The Melting Pot Complex

Chapter Seven ~ Logan

{Possible trigger warnings: discussion of swearing, also 1 (and a half kind of) swear words. Vulgarity will be censored in my own manner and at my own discretion. Roman's throwing nicknames again, mention of stalkers.

If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}

Logan set down the three contracts in the center of the counter. He'd kept them in separate folders so that Thomas would know clearly who had signed what without having to flip through and look at the signatures.

Roman immediately snatched the red folder, opening it and beginning to flip through the small stack. "Fairly standard, as far as leases go?"

"I suppose you could say that." Logan nodded. "Normal legal jargon, though Thomas has made it as simple as possible for his tenants. He doesn't see any reason to try and twist things on people looking for a place to live."

Virgil tugged the purple folder out from under the light blue one sitting there and opened it, silently looking at the front page. Patton claimed the final folder with a smile and began to read it over.

Logan stayed quiet, allowing them to go through the terms on their own. He sipped his coffee and watched them, waiting.

Roman got to the last page and stopped, eyeing the print. "What does this part mean? 'As well as tenant-share stipulations'?"

That was the question he had been waiting for. Virgil and Patton both flipped to the back of the lease papers to see what Roman was talking about.

"A term that Thomas added in when he started having unacquainted parties move in together. Essentially it means that we will sit down and discuss what lines need to be drawn between ourselves to keep life in the apartment peaceful." Logan set his coffee mug down and nodded to each of them. "I brought it up when I asked you to discuss the lease today, though I may have used different phrasing."

Roman hummed quietly in understanding and carefully re-stacked the papers of the lease. "Let's begin then."

Logan nodded and opened the notebook he had brought out of his room when he had gotten the lease copies. "Anything that you believe should be discussed between ourselves should be brought up now, in some capacity or another."

"No swearing!" Patton piped up immediately.

Virgil groaned. "Pat, half of my vocabulary is curse words. A lot of them in different languages."

"Crude." Roman turned up his nose.

"I heard you call your nightstand a fugly b*tch after you stubbed your toe on it yesterday," Virgil countered, leaning in a little. "And I was in my room."

The beauty YouTuber made an irritated noise, but didn't argue the point farther. Virgil smirked.

Logan intervened, already seeing a solution. "Perhaps this then. When we are around one another, we will attempt to keep the vulgarity to a minimum. And when we are alone, if we are asked to lower our volume or the amount of vulgarity we are using, we will be respectful of each others' wishes and do our best to accommodate. Is that satisfactory?"

Patton nodded immediately, as did Roman after a moment. Virgil shrugged. "I guess I can do that."

"Very well." Logan wrote 'minimal language in presence of others' in the notebook.

Virgil pulled a couple pieces of paper from his pocket, shuffling through them before slamming one down. "I uh- made some notes." He shrugged when the others looked at him.

Logan reached across the counter and plucked the scrap up, looking at it.

"Ah yes, rules about privacy." He nodded to Virgil. "I assume you have specifications to share with us?"

Virgil nodded, then shrugged again. "Well- sort of. I just- don't like people in my room."

Logan made a soft sound and glanced at the others. "I believe, out of respect for each other as roommates, we could enact the rule that we are only allowed in each others' rooms when given permission. Are there any objections to that?"

"Sounds good to me." Patton chirped with a smile. Roman nodded and Virgil shifted in his seat, slumping backwards.

The note 'Rooms are permission only' went into the notebook.

"Oh, collabs!" Roman suddenly burst out. "We all work in the same field, we could work something into the contract about that!"

Logan paused. "I believe that making collaborations a requirement within the household would be a mistake, Roman."

"What? Why?"

"Well..." He leaned forward on his elbows, fiddling with his pen between his fingertips as he spoke. "If we were to write in collaborations to our contract, it would shift the situation from a want to an expectation. If we were to find ourselves incapable of meeting those expectations, it would most likely become a stress factor in our lives."

Patton hummed in understanding. "So no legal stuff about it. But we should still do collabs, that would be so much fun!"

"Yeah... count me out." Virgil grunted.

"What's wrong, Dark and Stormy, don't want to be seen in the light?" Roman teased, grinning.

Virgil rolled his eyes. "That's exactly it, actually. You wouldn't understand that though would you, Disco-Ball?"

"Would you mind elaborating on that a little, Virgil? Not wanting to be in the light?" Logan raised his eyebrows at their roommate, ignoring the jab.

The younger man sighed. "I keep my life and my work separate."

"No one knows who Virgil is!" Patton added on helpfully. "It's like a secret identity."

"So he's camera-shy." Roman snickered. "Cute."

Virgil sat up, glaring at him. "I am not camera-shy. I dislike the idea of being an internet celebrity that is stalked and harassed for existing. Although speaking of cameras..."

He dug through his pocket again for a moment, then shook his head and tapped a finger on the counter. "I don't care if you all vlog around the house, I assume that's what you do anyway. But if I end up on-camera at all, my face gets blurred. Or put something over it. Or whatever, I don't care.

"No one knows who I am and it stays that way. You don't use my name on camera, you don't put me on camera if you can help it, and if you can't you keep me unrecognizable."

Logan didn't wait for the others to agree to the terms. He clicked his pen and began to write.

'Virgil stays anonymous at all costs, until further notice.'

When he looked up, the other two were watching Roman. Logan turned his attention to their outgoing roommate as well, waiting.

Roman finally scoffed, realizing he was outnumbered. "Fine. Fine! Doctor Gloom stays in the shadows."

{So for reference to the house, Virgil's room is the smallest and at the end of the left hallway, Logan's room is halfway down the left hallway and the second largest. The living room and the kitchen separate the left and right hallways. Patton's is the second smallest room and the first in the right hallway, then Roman's is the largest and at the end of the right hallway. So Virgil's and Roman's rooms are farthest apart. There is a bathroom across the hall from Logan's room and an office that Logan uses across the hall from Patton's room. I have a basic map setup drawn out to help me remember these things}