By the time Friday arrived, every side in the house was on edge and tense. Thomas spent the whole week working tirelessly on editing the newest Sanders Sides video.

Logan woke with a buzzing in his head. The hell of overworking settled heavily into his bones. He groaned and slowly levered himself up into a sitting position. Rubbing his hands over his face, he shimmied his legs out of bed and placed his feet gingerly on the floor. Thank goodness he had a carpet.

Socks were an absolute blessing, to be honest. Logan was infinitely glad for his ability to manifest his favorite navy blue wool socks. He stood and took a second to stabilize himself. Tiny black and white spots danced through the corners of his eyes like fairy lights. "Oh..." he breathed.

When he finally righted himself and made it across his room, he dressed in his usual outfit and made sure his tie was crisp and clean. At least something was normal here. He ignored the obvious tremor in his hands and made his way out of his room. Now, for his routine.

The first person he needed to check on was Virgil. The anxious side was suffering the worst out of all of them, physically. Logan made his way to Virgil's room, but he was stopped when Roman stumbled from the prince's bedroom, mumbling incoherently. Oh dear. It seemed he was sleep walking. His hair was mussed and his clothes weren't properly fixed. He didn't get his beauty sleep, that was for sure.

"Okay, Roman." Logan held onto his shoulders and carefully steered him back through the door he came out of. "You need to rest."

Roman blinked blearily and turned to Logan with glazed eyes. "...mngh, Lo?" At least he was somewhat coherent.

Logan patted his shoulder a little and navigated him through the room to his red canopy bed. "Lie down. Sleep." He didn't have time to play around. The others needed to be checked on as well.

Roman grumbled a little and sank down onto his red satin sheets with a relieved sigh. Logan knew he'd sleep well. After zombie walking into the hallway like that, Logan estimated that the fanciful trait could sleep for five or six hours at least.

Logan exited Roman's room and closed the door quietly. He was glad he'd managed to get one of the sides situated at this juncture. He continued on to his main plan: checking on Virgil. It required entrance into Virgil's room, which was always somewhat risky, but Logan was slowly acustoming himself to the anxious atmosphere that came with opening the dark purple door.

Logan turned the black knob and slowly opened the creaky door to peak his head in. Almost immediately, he noticed the tremor in his hands become slightly exacerbated. The countdown started. He had 7 minutes 51 seconds at most to make sure Virgil was alright before Virgil would be required to eject the logical trait from his room.

"Virgil?" he called quietly. "Where are you?" Virgil's room was practically black as night. There was a single purple night light dimply illuminating the space above his neat, unused bed. Which was empty. "Helpful," Logan muttered.

There was rustling in a hidden corner of the room and Virgil popped his head up from under a pile of laundry. His eyes were even more bloodshot than yesterday.

Logan groaned and made his way over to Virgil. "You didn't sleep at all last night, did you?" Ah, gotta love those rhetorical questions.

Virgil smiled shakily up to Logan. "At least my phone hasn't died."

"That's because you've had it permanently plugged into the wall for a week." Safe to say, Logan was not impressed.

Virgil sighed and stood from his laundry cocoon. "C'mon, Logan, humor me, jeez. I actually tried to sleep. Guess what? It didn't work." He rolled his eyes bitterly. It wasn't like he didn't actually want to lie down in bed a close his eyes for a while. He wanted his brain to stop running on 100% for a little bit. Even when Thomas was sleeping, Virgil had to deal with his subconscious. Everyone blamed Roman for Thomas's stress dreams the past several days, but there was a culprit they were overlooking.

Logan reached out and held Virgil's chin, turning Virgil's head a little bit. "I assume the headache's still there, which is the reason for such dim lighting."

Virgil nodded and pulled his head away a little. Touching did not make him happy. "Take me to dinner first Lo, come on."

Logan knew enough about social cues by now to ignore Virgil's comment. "Virgil it is not healthy to go 7.4 days without sleep. You are lucky that Sides cannot die from sleep deprivation." He was very concerned for his left brain companion.

A very weak hand batted Logan's away. "Yeah yeah, I get it. Just move on, Lo. I'll take care of myself when Thomas stops working so much. You know me, Mr. Lazy." He smiled lopsidedly.

Logan fought down a comeback remark. Over the past months, the logical trait began to observe just how hard Virgil worked to stave off Thomas's panic-induced floundering. In no way was he lackadaisical. "I'll speak with Thomas momentarily."

Virgil nodded, letting his hair fall to cover his eyes. "Yeah, cool. Now get out of here before I have to push you out of here."

Logan said his goodbyes and left Virgil's room, closing the door behind him. He made his way downstairs and to the dining room. This was the most difficult part of his day.

Patton sat at the table, staring forlornly down into a bowl of cereal. He looked quite out of it, if Logan was being honest. He stirred his spoon through the cereal with immense care.

Oh dear, this was going to be difficult. Logan crept softly into the dining room and squatted by Patton's chair. His tone was delicate and soft, as if he was speaking to a sweet child. "Good morning, Patton... I know this has been a rough week for you. How are you feeling this morning?"

Patton looked over at Logan with wide, innocent eyes. Indeed, in this moment Patton looked more like a child than he had in many years. Logan's heart swelled for the moral facet.

"I..." Patton bit his lip. He was so tired... Thomas's emotions were brutal to say the least. He was so overwhelmed it was incredible. He was Patton Gloomy today. "I um... I d-don't know how much I can do today. I'm s-so tired Lo-" He choked off, dropping his spoon and hugging himself. He gasped out a few soft sobs and curled up on himself.

Poor boy. "Okay. Okay." Logan got up and put his arms around Patton's shoulders, pulling him into a tender hug. Patton laid his face into Logan's chest, reaching over to wrap his arms around Logan and cry for a little while. "Just let it out, Patton. This is merely a temporary emotional state. You will be okay." Logan despised seeing Patton suffering in this way. Emotions were quite troublesome, it seemed. According to research, providing hugs was an acceptable form of comfort when Patton was in such emotional distress. Therefore, Logan=hugging.

Patton's sobs quieted a little and he focused on trying to breathe. "H-He's sacrificed so much-" he blubbered. "He hasn't slept a lot and he hasn't talked to his friends as much as he should and he's working a lot and trying to be a perfectionist and it's not right!" Patton wailed and clutched Logan close to him. The moral trait was tired of being ignored and suffering in silence. Yes, logic had a large part in keeping Thomas from overextending himself, but morality also played a key role in reminding Thomas what was right and not right for his health. And Patton had been brushed to the side ever day. He was so lonely.

At least Logan was here... the one he loved. Who didn't understand love. And didn't love him back.

That made him cry much harder.

Logan rubbed Patton's back and breathed deeply. "Shh... I know, Patton. I know." He didn't know the whole of it, but his words hopefully helped Patton some. "Shshshshshhh... you're going to be alright. Once Thomas stops working so much you'll be just fine." This wasn't the first time Logan saw Patton in such a fragile state. He drew back in favor of slipping one arm around Patton's back and the other under his legs. He gently lifted Patton into his arms.

Patton adjusted his grip on Logan and rested his head comfortably against Logan's soft chest. Patton Gloomy was Patton Un-Fun. He needed some rest. For now, he was content to lie against Logan's chest and get his crying under control.

Relief flooded through Logan's system when Patton's harsh crying finally dwindled away into soft sniffles and sighs. He carried Patton over to the soft couch and laid him down. "Why don't you get a little sleep, Patton?" He took one of the soft blankets Patton kept in the livingroom at all times (Patton had 1-2 soft blankets in every room for a reason Logan had yet to deduce) and tucked it around Patton, making sure all the creases were smoothed out and Patton was warm and comfortable.

Patton manifested a few tissues and blew his nose, then demanifested them into the trash can and nodded with a tiny sad smile on his face. "...kay." He wiggled down into the couch and sighed, closing his eyes. Ahhhh... Patton Peaceful.

Don't mind Logan's heart jumping out of his chest.

Jeez, did he have a heart condition or something?

Logan pet Patton's head a little before leaving. He needed to go back to his room to research heart conditions. Could he even get one of those? How peculiar indeed.

~💫~

Everyone knew almost immediately when Thomas finally uploaded the video, had a glass of wine, and then passed out in his soft bed. The lights in the hallway dimmed, signalling Thomas's state of rest. Logan felt a palpable relaxation flow through the house and he pushed back from his tedious spreadsheet work with a long sigh. His hand still trembled, but that was easily maskable. He stood and exited his room, walking downstairs to find the others.

Roman jumped up from his bed and yelled, "Huzzah!" He was answered by a grumpy yell from Virgil to be quiet, but that didn't matter. He was back! Time to sing some Disney songs. He threw open his door in typical prince fashion and sang, "Love is an open doooooooor!"

Virgil rolled his eyes and yawned widely. Thank goodness Thomas finally finished his project. Virgil didn't know how much longer he could take the physical strain. At least he was actually getting tired again. "Shut it, Princy!"

When all three of them arrived downstairs, they found Patton laughing and dancing around the kitchen, holding a bag of corn kernels and giggling every time the microwave popped. Logan was... baffled, to say the least. "Er... Patton? What are you doing?"

Roman looked around the living room, which was conveniently littered with blankets and pillows. His eyes lit up and he squealed, striking a pose (because he always had to look absolutely fabulous when proclaiming his marvelous discoveries). "Well, my dear Nerdemhimer, it's Movie night! And we're about to watch movies and eat popcorn!"

Logan didn't hide his eye roll at the nickname. It was outshined by a tiny little quirking half-smile. At least Patton was feeling better.

Virgil yawned and plopped down on the couch. "Kay, I'll watch you guys." Of course, his offhanded remark merited a dramatic gasp from the princely trait. Logan merely leaned down and focused on making the fort. He muttered under his breath occasionally, something about it being "structurally unstable, very inconvenient". Thank goodness only Virgil heard him say that. Patton would have teared up and Roman might have thrown a ranting fit about the merits of a blanket castle.

Roman and Logan made quick work of the blanket and pillow fort (apart from the arguing between them about structural safety versus aesthetic). Patton loved to watch them work together. Roman always made a show of it, throwing his hands in the air and yelling whenever they accomplished something and putting the back of his hand to his forehead telenovela style whenever part of the fort broke down.

Logan didn't make such large gestures. He worked methodically and calmly. Patton loved that about him. He was always 'Logan Careful' (Patton giggled at his own categorization of Logan) when it came to things he was invested in. He placed each pillow slowly to make sure it was in the perfect spot.

Patton was so entranced by Logan's movements that he forgot about the popcorn in the microwave until the appliance blared at him. He startled and laughed loudly. "Whoops!" He turned around and took the popcorn out setting it on the counter. Softly, Patton reached up and gave the microwave a few apology pets. "Sorry about that. I won't forget about you again."

While Patton buttered the popcorn and Logan and Roman put the finishing touches on the fort, Virgil relaxed on the couch, scrolling through tumblr absentmindedly. There was some pretty angsty Doctor Who fanart, so he was satisfied. He yawned widely and sniffled a bit. Now that Thomas was finally getting some restful sleep, Virgil felt like he was made of lead. The tiredness settled into his body quite quickly. Not that he needed to tell anyone. He could totally stay up. He was hardcore like that. He could do at least one (1) movie and then go back to his room and sleep. Good plan.

Patton brought the popcorn in and passed the bowls out, one to each side. "Here we go! Ohmygoodness the fort looks so good!" He was very excited to lie down in there cozy little space and watch some movies. "Thank you guys!" He knelt down and wiggled in, settling down in a nice soft space. All the light blues and pinks of the blankets made him feel very calm and relaxed. He sighed happily. Perfect.

Logan waited for Roman to climb in, then turned to Virgil. "Come on, Virgil. We must enter the blanket fort." The anxious side slowly got up from the couch and made his way over to the fort. He didn't look very steady on his feet. Logan reached out and grasped his shoulders. "I've got you, Virgil," he murmured. No one was going to fall onto his creation, not after all that hard work.

They both entered the blanket fort and settled down, Virgil on the left, next to Roman and Logan next to Patton, on the right. There were plenty of small giggles for the right brain sides. Virgil and Logan even managed some smiles. There was a bit of arguing amongst each other in regards to which movie to watch, but they eventually settled on watching Big Hero 6, which Logan was very happy about.

"Just so you all know, I totally called that guy being the villain," Roman said hottily. He looked very proud of himself.

"Doubt that," Virgil mumbled, scooting down a little bit to hug a pillow and put his chin down on it. His small remark earned him a Very Offended Prince Noise™ from their resident royal.

"I agree with Virgil. For a significant portion of the movie, you were blubbering about how the teacher and the brother's lives were ended too soon. I was surprised by your obvious investment in such underdeveloped characters." Well now both Patton and Roman were gasping. Therefore, Logan had to put his foot in it even more. "Of course, when you did discover his true identity, you gasped and jumped out of your seat. We had to drag you back down before people behind us began to curse us out for your yelling at the screen.

Roman turned bright red and face planted into his pillow. Virgil snickered a little and nudged his side. Logan could certainly argue that Patton had the best reaction of the group. He giggled a little, then openly began to laugh, leaning against Logan's shoulder for support. Patton's laugh was contagious, and eventually everyone in the blanket fort was giggling and Virgil had to clap a hand over his mouth to conceal his snort laugh.

"You guys we're missing the movie!" Patton gasped between sobbing laughs. Logan couldn't help himself. For the first time in years he was giggling like a child. If that wasn't freeing, he didn't know what was.

The movie was finally nearing its end when Patton came back to reality and looked around at his famILY. Roman lay splayed out across his blankets, eyes closed. Even while dreaming, he just had to take up the most space, didn't he? Logan was watching the screen, his eyes occasionally closing gently before they startled awake again and he focused back on the screen as if nothing had happened.

Patton almost "awe"d when he laid eyes on Virgil. The anxious trait was completely conked out, curled up around his purple patchwork pillow like it was his true love. Virgil looked the cutest when he slept. All his frown lines smoothed themselves out and tiny little freckles were just barely visible under his foundation.

"7.9 days since he last slept..." Logan murmured, looking over at Virgil as well. Patton's soft smile morphed into one of concern.

"Is he gonna be okay, Lo?" he asked quietly. He didn't like the idea of his dark strange sleepless son suffering. Logan looked back at Patton and nodded.

"He'll be alright, Patton... We all will." He reached over with an arm and put it around Patton's shoulders, pulling him in close. Patton smiled and nuzzled into Logan's chest. "Lets sleep now."

Patton nodded and yawned a little bit. Now this, he was convinced, was actual heaven. Here he was, snuggling with Logan like he hadn't done since they were teenagers. Logan was so warm and cuddly... ah. Patton could stay in this moment forever.

So could Logan. After such a long week of turmoil, he honestly needed this break. Patton seemed to breathe peacefulness into him, which was very welcomed by the logical trait.

Patton looked up at his love for a moment and murmured, "Logan? Are... are you okay? Really okay? 'Cause you took care of all of us and I have a feeling no one ever checked on you." He was Patton Gentle with his favorite nerd.

Oh boy, that just made Logan's heart swell for the moral trait. He hadn't realized that his own isolation was weighing on him so much. He leaned down and breathed into Patton's soft, smooth hair. "Yes... I am alright now... thank you very much for your consideration, Patton." Thank you for being there for me when I didn't have time to be there for myself.

Patton nodded and blushed, mushing his face into Logan's tie. "...kay." Everything was okay now. He didn't need to be Patton Dad anymore. He could be Patton Soft & Sleepy.

Logan pet Patton's head for a while. Honestly, how could one person look so angelic while sleeping? It must have been some sort of strange scientific phenomena. Logan would research it later. For now, he supposed he would get some rest for himself. They could all use it.

And yes, Virgil did take blackmail photos of the others sleeping when he woke up.