Thomas is pacing. It's never any good when he paces. The four sides stand against the wall, silently watching as Thomas tries to figure everything out. Logan and Virgil are working extra hard right now, and it shows not only in them, but in Thomas, too.

"What else don't I know about myself?!" Thomas asks, turning to Patton.

The trait shrugs, saying, "Lots of stuff, kiddo."

"You've been keeping things from me?" Thomas shakes his head, running his hands through his hair, "Or, Deceit has?"

"Only for your own protection." Roman clarifies, "Knowing too much can be dangerous."

Logan makes a noise of disagreement from the back of his throat. But Roman is on the right track, so he doesn't argue with the prince. "Thomas, when you were growing up, having too many voices in your head could have been confusing, at best. Now that you're older, you have the mental capacity to learn more about yourself, if you want."

Thomas pauses in his pacing, turning to look at them. "You mean you'll tell me? Everything?"

"If you ask." Patton says seriously, looking at the others for confirmation. Logan lets out a small sigh but nods, and Roman puts on a brave face, straightening his shoulders and humming in agreement. Virgil stands to the side, his hands in his pockets, his eyes at his feet. He doesn't comment.

"Okay." Thomas says, taking a deep breath. "I want to meet them."

"Who?" Logan asks, glancing at Roman, who pulls a worried face.

"Them!" Thomas gestures to the air around them, "The 'others'. I want to know who's in my head. All of them."

The Sides react immediately. Virgil glances around the room, ducking down a bit, as if he expects people to start dropping from the sky. Patton holds out his hands in a fleeting way to stop Thomas. Roman grabs his sword and pulls a tense, defensive stance. Logan's hands tighten into fists as he steps closer to the others, his gaze on the dark kitchen behind Thomas. And they all scream:

"Whoa! Whoa!"

"Hold on there, kiddo!"

"Maybe you shouldn't-"

"Wait, don't!"

Thomas takes a step back, surprised. He holds up his hands in defense and says, "Uh, or not."

Logan relaxes first and explains, "Sorry, Thomas. It's just that-"

"There's a lot of them!" Roman interrupts. "And too much at once would be disastrous!"

"A personality, such as yours," Logan continues, shooting Roman an annoyed glare, "has nearly infinite opposing sides to it, with varying intensities. Every time you grow as a person, there is the potential for a new personality trait to form. To meet all of them at once, which would not be ideal, they would fill up this entire room."

Patton nods, gesturing to the couch, "Yeah, and we don't have enough sitting spots!"

Virgil shifts his weight on his feet, scratching his neck absentmindedly, "Start - start small, okay?"

Thomas watches them for a moment, his mind clearly blown a bit. He thinks about it, coming to a decision. Finally, he speaks, "Then, how about four?"

"Four?" Logan asks, rising his eyebrows. "Any particular four?"

Thomas offers a sheepish smile, "Your opposites?"

The Sides are vocal once more. Logan hides his faces in his hands, groaning. Roman shakes his head, his nose wrinkling. Patton nods, but seems a bit hesitant. Virgil closes his eyes and lets out a long sigh.

"Please reconsider."

"Well, alright, kiddo."

"I've never met my opposite, but whoever they are, I'm sure I can take them!"

Thomas shakes his head, crossing his arms, "This is where I want to start. You're opposites. Go stand in your spots!"

The Sides glance at each other once more before grumpily moving to their corners of the room. Virgil sits down heavily on the stairs, and immediately starts chewing on his thumb nail. Logan is already massaging his temples and they haven't even brought anyone new into the room yet. Patton bounces on his feet a little, mostly undisturbed by this turn of events. Roman is clearly trying not to pace, his express a strange combination of curiosity and anticipation.

"Well, we've already met my other half." Patton giggles. "Receipt? Where'd you go?"

Deceit pops into existence next to Patton, a dark smile on his lips, "I've missed you all so much."

"Aw!" Patton and Roman said at the same time.
Logan goes to correct them, but just shakes his head instead, glancing at Virgil, who was sitting further back against the wall than normal. He opens his mouth to ask what's wrong, but Patton starts talking again and his attention is taken away.

"We missed you too, Athlete!"

Deceit's smile dissipates as he sputters at Patton, "What? I'm- Thomas isn't athletic!"

"Hey." Thomas says quietly, his hand coming up to brush against his squishy belly. Maybe he and Joan should do another exercise video?

Patton shakes his head, "No, I'm pretty sure it's Back Street."

Deceit growls, "No, it's-"

"Concerte?"

"No!"

"Upbeat?"

"That's not my name!" Deceit shouts.

Roman starts singing, and Patton joins in, excitedly chanting the lyrics, "They call me 'quiet', but I'm a riot, Mary, Jo, Lisa, always the same-"

"Guys. Guys." Logan tries to interrupt, but now Thomas has joined in, too. Three grown men sing the song, impressed that they all remember the lyrics.

"That's not my name! That's not my name! That's not my name!"

Deceit growls, taking a step away from the singing Patton, "Why are you all so cheery? Ugh, this is just perfect."

Logan turns to Virgil, who's looking a little more relaxed, happily watching the others goof off. Logan sighs, "You're not really helping me keep them focused!"

"I don't want this conversation to stay on topic." Virgil admits, quietly, so the others don't hear. His smile fell away and his hands quickly fiddle with their sleeves. "Besides, you're the focused one."

Logan huffs, turning to Thomas, "Thom- hey, Thomas, didn't you want to meet your Other Sides?"

Thomas nods, smiling as their singing fades out, "Right, right. Okay, so, Morality and Deceit, Anxiety and…"

Thomas trails off, waving his hands at Virgil, who pulls out a card from his jacket pocket. He silently hands it to Thomas, who reads it outloud, "Get Out of Jail Free- wait, this shouldn't work, there's no jail here!" Virgil sighs, but just pulls another card out of his pocket, which Thomas takes and smiles, "Oh, a Skip Turn card, that'll work. Logan! You're up!"

"What?" Logan says, watching as Virgil goes to sit back down. "Firstly, applying the rules of a board game to real life is not compatible. Secondly, he used two different board games, that has to be against the rules!"

Virgil rests his head in his hand, commenting, "Is there rules, or isn't there? Make up your mind, Logan."
"This all makes perfect sense." Deceit purrs.

"Really? Cuz I'm confused." Patton says, causing Deceit to roll his eyes.

Logan lets out a deep sigh, muttering to himself, "Okay, okay, you can do this, it's just for a little while, it's just- okay." He straightens his glasses and turns to Thomas, "As you may figure, the opposite of Logic is-"

"IGNORANCE!" A new man shouts as he appears beside Logan, "Howdy, y'all!"

Roman screams shrilly, his hands covering his ears. When he recovers he gasps, "Howdy!? I hate him already!"

"Me too." Deceit grins, leaning forward to grin at the newcomer, "Iggy, bad to see you again."

"Right back atcha!" Ignorance turns to Logan, throwing an arm over his shoulder, "Have y'all meet Deceit? Real nice fella right there."

Roman nods, "He is, isn't he?" Realization strikes him a second later, "Wait."

Ignorance glances over at Virgil and lets out a sharp gasp, "And is that-"

"BUT HOW DO WE KNOW HE'S IGNORANCE?!" Virgil says loudly, speaking over whatever Ignorant was going to say.

"Trust me." Logan says, rubbing his temples, "He is."

Ignorance glares at Logan, turning to Thomas, saying, "This one right here thinks he's all high-an-mighty cuz he went to college. Well guess what, Thomster? I did, too!"

"Did you?" Thomas asks, surprised, "Well, uh, let's give him a chance, see what he knows. Ignorance, tell us something insightful."

Ignorance's eyes lite up with glee as he says, "Don't mind if I do!"

"Oh no." Logan whispers softly.

"The world is flat; the moon landing was fake; Obama was three gnobs stacked on top of each other in a trench coat;" Ignorance starts to count off his 'facts' on his fingers. "Humans are alone in the universe. You're gay for being in theater."

Thomas blinks rapidly, too stunned to say anything. Roman is baffled, his hand covering his mouth, so he doesn't interrupt the other man. But at his last point, he has to comment; "I mean, he's right. You're gay. But not because of the theater."

"Nope!" Ignorance says, "Prissy plays and musicals make homosexuals. It's a fact."

"Oh my god." Logan groans, hiding his face behind his hands. "He's so wrong. On everything."

"Oh!" Ignorance says, remembering something, "And there's only two genders!"

That was the final blow. Everyone in the room, Deceit included, groans and mutters their distaste for the other man.

"Man, next to him, you look smart." Deceit says, nudging Patton. He looks up at the others and clarifies, "And that's the truth."

Thomas turns to Logan, a bit desperate, "Surely, surely, I'm not that bad! I don't think that stuff!"

"No, of course not." Logan says, calming the other man down, "Thanks to me. You're welcome."

"Thank you." Thomas whispers quietly, staring at Ignorance as he throws his cowboy hat in the air and tries to catch it on his head. He fails many times.

Logan catches his attention once more, "Thomas, you must understand. This is what you have the possibility of being. Ignorance is just a lack of knowledge, and in some departments, you are very ignorant. But when you learn, when I learn, then he is kept at bay. That's the only way to combat Ignorance: is to learn."

"Okay." Thomas says, nodding, "Okay. So I'm doing pretty good?"

"For the most part." Logan agrees, offering Thomas a soft smile. Ignorance trips over his own feet in his attempt to catch his hat, and he crashes to the ground behind them. Logan's smile vanishes at the sound, no doubt knowing exactly what happened without having to turn around. "Now can we please get rid of him?"

Thomas shakes his head sympathetically, "Sorry, buddy. We got two more left."

He turns to Roman, who's still staring at Ignorance with a horrified expression. Thomas has to wave his hands in front of Roman's face for him to respond. The prince jumps, "Yes, Thomas?"

"It's your turn. Who's your opposite?" Thomas asks, already preparing himself for the worst.

Roman pauses, thinking. He quietly confesses, "I … don't know. I've never met them. I guess I'm just too strong and intimidating for them to come by!"

"Yeah, that's it." Deceit grins, his gaze sliding over to the stairs.

"Well, who do you think it is?" Thomas asks, "Maybe if we get it right, they'll come out?"

"Good idea." Roman agrees. He taps his chin, musing, "I always thought it'd be someone incredibly wicked. Maybe Timid? Or Artist Block?" He lets out a loud gasp, turning to Thomas and saying in a horrified voice, "Or Censorship!?"

Deceit nods along, "Getting closer."

Patton bounces on his feet, giggling, "Oh, this is so exciting!"

Silently, Virgil stands up, rubbing his eyes. When his hands drop down, his eyeshadow is the darkest they've ever been. No one notices him as he shrugs off his new, purple jacket. His hands shake as he puts on his old, dark one. Then, he steps forward, one step, two, three…

Logan is the first one to notice him move. Soon, all eyes are on him, and a heavy hush falls over the room. Virgil doesn't speak as he steps up beside Roman, his fists clenched inside his pockets.

"Uh," Roman said, "Verge, what're you doing? That's my opposite spot."

Logan and Patton share silent, concerned looks. Ignorance and Deceit grin at each other. Virgil ignores them all and looks up into Roman's eyes. The creative trait shakes his head slowly, confusion still written across his face. Virgil swallows hard and looks back down at his feet.

"Verge, no…" Romans whispers, taking Virgil's hand. Virgil yanks his hand away as soon as their fingers touch. He turns away from Roman, wrapping his arms around himself. "Virgil-"

"I'm not Virgil!" Virgil snaps, his fingers tightening against his sleeves. His voice got all deep and, well, dark. "I'm Anxiety!"

Roman flenches, stepping back in surprise. He sucks in a sharp breath and genuinely seems afraid for a second. The spell is broken at a loud noise.

"I knew it!" Ignorance hollers. "Anx! Buddy! It's been a long time! That was a real nice disguise you had there! I thought you were one'a the good ones!"

"I'm not impressed." Deceit grinned, showing his approval.

Anxiety glanced at the other dark sides, his eyeshadow growing darker as he watched them.

Patton looked between the dark sides and Anxiety, "...You know them?"

"Well of course!" Ignorance grinned, gesturing to the nervous trait, "He's the worst outta all of us!"

"Yes, anyone could top his deceitfully disastrous presence." Deceit nodded.

Suddenly, everyone started talking all at once, raising their voices to shout over one another. The chaos grows until no one can tell who's talking to who anymore, and Thomas doesn't know what to do. The Sides have never acted like this before. This discord isn't like them. But they just keep shouting, their tempers rising, until a sharp pain grows behind Thomas' eyes.

"I need you to quit talking because everything you say is absolute falsehood and-"

"Well now you're just being racist!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"Virgil, you're not a bad guy, we've decided this, like, four videos ago!"

"Don't touch me! Don't effing touch me!"

"Watch your language!"

"Oh, this is delicious! I hate all of this!"

"Yeah, me too!"

"You know, you make it so hard to insult you, you're too dim to realize I'm being rude!"

"You guys don't belong here! Stop talking to me! I don't want to be a part of you!"

"What is happening?!"

"STOP!" Thomas shouts, covering his ears. He's squatting low on the floor, his eyes closed tight. "Stop! Stop it!"

Everyone froze, turning to look at Thomas. The boy is holding his head in his hands, obviously in pain. He gasps out a teary breath, "Go away! I want all the dark sides to go away!"

Deceit and Ignorance disappear, and Anxiety moves to follow them, but Roman grabs his arm before he can.

"Not you." Roman says quietly, pulling him closer to himself, "You're not dark."

"I…" Anxiety struggled to maintain eye contact with the other trait.

"Thomas?" Patton asks, stepping forward, "Are you okay, kiddo?"

Thomas held up his finger, groaning a little, "Gimme a second. Just - migraine."
Satisfied that he'd be okay, Patton turns his attention to Anxiety, who looks more than a little uncomfortable.

"Virgil, you never told me." Roman whispers, his voice a bit betrayed.

"Stop calling me that!" Anxiety hisses, ripping his arm out of Roman's grasp.

"It's your name!" Roman growls, just as furious.

Patton jumps in then, putting a hand on both of their shoulders, "Hey, okay, let's all just calm down here for a second, alright? Virgil, honey, are you okay?"

"I-I-I don't know." Anxiety says. His eyes are distant as he looks down at his shaking hands. Logan steps forward to instruct them to sit Anxiety down, since he looks like he's about to drop any second. They gather on the sofa, dragging Thomas over to sit down with them. Anxiety curls up against Patton, letting the other trait brush his fingers through his hair soothingly. Roman takes Anxiety's hand and Logan takes a moment to check in with Thomas, who gives him a pouty thumbs up.

Patton waits until Anxiety's eyeshadow lightens before he asks, "What happened?"

"Nothing, I just…" Anxiety mumbles, staring at a spot on the floor. He fiddles with the sleeves of Patton's cardigan nervously, "I told the truth. Thought you'd be proud of me, Pat."
"I am! Of course I am!" Patton says, pulling Anxiety closer to himself. "I just wish you told us sooner! Then we would've avoided all of this!"

Anxiety doesn't say anything for a long time. While he's silent, Thomas sits back on the couch, letting out a soft sigh. He gives the Sides a weak smile and mumbles that he's alright now.

"I knew they'd recognize me. Deceit did last time. I don't know why he didn't out me right then." Anxiety says quietly, his voice sounding a bit cold. "It was stupid, but, seeing them together did something to me… I felt … dark again. Like before."

"Before?" Patton asks carefully.

"Before we met. When I just showed up." Anxiety sighs, rubbing his hands over his face. "I was … darker … then."

Thomas spoke up then, his voice apologetic, "I'm sorry. For putting you through that."

"T's'fine." Anxiety shifts awkwardly on the couch.

Patton moves so that he can look into Anxiety's eyes as he says, "Hey, no matter what happens, you're still one of us, okay?"

Anxiety looks from Patton to Logan to Thomas to Roman. He only sees smiles and acceptance from the men around him. Finally, he smiles, mumbling a quiet, "Okay."
Roman hesitates, his fingers dancing along the back of Anxiety's hand, "And… I don't mind that you're my opposite. It makes sense, really. If I'm the knight, then you must be my day."

Anxiety stared at him for a long time before he realized what was just said. "Did. Did you just make a pun?"

"Patton's not the only one who can do it!" Roman grins, high-fiving the other trait, who squealed at the dad joke. Logan rolls his eyes, but even he is smiling. Thomas chuckles and watches as the traits recover from the traumatic event in their own ways.

"Thanks, guys." Anxiety whispers quietly, a blush forming on his cheeks, "For still liking me."

He gets a sickening sweet chroas of "Of course!"s.

And, Virgil smiles for the first time since before Deceit showed up.

Tell me what you think!