Archive of Our Own ^beta

IT WAS A stray thought, barely even a conscious realization amidst the backdrop of everyone gathered in the living room around Thomas to try and help distract him from the fight he'd had with his friend and the party he was no longer going to. Frankly, considering how much else Virgil had on his mind (and thus, how much else Thomas had on his mind which was dooming the efforts of distraction to failure) it shouldn't have even registered beyond a half-thought quip that was immediately dismissed from mind in favor of more pressing worries. Virgil, however, was already primed to discover new things about himself at this point and so these new depths of his ability to nitpick and worry and stew were probably par for the course. (Why was that metaphor even so firmly in Thomas's lexicon anyway? He hated golf!)

They were watching Frozen again with the thought to refamiliarize themselves with the story in preparation to seeing the sequel in theatres with Thomas's nieces, and to Virgil's surprise Roman had been the one being the most snarky in his commentary the whole movie, particularly in regards to Prince Hans which was... possibly concerning given how the Creative Side tended to identify with Disney princes a lot. Apparently he wasn't the only one to notice as, after another flippant mimicry of Hans's besotted "plotting face" from Thomas's inner prince, Logan spoke up.

"You meddled with the vote to ensure that we would watch this," he pointed out to Roman, a touch incredulous, "and yet, you're the one constantly making fun of it."

"Look, this is how I show my love," Roman replied, barely even glancing away from the screen as he said it.

Damn, you must really love Logan then, came the unbidden thought across Virgil's mind. After all, Logan was the Side that Roman picked at and poked fun at the most out of all of them besides Virgil himself. Not that Virgil was under any delusions that Roman loved him at all given how often he'd said both to the others and to Virgil's face that he didn't like him, but Logan....

The thought might still have skittered away to be brushed aside and forgotten eventually even then, except that Virgil happened to glance over at Logan to see how the anthropomorphized personification of Logic was taking that rather illogical bit of reasoning and seen a spark of realization cross Logan's face. The glance he shot at Virgil was much less covert than Virgil's own had been - Logan was not predisposed to subtlety, after all, even if nobody else noticed thanks to the movie - and they had met eyes briefly before glancing away from each other and returning their attention to the screen.

Of course, when the movie ended and Roman made a playful remark about voting again, J-- Deceit had shown up to take back his hat and the group had gotten sidetracked into rewriting the ending of the movie instead of the more passive distraction of just watching it. Remus had left immediately, citing the fluff fest as not his kind of fan fiction, and after almost half an hour Virgil had opted to sink out as well and retreat to his room in the (probably futile) hope that Thomas would be better able to relax and hopefully go to sleep before three AM if Virgil made himself scarce. He kept a fraction of his attention on Thomas and each of the others, alert as always for anything potentially dangerous or harmful, but otherwise just let himself flop back onto his bed and stare up at his ceiling.

So. Roman was quite possibly in love with Logan. That was... not exactly ideal, but not altogether surprising either. Logan was loyal and dedicated and passionate about the things (and people) he cared for, rising to the challenge of problem-solving with a gusto that was rarely matched and then usually matched by Roman most easily. The two of them often butted heads, almost as often as Roman and Virgil, and sometimes they needed Thomas to step in and mediate to keep them from overwhelming their center, but when they worked together on projects they were an incredibly effective and efficient team. And it wasn't like Roman was awful, for all he tended to be a bit self-agrandizing; he was Thomas's Ego, it was to be expected. And despite not being a Creative aspect, Logan rose to the occasion of matching Roman's nicknames about as often as Virgil did and with about as much success. If Princey really did show his love through mockery, then those two had been unintentionally flirting back and forth for practically their whole existence at this point. Virgil could have even been happy for and supportive of the two of them getting together if not for one teensy tiny little thing: namely, the fact that he and Logan had been quietly seeing each other for a little over a year.

He let out a long, gusty sigh, then gave a quick check to his awareness of Thomas and the others to make sure they were all okay and his sudden turn of angsty melancholy wasn't bringing down their moods too. He was still asleep, worn out after expending so much energy during the fight with Thomas's friend, and Virgil couldn't help but be grateful for that. Remus was in his room in bed-- yeah, he was fine, enough said, moving on. Janus had apparently retreated to the Imagination, no doubt with a bucket of popcorn to watch the new fanfic Thomas was writing take shape since he hadn't been explicitly invited to the brainstorming session.

Speaking of the brainstorming, Roman was still going strong, throwing out ideas and plot elements with his usual speed and energy, Patton cheering him on while Logan brought up plot holes and logical inconsistencies that could be fixed or worked around. Thomas himself was thoroughly focused on the story taking shape, smiling softly in satisfaction as he typed up Roman's ideas and Logan and Patton's commentary. Virgil smiled softly himself and left them to it with just the briefest of touches to Thomas to remind him to drink another glass of water at some point.

Reassured that he was still able to do his due diligence for his friends and center, Virgil settled back into contemplating Roman's apparent feelings for Logan. Leaving aside Logan's possibly returning those feelings for the moment (that was something to talk about with Logan himself later once Thomas was asleep) he set to work trying to suss out how he himself felt about the idea of someone being in love with his boyfriend.

Virgil immediately rolled over and buried his suddenly burning hot face in his pillow, just barely refraining from screaming. He was such a fucking disaster, blushing like this over just thinking in his own head about Logan being his boyfriend! It had been a year! A year of soft words and quiet moments, of stargazing dates in Virgil's little personal pocket of the Imagination and cuddling in a corner of the Mindscape Library either with their own separate books or reading together, of riding out Thomas's private moments together in one of their rooms instead of Virgil just hiding away until it was over and he was fit to be around others again without completely blowing his reputation.... And yeah, it was a year spent in secret, the two of them keeping quiet about their burgeoning relationship so as not to rock the metaphorical boat even more than the recent upheavals in Thomas's self-discovery were doing.

So how did Virgil feel now, knowing someone else - Roman, specifically - saw Logan for the amazing, compassionate, dedicated Side that he was and loved him for it?

Virgil groaned into the pillow before rolling back over to stare at the ceiling again. Jealousy should have been a given, right? Secret or not Logan was his boyfriend, but while the possessive thought still brought a flush to Virgil's cheeks beneath his make-up the expected jealousy was absent. Logan was amazing and deserved to be loved and cherished and wooed with poetry, and while Virgil did his best to show Logan how much he cared he couldn't help but feel like Roman would do even better. If anything, he was a little jealous of Logan for having the prince's amorous regard turned on him. Not that he wanted to be subjected to that - Roman was all about the grand gestures and impressive feats of glory and fairytale happily ever afters that Virgil was too much of a pessimist to fully believe in even if he wanted to. He couldn't even bring himself to plan too far into the future for him and Logan lest his stupid anxious brain start trying to drag up all the ways their relationship could go wrong and fail and fall apart destroying Thomas in the process--

"Nope, quit that," he hissed firmly at himself. "We are not going down that spiral. Not tonight, not ever."

It was a promise that he had made, to himself and to Logan directly. For all it was his job to foresee and plan for disasters, he had promised Logan that he would never do that with their relationship. It wouldn't be fair, he'd explained, not to them as individuals or as a couple if he was on some level already planning for their breakup like failure was inevitable. That would have been like saying they shouldn't even try because they were doomed from the start, and Virgil refused to do that to Logan because their relationship was worth working for.

Funny how he hadn't thought to plan for someone else falling for the man he loved.

LOGAN SIGHED AND slowly let the tension is his body bleed out as he relaxed into the cozy comfort of his winged unicorn onesie in the privacy of his own room. Did he regret not wearing the onesie to the impromptu movie night? No, not especially; the garment was comfortable, yes, but also rather excessively warm and prone to showing stains easily given its mostly white color. He did regret decrying the wearing of onesies as childish and immature, though, especially since Virgil had been wearing a skeleton onesie of his own to match Roman and Patton in their respective onesies. His beloved was occasionally just as insecure about being taken seriously as Logan himself was in times of high stress and irrationality, and the last thing Logan wanted to do was make Virgil think he believed him to be too childish and immature.

He did not wish to ever give Virgil the impression that he regretted their relationship, secret as it currently was from the others, especially now that it had come to light that he was not the only contender for Virgil's affections.

Of course, Logan had hardly been blind to Virgil's attractiveness even before his acceptance by Thomas as a core and integral part of himself. Sometimes it had seemed as if he was the only one who did appreciate what the anthropomorphized personification of Anxiety brought to the metaphorical table, keeping Thomas and the rest of them cognizant of the dangers, hazards and pitfalls surrounding them in their day to day actions and pushing Thomas to work and study harder for the good grades and great performances that always felt so much more rewarding for the effort it took to earn them. As an emotionally driven aspect it had often fallen to Logan to rein in the wilder, more potentially damaging spirals lest he get carried away by his own aspect and unintentionally drown Thomas in panic and despair, but Logan had never forgotten how essential fear was to survival. It had been a quiet relief amid the chaos to Logan when he had finally gotten the chance to properly expound upon the necessity and vitality of Anxiety's place in the Mindscape to Thomas leading to his acceptance. Patton had already been on board, even if he hadn't had any real logical reasons for it besides just wanting them all to be a happy little family together, but even Roman had pushed through his animosity towards his self-proclaimed nemesis to assure Anxiety of his place with and value to them all and Thomas.

Only now it seemed that Logan had been missing a vital element in his calculations of that perceived animosity. Just that evening, Roman had declared to Logan in the presence of Thomas and most of the other Sides that he showed his love through mockery. And there was no other Side whom Roman chose to mock and tease and playfully insult more than Virgil. While Thomas himself was not prone to flirting by way of pulling metaphorical pigtails, partly due to Virgil and Patton's efforts to keep him aware of the feelings of others and partly because Thomas was homosexual and unlikely to choose to seriously flirt with anyone who wore pigtails in the first place, Roman may not be so restricted in his courtship methodology. Was it really an accident that all the Vine skits he had created for Thomas between the Prince character and the Nemesis character had followed an internal narrative rife with flirtation and traditional relationship milestones?

Had Roman, in spite of his professional disagreements with Virgil, been just as enamoured with him as Logan himself was all this time?

Of course, Logan could easily see the potential appeal in Roman as a partner for Virgil. Having modeled himself after the ideal Disney Prince in aesthetic and action, Roman was charming and charismatic when he wished to be, a courageous fighter for Thomas's hopes and dreams and the good of the Mindscape, and despite Logan's frustrated statements to the contrary he was also quite quick-witted and clever to come up with so many new and creative nicknames in such rapid succession. And even at his most confrontational Logan had never once doubted Roman's devotion and care for all of them, even his estranged brother. So much of Roman's creations over the years had been directly and indirectly for Virgil's benefit, particularly in middle school when puberty had hit and sent them into a tailspin of fear and hormones. And Roman was certainly not one to shy away from or deny the existence of his feelings...

"Enough," Logan scolded himself under his breath. "If Roman had truly wanted to be Virgil's romantic partner, he would hardly have hesitated to declare himself."

But what if he did? a quiet voice whispered in his mind. Roman is far more fragile than he pretends to be, being the personification of Thomas's Ego as well as his Passion. Is not the primary motivator for the pulling pigtails style of flirtation an uncertainty of the welcome of one's genuine affections?

"Virgil was the one who even broached the topic of us beginning a romantic relationship," Logan argued with himself. "He is not careless or reckless with people's hearts and would have considered all variables before approaching me."

He didn't know about Roman's feelings for him until tonight, the voice insisted softly. You saw the genuine surprise in his face. How could he have truly considered all the variables if he was lacking in relevant information?

"Then we are back to the matter of Roman having never spoken directly of his feelings to Virgil," he argued. "He cannot be faulted for choosing to be with me when he was unaware of the alternative possibility."

Would he still choose you now that he does know?

Logan sighed and dropped his head, lowering his chin to his chest. He wanted to say that yes, of course Virgil would choose his current romantic partner over a newly discovered potential well-suited romance. Virgil was kind, compassionate, and loyal almost to a fault. Even when he was critical those criticisms always came from a place of care, and he had been making a sincere effort to reframe and rephrase his critiques and concerns to be more constructive since being officially and fully brought into the fold of Thomas's inner council.

So why was his gut clenching so uncomfortably at the question?

"Because I do not want Virgil to choose to be with me out of obligation or inertia," he said aloud, staring blankly into the middle distance of his room. "I want him to choose to be with the person who can give him the most happiness and fulfillment, even if that person is not me. Because Virgil deserves to be loved like that... and I am afraid that I cannot provide it adequately."

With that admission finally spoken, the logical course of action was obvious. He would need to go and talk to Virgil about Roman's feelings for him while trying to avoid unnecessarily worrying his beloved that Logan himself was somehow unsatisfied with their relationship. He debated for a moment over changing back out of his onesie, worried that the display of intimacy might come across as mockery or manipulation instead of a show of trust and vulnerability, but ultimately decided against it. This would be an emotionally fraught conversation regardless of Logan's efforts and intentions, and a little extra comfort would not go amiss.

He did not let himself think too closely on which of them might be most in need of that comfort.

DESPITE THE ROCKY start to the evening, what with the tensions that even Roman's best efforts had been unable to dispel fully, it had been a good day for Creativity. Yes, he had rigged the voting to watch Frozen, and blatantly so, but the others had known that when going into it as the whole point was to prepare for seeing the sequel in theatres that weekend! And to distract Thomas from the argument with his friend over that friend's past homophobia, sure, but Frozen! Even Remus had been on board with the plan, in his usual crude and juvenilely sexual manner. Roman had even considered inviting Deceit to join them, but the serpentine Side had been firmly shut up in the spa-like bathroom of his room with a Do Not Disturb sign on the door, so Roman had left after borrowing his hat to hold the votes in.

Besides, Deceit tended to set Virgil off rather badly of late and the last thing he wanted to do was introduce another source of tension and, well, anxiety into an already precariously balanced situation.

Granted, the movie itself had not been as distracting as might have been hoped for being, as Logan had pointed out, a bit too passive an activity to divert Thomas's attention (and, by association, Virgil's) away from the earlier conflict and present lack of resolution. The fanfic writing afterwards had been much more productive in both distraction and engaging the creative process, which made Roman feel quite accomplished. It had even been successful in pulling Virgil into the brainstorming until he had bowed out to decompress from being social all evening even if it was just with his fellow Sides and their center. It had only been after Thomas had realized he was thirsty (Roman could sense Virgil's hand in that, the broody mother hen) that Logan had realized the time and encouraged them all to disperse for bed and a potentially early start to the morning.

So now here Roman was, seated at his grand desk in the receiving chamber just off his quadrant of the Imagination that acted as his public-facing "room", attempting to put the finishing touches on the dreams for the night which would carry Thomas away in peaceful slumber. Or at least he was trying to do so, but he kept getting distracted by a certain pair of Sides and their rapidly fluctuating emotions. Every Side had a particular set of specialties under their purview. Patton was tied into the general emotions of the Mindscape and could always tell when someone needed a hug or a cookie and a listening ear. Virgil, by contrast, was able to hone in on not just Thomas's fears but the fears of his fellow Sides, and Roman was not too ashamed to admit (at least to himself) that he had both needed and been grateful for Anxiety's assistance in battling his own metaphorical demons.... and a few literal ones; the Imagination was weird like that. Deceit was able to tell when anyone was lying, even if they were only lying to themselves, though he also kept such secrets close to the vest for his own reasons. And Roman, as the one charged with carrying Thomas's hopes and dreams, particularly of a romantic or passionate nature, could sense romantic inclinations.

He had noticed when mutual respect and admiration between Logan and Virgil had blossomed into affection and then love. He had been guiltily aware of when the pair had begun taking solace in each other's embrace during Thomas's bouts of self-gratification. (And if he had privately reached his own completion to the speculative imaginings of their coupling a few dozen times in the last months, only Remus might know and he was kind enough to keep it to himself.) And now he was very aware that something had upset the balance of emotions between them, sending spikes of love and desire out all over the place. It was to the point where Roman was seriously considering banging on whichever door of whoever's room they were in and begging them to either have sex or go to sleep already!

Two things stopped him, however. The first was that Logan and Virgil had not informed him of their relationship. They had not informed anyone, as far as Roman could tell, though they never outright lied about their closeness. Neither of them were particularly physically demonstrative people, at least not in public spaces, and every surge of emotions that Roman could not help but pick up on was confined to behind the closed door of one room or another. If they weren't telling him about their relationship, then they were likely keeping it secret for some reason or another, which made it officially None Of His Business until such time as they deemed it pertinent to share.

The second reason, which was related to the first, was his own feelings for the two of them. He could hardly live and work around Logan for so many years without being painfully aware of the logical Side's calm and steady reassurance of reality, his passion for learning and exploring the natural world, and his quick wit. Discovering that he had an appreciation for poetry as well had given Roman heart palpitations on top of the shock of losing the rap battle to him and only made him fall further. And Virgil, the dark guardian against fear, his dark and stormy knight, the foil to his heroic quests, his beloved enemy whom he secretly aspired to woo and one day make his beloved.... How could he not have been overcome with guilt when he had realized that his professional disagreements with Anxiety's purpose in moderating or outright blocking some of Thomas's more grandiose dreams had led to the embodiment of Anxiety believing himself unloved and unwanted?

Shame over his own idiocy coupled with the upheavals in the Mindscape as Deceit took Virgil's acceptance and began pushing forwards for his own had kept Roman from being more overt in his affections towards the pair, especially when he had realized that they were becoming a couple. Then Deceit had made such a fuss over the callback versus the wedding, going up against Patton while sidelining Logan and antagonizing Virgil and making Roman the judge... Remus going nuts had barely been a surprise, though Roman had not appreciated being knocked out. He had appreciated learning that Logan had prevailed and been a comfort and support to Virgil despite holding back their less platonic feelings in front of a distraught Thomas. As such, he had held back his own and confined himself to attempting to explain the balance that he and Remus kept between them in a way that would make sense from Thomas's present perspective. Of course, Remus had called him an idiot for it, and had looked affronted when Roman had asked him what else was new.

And now he was an idiot who was being distracted from his work because the men he loved who loved each other were currently in an emotional turmoil. If this kept up any longer they would have Patton knocking on their doors, and that wouldn't do at all. As much as they all loved the self-proclaimed Dad of the Mindscape he was incapable of subtlety or keeping secrets, even when he could recognize the value and importance in it. (The poor Morality-charged puffball had been a complete mess during Thomas's gay awakening, worse than the rest of them.) As much as he'd been pushing for Virgil's inclusion and acceptance into their little family of mental misfits, he might well be so overcome with joy at the realization that he might bypass their privacy to announce it and celebrate.

With a gusty sigh, Roman set down his pen and sent the (mostly) completed dreams off to Remy to begin implementing the moment Thomas finally conked out. Duty discharged, he sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, focusing deliberately on the feelings of romantic attraction and love that kept fluctuating so wildly. A moment later and he had their location. Virgil's room. Easier to get to, certainly, but riskier for him to venture into uninvited even without the magnification of having Thomas along with everyone. Still, it would be worth it to get some peace and perhaps even have a chance to soothe their fears for once instead of the other way around.

That decided, Roman got up and headed for the massive wardrobe at the far end of the antechamber. Technically he could have made the door into his quadrant to the Imagination look however he wanted, but there was a consistency of continuity to keeping it like this, and he appreciated the aesthetic of the wardrobe leading him into his own personal Narnia. Once there, he could get to Virgil's room by way of the back door through the Imagination into the anxious Side's closet, and hopefully Virgil would not be inclined to slam the door in his face.

AS CONVERSATIONS ABOUT feelings went between Virgil and Logan, this one had been even more awkward and all over the place than usual. Logan had begun by being his usual blunt self in reassuring Virgil that he loved him, that he was happy with him and their relationship, and that he had no desire to terminate their relationship. That said, he had become aware of certain romantic feelings from another of their compatriots and felt it necessary to address them with Virgil given the target of those feelings. Virgil had been simultaneously terrified and relieved to hear that Logan had realized Roman's feelings, too, and that he had wanted to talk with Virgil about them first.

From there, however, things had gotten confused. Virgil had already deduced that Roman had feelings for Logan, whereas Logan was under the (ridiculous and dismaying) impression that Roman had somehow been hiding romantic feelings for Virgil. Both of them had ample evidence to cite for their claims, and neither of them could adequately disprove the other's assertions. And then the question had come about to how each of them felt about Roman himself and had opened a whole other can of wriggley, squirmy, and entirely metaphorical worms of feelings. Because of course Virgil couldn't just love Logan and only Logan, no, he had to have developed feelings for Roman behind his own back over the years of battling it out either against the nightmares or against each other. And of course Logan would have romantic feelings for Roman that he hadn't even realized were there; he hadn't realized that he loved Virgil until he'd said something during the third experiment Logan was conducting on how long he could stay in Virgil's room without risking corruption if their center wasn't present to drive the balance forcefully over to the most heightened end of the Yerkes-Dodson Curve.

In the middle of Virgil firmly declaring that he wasn't going to approach Roman for a relationship unless Logan agreed that they would approach him together, there was a knock on the door. Virgil stopped and looked at Logan. Logan looked back, then turned his head to frown at the door to Virgil's room.

"That... did not sound like it came from the hallway...." he said uncertainly.

"I don't think it did," Virgil admitted, his eyes straying to the other end of his room where the closet under the stairs was located, draped by a big, dramatic blackout curtain. He drifted closer to it. Sure enough, another rapid knock was heard from the other side. A familiar knock at that. It was the same upbeat rhythm they'd just heard from Anna knocking on Elsa's door during the "Do You Wanna Build A Snowman" song.

"Who would be knocking on the inside of your closet door?" Logan asked, perplexed. "And how?"

"The closet leads to my quadrant of the Imagination, remember?" Virgil pointed out as he brushed his fingers against the curtain, resisting the urge to just sweep it aside and open the door. "There's only three other Sides who can even access the Imagination at their own discretion and only one of them has the courtesy to knock first and wait to be let in."

Logan went pale, then flushed. "Do you think he knows that I am here?"

"Undoubtedly," Virgil nodded with a grimace that faded into a rueful little smile. "He would have called out by now if he thought I was alone or asleep."

Logan swallowed, conflicted. Virgil waited, giving Logan the time to think. Behind the curtain and the closet door, Roman was silent, though now that Virgil was paying attention he knew the Creative Side was still there, showing the kind of patience and restraint that, as far as Virgil knew, Roman had never displayed around anyone else but him and, when he'd mentioned it, Logan as well. Eventually, Logan nodded once, short and sharp, and Virgil swept the curtain aside to reveal the closet door painted white with pink flowers like Boo's door from Monsters Inc. He tapped back, a quick "shave and a haircut", and opened the door when he got the "two bits" knocks back. "Hey, Princey, what's up?"

"I do apologize for the interruption, and at this late an hour," Roman said as he looked up from studying the flagstone floor on the other side of the closet. He was still in his onesie like Logan and Virgil, and the subdued tone and lack of nicknames were starting to sound alarm bells in Virgil's head. "No one is injured or harmed that I am aware of, and it is not an emergency or a nightmare incursion. That said...." Roman hesitated.

"Just spit it out, Ro," Virgil murmured, aware of the way Logan had stiffened out of sight of the door. "Band-aid method."

"Right," Roman took in a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly. Virgil could almost feel him counting as he did. "First, I also apologize for the unavoidable breach of privacy. To you and to Logan. While I would prefer to wait until you were both ready to reveal your relationship to discuss this, I felt it advisable to bring to your attention that you both are projecting large fluctuations of emotions, particularly love and romantic attraction. During previous instances, Patton has assumed the particularly strong and.... enduring feelings originated from me given my usual purview, but the emotions you both have been projecting are too jumbled and varied with others for me to adequately dissemble if he asks."

.....Well, shit. In all the talking that he and Logan had done about both Roman's purported feelings for them and their own for him, it had completely slipped Virgil's mind that Roman would have felt and known about their feelings. Well, that they had them, anyway. He apparently had guessed about Virgil and Logan's relationship from picking up on their feelings and watching them, and had kept quiet about it because they hadn't said anything to him about being together. And if he was to be believed, which Virgil saw no reason why he shouldn't, then he wouldn't have even mentioned it now before they were ready to say something if--

"Come in, Roman," Logan said softly, stepping up to behind Virgil's shoulder. "We have something we wish to tell you and a question to ask of you, if you are willing to hear it."

Roman blinked, clearly startled. Apparently he hadn't actually expected... what, to be let in? For Logan to show himself despite having been explicitly told that Roman already knew he was here? He looked at Virgil questioningly, and Virgil nodded, stepping back to let Roman into his room, closing the closet door behind him. "Bed, couch or floor?"

"Floor," Logan answered, gesturing to the thick plush rug that definitely wasn't there before Roman was in the room with them. "I would like to maintain equally close physical proximity to you both for this discussion without the implications or... potential expectations of choosing to sit on the bed, though we can choose to relocate there at a later time."

"Sounds good," Virgil agreed, catching first Roman's hand and then Logan's and tugging them both over to the rug before sitting down. "So, before we start, let me just say that I for one am not upset about the whole... you being able to pick up on our feelings thing. Makes it a bit easier in some ways because you already know we have these feelings, yeah?"

"I feel similarly," Logan added, reaching out to take Roman's other hand to complete the circuit between the three of them. "While I also feel some... discomfort over knowing that I have been unintentionally broadcasting my emotions, that is more due to my own frequent difficulty with emotional awareness than having you be aware of those emotions. If anything, knowing that you can perceive my romantic feelings is... overall reassuring."

"I will take your word for it," Roman said after a few seconds where he just sort of blinked at Logan, attempting to process the words into something that made sense. "And I promise that I will not pry into specifics behind your respective feelings any further than what you both already project, nor will I share what I pick up on with anyone else without your permission."

"We know, Ro," Virgil said with a slight smirk, squeezing the hand he held. "Neither of us thought you'd abuse your knowledge... though if I know Logan, you might wanna hold off on promising not to pry for specifics."

"If you are not comfortable with it, you can of course decline," Logan added, "but, as Virgil has no doubt surmised, I did want to request your assistance with an experiment in the more nuanced layers of your emotional perspective."

"How so?" Roman asked, cocking his head to one side. He wasn't quite the same curious alley cat as his brother, but Logan did tend to come up with some fun experiments.

"Virgil and I will each take a notecard," Logan explained, holding up the conjured notecards, one in blue and the other in purple. "We will write down numbers one, two and three, and then write different names beside each number in a random order. One name will be Thomas, another each other's names, and the third will be--"

"Revealed at the end of the experiment," Virgil broke in, shooting Logan a look. "We'll also give you paper and a pen so you can keep track of what feelings you sense from each of us specific to the number we say that corresponds to the person we're thinking of. Naturally, Thomas as our center is the control, so his name is first for both of us, but it's important you don't know the order of the other two names for either of us until after you've written down your impressions so you don't second guess yourself based on what you think you know."

"Should it become necessary, you may also mention the experiment in general terms to Patton to explain the fluctuations of emotions he will undoubtedly pick up," Logan offered even as he nodded in agreement with Virgil's guess of what the experiment would be.

"Well, I already know that the two of you clearly know each other exceptionally well," Roman joked with a crooked grin. "Very well, I would be delighted to participate."

Virgil handed Roman the note pad he kept in his desk for writing poetry while Logan quickly filled out his designated  note card with the pen from his pocket and then handed the pen to Virgil, who handed it on to Roman after quickly scrawling down the numbers and names. All three of them took a moment to center themselves with the old familiar breathing exercise, and then Roman nodded for Virgil to go first.

"By Logan's own admission, he has less understanding of his own emotions, therefore his uncertainty is more of a variable," he explained to Virgil's smirk.

"Don't ever let anyone ever seriously call you stupid again, alright, Princey?" he said, making Logan duck his head and Roman blush. "Okay, let's do this."

Thinking about Thomas and how he felt about their center, their Diamond, was both easy and harder than Virgil had fully expected. Roman was right that Virgil did know his emotions pretty well, but that didn't always mean it was easy to admit to them. Still, he concentrated on his feeling for Thomas while Roman closed his eyes and "tuned in" to them, writing down a couple of lines after a long moment. Not really a surprise. There was definitely some awe and affection there, but Virgil knew he wasn't in love with Thomas.

Number two on Virgil's list was Roman himself, not that he planned for Roman to know that until after the experiment. He found it even easier to focus on his feelings for the Creative Side given that he was sitting right there being all handsome and thoughtful and studious, indulging them in what would have felt invasive to Virgil. He hoped Roman hadn't agreed to this out of guilt over having been metaphorically eavesdropping on their emotions for years already. It was a struggle to keep his expression as neutral as when he'd been thinking about Thomas, especially when Roman kept writing for a paragraph, but he tried.

Eventually Roman stopped writing and nodded for him to move on. The last name on Virgil's list was Logan's, and he was just as easy to focus on his feelings for as Roman had been. It was also even harder to keep his expression from slipping into the sappy little lovesick smile he tended to get on his face whenever he thought about Logan in the privacy of his own room when no one else was around, thinking of all the many things he admired about Logan and all the different ways he could show him that Logan would understand better than just saying the words or trying to talk about feelings directly. It was worth the effort, though. According to Logan, the most romantic thing Virgil had ever said to him was that he boosted Virgil's serotonin just by being near him.

"Are you certain that you thought of a different name just now?" Roman asked even as he was writing. He was attempting casual, like it didn't matter to him, but Virgil could detect the ripple of unease beneath Roman's calm demeanor. He glanced at Logan to see his boyfriend hiding a smile.

"Please refrain from inquiring about the data points until after the experiment," Logan said aloud, and if Virgil hadn't been listening for it he might have missed the undercurrent of fondness in his voice. "Are you ready to begin with my data set?"

"Almost..... done," Roman pronounced as he finished writing and looked up. "Whenever you are ready, Logan."

"Gimme a sec to switch gears so I don't cloud your data?" Virgil asked, receiving tandem nods. He ran through the breathing exercise again, this time actually following the lines he had to each of the Sides and Thomas for a quick check-in. Absently he noted Roman's eyebrows go up and the princely Side make another note on the pad, but he forced himself to ignore it even as he sent a gentle but insistent prod towards Thomas to get off his damn phone and go to sleep already. He also noted that Patton was still awake and... concerned. "Right, go head and start, Pat's getting restless."

"Very well," Logan agreed, and let his eyes unfocus. Roman flipped the page on the notepad and began writing, and Virgil tuned out, leaving them to it while keeping a thread of his attention on Patton to track his progress. (Couldn't cloud the data if he wasn't thinking about the Sides in the room with him, right? Damn it, Virgil, focus!)

"Alright, I really need to ask now," Roman said eventually, pulling Virgil's attention back to the room. Just for fun, he looked at Roman and let a wave of affection well up, smiling a little when Roman's eyes snapped over to him sharply. "What the..."

"You may look at our respective note cards now, Roman," Logan said, holding out his own blue card as Virgil followed suit with the purple.

Roman eyed them both uncertainly, but took the cards and looked down. He blinked, looking between the cards and his own notes. Virgil watched in nervous anticipation as Roman saw the names and registered them, comparing them to the notes he had taken on Virgil and Logan's feelings. He swallowed. "Am I dreaming?"

"Not at present," Logan assured him softly.

"This is real, Ro," Virgil added, guessing from years of helping Roman battle the nightmares what kind of reassurance he might need now. "You're awake, you're really here in my room, and Logan and I are both here telling you that we..." He faltered, fumbling for Logan's hand. He hated being vulnerable like this, but Roman needed this honesty. "We, y'know, care about you. A lot. And that you can have us if... if you want us."

"We will, of course, give you as much time as you require to think about our offer and come to a decision," Logan added, squeezing Virgil's hand. "And there will also need to be a further conversation to establish boundaries and preferences, should you--"

"Yes," Roman interrupted on a gasp. He dropped the note cards and pad, reaching for them, and Virgil was quick to reach back and grasp his hand, giving him the tactile confirmation and support he sought. "Yes, please, I.... if you're both certain you want...."

"We are," Logan murmured at the same time that Virgil said, "Yeah, Ro, we do."

Virgil couldn't say which of them moved first, but the next moment all three of them were wrapped up in each other's arms. He closed his eyes and just let himself sink into the feelings of relief and the adoration he had for these two. They still had a lot to talk about, of course, and there was the possible fallout from Patton asking questions, but for now Virgil knew that Logan loved him and Roman, that Roman apparently loved both of them too, and that Virgil would do anything to make these men he loved feel safe and happy. For now, that was enough.