"Whatever. I should have known better than to ask you of all people. Goodbye Mr. A."
Roman walked out of the room trying to look angry to hide how he felt. He was sad and tired.
Logan was left sitting on the edge of his bed, not really sure what just happened. Mr. A was not his name so it must be related to pop culture. He pulled out his flash cards and despite going through them twice, couldn't find it. He went to his desk and opened his laptop. There it was. A song.
"Oh."
Holes in his logic? He worked very hard to make sure his logic followed. From a philosophical standpoint his arguments were always sound. That meant his facts would have to be wrong, but he never brought something up without at least triple checking it. Maybe there was something he wasn't accounting for?
"No human touch."
But he always did his best to account for that. He'd been researching the best ways to tell how the others were feeling and what might and might not make them feel better. Facts were good for Virgil, but only the facts that made things seem better. If he was scared of flying tell him all the reasons it's safe without bringing up how other transportation was even less safe. If Patton was baking don't tell him seven different recipes, explain the chemical reactions and add in 'fun' facts to break up the information, though if Logan was being honest, all facts are fun. Janus and Remus were even easier to interact with, but Roman was the hardest. He didn't know what to say, what kinds of facts he could use in which situations. He had run trial and error tests but that only gave a vague outline and wasn't very helpful.
Roman always seemed to get along with Patton even when they disagreed. Maybe he could ask Patton? No. He didn't want anyone to know this was yet another thing he couldn't do. So what would Patton do? Based on the data he'd gathered, Patton would go talk to him. He could try that. He walked himself over to Roman's room and knocked.
"Who is it?"
"Hello, Roman. It is me, Logan. I couldn't find your 'Mr. A' in my index cards, so I looked it up."
"And?" Roman did not want to be having this conversation right then.
"I… I would like to inquire as to what you think I'm doing wrong."
"You seriously can't even admit you messed up?!"
"That's not what I-"
"Then what did you mean?! Are you just standing there amazed at how stupid Roman is overreacting yet again?!"
"No! If you would just open the door-"
"And have to see your face again? No thank you. It's bad enough I look like you. I can't even use a mirror."
"I'm sorry." Logan's voice cracked. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I didn't want anyone to know that I have no clue what I'm doing. I keep saying the wrong things. I don't know what to do! I just want to share the world with you! I don't know how else to lo- to… show I care."
The door opened to reveal two crying messes, one on each side.
"Can I hug you?" Roman asked quietly.
Logan reached out and did it for him.
"Come in. We should talk." Roman brought them to sit in the bed.
Logan explained everything he'd been hiding away, all the research he did to try to improve himself for them. He talked about how he wanted to be able to do the same for Roman. He broke down and told him that this was his way of caring and he didn't know any other way.
Roman listened and was uncharacteristically quiet, though it wasn't every day, or ever, that one would see Logan cry. Once Logan was done, he began his own story. He noticed how he was the only one that couldn't seem to consistently get along with Logic and desperately wanted to fix that. He took Logan's facts to heart, but had read a lot of them as criticisms or an attempt to control his creative output. He realized it was because he hid his emotions Logan couldn't get a proper read on what he was doing right and wrong. He also didn't want to admit weakness.
When they were done, they fell backwards and looked at the ceiling. After a moment Roman waved his hand and revealed a night sky for them to look at.
"I love you, too."
"I didn't -" Logan sat up fast enough to get whiplash and becoming bright red.
"I know what you meant." Roman looked up at him with a soft smile.
Logan's eyes went wide before he allowed himself to lay back down. Clearly he'd done something right, but he'd take notes later. For now, he'd let himself relax with Roman until Patton inevitably called them for dinner. They'd be alright.
