. Janus's eyebrows lowered.
"I will not accept that apology-" Logan tensed, "-since that is hardly something to apologize for so gravely. It was a simple mistake, dear. Now then, I believe I have an idea of what your problem may be." In reality, Janus had been brewing this theory for a while, but he was finally ready to confront the man about it.
Janus straightened himself, "You're afraid to show emotion, aren't you, Logan?"
"What do you mean? I'm Logic, what purpose do I have with emotions?" Logan deflected.
"I'm Deceit, what purpose do I have with walking?" Janus swiftly retorted.
"That is entirely different, walking is a requirement for any humanoid creature."
"Not necessarily. Mermaids don't walk."
"Mermaids aren't real." Logan crossed his arms.
"Neither are we. We're based on a human, so why can't we have human emotions?"
"Because Logic is the antithesis of emotions." Logan was getting heated, gesturing more aggressively.
"Not necessarily. And if we go off of function, only two of us should have emotions and anyone who has ever listened to Roman for more than a minute knows that isn't true."
"That doesn't automatically mean I have emotions too, and you can't prove otherwise."
"Are you seriously trying to imply I don't know you're lying to my face right now, darling?" Janus leaned in smugly.
"I am not lying. I do not have emotions." Logan gritted his teeth.
"You are lying, my dear. To both me and yourself," Janus brought a hand to Logan's face. Logan flinched, but didn't move away. They stared at each other for a long moment.
"Go on," Janus whispered, "Let it all out." He pulled Logan in for a hug. At first, he was as stiff as a board and Janus was concerned he didn't like physical contact as much as he'd suspected. Then, the dark blue side crumpled like a piece of paper. And he held on.
Janus suspected, if not for all the long term repression, Logan would be crying right now. But this was enough. Eventually, they would work up to that. Janus's extra arms retracted back to the floor, satisfied their work was done. He attached them instead to his body, to hold on to the fragile Logan even tighter.
They stayed like that until a knock interrupted them.
"Logan?" Patton called out, "I know you don't always have time to come to breakfast, so I thought breakfast could come to you! Is it alright if I come in?" Janus looked at Logan, who nodded.
"Come in," he called out softly.
"Janus?" Patton asked, opening the door around a tray of pancakes, "Why are you-" Patton's eyes widened at the hug and Logan's posture, knowing that if he was showing emotion, then it must be bad. "Logan? Is everything alright?!" He quickly dropped the tray onto Logan's desk, rushing to the bed. He joined the hug from behind and Logan relaxed even further. Patton looked up at Janus, silently asking what was wrong. Janus just shook his head, he'd let Logan explain later- with a bit of help if need be. After all, he'd give Logan as much help as he needed.
And eventually, they'd be alright.