Virgil couldn't help it. Every day there was a new little tick that invaded his system. Today it was a monotonous little pen clicking. The others couldn't blame him; they'd learned long ago that it was just something that happened, something Virgil couldn't control.

Every side had a "something". Virgil had his little anxious impulses that changed on the daily. Logan could never stop himself from fixing Patton's glasses or Roman's sash if they seemed out of place.

The left brain sides knew they had it easy though. Their small compulsory tasks were nothing like Roman's urge to write a screenplay or draw a beautiful drawing, even if it happened to be right in the middle of diner or while he was on the toilet. And Patton... he had the most difficult of the jobs in the house, everyone believed. His mood swings could be quite unpredictable, something Logan found infinitely fascinating, yet frustrating at the same time.

If any side found Patton skipping around the house after Thomas saw a cute boy, they wouldn't question it. If he was sitting on the couch crying while eating a large bowl of ice cream and cookies, they immediately knew Thomas was watching a heart wrenching movie.

There was a compulsion they didn't know about though... it was so simple, anyone could have guessed what it was, if they'd known it was lurking.

Virgil walked into the kitchen that afternoon, clicking his pen and yawning. He just woke up an hour ago. Scrolling through tumblr took a while for him, but hey, at least it was an excuse to stay in bed for a while longer. Patton probably didn't approve, but did Virgil care about Patton's opinions?

Yeah. That was the only reason he dragged himself out of bed and climbed down the stairs. That and, he did have to eat. He was part of a human after all.

A sigh graced Logan's lips as he looked up at Virgil over his book. "Good afternoon, Virgil. It's 2:08 pm." Was that a judging tone? Virgil was very suspicious of that tone. He briefly thought about asking Logan about it, but then remembered how yucky confrontation was and decided to skip the whole thing. Instead, he squinted at Logan for a few seconds before turning to the fridge. There should've been some junk food in here somewhere...

The ears of the anxious trait perked when he heard the light crinkling of a potato chip bag. He turned back to Logan, who was still sitting in the exact same position, but for an arm holding a bag of Lays in the air.

Virgil need.

Oh dear. That ravenous look on Virgil's face told Logan all he needed to know about just how hungry Virgil was. No way that bag of chips was going to satiate the appetite of the personification of an anxious ball of energy. Logan set his book down on the table and gave Virgil the bag. "Don't disappear, I'll prepare you some more food."

A greedy hand dove into the bag and started shoveling chips into Virgil's mouth. They were so salty and bad for him... this was bliss. He didn't even notice as Logan began to heat up leftover home-made macaroni and cheese from the night before.

Logan slowly guided his counterpart over to a chair and helped him sit down. There was no use in coaxing Virgil to take care of himself with words. There were only two ways into his heart: Food, and Patton. And since Logan was (obviously) not Patton, he could not appeal to Virgil's self care instincts through that. So food it was.

After 2 minutes and 7 seconds, the macaroni was sufficiently heated, and Logan took it out of the microwave. He opened the container and blew on it three times to get rig of the lasting steam. Perfect. Virgil was sure to eat it without question. Probably.

Carefully, Logan took a spoon from the cutlery drawer and slid it into the macaroni, then set the container down in front of Virgil. Now was the waiting.

Virgil finished the bag of chips in record time. He was about to bolt back up to his room, but he looked down and...

There

Was

A

Bowl

Of

Macaroni.

With his mouth watering, Virgil lifted the spoon and dove into the macaroni. Forget the potato chips, this was heavenly.

Logan sat down with a heavy sigh and picked his book back up again and crossed one leg over the other. He adjusted his glasses to a preferable angle and muttered, "And now we wait for Roman, last but certainly not least."

That caused a stir in Virgil's chest. He looked up at Logan, his brows furrowed to get in concentration. With an anxious swallow, Virgil's leg started bouncing slightly. "You mean... Roman hasn't come down yet?" That was certainly not like him. He always had an excuse to leave the house or get out of bed, and a royal one at that. For Virgil to be out of bed before him? Unheard of.

Logan nodded, eyeing the container under Virgil's nose. "Eat, Virgil. Patton will check on him in a few minutes." There was no need to worry about Roman, he was always fine, after all.

That was 100% not what Virgil thought at the moment. But if Patton was handling it, Virgil would only get in the way if he tried to do anything.

So, the anxious trait went back to nervously stuffing macaroni into his mouth. He chewed for a bit before muffling, "Fhanks Ogan."

Logan resisted his usual urge to roll his eyes and nodded. "You're welcome. Now eat your lunch with your mouth closed."

~🛌~

Patton prided himself on being the dad of dads, the happy hoppy poppy everyone needed. At this exact moment, Patton had that feeling. He had the feeling that he needed to help someone. It was different than a Thomas feeling... it felt more like there was a side that was feeling mucho un-good.

Usually Patton would skip down the hallway to Roman's room, but this time he decided to walk quietly. As he neared, he knew Roman was the subject of the sad feelings in the house. Poor thing... the fatherly trait could hear tiny, soft sobs. Slowly, Patton neared the door and opened it with care.

The sniffles were apparent. Roman was lying on top of his covers, wearing a long red shirt and black sweatpants. His feet looked very cold, and Patton could only imagine how Ro's face looked. Could a back be considered despondent? 'Cause Roman's sure seemed pretty despondent from Patton's view in the door.

"Hey Ro..." Patton called softly. The cries from the bed were suddenly muffled, probably by a hand. "I'm gonna come sit down, 'kay?" Patton padded into the room and sat down on the edge of Romans bed with a little sigh. "Hey buddy."

Roman's sniffles calmed a little and he instinctively moved over to bask in a little bit of Patton's warmth. He woke up two hours ago... he couldn't stop crying because of his dream. Tiny wet spots sprinkled across his red duvet and crisp white pillowcase. Ugh, if anything in Roman's room (besides himself) was supposed to be perfect, it was his bed. And now even that was ruined.

A subtle hand rubbed small circles across Roman's back, and little coes reached his ears. "It's gonna be okay Roman... okay? I know you feel sad right now." Patton's soft voice was so calming... "You're a prince, Ro. You know better than any of us how to fight through something and come back victorious. If you want..." the calm hand rested tentatively on Roman's back. "I can be your second in command? We can slay your dragon together." Patton wasn't much of a fighter (like Thomas, he was a lover), but he would do whatever it would take to love Roman into feeling better.

A few small groans emanated from the princes lips as he sat up, then turned to Patton. His lips were dry, and his eyes were beyond bloodshot and puffy. there were abandoned tissues everywhere, including one down his shirt. "Patton... I-" His voice broke and he threw his arms around his right brain companion. "I'm so alone!" he wailed, pressing his tears into Patton's cat hoodie.

"That's not true..." Patton murmured, holding Roman with all the comfort he could conjure. "You have me, Roro."

"I-It's not the same," Roman choked, balling his fists in the back of Patton's blue polo shirt. Patton was family. This was... a different kind of need.

For quite a while, the pair waited Roman's heartache out. It was quite healing, Roman found, to hug someone while he was crying. Bearing it out in silence was always his preferred method of coping... but maybe he needed to reconsider his tactics.

When Roman's sobs finally dwindled down and he lay silently against Patton's chest, breathing calmly, the moral trait smiled and rubbed his shoulder. "Let's get you cleaned up and presentable... you'd never come down the stairs with me without make-up on."

The prince laughed dryly, nodding. "You know me too well," he muttered into Patton's shirt. He drew away and did his best to wipe his eyes. "I don't really care about make-up right now." His dejected tone told Patton everything in a second.

"Nonsense! Deceit probably showed up downstairs just now," the dad chirped, bouncing up off the bed and over to Roman's vanity. "You love it no matter what." He came back with a jar of foundation, a jar of concealer, blush, toner, and a few other items. "Lemme pamper you, Ro. A little bit of self care never hurt anyone."

~🧸~

Deceit groaned dramatically, flopping his back over the couch in a way his spine shouldn't've been able to tolerate. Virgil guffawed, trying his best not to fall off the couch with laughter as he covered his hand with his mouth.

Logan stood next to the TV, groaning and rubbing his head. "Well, Deceit, if I'd know that you were planning to visit this afternoon and appear exactly where I was standing, I would have moved two feet to the right." Occupying the same space as another side... it felt completely illogical to say the least. Logan couldn't even describe the feeling of having half of Deceit's chest inside his own chest and arm. And that whole debacle would have given a whole new meaning to the sport known as a "three-legged race".

Yeah, that was totally laughable. Deceit's hat rested on top of Virgil's knee and he rolled his eyes. "Of course... you were the only one who suffered. I definitely wouldn't have warned you I was popping in for a visit, if I'd knew I'd be here. Which I 100% did." Not.

Oh well that pushed Logan's buttons. "It's known, Deceit. 'If I'd known I'd be here.' I swear. You people are all nightmares." Was he the only one in the house that actually knew what proper grammar was?

Just as Logan stood and dusted his pants for the fourth time, someone came running down the steps two at a time. Patton skipped into the living room with a huge smile on his face. "Guess who was still in bed when I found him!" He pointed back to the stairs, and Roman made his grand entrance, sweeping into the living room and- yep. Of course he posed.

Logan nodded and Deceit waved a little. Virgil was still trying to get over his giggle-fit, so he waved a foot and hoped that was enough.

"Salutations, Roman. I see you slept rather late." Of course, Logan didn't remark on the fact that Roman never ever slept that long. In all honestly, he didn't see anything suspicious in the situation.

Roman flipped an imaginary lock of hair and flashed a dazzling white smile around the room. "What can I say, I simply must get my beauty sleep, something you could never understand."

Patton gasped and launched into telling Roman to apologize, even though Logan wasn't offended in the slightest. The trio continued to bicker amongst themselves, but little did they know that one brown eye and one yellow eye were tracking them.

Virgil looked down at Deceit's face curiously. "I know that snake face... what's up Danger Noodle."

Deceit rolled his eyes and flicked his tongue out briefly. "I just love it when you call me that." He wouldn't tell Virgil what he was watching though. Lies by omission were kind of his thing.

"Patton," Logan said. "Your shoulder seems to be slightly wet." Roman's eyes went wide and flickered over to Patton.

Deceit raised his eyebrows at Patton's reply. "Oh don't worry Lo! I had some water in my ear, haha! It's all gone now!" He smiled and grabbed onto Roman's arm, bouncing just a little. "Hey! Since Deceit's here, why don't we all watch a movie together?" He was so excited! It would be super fun.

It took a little convincing, but eventually everyone acquiesced and Patton put on the Lion King.

Deceit knew Patton lied. He smiled just a tiny bit. But it wasn't a sly grin or a smirk, it was a petite, genuine smile.

Sometimes, lying was okay when it was used to spare someone's feelings in a situation where it wasn't necessary for everyone to know the truth...

Patton looked over at Deceit and winked briefly.

What a sly cat.