Chapter Text
“I have to complete this project soon. Thomas needs it for t—” Logan was interrupted by an all too familiar pull. Thomas was summoning him again, for a necessary reason. Or at least he hoped it was necessary. However, it hardly ever was at this hour.
He popped up in the bedroom where Thomas was watching Parks and Rec. Again. For what had to be the 11th time. “It is currently 3:17 in the morning. You seem to still be awake, much to my dismay. What did you request my presence for, Thomas?” Thomas looked over, eyes bloodshot.
He paused for a moment, as he stared at the logical side blankly. “I honestly…don’t remember.”
Logan sighed softly. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Remember, you need to be up by eight o’clock tomorrow so you can get all the necessary chores and errands completed. We then need to complete other, more tedious tasks.”
Thomas groaned loudly. Thank God he lived alone. “Can’t I do it some other time? I’m probably gonna be tired tomorrow.”
Logan’s brows furrowed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I guess so, but more work will need to be done for the project. I assume double the amount. And I’m almost d—” He was interrupted, as usual.
“Sounds great.” Thomas flipped over and continued watching Parks and Rec. Mumbling with new plans, Logan returned to his room.
Once in his own space again, Logan looked over what he already had done for the project. He looked at the checklist he had written that was almost complete. With planning and time management, Thomas would complete it in 2 days. As he sighed yet again, he erased his hard work.
“It’s not an issue, I’ll just have to…” he grabbed one of his flashcards, “‘speedrun’ it.” He looked at the clock, which already said 3:30. Grabbing a post it note titled ‘nights stayed up’, he erased the 2, and wrote down 3. It was meant to prevent him from overwork through a physical representation, but proved to be ineffective. “I guess one more night won’t hurt. I’ll simply have to rest tomorrow evening.”
The next night, Logan entered his room, sluggish. He stayed standing, eyes half lidded and body swaying. “I did not anticipate the day would be so busy.” His stomach growled, unsurprisingly. How long had it been since he’d last had a proper meal? 4 days? A week? Patton made dinner every Friday. How long ago was Friday? He looked down at his stomach, pressing a cold hand to it. “That’s to be expected.”
He headed to the kitchen, focusing on keeping one foot in front of the other. After making it to the kitchen, he grabbed a jar of Crofters. “Maybe this will fix me…” He yawned, followed by a wince at an oncoming headache. Lifting his hands to rub his temples, he dropped the jar onto the ground, spilling the jelly everywhere.
Logan froze, staring down at the mess. Slowly, he lowered himself to the ground, sitting down next to the spill. He continued staring at the jelly, emotionless.
“So anyways, I wanted us to try—” Remus was talking to Janus, not worried about his loud volume. Partially because everyone was already asleep and partially because Remus wasn’t capable of being quiet. His shiny silver bracelets jingled as he walked, making further noise.
Both of them looked forward, seeing a frozen Logan who was covered in Crofters. He didn’t seem to notice them, however. Without reason, Logan burst out into laughter, doubled over. “Of…of course…” The two Dark Sides seemed confused, as Logan hardly ever showed positive emotions. However, the sight of the typically stoic sight having them brought smiles to their faces.
Logan froze for a second, noticing a string messed up on his crooked tie. The nerd didn’t attempt to pull it out, instead looking at it and tearing up. He began sobbing. He clutched his tie, leaning and putting his head to the ground. Low and muffled cries let themselves loose. “I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t do this!” He let out various swears, quickly spiraling.
Oh God, he’s lost it. Both Janus and Remus thought. The twin of the two began to move, but was quickly stopped by a gloved hand on his chest. “I got it, Remus.” Janus whispered. Remus nodded, giving a small obedient salute.
It was honestly odd to see Logan so disheveled. There was jam covering his hair and clothes, his tie was ripping from the force he held on to it, and his glasses now had a small crack. Despite the shocking scene, Janus leaned down and lifted Logan in their arms.
God, I haven’t done this since Virgil left. It’s alright, I know how to deal with this. I think.
The logical side was still sobbing violently in their arms. It sounded like he was about to hyperventilate. That wouldn’t be good for him or Thomas. And Janus really didn’t want to lift an unconscious Logan. “Hey. Logan, I’m going to need you to focus on me. Can you do that for me?” Logan lifted his head, eyes half lidded and still full with tears. Wiping them off, he looked up.
After a second, he looked confused. “Was I…crying? Why?” Janus raised their eyebrows before furrowing them and looking back to Remus. They moved Logan off of them silently, walking to the humanized rat. “We gonna take him hostage? Pretty pleaseee?” Janus shushed him, but wasn’t shocked that Remus couldn’t be as quiet as hoped.
“Be quiet.” Remus nodded, blushing as he silenced himself. “Commanding. C'mon Jan, you can’t do that to me!” Janus shook their head. “We can do whatever you have in mind later. I need to deal with this.” Remus pouted, but watched as Janus walked over to a now dazed Logan.
Janus sat next to Logan. “Hey. I need you to look at me.” Logan did. Kind of. He looked past the other Side, still in a daze. “When did you last sleep?” Logan made a small noise and shrugged. “Sometime not today.” Janus put their finger in front of Logan, moving it. The logical one tilted his head, much like a dog when it’s confused.
Janus grabbed a jar of Crofters and a spoon. “Okay, I got you some food. You want the Crofters?” Logan nodded, needily. Janus lifted the spoon to the nerd’s mouth, not taking their eyes off of him.
The nerd made a small satisfied noise as he ate the jam. Once he’d finished most of the jar, he leaned back, tracing Janus’ scales. “Can I stay with you guys?” Janus and Remus looked between each other. Remus coughed. “You sure you don’t wanna go to your room, nerd? Y'know the others act like prudes.”
Logan pouted, a fog clouding his eyes. “I don’t like that. ‘Nerd’. It’s so…not smart. What’s…what’s the word…?” Remus popped up, surprised, rushing over to where Logan and Janus were sitting. He looked to the other Dark Side in alarm. “Janus.” The Side nodded, brows furrowed.
They both looked scared. Logan was the smart one. At least, the only acknowledged smart one. The fact that he forgot a simple word was a testament to how messed up he was. Remus turned to Janus, who was still covered by a dazed Logan. “Should we take him to ours, or just drop him off so they find him?” Janus was silent for a moment.
“Let’s take him to our part of the house. We have no choice. If we leave him here, no one would believe we’re innocent. And if we do him a favor, he might repay it and vouch for us.” Remus smiled a toothy grin and summoned a wagon with crude drawings. He set Logan in it and grabbed Janus, wrapping an arm around the side’s waist.
Janus finally felt warm, leaning into it. “How’d you know?” Remus laughed. “You can’t go more than five minutes without getting cold. If I didn’t know any better I’d think it’s because you like me touching you.” Janus smiled and rolled their eyes. “You’re a perv. And it’s definitely my fault you’re obnoxiously warm.” Remus leaned in, tracing the scales on their hand.
Once at the shared space, the sides took Logan out of the wagon. Worryingly, he didn’t seem to acknowledge what was happening, even though the wagon was shaking the entire time. Janus hesitated before placing him on the floor. “I don’t wanna get jam on our bed.”
Remus grinned maniacally. “I have an idea.” He snapped, and Logan was wearing a clean pajama set. The nerd was still completely asleep. Janus looked over the outfit disapprovingly. “Seriously, Remus? Blow-gan? I swear you’re so mature. And you’re being delusional, you know he’s going to love the outfit.” Despite their words, Janus was covering a smile with their hand.
Remus cackled. Loudly. After catching his breath, he finally replied. “He’s taking up my bed too, 2D. Plus, the pajamas came with a full clean, so now he won’t get the house dirty.”
Janus sighed, rubbing their temples. “Fine. And don’t even act like you’re upset that he’s here. We both know we’re going to hate it. Sharing a bed, huddling close, wa—.” Janus paused to see Remus smirking smugly at them.
“Now who’s being delusional? But, yeah. I’m twitching just thinking of it.” The twin laid in the bed.
Janus chuckled. “You’re always twitching. You’re basically a rabid chihuahua.” Next to Remus, they placed Logan down. After tucking the logical side, the snake themselves laid on the other side of Remus. They wrapped themself around the other two as close as they could. Remus placed a quick peck on Logan’s forehead.
“What was that? Am I not interesting enough for you, your Highness?” Janus teased.
Remus shook his head. “Aww is the snakey having big big feewings?” He mocked. “You know that could never be true. I wanna be closer and do so much with and to you. But, we have company so…” Janus realized the point and nodded in response. Logan didn’t seem to hear any of this.
It was a little terrifying, the lack of reaction. Logan seemed to be completely out. Remus, like Remus, decided to try an idea. Before Janus could stop him, he shook the nerd, who began rattling like a fish. The side startled up, eyes widened. “I’m awake! I’m fine.” He mumbled, eyes becoming less foggy. The other two didn’t seem convinced.
But, before either could verify how he was, Logan snapped. “Why the hell would you do that? I wasn’t bothering you!” He was shaking, fists clenched to his sides as he yelled. As he did, his now tangerine eyes started to cross, and began fluttering closed. The Side was clearly running on fumes.
The other two looked concerned. But, they might have been even more so if they hadn’t had Virgil live with them. Meanwhile, Logan got out of the bed, attempting to storm off. He almost fell as he did so, and tipped over when he actually got up. Janus and Remus rushed to catch him, Janus using their extra arms and Remus grabbing the side’s legs with his tentacles.
Logan protested as the other two dragged him back to the bed. He grumbled as he finally laid down. Janus looked tired. They were usually asleep by this point. Sure, they were up to take a nap at any point, but this was cutting into their normal rest. In contrast, Remus still looked to be extremely awake, wanting to move and do things.
Janus made note of this, nodding for Remus to go let out some energy. The twin looked extremely grateful, rushing out of the dark room. Taking a deep breath, the snake tried something new. “Hey, corbeau. Can you come sit with me for a minute?”
Logan froze, confused by the unusual nickname. After a minute, he scooted over to Janus. The snake immediately went into comfort mode. Wrapping themselves around the nerd in their arms, they used one of them to run their hands through Logan’s hair.
The nerd’s hair wasn’t as soft as Janus would have thought. It wasn’t necessarily unexpected, more just off putting. Though, it really shouldn’t have been so surprising. Logan clearly wasn’t taking time to eat or sleep. So, it was to be expected that he wouldn’t have time for self care. Janus was already planning ways to fix that.
Another arm was used to trace Logan’s palm and arm. By this point, their yellow gloves had already come off, making the touch a lot more soothing.
Logan slumped back into them, his eyes fluttering closed. “Are you okay, corbeau?” The words barely registered, as Logan drifted out of consciousness. Janus took this as a yes. The snake took this as their cue to lay back, planning to also get some sleep.