Mutual Deception

Nameless

Logan stood up to leave. Deceit cleared his throat. "Say, Logan?"

He turned around. "Yes?"

"Keep in mind that if you say yes, I won't be manipulating or abusing you." Deceit nervously exhaled. "In fact, I won't be doing either of those things. You would be safe. Say no to me if you wish, just know the consequences."

"I'll keep that in mind." Logan could tell Deceit wasn't lying. If Deceit wanted Logan to mindlessly believe him, he would act much more confident.

However, Logan wasn't quite ready to say yes. He needed more information.
_____

Logan took an aspirin and used his concealer to hide the faint red lines under his eyes. He wasn't sure how long it would take for the other sides to come back, so he took out of a piece of paper and started writing.

Reasons I should say no to Deceit's fake relationship blackmail:
He blackmailed me
He has a snake face
He could potentially hurt Thomas
Deceit could be a sociopath and/or psychopath who wants to use me for a secret agenda
Remus may talk about my breakdown, despite Deceit's best efforts

Logan exhaled and wrote one more thing down.
In the worst case scenario, I suppose I could catch real feelings.

Reasons I should say yes:
His snake face is kind of hot
He could teach me a lot about getting people to listen
Thomas could potentially be helped by this
Remus will likely not talk
Deceit said he doesn't intend to hurt me
I could reform Deceit
Deceit could reform me
We could reform everyone
World domination?

Logan stared at the list, trying to think of other pros or cons. The doorbell rang, so Logan decided he would leave the list at that. He ran downstairs and opened the door.

"Hey, kiddo," Patton exclaimed.

Logan nodded. "Hello Patton."

Virgil came in and sat down. "Whassup. How was having the house to yourself?"

Logan shrugged. "The house didn't burn down." He decided that was all Virgil needed to know... but that wasn't all Virgil did know. Didn't he live with the dark sides for a few months? It made sense Virgil would know more information about Deceit. Logan cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. "Would you like to, "hang out," later?"

Virgil shrugged. "Sure. Why?"

Logan bit his tongue. "Errr... no specific reason. You're good company."

Virgil smirked. "Awww, you're falling for me, aren't you?"

Logan wasn't impressed. "Clearly, I am not."

Roman sashayed in with a bead necklace, sunglasses,  and a drink in his hand. "Whassup?"

"Salutations, Roman." Logan was getting bored of these meaningless greetings. The only thing he wanted to do was drag Virgil upstairs and make him answer questions about his possible fake boyfriend.

"Did you hold up the fort while I was gone?"

Logan's nostrils flared. "I've already answered this question. Irrelevant."

Patton nervously laughed. "Hey Logan, how about we talk?"

Logan pushed his glasses up. "Fine."

Patton dragged him to the corner of the room. "Logan, you seem kind of... off."

Logan debated what to say. He decided it was in his best interest to not mention they left him alone for three hours and he made a literal deal with the devil. "Don't worry about it."

Patton shook his head. "Friendo, I will worry about it, because I worry about you."

Roman stumbled over. "Hey Logan, did you use concealer and foundation without priming it? That's a no no!"

Logan sighed. "Patton, how much did he drink?"

Patton shrugged. "He literally took a sip of my sprite, I have no idea why he's acting like this. I think he got into his head that it was alcohol, so he thinks he should be drunk. Back to the matter at hand. You probably didn't have the best time, but-"

Logan stopped him. "It doesn't matter if I didn't have the best time. You guys did. And of course, I did, too."

Patton sighed. "Yepper depper, there is definitely something wrong."

"Don't. Worry. About. It," Logan requested through gritted teeth.

"You keep saying that-" Patton gasped. "Are you Deceit?"

Logan furrowed his eyebrows. "What- no, I'm not Deceit!"

"I'm not convinced, that's exactly what Deceit would say!"

"I'm convinced you're an idiot."

"Ouch! Yep, you're Logan." Patton rubbed the back of his head.

Roman sat down next to Virgil. "You know, I- I am so hot. I'm almost as hot as Dodie."

"Okay kiddo," Patton called to Roman. He pinched his nose. "Jeez, what was wrong with that sprite?"

"I am going to go save Virgil from Roman."

"Actually, please do. I'm getting concerned."

Logan walked to the couch. "How about we hang out now, Virgil?"

"It's about time." Virgil let Logan pull him off the couch and they walked upstairs together.

_______

"Hey Virgil, what do you think of the balcony?"

Virgil looked up from his Nintendo Switch. "The balcony? I haven't really thought about it."

"That's fine. I was simply wondering if you had any theories yourself."

"Yeah, I don't really like to think about stuff like that. It's kind of scary to me."

"That's completely reasonable... say, do you know anything about Deceit?"

"Deceit? Why are you asking?"

"No reason in particular."

"Did he tell you anything?"

"No, was there something to tell?"

Virgil sighed. "I guess you wouldn't be weird about it. Will you promise not to tell Patton?"

"Of course."

"Deceit and I were in a relationship."

Logan raised his eyebrows. "Really? That was not what I was expecting to hear."

Virgil chuckled. "Yeah, I wouldn't expect it either. Especially because... he wasn't a bad guy. Despite what Patton thinks about him, Deceit doesn't hurt people for the sake of hurting people."

Logan looked down. "That is fascinating information to know. If you don't mind me asking, why did things end?"

"Oh, um..."

"You don't have to say anything, I was overstepping my boundaries anyway-"

"No, I'll tell you. I realized... he and I saw the world too differently. He saw it as a game to be played, and I saw it as a trap."

Logan tilted his head. "That makes sense."

Virgil shrugged. "Yeah, things just weren't working."

"Speaking from your interactions with eachother, do you... hate him?"

Virgil sighed. "No, I don't, I just wish he would trust in something other than himself every once in a while."

In that moment, Logan realized what his answer to Deceit's offer would be. "Thank you so much for talking to me. Roman has probably realized he's not actually drunk by now, you should go see what's happening downstairs. Again, thank you!"

Virgil scrunched his eyebrows together. "Well, you're welcome-"

But Logan had already left. Virgil shrugged.  "Huh, I should go downstairs. It'll be fun to see Roman realize he thought he got drunk off of sprite."