The four sides all ate their breakfast together, Thomas joining them for a short moment. Thomas took a moment to ask them if they had found any other clues or details, and they sadly admitted to him that no, they hadn't. Not for a lack of trying either.

"Maybe it's just a certain time limit?" Roman offered, shrugging loosely. The others sides looked at him, considering the idea.

Logan sighed, fixing his glasses and loudly clicking his laptop keys. "That would be agreeable," he spoke clearly, barely glancing up. "One has to wonder if the time-limit would be too elongated to rely on none the less."

Thomas frowned, running a hand through his hair. "Well, try to work it out I guess," he said awkwardly. He was aware he wasn't being much help but really, what could he do? "I'll see you guys later then." Just like that, he left.

"Roman dear, help me collect the dishes," Patton said after a moment, already getting up and heading towards the sink. Roman rolled his eyes but got up and helped out, leaving Virgil and Logan at the table. Virgil leaned over to Logan, looking at his screen, curious about what it was he was trying to find. After all, it's not like this type of situation was common.

Noting Virgil's interest, Logan smiled slightly. He was never one to turn down rambling on and on about whatever research it was he was into, he loved showing off. "I detected that our situation is exclusive if you will," he explained, saying Virgil's thoughts out loud.

Virgil nodded, scanning his screen, and then raised his eyebrow in interest. That was one way to look at it. "Instead of researching real-life examples, I decided to broaden my research, looking at... fables, if you will. Belief systems, different belief systems, looking for anything that could possibly pertain to us."

"Far reach, but interesting take," Virgil said slowly, tilting his head. "Good job." He grinned a bit, humming softly in amusement.

In another moment, Patton suddenly popped up in between them, making them move away a bit from where they had been leaning into each other, staring at Patton in surprise. "What are you looking at?" Patton asked, taking Virgil's place at Logan's side, a sweet smile on his face.

As Logan went on to explain his ideas to Patton, who listened and replied in clear excitement, Roman slipped up to Virgil's own side, gently nudging their arms together. "Virgil?" the flexible side asked, drawing Virgil's attention over to him. "Let's go upstairs."

Virgil raised an eyebrow but nodded, standing up and going upstairs. Patton and Logan were so focused on their conversation, Virgil and Roman were pretty sure they hadn't even noticed the pair leaving. Roman led him to Thomas' room with a bounce in his step, leaving Virgil to follow behind in slight amusement and boredom.

As they entered Thomas' room, Roman sighed dramatically, sitting on Thomas' bed. "I had to get away from their flirting," Roman groaned. Virgil stared at him blankly for a moment before grinning, suddenly amused. That's why Patton had slipped in between Logan and himself- he had been jealous.

So... Patton and Logan? The fans would be happy at least. Though. Virgil's smile slowly turned into a frown as he considered Logan. Would the all-serious, no-nonsense side even notice Patton's interest in him? If he somehow did, would he react well? Did Logan even like Patton back?

Virgil liked both Logan and Patton, but Patton had a bit of a special place in his heart. He was the first out of the sides who accepted him truly, in fact he had accepted him from the very start, no pressure needed. He was just so sweet and innocent, and, for the lack of a better word, fluffy. Thinking of him getting his heart broken made Virgil's own heartache, even more since it was Logan. Logan wouldn't know gentle if it hit him in the face.

Logan would go on some long speech about how emotions (love for sure) were just hormones that got in the way, and how they could be created in a lab for all purposes, and true love was a motion for fools. He wouldn't do it with the intention to hurt of course, but Virgil could only see it hurting Patton. He wouldn't just break his heart, he would shatter it.

Roman must have seen the alarmed look on Virgil's face, because he frowned and sat up, hands twitching for the sword that was nowhere close. "What?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes and sitting up straight like he was trying to project his royalty. "What's with that sudden panicked look, is someone raining on your black parade?"

Virgil gave Roman a look just for the end of that sentence but sighed. "Logan," he said blandly. Roman only stared at him blankly, making Virgil groan, frustrated. "Come on, roses! You're the romantic side!"

"Did you just call me roses-" Virgil's original point must have clicked because Roman's eyes widened "-OH... Oh no..." Roman started pacing, frowning. He clearly understood now why Virgil was so worried about tiny, happy, sweet, adorable Patton getting his heart crushed ino tiny bits.

"We should teach Logan how to properly deny someone," Virgil decided, but he was already frowning at the idea of trying to teach Logan anything, not to even get into the subject matter. Romance? Not his department.

In all of Thomas' past relationships, Virgil was one of the ones who messed stuff up the most. He was just so worried about Thomas losing these boyfriends, these people that were so important to him. So he pushed his anxiety onto Thomas. Anxiety to do the best he could do, to make sure that his boyfriends loved him constantly, to never make a mistake. It turned into a clingy, overly emotional Thomas.

That was probably one of the reasons Roman had gotten annoyed with him at the start. He had ruined so many relationships that the other three had tried so hard to build up, all because he was... him. He was Virgil. He was anxiety. He got anxious, as was his nature, and then everything went wrong. It wasn't as bad now, but no matter what Virgil did or how much he improved, it would never erase the mistakes he had made in the past.

It wouldn't erase the people he lost. The happiness he destroyed. Moments where Thomas could be happy that was ripped away by that one, little, nagging, thought... Anxiety.

Sighing, Virgil ripped himself out of his depressing thoughts. The issue at hand was Patton and Logan, he shouldn't be internally whining and complaining about his own problems when they had bigger fish to fry. It wouldn't help them come to a solution.

Roman was currently giving him a horrified expression, so Virgil could only deduct that he had said another thing wrong. "Deny?" Roman repeated. "You want to teach Logan how to deny Patton? I mean, if worse comes to worse, better a polite denial than whatever Logan could normally cook up- but why would we want him to deny Patton?"

Virgil gave Roman a blank look, not exactly getting the message. Of course, he didn't want Logan to deny Patton, he knew it would only hurt him, that was why he was doing this entire 'we should teach Logan how to be nice and not an asshole at the very least' plan.

Roman sighed again though, shaking his head sadly. It made Virgil want to grit his teeth, but remembering their earlier promise of friendship, he resisted the urge. "What?" Virgil demanded, narrowing his eyes. "What am I missing?"

"We-" Roman grabbed Virgil's hand, making him flinch a bit, and whatever it was that was making Roman smile like that could not be a good thing "-are going to get Patton and Logan together!"

Oh.

Oh no.