When He Sees Me | Logicality

3. A Spoonful of Sugar

"It's not a bad thing to feel emotions, Logan."

"You don't understand, Virgil. I'm doing everything right, and I still feel like shit."

Startled, Virgil asks, "What do you mean by that?" 

"Exercise. Diet. Social interaction. Meaningful and productive work. My life is perfectly, mathematically balanced. It is illogical that I should be," Logan clears his throat awkwardly, "feeling this way."

Virgil gestured to the stall door. "Get up. I want to show you something."

Leaving the stall, they approach the mirror. When Logan sees his streaked face, he turns away, ashamed to see how weak his emotions have made him, but Virgil turns him back around. "Tell me what you see."

Logan stares at his friend. "Virgil, I see myself. That is, after all, how a mirror works."

"Don't be a smartass. I meant, what do you see," Virgil clarifies, hauling himself up onto the counter to sit there, cross-legged. When Logan says nothing, he sighs. "Do you know what I see? I see a person. Not a machine. Not a Vulcan, not an android. Just a person. And people feel emotions. That's the whole point."

Studying his reflection, Logan wonders how this could possibly be desirable. All he sees is a man who can't control himself, and a man who is not strong enough to control his own self is surely not a very strong man at all.

"I see you doubting me," Virgil laughs. "I know you don't believe me. And this whole sadness thing sucks. But sadness isn't the only emotion. There's lots of them, and they make life good and interesting and awesome and tragic. Without them, everything is just the same."

"In the eternal words of Mary Poppins: a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."

Logan stares at him again, asking, "What has Roman done to you?"

"Just think about it," Virgil says, walking out of the bathroom, leaving his friend staring into the mirror and wondering exactly what he sees looking back at him.