Chapter Text
It was a typical day in the mindscape. Heck, it was only morning, meaning that only two sides were awake at this time. Patton and Logan.
Honestly, Patton doesn’t even remember how this argument got started. Or what they were arguing about. It’s like Logan just woke up and decided to pick a fight with him. “Okay, if you could just listen to me—”
“Listen to you? I think we have all done enough listening to you our entire lives.”
Patton clutches his fist. He knows what Logan is implying. Sure, he’s the dad. He’s the leader of this group. Sure, he’s made mistakes… more than he can count. But—“That is uncalled for.”
“I’m just stating the facts.”
Patton can’t help but laugh. “Facts? How’s this for facts? You’re being completely irrational and hostile, and maybe if you have nothing nice to say to me, then you shouldn’t say anything at all!”
Logan’s eyes flash with the color of a burning flame. “I will not be silenced! Especially from someone as childish and immature as you!”
“Immature?” Patton snaps. “What do you call this?” He gestures at Logan. “God, Logan. All I said was, ‘Good morning,’ and you’re tearing my head off.”
“I am doing no such thing. I do not have the means of tearing your head off.”
“It’s an expression! Which you would think you were smart enough to understand by now that not everything is so literal!” Patton knows it’s a low blow to insult Logan’s intelligence, especially over something he’s so sensitive about. But Patton has reached his limit, and his anger is boiling, setting his normally brown eyes ablaze.
“And one would think you would understand not everything is so black and white,” Logan shot back, his words dripping with so much venom you would think Patton was talking to Janus instead.
“That doesn’t even mean anything in this context!” Patton knows he’s yelling now. Usually, Patton prides himself on keeping a cool head and not snapping, but for some reason, today, he just can’t bring himself to stay calm while Logan berates him again.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Logan’s voice dripping in sarcasm. “I thought we were just poking at our insecurities for the fun of it.”
“You know what? I’ve had it with your attitude. Go to your room,” Patton orders as he points at the stairs.
“You are not the boss of me. You are not my father. You are no one’s father. And even if you were, you’re a terrible one at that. You are the furthest thing from a parental figure. You are nothing but a child playing pretend.”
That strikes Patton right in the heart, and his eyes start to sting. “Well, you’re one to talk! Dressing up as if you’re a teacher. News flash, L, the bell rang a long time ago. No one thinks of you as a teacher, so stop lecturing me!”
At this point, the raging scream fest has woken up the rest of the sides, who make their way down to see what the hell is happening.
Before anyone can make sense of Patton and Logan screaming at each other, a white flash of light encompasses them, blinding everyone.
When the light clears, they see Patton and Logan still in the kitchen, but now they have shrunk down to child-size.
Patton’s glasses have become large circular frames. Instead of his polo shirt, he’s wearing his cat hoodie like an oversized nightgown. The sleeves almost touch the floor—his hair gains fluffy curls from Thomas’ childhood.
Logan has kept his square-frame glasses, but his tie has become a bow tie. He now wears navy blue overalls with white stars, and his hair has become a bowl cut.
The two of them look no older than seven years old.
The group is frozen in shock; their tired early-morning minds cannot process what just happened.
Meanwhile, Patton glares at Logan with clutched fists, seeming unfazed by the change as he launches himself at Logan with his fist raised. “I hate you!”
Logan puts his arms up as Patton tackles him to the ground, feeling the impact of Patton’s fist on his arms.
That finally gets the others moving as Virgil and Roman rush into the kitchen.
Roman pulls Patton off of Logan and holds him back as the child screams his head off and throws a temper tantrum. “Patton, calm down.”
Patton ignores Roman as if he couldn’t hear him over his screams.
Logan covers his ears from the noise and whines.
“Logan?” Virgil reaches for him, but the second he touches Logan, the tiny side hops to his feet and runs off. “Logan!”
Logan ignores him and rushes upstairs.
Janus and Remus look at each other, neither knowing what to do.
It’s too early for this, Janus thinks as he rubs his head.
Remus decides to sit back and watch the show as Roman fumbles with Patton.
Roman struggles to get Patton to stop failing around. “Will you calm down? Ow.” He holds Patton away from him so his little legs can’t kick him again.
At this point, tears start to roll down Patton’s face as his breath picks up and hiccups.
“Virgil, a little help?” Roman begs.
Virgil looks at the emotional side. “Let him go, Princey. We can’t calm him down from this. He just needs to get it out.”
Roman hesitantly puts Patton on the ground.
The emotional side goes to run off but trips over his sweater and smacks his head on the wood floor. He rolls around on the floor as he screams and sobs, wildly kicking his legs and swinging his arms.
Janus steps into the kitchen and grabs Patton’s coffee mug. Patton clearly doesn’t need it, and Janus absolutely needs it right now.
Roman bites his nail as he looks at Virgil. “You’re sure about this?”
“He’ll wear himself out soon,” Virgil assures. “Just make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. I’m going after Logan.”
“How are you so calm about this?” Roman asks, having to yell over Patton’s screaming. Why won’t he stop screaming?
“I am freaking out, but I’m also prioritizing. I’ll freak out later. Now watch him.” Virgil heads upstairs, his shoulders dropping as the screaming gets farther away. This is bad. This is really bad. How the hell did this even happen? How did an argument turn into them turning into children? Usually, Virgil would blame Remus, but there is no way he did this. He was just as surprised as the rest of them. And Remus has no problem with announcing when he’s pranking them. Maybe Logan might have some idea of how to fix this—Logan’s smart. Logan is also a child, Virgil reminds himself as he stands in front of the logical side door. He takes a deep breath before knocking on the door. “Lo? Are you in there?”
There is no response.
Virgil usually respects Logan’s privacy, but this isn’t a “usual” situation. He slowly opens the door and sticks his head in. And things just get weirder.
The normally cool navy blue walls are now more indigo, with paper cartoon stars plastered all over. Star Wars, Star Trek, and various science posters are also hung on the walls. The black rug has been replaced with a colorful lab equipment design. The bookshelf, while still full of books, now has other trinkets like Rubix cubes, Lego builds, and even one of those 3D puzzle sets—this one is a transparent rabbit holding a small carrot in its hands.
The room is full of personality that Virgil has never seen before. Logan’s room is usually bare and mute. It has a calming aura that always puts Virgil at ease when he enters it. This looks like… well, a nerdy child’s bedroom. Instead of feeling calm, he almost feels curious as his eyes scan the room, taking in all its details.
On the bed, which has star-themed bedsheets and even one of those tents that people hang up above beds, is Logan with his nose in a book.
Virgil makes his way over to him. “Hey… Lo.”
Logan only responds by hiding more of his face behind his book, “I am Albert Einstein,” by Brad Meltzer.
Virgil bites his lower lip. “You’re not in trouble. Can you please look at me?”
After a long moment of silence, Logan finally lowers his book. He holds it to his chest as if expecting Virgil to take it from him. He still doesn’t look at Virgil.
Watching Logan be so shy and small breaks Virgil’s heart. Logan had always been a source of comfort for Virgil. Sometimes, Virgil gets stuck in his head about the dangers of the world luring in the shadows, and Logan eases him back to reality. Logan assures him that everything is going to be okay. It looks like the tables have turned now. “Are you okay? How is your arm?”
Logan looks at his arm before shrugging dismissively. He turns onto his side, facing away from Virgil, and curls up around the book like one would with a pillow or stuffed animal.
Why is he trying to hide from me? Why is he scared? Does he know that he’s supposed to be an adult? Is he aware something is wrong? Virgil hears a crash and looks back at the door. The crash is followed by muffled yelling from the twins. “For the love of—” he groans and rushes downstairs to see Patton going through the air and sticking to the wall ten feet above the ground. His skin has turned green, and his eyes have changed to mimic the eyes of a frog.
Remus summons a large net. “I got him!”
Roman shoves Remus. “Don’t catch him like a dog!”
“More like a frog,” Remus corrects.
Virgil rubs his face as he approaches them. “What happened?” he asks between his teeth.
“Remus and Janus scared him, and then he turned into a frog,” Roman gestures at Patton on the wall. “I thought you said he would calm down.”
“It’s not our fault our mere presence scares him shitless,” Remus counters.
“Bad word!” Patton snaps. “Bad. Bad. Bad.”
“I’ll show you bad.” Remus raises his net.
Patton croaks and launches himself off the wall and towards the stairs. He lands before hopping away.
“You better run!” Remus yells.
A door slams in the distance.
Roman smacks Remus in the head. “You aren’t helping.”
Remus huffs and the net disappears. “Do we even know what happened?”
“Clearly not,” Janus sasses as he drinks from Logan’s coffee mug. “We all showed up at the same time.”
The sides all gather around the table.
Virgil drops his head into his hands, digging his fingers into his bedhead hair. “This is bad. What are we going to do? How is this going to affect Thomas?”
Roman rubs Virgil’s back. “I’m guessing it didn’t go well with Logan either?”
Virgil shakes his head. “He wouldn’t even look at me.”
“Maybe he’s scared of you,” Remus offers.
“Logan’s never been afraid of Virgil before, even when they were kids,” Janus counters.
“Remus does have a point, though,” Virgil starts.
Remus beams, “I do?”
“He is scared. But he wouldn’t talk to me, so I don’t know what he’s scared of.”
“And Pattycake is all levels of pissed off.” Remus crosses his arms. “Got to admit, it was pretty entertaining.”
“Speak for yourself,” Roman rubs his ears. “He has some strong lungs.”
“All we know is that they were fighting, and now they are children,” Janus restates the facts. “For now, since they’re all worked up, we should wait before trying to talk to them again.”
“So we’re doing nothing?” Virgil’s voice shakes with stress and anxiety.
“For now. We can try talking to them again in an hour or so. Roman, you’re taking Patton.”
Roman gasps, “Why do I have Patton?”
Remus snorts.
“Because he doesn’t like me and Remus. And chances are he won’t like Virgil. So that leaves you. The rest of us can help Logan.”
Roman crosses his arms and pouts. “It doesn’t take three sides to help Logan.”
Janus just smirks at him. He knows that Logan will be easier to manage out of the two. But Janus also made a good point. Why help with Patton if he’s just going to keep screaming in his face?
“You think I can get Patton to swear?” Remus thinks aloud.
The other three sides all give Remus a look, with Virgil adding a hiss.
“Remus, how about you just sit this one out?” Roman suggests. “I think your… talents won’t be beneficial here.”
“You think I’m not good with children?”
“Not these children.”
Well, now I have to prove you wrong, Remus thinks.
~ ~ ~
Patton enters his bedroom, turning around and locking his door. There, now the big meanies can’t get to me.
Patton’s bedroom has also changed. While it’s still a cluttered mess of nostalgia, it more heavily showcases things from Thomas’ early childhood: children’s books, games, toys, and more stuffed animals than you can count. Granted, Patton was never good at math.
The small frog child hops onto his bed and curls up in his mountain of stuffed animals. They will protect me from the big, scary, dark sides.
Patton isn’t sure what happened. He knows that he’s usually a lot bigger, but the memories feel far and blurry. Trying to imagine what it was like to be as tall as the others just brings a wave of sadness and fear, so he immediately stops thinking about it. Patton is a kid. He doesn’t need to think about all that grown-up stuff.
And Patton certainly doesn’t want to think about Loggy. Loggy is mean. Loggy calls him stupid and bad. I’m not bad. I’m good. Loggy is the one who’s being bad. “I never want to see his dumb face again,” Patton decides.
As Patton stays hidden in his pile of stuffed warriors, he finally calms down enough to revert to his human self. Exhaustion washes over him as he quickly falls asleep.
~ ~ ~
Logan sticks his head out of his room to check if the coast is clear. As much as he would love to stay in his room all day reading his books, he’s hungry. All I have to do is sneak downstairs, get a snack, and then get back up. Easy. Logan pretends that he’s Sherlock Holmes, sneaking around looking for clues as he makes his way down the hall. I should have grabbed my hat.
He looks down the staircase, scanning the room for any sign of the enemy.
All is silent.
Logan makes his way down and enters the kitchen. Now, what do I want? He walks over to the fridge and opens the door. He sees a jelly jar on the top shelf, and his eyes widen as he smiles. “Crofters!” He immediately covers his mouth and looks around. I’m not allowed to talk to people. Luckily, no one is around to hear his outburst.
Logan’s mind snaps back to the mission at hand: getting the jar. It’s too high to reach, and climbing the fridge is a bad idea. He looks around the kitchen and spots the chairs just outside it. Logan beams as an idea forms. I’ll use the chairs. Perfect.
Logan goes over to the chair and starts to drag it across the floor but freezes when it scrapes and makes a sound. Logan winces. I can’t make a sound. I’ll get caught. He looks around again. How do I make it so the chair doesn’t make a sound?
On top of the couch in the common room is a folded blanket. It sparks another plan in Logan’s mind.
If I can get the chair under the blanket, I can slide the chair into the kitchen. Flailing his hands momentarily in giddy joy at how smart he is, Logan goes to the couch and grabs the blanket.
He brings it over and lays it flat on the ground. Then shimmies the chair onto the blanket. Now, all Logan has to do is grab the blanket and pull.
The chair slides smoothly across the floor, and Logan can’t suppress his tiny squeal. He pulls harder on the blanket to make it move faster, but that turns out to be his downfall. Logan lifts the blanket too high, causing the chair to tip and fall over.
Logan covers his ears as he looks at the chair. Now I’ve done it. He can hear footsteps rushing down the stairs and quickly looks around. There is nowhere to hide, and whoever is coming is blocking my escape. Logan squeezes his eyes shut and tries to sink out.
Roman and Virgil enter the kitchen to see the chair knocked over on a blanket and, more concerningly, Logan halfway through the ground.
Virgil waves his hands towards Logan as he screeches, “Why is he in the floor?”
Roman winces, “Oh right, Logan was never good at sinking out as a kid.” He walks over to the child.
Logan opens his eyes and whines as he tries to pull himself up to no avail. Stupid sinking out. It doesn’t make sense!
“You’re okay. I got you.” Roman grabs under Logan’s armpits. “Up you go.” He pulls Logan out of the ground and sets him back down.
Logan curls up and holds himself as he backs away from Roman. Now I’m in trouble.
Roman looks at the chair and then at the open fridge. He walks over to the refrigerator. What did he want? He scans the high shelves when he spots the jar. He looks back at Logan. “Did you want the Crofters?”
Logan nods his head before tucking it in shame. He fidgets with his overall straps crossing them across his chest.
Roman grabs the jar and closes the fridge. He walks over to the counter to open the lid and then grabs a spoon. He hands the items to Logan with a smile. “There you go, Lo.”
Logan’s eyes widen at the jar, flickering between it and Roman before happily taking it and sticking a spoonful of jelly into his mouth. He squeals and bounces in place momentarily before seeming to remember that he’s not alone and stops.
Roman and Virgil frown at Logan’s quick decline in excitement as if Logan remembered that he wasn’t allowed to be excited.
Now, with his prize in hand, Logan rushes upstairs.
Virgil sticks his hands in his pockets. “We shouldn’t just let him eat a whole jar of jelly.”
Roman waves him off. “Adult Logan will eat jars of jelly all the time. I should know; I have to keep replacing them. Let him have this.” He picks the chair up and sets it back at the table before picking up the blanket. “I’m a little concerned, though.”
“About what?”
“That’s not how he used to act as a child.”
Virgil tilts his head. He will admit that he doesn’t remember much from when they were children. Except for every single embarrassing moment Thomas ever experienced. Now is not the time.
As for his time with the sides, Virgil didn’t come around until middle school, and even then, he was kicked to the dark sides very quickly after all his fighting with the others. “What was he normally like?”
Roman takes a moment to think about it, digging for long-buried memories. “He… he was curious. He always had a sparkle in his eyes. During class, he would watch the screen, taking in everything like he was watching the best Disney movie in the world—which was all of them, by the way, but not the point.
“Logan would never stop talking. He would pace around, shaking his hands, and had a little bounce in his step as he talked about whatever he had learned. I remember getting annoyed by it sometimes.” Roman looks towards the stairs. “He was never that shy before.”
Virgil shrugs. “I dunno, man. Maybe he still remembers what it was like to be an adult, and that changed how he acted as a kid.”
“Maybe.” It doesn’t make me feel any better, though.