Roman took a deep breath and ran a hand over his forehead. Thomas's last two videos hadn't done as well as he would've liked, so the creative trait was up later than usual to come up with something new.
'How am I supposed to come up with anything creative without my beauty sleep?' The royal boy thought disdainfully. With a heavy sigh, he pushed himself out of his comfortable, throne-like desk chair with the intention of getting a glass of water before calling it a night. Every trait had long since gone to bed.
Or at least, that's what Roman assumed.
As he trudged down the hair, Roman was startled to see a figure in the kitchen, slumped at the table with water in front of them. As he flipped on the light, the now-recognizable figure groaned and flinched.
"You trying to blind me, Princey?" Anxiety groaned out. "Turn those off."
Roman rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Wednesday Addams. I'm just getting some water." As he started to fill a glass, he paused, raising an eyebrow at the darker trait. "What an earth are you doing up at this hour, anyways?"
"I could ask you the same question, Sir Sunshine." Anxiety didn't look away from what Roman could only assume was the social media called 'Tumblr'.
Roman took a long sip of the water. "If you must know, I've been working. Thomas needs video ideas and it's been keeping me up lately."
"Dad's not gonna be happy if he finds out." Anxiety's gaze flickered to the prince briefly before he set his cup in the sink and headed for the door. "Later. Don't let the closet monster get ya."
Roman grumbled, ignoring the trait, realizing only after he was back in his room that Anxiety never answered his question.
~~~
With the next videos planned and prepped, Roman was finally able to get a full night's rest. Unfortunately, Logic and Morality had both discovered Roman's week of late-night habits.
"Roman, I'm surprised at you!" Morality gasped out. "You know you need your beauty sleep!"
Logic adjusted his glasses, signalling he was preparing to break out the big vocabulary words. "Roman, as Thomas's creativity, you should understand that lack of sleep deprives the frontal lobe of much needed breaks. Since the frontal lobe controls chemical reactions that create sensations, such as fear and creativity, you staying up into late hours of the night to push the creative process actually prohibits that creative process from functioning at optimal capacity."
Roman opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"What Logan is trying to say..." Morality cut in, "is that you need to sleep."
Logic sighed and straightened his the. "I suppose that explanation would suffice, thank you, Patton."
Morality smiled at the smarter trait before sternly gazing at Roman. "Do you understand?"
"Morality, I never said I enjoyed staying up." Roman waved him off, focusing on something Logic had spewed out in his rant.
"...lack of sleep deprives the frontal lobe of much needed breaks. Since the frontal lobe controls chemical reactions that create sensations, such as fear and creativity..."
Fear.
Roman snapped back to attention when he noticed both Logic and Morality watching him. "My apologies. But I believe we have bigger issues right now. I suspect Anxiety has been staying up late as well."
"How late?" Morality asked, trying to gauge exactly how much 'Dad Force' he'd need to use.
Roman tapped his chin. "I'm not sure. He was in the kitchen when I went for a drink a few bights ago at...around one am."
"You are overlooking such a simple solution to this inquiry." Logic rolled his eyes. "Anxiety! We wish to speak with you!"
After a few moments, said trait entered the room, looking worn out. "What'd I do this time?"
"We only have a question for you." Roman assured, crossing his arms. "The night I saw you in the kitchen, you never answered my question. Now we would like to know how much sleep you've been getting."
Anxiety looked at them each. Side-by-side, they stood, arms crossed and faces stern. It was rather unnerving. He was tempted to make a break for it, but instead crossed his arms as well and narrowed his eyes. "Enough."
"Anxiety..." Morality warned, using his dad voice.
The dark trait became defensive. "Does it matter? Prince Perfect here has been staying up late! Scold him!"
"We've already taken care of Roman." Logic replied. "This is no longer about him. This is about you."
Anxiety's gaze shot between each of them, his chest tightening. He didn't like he attention and he didn't want to tell them the truth. Sensing the boy's distress, Morality dropped his sternness in favor of rubbing the trait's shoulder. "It's alright, kiddo. We're just worried about you."
Anxiety mumbled something under his breath.
"What was that?" Roman asked, tilting his head.
"An hour and twelve minutes." Anxiety repeated, slightly louder.
Surprisingly, Logic was the first to speak. "Last night?"
"This week." Anxiety sighed, tugging at the sleeves of his hoodie. "It's not a big deal, I just-"
"Not a big deal?!" Morality placed a hand on each shoulder and stared the trait in the eye. "Kiddo, that's extremely unhealthy and dangerous!"
Logic nodded. "I agree. It is imperative that you acquire an optimal amount of rest for you to function properly."
"Exactly!" Roman placed his hands on his hips. "As much as I hate to admit it, we need our little edgelord."
Anxiety rolled his eyes, a faint smirk on his lips. "Geez, no need to get all amorous on me, Princey." He sighed. "You're probably right. I'll...try to get more sleep."
Morality pulled the younger in for a hug. Anxiety appeared stiff for a long moment before awkwardly accepting it. "Thanks, dad." He glanced at the other two. "Thanks to you losers too."
Logic scoffed, not bothering to acknowledge the insult any further. Roman fake-glared at Anxiety and Morality told him to 'play nice'.
But it was nice seeing the dark trait smile.
~~~
Wow. That was bad.
I hope you guys enjoyed the first really bad one shot. I just didn't want to start off with a super depressing one.
Be prepared!