Chapter Text
With a sigh, he leans against the plane of existence and contemplates finally saying something.
They've been at it for too long, in his opinion, without fruit for their efforts. And they’re loud.
“You're so overdramatic!”
It isn't that he doesn't like them.
“God, you're so lazy! How can anyone take you seriously?”
It’s just that he doesn't get them.
They both seem a bit drastic. Unbalanced. Extreme. And honestly, he doesn't understand it. He glares as they go at it again, but doesn't say anything. Maybe they'll find some middle ground themselves.
“Tangent, do something.” Or maybe not. They say it at the same time, perfect unison, but Tangent doesn't mention the irony.
With one last sigh through his nose, he crosses his arms and says lowly, “And just what do you want me to do?”
“Tell Sine to calm down. She's too tense; it's driving me up the wall,” Cosine says, a groan in his voice despite his relaxed posture. He is lying across the floor, hands behind his head and toe to toe with Sine.
Sine is standing, as tall and irritated as ever. “Oh please. If I were doing that, at least I'd be making progress. Tangent, please tell me you at least aren't contented to lean there for eternity.”
Tangent parts his lips, but Cosine jumps in before he could say a word. “We just got here!”
“And I'm bored.”
“Maybe if you sat down and relaxed for a few minutes, you wouldn't mind.”
“And sink to your level? I would never.”
“Would both of you please knock it off?” Tangent cuts in, unamused. There is no way he is going to spend eternity like this.
“You try living with your exact opposite,” Cosine murmurs, and Tangent grinds his teeth.
“Please. You’re both the same: stubborn as hell,” he says, casting his gaze over them. As he does, he looks again at what seems the obvious solution.
Sine and Cosine saying, “I’m not stubborn,” at the same time is the last straw. No more waiting for them to figure it out themselves. Wordlessly, Tangent walks, no, stalks across the expanse of emptiness. Grabbing one hand of Sine's and one of Cosine's, he brings his hands together. There. Middle ground.
"What's this?" Cosine asks, sounding a bit perplexed.
"You're equal here. You're the same. Now stop squabbling." He unhands them both, barely noticing the way their fingers maintain the contact as he turns and leans against the plane of existence once again.
He can hear them still, though he's closed his eyes to the functions and all of the nothingness.
They're not stupid, he decides, though they may not have ever truly found that middle ground at pi over four without him. They just carry a different perspective. They just come from a different angle. It's probably a good thing. Himself included, that's three different ways to view the world. Three different realities, lives, existences they can all experience together.
In fact, in their contrast, there lies harmony. Tangent knows that, apparently much more clearly than they do. Perhaps opposites attract is a bit of a stretch (though it's hard to say, based on the fact that their hands are still locked together), but it's reasonable to him that they would complement each other.
The concept of one is something Tangent can't quite wrap his head around. In some ways, he understands it. Equality, collective parts of a whole. But there is something more, he realizes on some level. It eludes him.
He tries not to let it scare him, how little he understands it. But this, he understands.
Sine and Cosine, equal and opposite. Stubborn viewpoints toward parallel goals. Though Tangent would never admit it, it's a little bit cute, how oblivious they are to their own alignment.
Just where that leaves him, he doesn't care to think about.
At some points, it appears, a third wheel. Apparently, pi over four was all Sine and Cosine needed to launch their individual imaginations, considering concepts that have never occurred to them before. They’re talking and playing around a bit with reality, not much is really happening so far.
That's when they come about.
Really, it starts with the simple concept of inverting themselves. Or each other, really. Still hand in hand with Sine at pi over four, Cosine gives a firm tug and pulls Sine to lie down horizontally.
Just like that, Cosecant is born. She looks a little like Sine, but Sine probably doesn't notice, considering how busy she is yelping, “No fair!” and tugging Cosine up into a tall stance, completely vertical and hand in hand.
Suddenly, Secant exists. Tangent watches, saying nothing, as progress is made. It's good progress. He likes progress. It's all a little fast and complicated for the couple who couldn't figure out pi over four by themselves, but maybe this will arouse them into the new peace, rather than stubborn, misaligned complacency.
Tangent gives Secant a once-over. Yeah, maybe this is a good thing.
Not that he meant anything by it. Actually, he didn't think anything by any of that, and he's pretty much just rambling inside his own head at this point which he really shouldn't do because, oh shit, someone is talking to him.
It's Secant, with kind eyes and a patient grin.
“Sorry, what?”
The guy kind of… giggles. “I said, what about you? I think it's your turn.”
“My turn to wha-”
Before he can finish, Tangent’s legs are knocked out from under him and raised above his head, and when the world stops spinning uncontrollably, he opens his eyes to see that Cosine is holding his head. He'd bet anything that Sine is holding his feet, and narrowly resists trying to kick her.
“Would you both put me down?!” He grunts, arms trying to find leverage on the floor so he can pull himself out of their grasp.
“Just doing what had to be done,” Cosine says, and they both drop him back down.
Tangent's grumbling and wiping off probably imaginary dust when stands, now face to face with Cotangent. She smiles a little, and follows Tangent when he takes a couple steps back to lean back against the plane of existence.
He has the decency to not close his eyes to her, but that’s about it. He wanted progress, sure, but this is starting to look a lot like more needless chaos, and conversation and interaction and a lot of other things which he has no interest in and which only serve to stand in the way of contemplation. But then, Cotangent isn’t saying anything so much as awkwardly taking up his personal space with her presence and vaguely confused expression, so maybe it’s his lucky day.
“Hello.” Or not. You know what, maybe he doesnr like progress after all. He returns the greeting with physical effort not to sign, and takes on a smile that looks as fake as it is completely on purpose.
She looks expectant. “Nice to meet you,” Tangent says, and she smiles at that, but it fades when Tangent just kind of stares beyond her. Around them, Sine and Cosecant are standing and talking excitedly, while Cosine says something that makes Secant laugh lightly as they both lounge on the floor.
“Do you want to go over there?” Tangent asks after a few long moments, looking uncomfortable.
“Not really,” Tangent says, not really caring if he makes eye contact or not.
“You’re staring at them.”
“I’m thinking.”
Cotangent allows the conversation, if one could call it that, to drop for some time.
“Look, you’re great company and all, but they’re actually having fun, so I’m going to go sit over there with them,” Cotangent says finally, pointing backwards toward the collection of other functions, “And you come join us if you want.”
She walks away, and Tangent is relieved at his blessing. What had he been thinking about? It was something about the speed of rotation of 1-unit circles, but he can’t remember better than that. Shame, he had been making some real headway, too. And that’s the kind of progress that’s important to him, conceptual progress. Progress of thought.
Not the progress which has Cosine smiling like he never usually smiles and Sine looking relaxed for once, and which brought all sorts of curiosity and new conversation, and this sparkle in Secant’s eyes when he laughs-
That’s it, new conversation. The conversation that is currently making it very hard to concentrate. Maybe, if Tangent sat down with them, it would give him some new ideas. It’s better than trying to make think around their chatter, right?
Slowly and quietly, Tangent walks over and leans nearby the rest of the group. He pretends he doesn’t hear when Cosine mutters to Secant that even that much is progress.