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(Fanart original by Laguna8, who gave it to me for this story.)
[G1&Armada Crossover] What if Armada Starscream would sudendly appear in G1 universe? Why such a thing would happen? What is the purpuse of that? A serious redeption story with humor hints where many have something to say. [Chapter-14 updated!].
i am very curious about how that realization went down. i feel like learning that feelings that weren’t technically yours originally (which is already a weird concept but like the normal kind of weird) were in fact Yours also, would be very disorienting initially
-@pattons-time-capsule
It was a rough one on Roman.
So to go in a bit of world building, Thomas has always been a meta. He didn't realize it till a few days before the start of the story, and to him it felt as an all at once thing, but it really wasn't.
The Sides existing in the first place is a manifestation of Thomas's inherent power. As Thomas's power matured they became more multifaceted and developed personalities and names up until the point where Thomas's power came fully on line and they became flesh-and-blood humans. We see hints of that in the series. In the twelve days of Christmas Roman specifically couldn't make an outfit for Thomas because he was a real person and not a figment of imagination, yet he was easily able to do so in WIDS. In the old eps it was like there was a barrier preventing the sides from getting too close to Thomas and yet in FWSA Virgil literally pushed Thomas towards Nico. So this is in fact something that has been building over time.
But up until the start of SidesWays, the Sides Identity was always as parts of Thomas, and even after they gained physical form they still thought of themselves as Thomas first and foremost for quite a bit. Almost every motivation had and unsaid 'for Thomas' pinned on it. Logan wanted profession success 'for Thomas'. Virgil wanted feelings of safety 'for Thomas'. Janus wanted to stack the deck socially and financially 'for Thomas'.
Roman has always wanted love. As Thomas's romantic side, that's a literal part of who he he. He wants true love, happily ever after, till death do us part. But like all the Sides motivations, it always had that tag line of 'for Thomas'. He liked Nico 'for Thomas'. He was cute and creative and perfect 'for Thomas'. And even after becoming a real boy, he wanted to woo Nico 'for Thomas'.
I'm not going to go into much detail, because I do want to write that scene out at some point, but the first time Roman realized he wanted to hear Nico say 'I love you Roman' as much or more than 'I love you Thomas', his first gut reaction was horror. Both in that wanting something like that for himself felt inherently wrong, and fear that he would try to steal Nico from Thomas and sabotage the relationship he'd put so much of himself into. When he called the house meeting referenced above, it was in the tone of a confession and he fully expected to be punished or ostracized in some way. (Obv not what happened)
Even then it still didn't quite click that they were truly separate people until Logan's self discover
Little Thoughts from the Sides-Ways verse that aren't big enough to be their own story
The Sides physical bodies are more or less baseline human (Janus is still a bit snakey and Remus is exactly as human as he wants to be) which means they can get tired, hungry, hurt, etc. However returning to the Mindpalace 'resets' them, so they don't actually need to eat or sleep.
Like Roman, Remus has normal, albeit perfect teeth. But because his power is shapeshifting it's a long time before anyone figures out the razor sharp shark-esque teeth aren't his baseline
Patton adores cooking in real life now and wants to cook for everyone. Logan put the kibosh on that because Thomas still needs to cook on his own and they don't have the budget to regularly feed seven people. They compromised where Patton cooks one big meal for everyone a week and it had to be something that can be made in bulk cheaply, like chili or pasta.
Virgil, because he was formed from Thomas's teenage emo phase, has a permanent baby face. He does not like this pointed out.
Roman points it out constantly.
Conversely Patton has small crows feet by his eyes and some gray hair.
Janus is trying to convert the basement into his own lair/wine cellar. He thinks no one knows. Everyone knows.
While Logan initially fought back on Patton becoming the de facto chef, he soon realized that having Thomas do all the chores in a house where essentially seven people were living was both unfair and unfeasible. Thomas is still responsible for his own cooking, dishes, and laundry (since the others pretty much only wear their conjured clothes), but the rest of the household chores are scheduled between the six of them (Remus is not quite trusted on that front yet. He starting to understand consequences, but it's also like teaching a toddler. He's not used to being more than impulse.)
Still in the Big bang fic mines, but something I was playing around with in SidesWays.
My plan for how Roman's illusions worked was that they interacted with the mind of whoever saw them (including Roman himself), making them seem real to all the sense. For example, making the apartment bigger in Court of Blood was a trick in perception where the person under the illusion would be make small movements or steps, but perceive their own steps as normal or long strides. Importantly the information comes from Roman's mind, which is when why he (who never got bitten during the vampire thing) tried to illusion a vampire bite, it wasn't right, even though the people he was illusioning had been bitten and if his powers accessed their memories, they could have filled in the blanks.
But Nico had an offhand thought about how Roman's powers might be reality manipulation and honestly that's really fun too. I like the idea of Roman underestimating his abilities and not realizing he's literally rewriting reality. Janus thought he was jealous before!
So any thought? What's more fun: Master Illusionist Roman or Reality Warper Roman
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The first thing Nico felt when he saw Thomas's number show up was relief. It had been days of radio silence and ignored texts from his boyfriend and he was beginning to fear he was either dumped or something was very wrong.
That relief quickly turned to annoyance when he heard Thomas's voice clearly and without any emotion say "I require your assistance." Like he hadn't been ignoring and freaking out Nico for days, but called as soon as he wanted something. It felt very unlike Thomas, but he also hadn't known Thomas that long...
He was still formulating a response of the two clashing emotions when another voice that sounded a lot like Thomas's called out "Logan, I don't know what to do! I think I'm just making it worse."
"Go and sit with Thomas for now. Monitor him for any changes and come and get me if anything major happens. Hopefully Nico can rectify the situation." Thomas (Logan?) sighed. "I apologize. Issues that don't involve moral quandaries or can be solved with a surfeit of affection are somewhat out of Patton's wheelhouse. Mind, I originally thought this problem could be solved with excessive affection. But I miscalculated. It seems Thomas sees our care for him as 'obligatory' and thus did not alleviate the symptoms before they worsened."
Thomas had brothers, Nico remembered. He couldn't quite recall their names, but it would explain Logan and Patton sounding so similar to Thomas and why Thomas felt their love was obligatory. On one hand, it meant Thomas wasn't being an ass. On the other...something was very wrong. "What's going on with Thomas?" Nico asked.
"His mental health spiraled quickly and harshly a few days prior." Logan reported. "Worse than it ever has in the past. Today it took an even further dip. He is currently completely unresponsive to verbal or physical stimuli, though his involuntary reflexes seem to still be holding up, such as pupil constriction when exposing his eyes to a flashlight."
Nico was already pulling on his coat. "I'm on my way, but I think this is doctor territory."
Logan was quiet for a moment and for the first time, uncertainty entered his voice. "I do not believe that is advisable at this time."
"Why is this not advisable?" Nico snapped as he pulled open his car door. "This is serious!"
"I concur. But...while Virgil is currently catastrophizing to a prior unheard of degree, not everything he said was unfounded." Logan sighed. "And there is really no way for you to help without informing you. You are aware, of course, of the cases of people randomly developing abilities and traits prior thought to be impossible? And how humanity has historically responded to people who are noticeably different?"
It clicked. "Thomas developed superpowers, had a legendary panic attack over it- probably thinking he was a monster or no one would look at him the same way again. You're afraid if you take him to the hospital and make his powers known he'll be opening himself up for discrimination or worse- which will validate the negative thoughts currently making him spiral?"
"Yes." Logan sounded relieved he understood. "You grasped that masterfully."
"I'm gay," Nico snorted. "I am very familiar with overthinking all the things that can go wrong with coming out to the wrong people and the dangers of people thinking you're subhuman because you're different."
"As is Thomas." Logan sighed. "I'll be awaiting you at Thomas's home. Drive swiftly but safely and within all legal limits."
The call cut off and Nico stared at his phone for a moment. Logan was… okay, Logan was a little weird. But right now Thomas needed help and that had to be the focus. He got there as quickly as he could (staying within the legal limits, it wouldn’t do anyone any good if he got pulled over.)
Nico had barely knocked on the door before it was opened by someone who both completely did or did not look like Thomas. The face and body shape was the same, with the only difference being his hair was a little darker, his eyes were a deep blue instead of brown, and he wore glasses. But where the physicality was near identical, how he carried himself was inverse. Thomas wore his heart on his sleeve and usually either had a relaxed slouch or was filled with nervous energy. This person held himself rigidly, proper posture maintained.
"Nico, good to meet you in the flesh, so to speak," came the same clipped tone he heard over the phone.
"Logan, right?" Nico acknowledged. Logan's face did something odd. "How did you know my name? I am quite sure neither Thomas nor I introduced myself."
Why would he assume Thomas hadn't told him his brother's name? Like, he was right, but it was a weird thing to assume. "I heard Patton call you that over the phone." Nico explained.
Logan rolled his eyes. "And the trend of him telling people my name before I can continues, though I seemed to have returned the favor this time. However, that is not important."
Right, Thomas. Nico pushed past Logan and into the house, where he saw two people sitting on the couch. He barely noted that the other person was also practically a dead wringer for Thomas before he curled up beside his boyfriend, entwining their fingers together. "Thomas?" he called softly.
Thomas didn't respond to either his voice or his touch. Logan came over and took Thomas's pulse on his other hand and shined a flashlight in Thomas's eyes. "Pupil response is still active and pulse remains high. No change."
"What do we do?" the person Nico assumed was Patton wailed.
"I am afraid I am at a loss." Logan admitted. "I still believe that Nico's acceptance would pull Thomas out of the spiral. However, Thomas has retreated too far into his own mind to hear the words, rendering them ineffective."
"Can we, I dunno, bring Nico into Thomas's mind." Patton suggested, clearly grasping at straws.
"While that would solve the problem I have no idea how to go about it." Logan admitted. "The only one who could do that is Thomas. And if he were cognizant enough to bring people into his mind... an irony that the only obvious solution to the problem can only be enacted if the problem itself didn't exist."
"Is that Thomas's power? Bringing people into his mind?" Nico asked.
Logan and Patton shared a look. "Not exactly," Logan pushed up his glasses and Nico idly realized Patton wore an identical pair. "Truthfully it's more a hypothesis than absolute knowledge if he could do that."
"But his power is mental, you wouldn't assume that unless it was. Could that be what's making this worse?" Nico guessed.
"Indubitably,” Logan agreed.
"You know our little stormcloud wouldn't do this on purpose," Patton protested.
"Stormcloud?" Nico asked. "That... doesn't really sound like Thomas."
Yeah, he liked emo music, but Thomas was far more sunshine than stormcloud. Well, usually. Right now he wasn't much of anything, which was significantly worse than a stormcloud. Patton and Logan shared a look.
"I suppose I never explained in detail but- Nico, who do you think we are?" Logan asked.
"Thomas's brothers?" Nico asked more than said, suddenly feeling more unsure of his deduction. "At this point I'm thinking triplets or your family has some very strong genetics."
"It is a logical conclusion to draw, and thus I appreciate it." Logan nodded to himself. "But, sadly, as so many logical things are right now, inaccurate."
"Aw, just because we don't understand the logic doesn't mean it isn't there, just that we don't understand it yet." Patton reassured him.
"I appreciate the sentiment, even if I'm not sure how accurate it is." Logan sounded defeated.
"Anytime. And Nico, we're not Thomas." Now that Nico was focused on him he could see that like Logan, his face was nigh-identical to Thomas's. His eyes were blue, but both them and his hair was a lighter shade than Logan's with the occasional streak of gray throughout. "We're just not... not Thomas."
"I'm confused," Nico admitted.
"We are aspects of Thomas's psyche given human form," Logan explained. "I represent logic and knowledge. The desire to learn new things and be seen as a professional. Patton is Thomas's morality and emotional core. He takes on a fatherly mien to represent the fact that Thomas learned his morality from his parents, yet he is also paradoxically Thomas's inner child."
"We don't all make sense. Like how you say you have no emotions, but get so mad when you think Thomas isn't listening to you." Patton poked.
"Falsehood!" Logan declared, looking flustered.
"Is it, though?" Patton asked with a knowing grin.
"Guys... Thomas?" Nico tried to get the two back on track.
"I apologize." Logan straightened his tie. "This whole existing as a flesh and blood entity separate from Thomas is very distracting. Which, if you haven't surmised, is Thomas's power. Albeit, one he doesn't actually have any control over. We chose whether or not to manifest, which I'm sure only added to the stress of the situation. The 'Stormcloud' Patton referred to was the manifestation of Thomas's anxiety."
"His name is Virgil," Patton said reprovingly.
"Yes, and while I do not particularly care whether my name is or is not known, Virgil chooses to only share it with those he is comfortable with and in his own time, which is why I refrained from using it," Logan countered.
"Oh no." Patton looked stricken.
"He will forgive you.” Logan sighed. “He is more fond of you than he is the rest of us. But yes, Virgil did not take to the situation at hand well and his panic translated over to Thomas and left him in this state."
"So Virgil is shut down too?" Nico guessed.
"No, he's aware and responsive, but his responses mostly consist of lashing out in the most terrifying manner possible." Logan explained.
"Now that’s not true Logan, he's not using spiders." Patton pointed out as if it were an inarguable truth.
"Your arachnophobia is not universal, Patton. In fact Virgil is quite fond of spiders. He's lashing out in a way he thinks is scary-"
"Does that mean if we calm down Virgil, Thomas might wake up?" Nico squeezed his boyfriend's hand.
Logan blinked. "That is... plausible. I am truly off my game today for not thinking of it first. True, Virgil isn't letting any of us close, but he is innately fond of you. According to Roman, he was the one who gave Thomas the final push into talking to you, which, needless to say, is considerable coming from the literal personification of Thomas’s social anxiety."
"Okay, so where is Virgil now?" Nico asked.
"Where he feels the most comfortable." Logan pushed his glasses up. "The Attic."
“He likes creepy things. And morbid things. And it’s very far from the basement.” Patton explained.
“What’s in the basement?” Nico was almost afraid to know.
“Let’s handle one crisis at a time, shall we.”
~
"Well, this is certainly not ideal." Logan said, in what Nico felt had to be the greatest understatement of the day. They were standing in front of the open door to the attic, shadows drifting outward like mist from a fog machine.
"What is this?" Nico asked, trying to feel the shadows and not actually making physical contact with anything.
"Virgil has always had an affinity for darkness. In addition to being Thomas's anxiety, fears, nervousness, and fight or flight reflex, he is also representative of Thomas's emo phase and continued love of the music from that era in his life. This is probably a side effect of the tantrum he's throwing." Logan took a deep breath and straightened his tie. "Virgil, we're coming in."
"₦Ø!" screamed a voice Nico could only barely recognize as Thomas's. It sounded almost demonic, like several voices layering together.
"I'm afraid this is not optional." Logan began to climb the stairs without a hint of fear, Nico following behind, trying to push down his own trepidation as the shadows became so deep he couldn’t see Logan in front of him.
"Who are Princey and the Snake?" Nico whispered, stumbling as he tried to step up only to realize there were no more steps. They’d made it to the top.
"Roman and Janus. They are currently occupied in the basement at the moment." Logan explained.
"Nico?" For one moment Virgil's voice sounded just like Thomas's, only deeper and rougher. And so painfully vulnerable. Then - "₩ⱧɎ гРɎØɄ ฿Ɽł₦₲ ₦ł₵Ø ⱧɆⱤɆ?! ⱧɆ'ⱠⱠ ₴ɆɆ Ʉ₴! ⱧɆ'ⱠⱠ ₴ɆɆ ₩Ⱨ₳₮ ₩Ɇ ₳ⱤɆ! ₳ ฿ⱤØ₭Ɇ₦ ₣ⱤɆ₳₭! ⱧɆ'ⱠⱠ ⱠɆ₳VɆ. ⱧɆ'ⱠⱠ ⱠɆ₳VɆ ₳₦Đ ₩Ɇ'ⱠⱠ ฿Ɇ ₳ⱠØ₦E ₳G₳ł₦ ₳₦Đ ₮ⱧØ₥₳₴ ₳₦Đ ₱₳₮₮Ø₦ ₩łⱠⱠ ₵Ɽ₳₵₭ ₣ⱤØ₥ ₮ⱧɆ ⱧɆ₳Ɽ₮฿ⱤɆ₳₭ ₳₦Đ-"
"Hey, hey," Nico still couldn't see Virgil, but oh, he knew that panic well. "Logan, ah, filled me in on the metahuman thing and introduced himself and Patton and... I'm still here." As he spoke, the darkness seemed to fade from the room and Nico could start to make out the figure within.
Despite the demonic sounding voice, the figure was indeed another Thomas. While Logan and Patton felt slightly older than the Thomas he knew, Virgil, if anything, felt younger. He was wearing a purple oversized hoodie and had bangs draped over his eyes that were a plum purple, as well. There were dark circles under his eyes, but with the gloom Nico couldn't tell if they were makeup or eyebags. And while the voice and its projection gave the impression of a powerful monster floating above them, the reality was Virgil was huddled against the far wall, terrified.
Nico slowly walked towards Virgil. "It's okay, Virgil. I'm not going to leave."
"Ɏσυ ѕнσυℓ∂. ㄥσσк αт υѕ. Щє'яє α мєѕѕ. คη∂ ωє ѕнσυℓ∂η'т єνєη вє α ωє. ι ѕнσυℓ∂η'т єχιѕт." The words were still distorted, but no longer shouted.
"That's not true. You may not have been your own person, but you were always there, right? Logan says you're Thomas's nervousness and also emo side, right? That means you're in that cute nervous smile he always does when he's not sure he said the right thing. The part of him that reads the reviews beforehand wherever we go on dates so he knows there won't be any unpleasant surprises. The one who listens to Paramore with me when I'm stuck with writer's block. Sure we're meeting for the first time face to face, but I feel like I've already spent a lot of time with you." As he spoke, the unnatural darkness faded completely and Nico could see the dark shadow under his eyes was, in fact, makeup. It was so extra and so Thomas he couldn't help but be charmed. “You’re probably one of the parts of Thomas I spent the most time with.”
"How can you love us, when we're like this?" Virgil asked, his voice faded to normal. “How could anyone?”
"Easily." Nico replied, giving him a gentle kiss on top of his head.
Virgil's eyeshadow suddenly glowed a shimmery purple and he looked at Nico with a sense of wonder.
"Guys, Thomas is waking up!" Patton excitedly called from downstairs.
"Wait, waking up from what?" Virgil asked, the purple fading back to black.
"Your... episode, as it were, translated to Thomas," Logan explained. "It was more than we could handle ourselves and your point about outing ourselves as a meta was valid, so with medical intervention deemed a last resort only, I was forced to call Nico for aid."
"I hurt Thomas." Virgil was clearly horrified, and Nico squeezed his hand.
"You are Thomas. As am I." Logan pointed out. "Our newfound... situation does not change that. Therefore, how we feel and react does have an effect on him, the degree of which we're still learning." Logan leaned down and patted his knee. "We're all still learning. I am... so far out of my depth with this, and that's not something I say easily. But if you feel you owe Thomas an apology, don't you think you should give it to him?"
"I hate it when you make sense." Virgil grumbled. "I mean, you're right, but surprise- I feel really anxious about it. Gotta be me, I guess. Unfortunately."
"I like you." Nico said simply, and Virgil's eyeshadow surged purple before immediately fading back to black.
"Let's get this over with. I probably owe Patton an apology too. I kind of lashed out at him when he just tried to help." Virgil sounded even more embarrassed.
"True, but I also imagine his 'help' was trying to be an endless fountain of rainbows and sunshine, pointing out all the potential good of the situation while completely ignoring the bad. Something both of us can find irritating." Logan said breezily.
"It's not that it's irritating, it's just..." Virgil shrugged. "Let's get this over with.” He stood up, but Nico kept their hands entwined. Virgil looked surprised, but grateful.
After seeing Thomas all but paralyzed into a sitting position before, it was a relief to see him laying bonelessly stretched out on the couch, a towel over his eyes. Patton shot them a thumbs-up.
Virgil flinched. "Hey, sorry for the whole... that."
"Virge, I love you man. But please, never do that again." Thomas moaned.
"Didn't exactly do it on purpose, but I'll try not to. And Patton, sorry too. For lashing out. And saying what I said." Virgil shrunk into his hoodie.
"Don't mention it, kiddo, water under the bridge.” Patton promised. “It hurt in the moment, but looking back I didn't really help either. I mean, I meant to. But ignoring all the negative possibilities in favor of the positive probably felt more like I was ignoring you, and of course that didn't make you feel better."
"I didn't want to say but... yeah." Virgil admitted.
"Kiddo, you got to tell me when something bothers you. Like when you told me you didn't like it when I treated you like you were harmless. Bottling things up only makes it worse. Don’t be afraid to tell your old man how you feel."
“Not my Dad,” Thomas and Virgil said in sync.
"That was surprisingly astute of you, Patton." Logan said.
"I'm at the core of a lot of Thomas's emotions. I may not be the big brain you are, but I'm an A-plus student in emotional intelligence." Patton grinned.
"The only kind of intelligence you're versed in." Logan grumbled, and Nico's eyes widened in confusion at the sudden cattiness.
"Sorry-not sorry to interrupt before you two get going again," Virgil said. "But where's Roman? Like, he's never not hovering around when Nico's here."
"What do you mean, hovering around? I thought you guys only appeared a few days ago and I haven’t been here in that time. Wait, Logan also said Virgil was the one who convinced Thomas to talk to me and that was… ages ago."
"Nico's here!" Thomas shot up and pulled the towel from his eyes, staring at his boyfriend in shock.
"Hey." Nico waved at him.
"I can explain-"
"I have already done that for you and Nico is on board, so lay back down and continue to recover." Logan instructed, gently pushing Thomas back down and reapplying the towel over his eyes. "And we have technically existed for a long time. It aided Thomas in sorting out his thoughts and feelings to imagine the parts of himself as a forum of discussion and debate. At first we were represented as mere replicas of characters from his skits, but he developed us over time into full characters of our own. However, we were entirely imaginary. Until a few days ago, when we suddenly weren't."
"I kinda thought I lost my grip on reality and was hallucinating them." Thomas admitted from under the towel.
"And that did not help his mental state one bit." Virgil threw in with a sigh. "Our mental state? This is weird. I don’t like it. And it doesn't answer my question. Where's Princey? Nico's like... catnip to him."
Thomas pulled the towel off his eyes again. "Virgil's right. Roman is literally my romantic side. There's no way he wouldn't be front and center."
"He and Janus are... busy," Logan hedged. "I mentioned that earlier."
"He's working with the snake?" Virgil's lip quirked in distaste.
"Janus is quite skilled at what he does. And those skills are invaluable to the task at hand. Which was actually based on your recommendation."
"I didn't recommend anything involving—" Virgil was cut off as Thomas's head suddenly rocked back, his eyes momentarily glowing a burning acid green before fading back to normal. "Okay, the hell was that‽"
"I think that was Remus going back to his room in the Mind Palace." Thomas rubbed his head as if warding off a headache.
"I'm guessing Remus is another aspect?" Nico asked.
"We prefer to be called Sides. And yes. Remus represents Creativity, particularly in it's darker aspects. Intrusive thoughts, impulses, and things considered to be unsavory or, for want of a better term, wrong." Logan explained.
"He can be a lot," Patton admitted, then grinned. “We would have been Remus in looking out for you if we left him free to harass you.”
"Did not miss the puns.” Logan sighed. “His contributions are valuable. But he is a bit difficult to deal with. And to be frank, given the taboo nature of copulation and Thomas's obvious physical attraction to you-"
"We are not going there!" Thomas yelped.
Logan sighed. "That reaction is exactly why that sort of thing is under Remus's purview. Now, while Remus is an important part of Thomas's psyche, his power was limited to thoughts and impulses that Thomas could choose whether or not to act upon, rendering him ultimately harmless. As a flesh and blood being with his own agency? Remus presents a problem, which was one of the factors in Virgil's," Logan pulled a pack of index cards from his pocket, before showing one to them. "'Epic Crashout'."
Virgil shrugged, looking a little flustered at the reminder of what just happened. "We just don't know what he's going to do. He could just hover about and suggest obscene things. He might try and enact those things. He could attempt to gouge out one of his own eyes and do the same to you. Asking Remus to control his impulses is like asking me to relax. And he could pop out at anytime in public and do them to or in front of anyone, including children, and the only way we can stop that is if we never leave the house again and-"
"Settle down, Gayday Parade," a more regal version of Thomas's voice sounded from behind them. "Janus and I managed to keep the miscreant occupied until he was soundly sent packing."
"Yes, and you did the bulk of the work and are the dashing hero," followed a smooth, sassy tone.
Nico looked at the new Thomas's entering the room and the nicknames made a startling amount of sense. Who he presumed was Roman was dressed as a prince, his hair perfectly kempt and his cheekbones more chiseled and prominent than Thomas's. His eyes were the color of carmine, but looked remarkably unthreatening, given the general context of red eyes. He looked every bit the Disney Prince, even more so as he posed like he was in a painting.
The person he presumed was Janus was dressed more like he was from the Victorian era, save the bright yellow color on his capelet trim and gloves, which would have been unspeakably garish at the time. But it wasn't his wardrobe that was the most eyecatching. It was the left half of his face. Both eyes were yellow, but the left was slitted and surrounded by shiny red skin. Tiny golden scales covered his skin in patches and his mouth, while normal on the right side, was far longer on the left. Snake indeed.
“My sweet, shining songmith.” Roman got down on one knee in front of Nico. “For too long have I been away in battle, my partner in arms and I containing the wicked Duke and his aspirations. And seeing you here makes every second with my bothersome brother more than worth it. Mi amor, grant me your favor and I will face any foes, from a dragon-witch to self-doubt and beyond.”
“And he’s off.” Virgil rolled his eyes.
"I expected you two to be able to corral Remusin the basement, it was my plan after all. However I did not expect it to work to the point of making him retreat. How did you manage that? If we can figure it out we can utilize it in the future to-"
"We will not be doing that again." Janus said, then sighed and took off his right glove, holding his hand like he was giving an oath. "It seems I am venomous. My venom is a mild paralytic that Remus thought was kinky at first, but grew bored with not being able to move and retreated. But we will not make any plans that involve me putting any part of Remus in my mouth is that clear!"
"I would never have asked you to do that in the first place. But I'm grateful you did. Thank you." Thomas said sincerely.
Janus pulled the glove back on. "You're not welcome." His gaze slid over Nico. "Logan should never have called you. You didn't help in any way. Your presence is unnecessary."
Nico barely had time for the hurt to settle in before Roman turned on Janus and drew a… katana? "How dare you, you perfidious puffadder! To besmirch our perfect poetic paramour... Our wondrous knight, who rode to our aid not knowing what was going on. Who calmed our tempestuous thunderstorm and-"
"He put his glove back on." Virgil interrupted, grumpily.
"What does that even have to do with-"
"It's an indicator." Logan interrupted before Roman could get going again. "While Janus doesn't always lie, especially when the truth can serve his ends better, his word is only to be taken at face value after he's taken his glove off. Any other time, his words are usually manipulative at best, a complete fabrication at worse, but most commonly, an inverse of the sentiment he's currently feeling."
"In other words, he was basically saying in his own Janus way that Logan calling you was a good idea, you helped a lot, and you were absolutely needed," Thomas said tiredly.
"And while normally he'd be more careful about giving offense, especially to someone who he approves of in Thomas's life, I imagine the stress of keeping Remus under control, or at least out of trouble, for over an hour took its toll." Logan added.
"I don't know what you're talking about. It was an absolute delight. I've never had a better time." Janus said in the exact same tone he'd insulted Nico in which, yeah, did more to convince Nico of its falsehood than the assurance of Thomas.
"So when Janus said Roman did the bulk of the work and was a dashing hero-?" Nico asked.
Virgil smothered a laugh as Roman easily became twice as affronted.
"Yes, you were also the one best suited to retain the ability to create illusions, just like your brother with his shapeshifting. I'm not at all jealous over having something as banal as venom. Those suit you far better than me. I'm sure your intellectual prowess will allow you to make perfect use of them."
"Well I'm glad you think so but-wait! You're insulting me again!" Roman declared.
"Ko e vale 'a e pilinisi," Logan muttered under his breath
"Whatever gave you that idea? Now this ordeal has got me all tuckered out. I won't be back later." Janus tipped his bowler and sunk into the ground, fading away as Thomas's eyes glowed a golden yellow.
"I am never going to get used to that feeling." Thomas bemoaned, massaging his temples.
"I don't like him," Virgil grumbled.
"As has been well noted." Logan nodded. "However, he was instrumental in keeping Remus occupied and away from Thomas, and later, Nico." The entire group shuddered. "And do recall Roman was not very fond of you either, at first. Much like Janus and Remus, you were perceived as something to be managed, not appreciated. But even before we understood it to be true, your contributions were always valuable, and so are theirs."
"Janus, I can see. I don't like it, but I can see it." Thomas blinked, a thought dawning on him. "Nico, Janus is my self-preservation, but above all else, my capacity for deceit."
"Which explains the lying thing." Nico nodded. That had been confusing.
"You're taking the fact that one of the major facets of my psyche is Deceit very well." Thomas said, a bit unnerved. "Actually you're taking all of this very well."
"Oh I am definitely in crisis mode and everything that's not making sure you're okay is being put away to be dealt with later and I will probably have an existential crisis or two then." Nico leaned over and kissed his temple. "And you're worth the crisis, Mr. Sanders, never forget that. As for deceit, it does make sense."
"It does?" Thomas asked, worriedly.
Nico laughed. "You're an actor. Being able to fool the audience into believing you're someone you're not is literally your job."
"But I am his ☆Creativity☆." Roman flourished his hand and was suddenly surrounded by sparkles.
"Half his creativity." Logan muttered.
"And he does such a good job!" Patton clapped his hands.
"I thought Roman was your romantic side?" Nico asked. “And Remus was your creativity.”
"I am his romantic side!" Roman declared. "I am also his main creativity! His passion! His love of Disney! And a not-inconsiderable amount of his ego." He waggled his eyebrows. "I contain multitudes."
"Logan is the rest of Thomas's ego." Patton said happily.
"No I'm not!" Logan denied.
"Sure you are. Roman is Thomas's pride in himself as a person. You're his professional pride, his desire for his expertise and achievements to be seen and recognized. And be taken seriously. That's why you always take everything super seriously." Patton explained, grin never wavering.
"...I do not like this revelation." Logan said. "But I cannot deny it's accuracy. I do very much want Thomas's capacity and acknowledgments, especially his intellectual capacity, recognized and that is a form of ego."
"Getting sidetracked happens a lot with them." Thomas warned. "But I was telling you about Janus for a reason. He's my self-preservation. Everything he does will have an end goal of being for my own good. Just mine." Thomas reached over and squeezed the hand Roman had let go. "Be careful trusting him. He'll use you without a second thought."
"Logan's the best at seeing through his horseshit." Virgil shrugged. "If Snake-Face tells you to do anything or act a certain way, go to him first."
"Why not me?" Patton asked, hurt. "I'm Thomas's morality."
"Sorry, Pop-star, but you are very easily swayed by emotional pleas and Janus knows that about you." Virgil apologized.
"Don't play down your own abilities, Virgil." Roman chided. "You are the master of figuring out when Janus is disguised as one of us. You have a preternatural ability to sniff him out."
"Yeah, which was useful when he could shapeshift." Virgil shrugged. "Not much use for it now."
"He could shapeshift? And now... he can't?" Nico tried to clarify.
"Back when we were imaginary, kiddo. Because we weren't real we could look like whatever we wanted in Thomas's imagination. Or, I guess whatever Thomas wanted us to. And because we existed in his imagination, everything around us was a figment of Thomas's imagination we could shift around. But since becoming real, only Remus can shapeshift. And we can't alter the reality around us, though Roman can do a bang-up job of making it look like he can."
"Thank you," Roman flicked his wrist and the sound of applause filled the apartment.
"Two hallmarks of Deceit's MO, and now all he can do is watch Remus and Roman make use of them while he's just stuck with teeth as poisonous as his tongue." Virgil smirked.
"Excellent simile!" Roman declared.
"I feel it would be far more accurate to state all he can do now is try to manipulate Roman and Remus into doing what he wants," Logan corrected. "Something he has a history of attempting... and succeeding at."
Roman's face fell.
“So Roman and Remus are both creativity?” Nico tried to bring the conversation back around.
“In a way. Roman is desired creativity. Art, Imagination, and Dreams are his main purview. The sort of things pleasant to dwell on. Remus is the opposite. He pushes out the very thoughts Thomas least wants to have. The things he doesn’t want to consider and dwell on. And while that makes him unpleasant, it is also what makes him so important.”
“How is making Thomas and the rest of us uncomfortable important?” Roman huffed. “That’s all he does.”
“And that’s very important. As children we rely on our parents, teachers and other trusted adults to tell us what’s right and wrong. And it would be easy to take those lessons and never think more of them, but it does not guarantee a proper view of the world. Remus forces you to think about things you’ve been told are wrong and through this lens are forced to confront them and think about them. Most you do find just as repugnant, that’s Remus’s nature. But your first thoughts about kissing other boys came from Remus. And you were just as horrified at those as you were when he spoke about something bad happening to Joan. And now those thoughts primarily belong to Roman, because you realized the homophobic views of mainstream religion were the thing that was wrong. And if Remus had never made you question them, you may have ended up forcing yourself to feign attraction and relationships with women, because that’s what the ‘good’ thing to do was. We’re not all pleasant, Thomas, but we are all essential.”
“I dislike the thought that I owe my brother anything.” Roman said sullenly. “Yet the very thought that we might have denied ourselves true love in favor of conformity? That we would never have opened ourselves up to our marvelous muse? The very idea burns at me.” He shuddered dramatically.
“Me too,” Thomas admitted. “So I should be nicer to Remus?”
“If we were in a world where things made sense and we were all still imaginary? Absolutely. Understanding and accepting all parts of yourself is a good thing. But we no longer live in that world, and Virgil’s points, albeit not his reaction to them, were valid.”
Virgil made a small growling sound.
“Remus is a wildcard. There is no rhyme or reason to what he does and he lives only in the moment with no concept of consequences. With his own physical form and agency, he could very easily hurt someone and Thomas would be the one to bear the weight of it. At the same time, confining Thomas to the house so Remus is barred from beyond it, is untenable long-term. It would put him in the exact headspace that Remus thrives in and sooner or later, something would give.”
“So what do we do?” Thomas asked.
“We take it one day at a time, champ.” Patton answered gently. “We figure things out. Maybe you can find a way to control whether or not we manifest. Maybe we need to have Janus and Roman trap Remus in illusionary escape rooms to give you some space to go outside. Maybe being real will help Remus grow as a person and he can be taught how to act in a society without potentially landing you in jail.”
“That one terrifies me the most.” Logan admitted.
“But would that one not be the best solution?” Roman asked.
“On paper, yes. However, if Remus were to change to that degree, it would follow that we would as well.”
Virgil curled in on himself more, and Roman and Patton both looked unnerved.
“But that’s for later. Right now we should be changing that distress to de-stress.” Patton reached for the remote. “Aladdin, maybe followed by some Parks and Rec?”
“Isn’t that just not dealing with my problems?” Thomas asked.
“Thomas you spent several days in a state of high stress and about an hour in what appeared to be a catatonic stupor. You need recovery,” Logan assured him. “Patton, do you think you could prepare some small, easily digestible food for Thomas? I would like to go back to my room and ruminate.”
“I don’t think so, Logan. You need to wind down too. Father knows best.”
“Not our dad,” Thomas, Virgil, and now Logan said.
“My bad, guess that makes me a …Faux-Pa! Eh? Eh?”
“Patton is also my love of Dad jokes,” Thomas explained.
“I’m leaving,” Logan growled, beginning to sink into the ground and Thomas’s eyes lit up indigo.
“I’ll make those crackers with the smears of jelly you like.”
Logan paused, mid sink out. “The Crofter’s Berry Harvest on the toasted wheat crackers?”
“You know it!” Patton smiled.
“I suppose I could remain for a bit.” Logan hedged.
“That’s great Logan, but if you could come all the way back, having you halfway in and out of my brain is really, really weird.” Thomas clutched his head.
“My apologies.” Logan rose up, looking distressed. “I hadn’t thought about how doing that would affect you.”
“We’re all learning things.” Thomas winced as his head regained equilibrium. “And I know fantasy and comedy aren’t your thing. But you could always watch that documentary on the Horsehead Nebula on my laptop.”
“I could, couldn’t I? I must confess, the fact that I can take part in a different form of recreation than you had escaped me.” Logan shook his head in wonder and retrieved Thomas’s laptop and headphones.
“Thanks, Patton. And thank you, Nico, not just for coming, but for helping me and being and understanding and just...everything that you are.”
“He is a perfect prince.” Roman said smittenly. “And I would know.”
“Oh, hey! After we watch the movie, we should show Nico the old skits you based us on! It’s like our baby pictures!” Patton squealed, pulling out some yogurt and granola clusters.
"We should not." Virgil said flatly.
"By Pinocchi's Polished Proboscis, embarrassment over showing our amor our baby pictures? We are becoming real boys!" Roman exclaimed, half-gleeful, half-horrified.
"You don't have to stay." Thomas said. "I mean, I don't know what Logan pulled you away from."
"Nothing more important than this," Nico promised. He sat down next to Thomas, pulling Virgil with him.
"You sure?" Thomas asked.
"I think that's Virgil talking." Nico said, teasingly.
"Nah, I'm in Team Nico Stays." Virgil leaned against Nico's shoulder.
Roman frowned, seeing Thomas and Virgil on both sides of Nico. Then he sat down on the floor, leaning back against Nico's legs.
"Princey, you're ridiculous." Virgil said fondly.
"Then give me your seat."
"No. Comfy." Virgil curled up like a cat.
"I'm in this for the long haul, Thomas." Nico promised. "I'm here for you. All of you."
Thomas gulped. "There's a lot of me now." he pointed out.
"I consider that the opposite of a problem."
Virgil laughed as his eyeshadow became glittery, then he blinked. "Are we Nico's harem?"
"That is a thought for tomorrow." Thomas grabbed the remote and turned on the movie.
Patton couldn't help the fond smile as he watched them from the kitchenette. Logan was right, it was strange and frightening how much they were changing. That he could see Thomas, Virgil, and Logan and see three different people, instead of two partial aspects of a core person.
But as scary as it was, he loved it. He loved seeing his boys curled around their boyfriend, and Logan relaxing rather than trying to carry everything on his shoulders. No matter how many problems were coming, Patton was sure this moment alone was worth it.
He loved his family.
~~~~
Virgil Tempest Tongue Translation:
₦Ø - No
ł ĐØ₦'₮ ₩₳₦₮ ₮Ø ₮₳Ⱡ₭ ₮Ø ɎØɄ ØⱤ ₱₳₮₮Ø₦ -I don't want to talk to you or Patton
ł ĐØ₦'₮ ₩₳₦₮ ₮Ø ₮₳Ⱡ₭ ₮Ø ₱Ɽł₦₵ɆɎ ØⱤ ₮ⱧɆ ₴₦₳₭Ɇ Ɇł₮ⱧɆⱤ - I don't want to talk to Princey or the Snake either
₩ⱧɎ гРɎØɄ ฿Ɽł₦₲ ₦ł₵Ø ⱧɆⱤɆ?! ⱧɆ'ⱠⱠ ₴ɆɆ Ʉ₴! ⱧɆ'ⱠⱠ ₴ɆɆ ₩Ⱨ₳₮ ₩Ɇ ₳ⱤɆ! ₳ ฿ⱤØ₭Ɇ₦ ₣ⱤɆ₳₭! ⱧɆ'ⱠⱠ ⱠɆ₳VɆ. ⱧɆ'ⱠⱠ ⱠɆ₳VɆ ₳₦Đ ₩Ɇ'ⱠⱠ ฿Ɇ ₳ⱠØ₦E ₳G₳ł₦ ₳₦Đ ₮ⱧØ₥₳₴ ₳₦Đ ₱₳₮₮Ø₦ ₩łⱠⱠ ₵Ɽ₳₵₭ ₣ⱤØ₥ ₮ⱧɆ ⱧɆ₳Ɽ₮฿ⱤɆ₳₭ ₳₦Đ - Why did you br-ng Nico here?! He'll see us! He'll see what we are! A broken freak! He'll leave! He'll leave an we'll be alone again and Thomas and Patton will crack from the heartbreak and-
Ɏσυ ѕнσυℓ∂. ㄥσσк αт υѕ. Щє'яє α мєѕѕ. คη∂ ωє ѕнσυℓ∂η'т єνєη вє α ωє. ι ѕнσυℓ∂η'т єχιѕт - You should. Look at us. We're a mess. And we shouldn't even be a we. I shouldn't exist.
Bonus:
Ko e vale 'a e pilinisi - Tongan is one of the many languages Logan learned to sat 'The Prince is stupid' in.
did sideways!virgil ever feel similarly to roman in terms of the “personal feelings for nico unrelated to thomas” thing?
-hove (@pattons-time-capsule)
Virgil actually figured it out a lot quicker than Roman did, to some degree because being alive as his own person was something he was obsessing over while Roman was still in the 'check out my cool party trick' phase.
But even on Day 1 of Nico being there, Virgil flat out asked if they were all Nico's harem. He right away saw them as a polycule, if Nico would have them.
(Messed with getting the link to work for too long, just doing it as a hyperlink instead on an embed)
Logan felt himself settle into Thomas’s mind. Ah, he was still in the shower and likely would not appreciate himself and Patton popping up till he was out and had some clothes on. He didn’t understand the discomposure, after all, they had spent most of their existence in his head and having identical bodies naked or clothed. But human psychological conditioning, especially in western cultures that did not have shared bathing, had very strict taboos about being seen naked outside certain situations (and honestly even within those situations) and it would be unrealistic to expect Thomas from being immune to that, doubly so with them establishing themselves as individuals separate from him as much as they were a part of him.
Now that he thought about it, there really was no word for this phenomenon. That meant… he could decide the term! Logan felt a giddy little thrill. Oh, that would be a treat for himself later. Now he just had to hang tight until he could pop out again and get things back on track.
If only getting things back on track wasn’t the main theme of his life.
~
“So what did I miss?” Thomas asked, exiting the en-suite bathroom. Roman was sitting on the bed between Virgil and Nico. Virgil was lying boneless on the bed, a large smile on his face. Nico also looked relaxed and happy, though not as much as Virgil.
“Emotional illusions,” Virgil practically purred.
Logan rocketed out of the floor, Patton rising at a more normal rate behind him. “You’ve discovered a new application of your power?”
“Not… as such,” Roman admitted. “You worked out that one way my illusions work is by tricking the brains of those who see them that they’re real, and that’s why people can experience them with all five senses, correct? I am trying to recreate the experience of the vampire bites. But since all I have are second-hand memories, it’s nowhere near as realistic.”
“Please explain the concept of a second-hand memory?” Logan said, a pen and notebook already in hand.
“Well, we’re all Thomas, right? And we can go over Thomas’s memories, though only you have perfect recall of them. If they’re something we experienced while merged with the subconscious, we remember them much the same as Thomas, in that a recollection is never as strong as living through an event. If it’s something we were in our rooms for, the distance to the memory is greater. The emotions and details are less clear. It’s even moreso for memories we’re out of your head for. But those, we have to specifically look for, we don’t just know them.”
“And that leads to the question of, well, what about our memories? The ones we create separately from Thomas. I tried and found that I could find Virgil’s memories of last night but it was far harder to reach them. And they were even less vivid than Thomas’s memory I wasn’t present for. Hence, second-hand memories.”
“Fascinating.” Logan’s pen was flying across the page. “I hadn’t thought of trying to see each other’s memories. The use in powers training if nothing else… Virgil, how close is your current experience to last night’s?”
“It’s like the difference between a full spa day and a relaxing bath with some music playing. Like, not really the same at all, but still nice and relaxing.” Virgil was still smiling. “I’m also way more lucid than I was during the bite. So plus in favor of this.”
“The relaxation was pretty extreme for me, I can only imagine how big a shift it was for you,” Nico admitted.
“And might someday be easier for you to achieve,” Logan noted. “As we are all developing more fully-fledged human psyches, calming down may become easier for Virgil as anxiety is no longer the bulk of his being.”
“I think I’d normally feel more nervous about things changing, but not going to lie, not feeling anxious is pretty great,” Virgil said.
“Hmm.” Logan noted ‘Get Thomas to look into anxiety treatments’ on his pad. “Well, if there’s nothing else pressing, may we reconvene downstairs? Thomas and Nico do need food, and I’d rather not leave Remus unattended with his art project any longer than necessary.”
“What art project?” Thomas’s voice was filled with dread.
“He’s painting that dress shirt you ruined from putting it through the wash with a ketchup packet.”
“That sounds too normal for my brother.” Roman narrowed his eyes.
“He’s using his own blood as paint,” Logan filled in.
“And there it is.” Roman sighed.
“If he was bleeding, couldn’t Patton have just healed him so he’d stop doing that?” Virgil asked.
“I tried,” Patton wailed.
“We have not discovered all the ins and outs of how Patton’s power worked. Some more testing is required. Now, Remus? Unsupervised?”
“Right, let’s go.”
~
“Remus, buddy, what are you doing?” Thomas asked, though it was obvious he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer.
Remus had at some point traded out the paintbrush for a sharpie and was doing linework over what he’d painted prior. “I took some artistic liberties, but I’m pretty happy. What do you think?” Remus displayed his piece.
Logan hadn’t taken a close look at the bloody shirt before. While he’d noticed some grotesqueries, the sharpie added definition to the blood that let him see the subjects clearly. And the centerpiece was a portrait of vampire Thomas and Nico. Thomas’s fangs were clearly embedded in Nico’s neck and Nico had a look of rapture on his face.
Thomas paled and looked like he didn’t know if he wanted to be horrified or nauseous.
“Kinky,” Nico said.
Remus’s eyebrows rose. “Nico, would you do me the honor of marrying Thomas?”
“Remus!” Roman protested, aghast. “That is not how one does a proposal.”
“Yes it is. I mean, I just did it.” Remus pointed out.
“But where’s the drama? The show of appreciation?”
“Not all proposals need that,” Thomas said. “Not that I’m proposing right now. I mean I know Remus did, and he’s a part of me, but-”
“It’s okay, Thomas.” Nico reached over and kissed him on the cheek.
“You can make a proposal when all of you is ready.” He grinned mischievously. “If I don’t beat you to it.”
Remus laughed and clapped his hands. “Wonderful! You know, I’ve never gotten a compliment on my work before!”
“Is ‘Kinky’ a compliment?” Patton whisper-asked.
“For Remus? Yes,” Roman answered in the same tone.
“Thomas!” Now Nico was frowning. “You never complimented Remus’s work before?”
“Okay, in my defense, Remus’s prior work was either making me think I’d die horribly and alone, making me think I was a terrible person and going to Hell, or suggesting I do things like force people to watch me burn myself to death,” Thomas defended.
That brought Nico up short. “Okay, I can see how that would be a problem.”
“I sent him a really good one right after you met, about you telling him he was annoying and you just talked to him to be polite and you wanted him to leave you alone.” Remus cackled. “And then I added knives.”
“You did what?” Roman shrieked, gearing up for a fight.
“You had me working so much overtime that day.” Virgil rubbed his temples. “Thank God actual Nico called.”
Nico took a deep breath and then another. To be completely honest, he sort of wanted to react like Roman. But that wouldn’t help. It was obvious by how Roman’s words just washed over Remus, even as Roman looked like he was going to enact violence.
“I’m invoking safeword,” Nico said, in as measured a voice as he could.
That at least got Remus’s attention. “Pardon?”
“I know you know what a safeword is.” Remus talked about sexual and kink stuff enough that he had to. “We don’t have one worked out, but I’m invoking the principle. I know disturbing Thomas is part of your purpose but do not use my face or voice to do it.” Nico reached over and squeezed Thomas’s hand. “Thomas means so much to me. All of you do. I don’t want to be one of the things that hurts him, even if it’s just a memory of me. I’m not comfortable with that. If I do something stupid and make a mistake, I want it to be on me. I don’t want… I can’t accept becoming a negative connotation in someone’s mind without having any choice in the matter. So safeword.”
“You’re a good connotation,” Thomas promised, squeezing Nico’s hand back. “I don’t know where I’d be without you. I know the things Remus shows me aren’t any more real than Roman’s illusions. They don’t reflect me and they don’t reflect you either.
Remus looked like he was considering. He tilted his head back and forth a bit, tongue sticking out of his mouth. “It’s specifically negative connotations you’re safewording, right?”
“Clarify.” Nico wasn’t agreeing until he knew what he was agreeing to.
“Intrusive thoughts are my primary work, but I really deal with any thought Thomas view as ‘forbidden’. Which means I’m also in charge of his sexual fantasies. Can I still include you in those?”
Oh, what a thing to give permission on. Did he want Thomas to think sexy thoughts about him? Yes, to be quite honest. He wasn’t ready to act on either Thomas’s or his own desires, but he appreciated being thought of that way. “As long as I’m not acting in a way that would be harming Thomas in them.”
“Unless it’s in a way he specifically asks for,” Remus countered, eyes gleaming.
“A little pain is fine if everyone’s having fun with it, but nothing that would cause lasting physical or mental harm.”
“Deal!” Remus reached out to shake Nico’s hand, and Nico went to shake, except Logan stepped forward and pushed Remus’s arm up.
“You just got out of the shower. Remus, either wash your hands or reset before you go shaking Nico’s hand.”
Remus gave him an unimpressed look and sprouted a third arm, the fingers even more bloody and grimy than the hands he had before. Logan squeezed his arm in warning and suddenly the extra arm vanished.
“What?” Remus looked the most surprised of everyone in the room.
“Brother, your teeth?” Roman’s confusion seemed to override his prior anger.
Remus ran his tongue over his normal, perfect, teeth. “Oh hell no!” He immediately shaped them back to shark teeth.
Logan looked curious then his eyes sharpened into understanding. He squeezed Remus’s arm again.
“I invoke safeword!” Remus yelped, surprising all present.
“What is happening?” Virgil asked.
Logan considered. While he did very much wish to test his hypothesis about what had just occurred, and if he was right what had occurred was momentous, equally momentous was Remus setting a boundary. This both showed him understanding the concept of boundaries and would set a horrific precedent if Logan ignored his request after Remus had respected Nico’s. After all, if Remus believed his boundaries weren’t to be respected, what motivation would he have to respect others?
And really, while Logan did not regret ceasing whatever mischief Remus planned with the bloody hand, the teeth were nothing more than Remus’s choice in self-expression. He was requesting to not have his appearance changed without his consent, a boundary Virgil himself had requested back before he had given his name. Hmm, Remus had negotiated and clarified with Nico, so there should be no trouble with him doing so as well. “Very well. I won’t say I will not step in to prevent any chicanery, whether harmful or merely inconvenient to others. However, your right to self-expression is no less sacred than our own and I will not meddle in it.”
Remus looked at him with pursed lips. “You drive a hard bargain. But fine.” He sprouted two extra arms, both of them perfectly clean this time, and shook both Nico and Logan’s hands.
“I’m still not sure what happened,” Thomas admitted.
“Nor am I, not completely. But there is a simple way to test my hypothesis. Roman, could you make an illusion? Audio, visual, or both, it matters not.”
“Simple enough.” Roman waved his hand and streams of sunlight seemed to shine through the room while the opening strings of ‘Morning Mood’ from Peer Gynt played.
“Excellent.” Logan stuck his hand in the sunbeam, then frowned when nothing happened. He reached out and touched Roman with one finger and the sunlight and music cut off.
“By the Hunting Hounds of Argent Artemis, what was that!” Roman shrieked, discomforted.
“My power.” Logan sounded satisfied. “I had wondered. If, as I thought, our powers were linked to our purpose, what could possibly represent Logic when powers in and of themselves were illogical. I had wondered for a time if it was a passive ability based on one of my other aspects, such as perfect recall, or being able to calculate things more quickly in one’s mind. But Thomas never showed any sign of such when I discorporated, so I assumed those to be incorrect.” Logan flexed his hand. “No, my power, it seems, is to reassert logic by removing the factors defying it. Or, in other words.” Logan pushed up his glasses, smirking faux-menacingly. “I am the Cancel Button.”
“I do not like that. I do not like that at all,” Roman fretted.
“I do,” Thomas said plainly. He shrugged at the look both twins gave him. “Having an undo option takes a lot of the pressure off things that can go wrong.”
Roman huffed. “What can go wrong with my beautiful illusions?” he questioned.
“That’s an odd thing to be asked by the guy who accidentally made Nico panic by making him experience death,” Virgil pointed out.
Roman glared at him.
Virgil put his hands up in surrender. “Hey, my power isn’t without sin either. It managed to put Thomas in a spiral without having to do anything but be there. So I kind of get where Thomas is coming from with feeling secure having an off switch. If he had that the first time he used Shadow Storm, a lot of stress could have been dodged.”
“Fine. I suppose it could be useful.” Roman conceded. “If for nothing else than to prevent clouds of darkness from erupting if Thomas starts to panic in public.”
“Yep. Or if he’s practicing illusions and intrusive thoughts start to actually influence the illusion and turn them nightmarish, or if he does bite his tongue with Janus’s fangs and accidentally poisons himself, or-” Virgil stopped himself. “Logan’s power has a lot of utility, that’s all.”
“Thank you Virgil. Would you mind terribly if I practiced it with you while Thomas works on his illusions today? I want to make sure I have a thorough grounding with it before I can leave instructions for Thomas.”
“Sure thing.” As he had stated, Virgil was very down with Thomas having a cancel button.
“Patton… at a moment I must admit I’m at a loss for how to go about working with your power. Since we don’t know its limitations, mainly that it could heal Nico’s bruise, but not Remus’s broken nose, I am hesitant in purposefully supplying injuries to fix, as even with our ability to reset, that’s, well- I don’t think that kind of self-harm would be mentally healthy for anyone involved,” Logan admitted. “We might just have to wait for a small everyday papercut or bruise to occur.”
“You’re missing the obvious,” Remus sang.
“What is Logan missing, he asked, knowing he would regret it.” Thomas sighed heavily.
“An injury no more serious than a bruise? In fact it is a bruise, that isn’t seen as harmful?” Remus tried to lead them.
“How is a bruise not harmful? It’s a literal injury,” Logan asked.
Remus rolled his eyes in frustration. “I’ll give you a hint. Thomas gave Nico a rather extreme one last night.”
“A bite?” Patton guessed.
Roman covered his face. “Hickeys. He’s talking about hickeys.”
“I… guess a vampire bite is kind of a hickey,” Nico conceded.
Logan looked at Thomas.
“How are you the seat of all my knowledge and you don’t know this?” Thomas questioned.
“I retain things on topics that interest me. Which is most topics.” Logan allowed. “But I do have some blind spots, mostly in modern slang and social endeavors."
“A hickey is a bruise on the neck or chest left via a kiss. Usually by biting or kind of doing a suction thing.” Virgil awkwardly explained. “They are seen in a positive light when it comes to romance and passion, though they can also be seen as a sign of promiscuousness. Some people see them as possessive, ‘marking’ the object of their affection for everyone to see."
“Come on, Nico, don’t you want to return the favor? Mark up Thomas’s neck for science!” Remus goaded.
“Maybe after breakfast,” Nico sidestepped. “Food first, than science.”
“There is always time for science.” Logan disagreed. “But food is necessary. Patton, do you happen to know the state of the leftovers?”
“In short, not enough.” Patton answered. “I tried not to overdo it, plus the kiddos snacked on the leftovers last night.”
“Actually, let me check something.” Nico opened the fridge and looked around. “Why don’t I make everyone breakfast?”
“You’re our guest!” Patton argued.
“You guy treated me to the ultimate fantasy getaway last night. I think that’s at least worth a breakfast.” He pulled out eggs, garlic, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and some cheese. “Everyone good with a frittata?”
“Ah, protein and vegetables. Excellent.” Logan nodded.
“I think you mean Egg-cellent!” Patton corrected.
“I most certainly did not!” Logan protested.
Nico laughed. “Thomas, do you want to make some toast?”
“That is within my culinary capacity.” Thomas laughed.
“Oh, can I help too?” Roman asked with glee.
“Sure, why don’t you quarter the cherry tomatoes?” Nico suggested.
“I can separate the eggs!” Remus eagerly volunteered. “I love dismembering the unborn.”
“Only after washing your hands.” Patton insisted. “Thouroughly, and with warm water and soap.”
“Or just reset, if you wish to avoid your soap allergy.” Logan sighed.
“I would be happy to set the table.” Virgil fiddled with his sleeves.
“Sounds like a wonderful idea. I believe that would put the kitchen near, if not over, capacity, so rather than participate in making the breakfast, why don’t I assist with the dishes afterwards?” Logan offered.
“That would be a huge help,” Thomas admitted, gratefully. “As much as I love them, FamILY meal days are always a lot. Though I guess this isn’t full family since Janus is sleeping in.”
Logan frowned slightly to himself. He had made the chore schedule for Thomas to keep him on task, but in retrospect, it wasn’t really fair, was it? Certainly when Thomas was living alone and was the only one making the messes it was only right that he clean it up.
But that wasn’t entirely the case anymore. The group meals, whether they be a dinner, breakfast, or brunch, had all of them using the plates. And likewise the current mess in the living room wasn’t Thomas’s doing at all. Yes, they were exempt from laundry, their clothes resetting when they did, but otherwise? For all getting Thomas to be more responsible was a main goal of Logan’s, it also wasn’t fair to expect Thomas to be the sole housekeeper in a household of effectively seven.
Yes, he’d have to look into that. But later. Between figuring out Patton’s power, training his own, and supervising Thomas working with illusions, Logan’s day was quite booked. Though if he was lucky he might still find some time to spare towards his other research projects. And adjusting current ones. Maybe a layer of unflavored gelatin might serve as a more realistic texture for biting? Ballistics gelatin was often used to simulate how human tissue would respond to trauma, though he didn’t know how close cooking gelatin would be to that. Still, only one way to find out.
Well, he could look it up and did enjoy some good old-fashioned research. But he also enjoyed a good experiment.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Patton asked softly.
Logan almost agreed out of hand, before realizing Patton’s power was not mind reading, thus he had to be referring to something else. Logan followed his line of sight to the kitchen.
Roman was somehow chopping the tiny tomatoes with his sword and passing them off to Nico, who put them in a pan, and sauteeing them with the garlic. Thomas was buttering bread, apparently toasting it on the stovetop, rather than in the toaster. Virgil was watching Remus gleefully crack the eggs, hands clean, and making sure no shells got in the bowl.
Nothing about the scene in and of itself was spectacular, aside from Roman managing to not damage anything else with his sword. But there was a certain satisfaction to it. To seeing the four of them working together in so small a space without tripping over each other. To see Remus joining in making something that wasn’t disturbing.
It was seeing what could be. A little slice of a possible future, and one Logan wanted to see more of. “It is, isn’t it?”
“I think we’re going to be okay, Logan.”
The words were hopeful, but the tone… “Did you believe otherwise?”
“I’ve been worried about things,” Patton admitted. He looked at his hands. “I’ll admit, one of the things is what to do if Thomas needs a doctor. That’s why I was so excited to have healing powers.”
And so upset when he couldn’t get them working. “I’m not sure how it would work on illness, but in the case of injury, it seemed he could turn into some sort of being with regenerative capacity.
“There is that,” Patton admitted.
“Individually, we all have a simple, straightforward power. But together, we are capable of quite a bit.” Logan smiled. “Near limitless potential, if properly applied. And we’re still learning new things even about the abilities we’ve known the longest. We’ll figure this out, Patton.”
