Naminé The Writer

Janus woke up that day, as most days, with the entirety of Remus’s body on top of him, pretty sure they were not like this when they fell asleep. Adapting to the human sleep schedule was hard at first, but now he had to admit he had grown to like it. Their species didn’t require rest like that, they could easily recharge their energy throughout the day through a very quick process they could even do with their eyes open, like a smartphone with an extremely quick charger. But sleeping was actually quite nice. And he ended up finding out there’s not much to do from 10pm to 6am anyway, since most humans were sleeping, so it ended up being beneficial to them as well.

“C’mon Remus, it’s time to wake up. We have jobs here that require us,” Janus said loudly as he pushed Remus away from him, resulting in groans.

“Aw Jannie, please, let’s not work today. What could possibly go wrong?” Remus complained, not wanting to move.

“Oh yeah, nothing too bad indeed. Just that we get fired and don’t get other jobs, we lose the ability to assimilate and fail at our actual job of gathering information on Earth and possibly get killed. You’re right, nothing bad.” Janus rolled his eyes as he answered, already up and getting ready for his position in the local library.

Remus let out another groan in response but started moving. As he got up, he noticed Janus still hadn’t shifted to the human form he had chosen for himself and still wasn’t completely dressed. Surreptitiously, he came up behind Janus, tackled him to the floor, which got him a loud “OW” as a response, and started giving many little kisses and randomly licking around Janus’s naked shoulders.

“Ew! Gross! Stop it, I don’t even like you like that,” Janus said in affectionate annoyance, pushing Remus away from him for the second time that day. Before getting up completely, Remus still reached and bit Janus in his favorite spot: the little nook on his right shoulder, above the collarbone, where it’s almost the neck but it’s still definitely the shoulder. It reinforced the mark that was always there and never disappeared, even after Janus shapeshifted. His clothes usually covered it, so it didn’t raise suspicion. Where they're from, this type of biting is reserved for showing a deep and special type of relationship you have with someone else.

They finished getting ready and were heading out of their apartment when Janus suddenly stopped them and turned to Remus.

“Before we leave, you do remember our primary directives, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, assimilate, gather information, not reveal ourselves as aliens, whatever. Let’s go, I have plans for today,” Remus answered with a devious tone.

“Please, just don’t do anything stupid.”

“C’mon Janus, you know I’d never do anything not stupid,” he joked.

“Great, you make me feel so secure. I trust you so very much.” Janus used his utmost sarcastic voice there, but after this many months together on Earth both of them deep down knew their mission wasn’t truly at risk.

Another thing Janus had grown to like was his job at the local library, and it was mostly because of the quiet. Earth was a noisy place, living in an apartment complex was noisy and he lived with Remus, so definitely noisy. All of those things were necessary parts of a bigger plan, but he missed the peace and quiet. His official position was as a librarian, which he later found out was a job that did require certification and he of course didn't have it. Both him and Remus got their jobs by Remus using his powers to convince the employers to hire them. So anything like previous experiences or qualifications weren't an issue. And, in an usual day, Janus got by just fine. Not a lot of people visited there, and the ones that did were regulars who never required any help. So he spent most of his work days reading and gathering information. He'd start by reading some newspapers, to get familiarized with current events (even the ones he didn't understand) and not stick out in conversations. Then he'd mostly spend the rest of the time reading about history and anthropology, to gather as much information as possible. If there was someone that helped him out sometimes, it was Logan.

Logan was one of his neighbors that he'd grown close to. Contact with humans was supposed to be merely to have them as objects of study, which is why they chose to live in an apartment complex in the first place, but even Janus had begrudgingly admitted that Logan, and the entire polycule he was a part of, had become his friend. At first, Janus only saw him as useful for his research, since Logan tended to do often what humans called "infodumping", but his overall grounded demeanor provided a lot of comfort. Moreover, once they got closer, Janus could start to notice that he did care a lot about the others — Roman, Patton and Virgil — but also about him and Remus too, which he vastly appreciated. He had also learned Logan adhered very strictly to routines and was quite methodical, which reminded Janus that Logan's weekly visit to the library was about to happen.

But to his surprise, instead of Logan coming through the door, he saw Patton. Patton, who was also part of the neighbor polycule, hadn't been to the library ever since Janus arrived. He was a regular at Remy's, the café Remus worked at and was right across the street, but never at the library. He had a kind smile on his face and approached Janus, with a cheery but still not too loud voice.

"Hi, Jan! How are things going?"

"Hello, Patton. Fancy seeing you here, usually it's Logan that comes by this time."

"Oh yeah, he always comes at this time, I know, but today he had to go to jury duty. Can you believe that?"

Oh no. Janus definitely did not know what jury duty was, but Patton said it so naturally he figured it'd be weird to ask what it was, and he couldn't risk getting his cover blown. He made a mental note to research that later, but for now he'd just have to move on with the conversation.

"I can't believe that, Patton. You must be lying to me." Janus was very thankful sarcasm was also very common on Earth, so his response got a chuckle out of the other.

"Yeah, but the case doesn't seem too serious, so he won't have to be sequestered at least." Janus also made the note to look up the definition of "sequestered" in jury duty, because the one he was used to seemed way too severe for the context. "Anyway, he asked me to bring the book he borrowed last week to you and gave me the name of the next one he wants. Can you help me with that, or are you fully booked?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha. That was a funny one. Don't worry, I can help you."

As he lead the way to the astrophysics section, he couldn't help but let a little smile out at the pun. Patton really was a nice guy, in different ways that Logan was. Out of all the neighbors, he was the first one to greet Janus and Remus very enthusiastically, said he "needed to make them feel welcomed", and he was the one that introduced them to basically everyone else they knew. Apparently he was the one that suggested that his apartment should be connected internally to Logan's, Roman's and Virgil's. He was big on displays of affection and expressing his gratitude towards everyone.

They got to the correct shelf they were looking for and Janus put the book Patton had brought with him in its place and easily found the one Logan was looking for. Logan's weekly visits were the things that helped him get around the library, he inadvertently taught him to find the astrophysics section and how to look for the books on the shelf.

"Here you go, Patton, is there anything else I can be of assistance with?"

"Actually yes, if you don't mind me booking you for a little longer." Patton chuckled again, but Janus wasn't sure he liked where that was going. "Since I was going to the library I asked Roman and Virgil if they needed anything, and Roman asked me if I could get the book version of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, since he is auditioning for the stage version of that book. See, I don't know how they're going to make a stage version of that book, I think the makeup and special effects must be really complicated, but I didn't want to bother Roman for too long so I said I'd get it for him. Virgil said he didn't want anything but I felt bad coming home with stuff just for Roman and Logan and nothing for him so I decided I could bring something from Edgar Allan Poe since he always liked those dark themes." He took a deep breath, as if he spoke that whole thing in one breath. Patton did that a lot. "So if you could please, with a cherry on top, take me to the classic literature section so I can get those books for them I'd really appreciate it."

Janus agreed and started leading the way, but inside he was freaking out, because he definitely did not know where the classic literature section was. He only hung around the history, anthropology and astrophysics section. Of course he wouldn't let Patton know that, and he knew how to turn things out, so he eventually got them there. He got lost a couple of times and did one too many unnecessary turns, but if Patton noticed, he didn't mention it.

He got the books needed and led them back to the front desk to check them out. Patton put them in his bag and as he walked to the door, he suddenly turned and hugged Janus unexpectedly.

"Thank you so much for your help, Janus! You truly are out of this world!". As Janus tried not to overthink the use of that very common expression, he saw Patton wave and leave, crossing the street to Remy's café.

As for the rest of the day, Janus decided to research on the whole jury duty thing. There weren't many books on the matter, so he decided to use one of the library's computer to do his research. Technically, those were for visitors, not employees, so Janus shapeshifted to someone else so he wouldn't get caught. What's a little bit of deceit anyway? By the end of the day, he was buzzing with information, and couldn't wait to get home and tell Remus about the new stuff he found out.

Remus didn't see Patton arriving at the café as he was pulled to the side by Remy, about to have a talk.

"Is this about the Remus Special? Did you finally accept my request to allow me to put some of the dirt that's on the floor as one of the ingredients? Please, Remy!" He asked, with an odd glow in his eyes

"What? No." Remy rolled his eyes at the question but didn't seem to mind the unusual nature of it. "Girl, I was just calling you here because I wanted to congratulate you on your work recently. I don't know what kind of magic you have but the amount of complaints we've been getting has been decreasing at an impressive rate. So whatever it is it's working. Keep it up." He congratulated him in a very unimpressed tone.

"Thanks, I guess I just have a way of charming people" Remus answered with the tone of voice that Patton once described as "a little unsettling".

"Now, go back to work, please. There's a line."

As Remus made his way back, he contemplated on how boring this job would be without his mind powers. No fun making drinks, no convincing customers that yes, of course they ordered that and obviously Remus didn't mess it up on purpose because they looked like dicks. No Remus special either. Just boredom and annoyances. As his colleague was out on their break, he was responsible for taking the orders and making the drinks. He wasn't in the mood to talk to them so he didn't even bother telling them about the ingredients they ran out of, he decided to just make the substitutions himself. Not without checking their dietary restrictions first of course, which was a requirement Janus made so he wouldn't actually put people in danger and attract too much attention (but Remus thought it took the fun out of the thing).

Only when it was Patton's time to order he noticed he was there the whole time.

"Patsy! I didn't see you there, otherwise I would have told everyone else to fuck off so I could serve you!"

"Hi Remus! Don't worry about it, no skim off my back! I wouldn't have accepted it anyway, it wouldn't have been fair."

"Ugh, you're no fun! Almost thought I was talking to Logan for a second. Anyway, my dear Pattycake, what can I get for you?"

"Um… today I think I'll just have the hot chocolate with whipped cream and some sprinkles please."

"Uh oh, I'm sorry. We ran out of whipped cream." While at first it was hard for him and Patton to see eye to eye, now he considered him one of his friends. And he usually tried to tone down the mind powers usage on his friends, unless it was to do something really funny.

"Aw, shucks. I heard the lady in front of me got whipped cream on her frappé so I thought you still had it. But that's fine, I'll just have the plain hot chocolate then."

He finished his order and sat in one of the tables. As Remus was making his drink, he noticed Patton started engaging in conversation with another customer. He was indeed quite friendly, and he always asked everyone how they were and how they liked the place. Remus swears Remy didn't need a satisfaction survey, he could just ask Patton what people thought and he'd for sure be able to give the general public's opinion.

As he served Patton his hot chocolate, he noticed there wasn't a line anymore.

"Hey Patty Daddy, there are no customers here right now, shall we spill some tea?" It wasn't uncommon for them to just chat a little bit when there weren't many clients around, and Remus learned the expression "spill the tea" when Patton once asked him to do it and he took it quite literally.

"Aw Remus, unfortunately I'm running a bit latte today. I'm running some of Logan's errands since he's out today. Otherwise I'd really stay!"

"C'mon, just for a little bit. Our chats are so… riveting."

"I'm flattered but I really have to go, you know I'd talk your ears off if I stayed!"

"Don't worry about that, I can rip out that guy's ears if you want me to."

Patton looked at him with a slight look of concern after that answer, but then let out a laugh that still wasn't quite at ease.

"Oh Remus, you are really funny. You know, at first I just thought you were really unsettling, but now after getting to know you better, I think we make quite a nice blend!" Patton chuckled "You know, like coffee blend?"

Remus just stared back, not blinking but smiling a little creepily.

"Well, I'm going now. Bye Remus!" Patton said as he left. Remus noticed he skipped around when he reached the street.

The rest of the shift went just as any other day. When Janus suggested to him that he got some sort of service industry job, it was under the premises that he'd be able to understand humans better in practice, while Janus studying in the library would understand them in theory. If he was being honest, Remus thought that the most he learned was how much he could get under a human's skin before setting them off completely. Which, in a way, was useful for their mission. In his eyes, the invasion plan was going quite well.

When their shifts aligned — and they did most of the time, Remus made sure of that — they went home together. Janus' shift ended about half an hour before Remus' did, so he came over and got a drink while waiting for his roommate to finish cleaning and locking up.

On the way back to their flat they then discussed their day, what they learned, what people they met and so on and so forth. Sometimes they stopped by a grocery store, but not this day. Janus had already planned what he was going to make for dinner and gotten the ingredients in advance.

Nothing was out of the ordinary when they entered their apartment either. Remus was in the middle of telling Janus about a particularly annoying customer who insisted that he needed a specific brand of almond milk they didn't carry and refused to believe Remus when he said they didn't have it.

"In the end I just made him get a pastry and a black coffee, serves him right. Would've spit in it too if there wasn't a line and Remy right behind me. I don't get humans and their weirdly specific diet. Why the fuck does it matter what brand name is on the box, the inside is basically always the same, right?"

"I have no idea, Remus," Janus shrugged as he took off his coat and placed it on the designated hanger. "Their manufacturing is so complex, I have no idea what is the same and what isn't. I mean, they have different names on the boxes but turns out both brands are from the same company and so the product is the same and in the end you're just basically paying extra for a different name on the box. It's ridiculous."

"It is! It's also so fascinating! Humans are so strange, it's entertaining! Honestly, I thought this job would suck total ass but it's been kinda fun overall! I like Earth," Remus confessed as he unlaced his combat boots. Janus froze as he was about to place his shoes on the rack.

"Look, Re, I like it, too. It's a pleasant first assignment for sure. But we have no idea how long we'll stay here. We could be reassigned any moment."

Remus blew a raspberry at him.

"I know that, no need to be a party pooper about it… Still, I hope we can stay for at least a few more months. The job at the café itself sucks but I like working with Remy and getting shitty people to drink disgusting coffee. I like living with you like this and just chilling. Hell, I like spending time with the two four-eyes, the emo and the prick!"

Janus sighed, finally placing his shoes down and patting Remus on the head.

"I get it, Octi, but it's not up to us. Don't get attached."

"Like you're any better," Remus snorted, getting up from the ground and kicking his shoes into a corner. Janus rolled his eyes but didn't reprimand or clean up after him. Instead, he followed Remus to their living room, walking past the kitchen where he failed to notice a certain someone standing perfectly still.

"I am perfectly professional, thank you very much!" Janus huffed. "Anyway, you need to be more careful about using your ability willy-nilly, all just to mess with people. Someone's gonna find it odd that all the people arguing with you just chill out from one second to another."

"What?! Nobody gives a shit! Nobody gives a shit when you 'disappear' during work and suddenly there's a new patron at the computer!"

"I made sure to tell someone I was taking my break!" Janus hissed before taking a deep breath to calm down. "Not the point I was trying to make. Just be more careful not to blow our cover, okay?"

"Well, then maybe we shouldn't discuss all of this with Patton right there in our kitchen!" Remus defended. Janus' jaw fell open.

"With who where?" he asked, quietly.

"You didn't notice?"

Without another word, Janus turned around and with a few, quick steps, he was at the kitchen door, only to truly find Patton standing there hunched over a half-closed drawer where Remus and him kept their containers. Janus just stared at him, watching as Patton slowly turned his head to look at him with a sheepish smile.

"Welcome home?" he said with a nervous laugh while straightening up.

"Patton," Janus practically squeaked before clearing his throat and trying to regain his composure. "What gives us the honor of your visit?"

"Weeeeeell… I really just wanted to come by and return the containers you lent us last time? But you weren't home and I didn't want to bother you any later, so I just thought I'd let myself in real quick and put them back! I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I just kind of panicked, sorry about that."

Right, Janus had forgotten that they'd given their spare key to the polycule for emergencies and in turn accepted a spare of their apartment as well. He should consider incorporating a perimeter check into his coming home routine from now on, it seemed. If it wasn't already to late for that.

"So how much did ya hear?" Remus asked, appearing behind Janus in the doorway.

"The place isn't that big, so… everything since you came in? I'm so sorry!" Patton apologized, his hands tightly knitted together in front of him. "I swear I didn't mean to! We all wanted to respect your boundaries and not bring it up until you were ready to talk about it and I screwed it up for you, I can't say sorry enough."

Janus felt like he was back on that first, old and shaky ship that had taken him off of his home planet and towards an unknown future. What the hell was Patton talking about?!

"Ready to talk about what exactly?"

"About you being aliens? We figured it was like coming out of the closet or something and that we should let you decide when you felt comfortable talking to us about it."

"We?" Remus asked.

"Logan, Roman, Virgil and I."

"You all knew? How?!" Janus was absolutely baffled by this turn of events. Everything had been going so well, he had been so careful, how had their neighbors figured them out?!

"Oh, Janus." The note of pity in Patton's tone made him almost want to throw up. "I know you tried real hard to keep it hidden but I've worked in costumer service for a while and the way Remus gets people to just accept the changes to their orders is not natural. And earlier when you were leading me through the library and didn't know where to go? Your scales were just barely showing on your neck. It's not the first time I've seen them, so I'm sure no one would notice if they weren't looking for them, though!"

Patton was trying to reassure them. Patton was trying to reassure them that their mess-ups were not that bad. That it wasn't a big deal that they had just been exposed! That their first real mission was a complete failure!

"Look, I'm sorry I sprung this on you, that was really not my intention at all," Patton said in the most apologetic tone Janus had ever heard after both Remus and him failed to react. "How about I leave you two alone to process and you come over later for dinner and then all six of us can talk it out, okay? I promise none of us hold anything against you, we all had to come out to our families at some point and it was not easy. Food should be ready at around 8pm, okay?"

Patton slowly walked over to them, as if they were wild animals he didn't want to spook and moved passed them into the hallway.

"See you later, I hope!"

Janus managed to give a small nod before he watched Patton slipping out of their apartment. When the door clicked shut, his knees gave out from under him. Remus was quick to react, catching him before he could fall and picking him up. He carried him to the living room and set him on their couch before he left for a short moment to grab a glass of water.

"There you go, snakey. Just breathe, it's gonna be fine."

"Fine?! Nothing is fine, Remus! Patton knows, his boyfriends know, our cover's been blown!" Janus hissed, angrily gripping the glass in his hand and gesturing around with it. "We are done for if they find out about this!"

"They don't have to find out though."

"What the hell do you suggest we do to prevent them from finding out then?"

Remus sat down on the couch next to Janus and grabbed his hands, stopping him from accidentally smashing the glass.

"We go to dinner. We listen to them, get them to tell us what and how they figured it all out and then I can erase their memories."

Janus raised an eyebrow. "You can do that?"

"In theory."

A dry laugh escaped Janus and he let himself sink into the cushions.

"So you can't."

"I can," Remus insisted. "It's tricky and I haven't done it a lot but I can do it, promise!"

Janus pulled his hands from Remus' and put the glass aside before catching his roommates hands again.

"I'll trust you, Re. After all, what other choice do I have?"

Janus was standing in front of the polycule's apartment with Remus, but he didn't want to knock. He agreed to dinner, agreed with Remus's plan, but it didn't mean he was looking forward to it. He still couldn't believe the situation they were facing, but there was nothing else to be done.

Unsure if by coincidence or if by his partner's influence, Patton opened the door before either of them had the chance to knock.

"Hey guys!" He hugged the both of them excitedly and had a lot of care in his voice "I'm truly happy you guys came. The lasagna is basically ready, I was waiting for you to take it out of the oven. Make yourselves at home while I set everything up!"

They made their way inside, admiring how, even though their apartments were the same structure wise, they couldn't be more different inside. Janus was pretty sure the interior design was mainly Patton's and Roman's doing, with the beautiful decorations, furniture and wall paintings coming from the latter and the abundance of framed pictures and memorabilia owed to the former. His home with Remus, however, was still quite empty. They had essential furniture and appliances, sure, but in comparison to where they were, theirs seemed so bare. After a few visits to the polycule's unit and learning what decorations were for, Remus told Janus he wanted some too, but Janus thought it wasn't a great idea, as to not get too attached to Earth. Look at us now, he thought.

They reached the living room and saw Virgil sitting on the couch, next to Roman, who had his arm around him. Logan was sitting in an armchair, wearing a dark suit with a blue tie, writing something in a little notebook but looking very tired. Virgil noticed their arrival and waved quietly with a casual nod, Roman let out a loud "Huzzah!" and Logan didn't even acknowledge them.

"Janus and Remus! Glad to have you join us for our dinner tonight!" Roman exclaimed, with his usual loud and dramatic voice. "So, how are our favorite aliens going?"

"Dude!" Virgil interjected, slightly nudging him with his elbow but trying to keep a low voice. "We're supposed to let them speak about it first!"

"What? I know I'm an actor, but I'm done with theatricalities! Let's cut to the chase!" Roman uttered with his typical Roman intensity.

"Let's have dinner!" Patton called from the dining table, making Janus relieved he could pause that conversation momentarily, even if just to eat some bites of lasagna. That call was what made Logan snap back into reality and finally noticed Janus and Remus there.

"Salutations, Janus and Remus. I apologize for the unusual aloofness, I am just quite tired from my exhausting experience on jury duty. Don't worry, Janus, I can tell you everything about it later." With that last sentence, Janus almost felt like Logan read his mind. But of course he didn't, humans don't have telepathic powers (at least as far as he's concerned).

They all sat around the table and took turns serving themselves, and while that happened the topic of conversation shifted to something else that Janus was not paying attention to, still nervous about coming clean. But there was no going back at that point.

"Okay!" He said, a little louder than most of the conversations going on, in order to call the attention of all the others. "So, Remus and I are not from Earth, and all of you know this, as I've been made aware by Patton earlier today. May I ask what made you all find out?"

Virgil was the first to say something.

"Okay, so, I'm not proud to admit it, but as you know I am an anxious person. And, for some reason you two sounded alarms inside my brain and I kept thinking 'there's something off with these guys'" he sheepishly admitted "And so I got a little paranoid. I started being hyper attentive to whatever you said or did and I kept trying to sort out the puzzles pieces in my mind to find out what was wrong. I believe I was the first one out of us to notice your scales, Janus. And then 'aliens' was the thing that made the most sense."

Janus felt even more exposed than he was already after that answer, although Remus didn't look bothered. He seemed rather intrigued, actually.

"Ooh, this is so enticing!" Remus said "So you just kept staring and noticing us all the time until you figured out? Freak yourself out until you made out the truth? That's flattering, Virge. Kind of hot even."

Virgil blushed and hid his face inside his hoodie, letting out a very loud "UGH". Remus seemed pleased with the effect he had on him, and Logan was the next one to speak.

"My story with it is not that different from Virgil's, although it stemmed from an investigative urge rather than paranoia. I also noticed that you two sometimes displayed behaviors and said things that were… unusual, to say the least." He adjusted his tie and took a breath before continuing. "I never got a bad feeling like Virgil, I just got really curious. You moved here and found a new job quite quickly. Never seemed to have a lot of personal belongings, and when we asked about your backstory your answers were always so… regular and not revealing. I needed to investigate further. See, it wasn't easy to reach the alien conclusion, but one time in one of Remus's seemingly random outbursts, he mentioned very briefly a satellite that isn't known here in Earth by people who aren't actively studying astrophysics.

"Well, that sent me into what some would call a 'rabbit hole'. I imagine you two might be concerned over your cover, but you don't need to worry about that. It required a great deal of research for me to get to this conclusion, and I still wasn't 100% sure until we had the collective talk about it one day. Life on other planets is still something not universally agreed upon here on Earth so I wouldn't count on anyone else figuring it out, even if they are scientists. Here, take a look at some notes from my notebook."

Janus was speechless as him and Remus flipped through his notes. Maybe Logan really was a genius. There were a lot of astute observations in there, and even if it wasn't all correct, it was extremely impressive that Logan figured out all of that on his own, without ever leaving the planet himself. His approximation of the location of Janus and Remus's home galaxy was almost perfect.

"Logan, this is genuinely amazing. We —" Janus was about to say "we can talk later about the more exact details if you want" when he decided against it. He wasn't sure there would be a later for them yet. "Well, this is great."

"And what about you Roman? What crazy story you have to tell us about how you found out?" Remus asked

"Oh, it's not a crazy story at all. Very uninteresting if you ask me. We can pass my turn, don't worry!" Suddenly, something shifted on his face. "Well, I can tell since you're insisting."

Janus immediately understood what had just happened and slightly elbowed Remus in disapproval. They had talked about this, he should avoid using his powers on friends. But Remus really wanted to know what was going on, secrets were no fun!

"I found out the day we had a household meeting to discuss 'the situation with our new neighbors' and these three started talking about you being aliens. To be entirely fair, it didn't even cross my mind before then. I know a lot of weirdos that were definitely born on Earth! I mean, even us, we are a bunch of characters," Roman blurted out. Remus and Janus laughed at the confession, and no one questioned his last sentence.

"Still, I was the one that suggested that we didn't say anything to you before you talked to us. I guess Patton accidentally changed our plans, but my unrivaled sensitivity and social awareness were the ones behind being civil!" Roman exclaimed, as if narrating a heroic deed. "And I guess it all lead to this point. Do you want to say anything?" He looked at both Janus and Remus, waiting for an answer.

"I have another question. How long has it been since you figured us out?" Janus asked

"Well, the household meeting Roman mentioned was something that I organized after Logan and I had a very quick chat about the topic, once we realized we both had noticed the oddities" Patton explained "And that was about… four months ago? Maybe?"

"It was three months and seventeen days ago, to be precise" Logan added.

They looked at each other. So it was answered, all of them knew they were aliens for a while, and knew superficially about their special abilities. They didn't know about their mission and the reason they were there. And now, Janus and Remus had to make a decision: what else would they say? And would Remus erase their memories after?

"Firstly, I must say that the lasagna was delicious, Patton. Thank you very much for this meal," Janus said, and Patton nodded and smiled widely. "I can't speak for Remus, but I know I can say the best meals I've had were here on Earth, specially made by you. I am sure there are more things you want to know about us. Where we come from, why we are here and what else can we do. But I am still unsure how much we can share with you right now. Right, Remus?"

"Well, what I can say is that I am having the time of my fucking life here on Earth and I definitely don't want to go back to where we came from. What? It's the truth" Remus replied when he saw Janus's disapproving glance. Turning to the others again, he added "Snakey over here doesn't want me to say that, but I mean it."

Janus definitely didn't want to start a discussion in front of them. And, if he was being honest (not that he usually was), he was still questioning everything he believed they should do, and if he was about to spiral, he wanted to do it in privacy.

"Well, dear friends, I'm glad we had this dinner. I believe Remus and I have some stuff to discuss in private. So I guess we must go now." He knew this wasn't where Patton and the others expected to go. They wanted answers for them too, surely, but Janus couldn't take it anymore. He started making his way out, with Remus following him, when he was suddenly interrupted.

"Wait! Before you go, there's something we wanted you both to have," Patton said, as he left the table and hurriedly made his way to the bedroom area. When he came back, he had a small package in his hands, and gave it to Remus. Janus approached him so they could open the small package — a gift — together.

It was a picture frame, with very beautiful small paintings decorating it, with the picture being a printed version of the first selfie they all took together. It was taken on the day Patton first invited them for dinner, and he insisted he should capture the moment. At that time, neither Remus nor Janus cared a lot for it. But now, seeing it in their hands, it was suddenly much more meaningful.

"So, just so you don't feel coy, this gift is something we were all planning on giving to you regardless of alien or not alien. We all thought you might want something to make your apartment less empty, but we noticed that Janus's skin isn't very well camouflaged in the picture so we held it until you felt comfortable to have this conversation with us. We don't know what is going to happen next, but I hope you can keep this forever to remember us," Patton explained, with his voice even quivering a little bit in the end.

"Forever might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I do share Patton's feelings. I don't think any of us intent on telling anyone else what we know. Even my research at the university is more focused on behaviors of another galaxy, not yours, so you don't need to worry about the word getting out on that end either. You can trust us," Logan added.

"Yeah, what they said! I'm a great actor, as you know, so I know very well how to keep a secret! Count on me too, definitely." And with his usual antics, Roman bowed before them, as if he truly believed he was a prince of some sort.

Virgil wasn't the most talkative out of all of them. While sometimes he let loose a little, that was not one of those moments. He seemed anxious and like he was looking for the right words.

"Just… I know it's not up to me, but if it was, I'd say to please don't go away. I kind of like you and I kind of will miss you if you leave," he said, very quietly, as if he was embarrassed, but everyone heard.

With that, Patton pulled all of them into a big group hug, trying to hold back tears. As the embrace ended, he opened the door and let Janus and Remus leave, but not without reminding them they could always count on him, and on any of the others.

Janus and Remus made their way back to their apartment in total silence, still in awe with everything that just happened. Janus held the picture frame in his hands and couldn't keep his mind off of it until he sat down on their couch and Remus forced him to come back to reality.

"Jan, please, we need to stay here. Who cares about our mission?"

"We could get killed! Please, Octi, let's be reasonable. We didn't have a choice to come, it was our jobs as part of the Force. And now we have to do our jobs properly or the Leaders could come after us."

"Come on Jannie! Do you think they really care about us? We're on our first mission, we're nothing to them! They are trying to colonize half the universe, what is one planet less. You haven't even sent any of the monthly reports we're supposed to write to them and we've been here for many months now! You're also stalling because you're enjoying our time here! And they didn't even notice!"

"No, that's preposterous. I just wanted to… gather a lot of information to be really thorough with the report," Janus lied. He knew Remus was right, but he was still scared of the repercussions. He wanted to do what was best for the both of them.

"Yawn. Boring. You can't lie to me Janus. Yeah, sure, you're taking months to write a single report because you don't want to miss a single detail. We're also sleeping together and I give you the signature bite because it enriches the mission too? You're all mushy inside seeing the gift we got because you just want to write a really good report?" Remus replied, defiantly.

"Fine, whatever, I also like Earth! And I like that we can spend so much time together just chilling! And I like those losers we call friends! Okay!" Janus finally admitted out loud. While his tone could be interpreted as "begrudgingly", he felt a weight coming off his shoulders.

"We need a new plan though. Yes, they haven't complained about our seeming disappearance, but only so far. What if they do?" Janus tried to come up with a plan "Well, maybe I can say I did write but… all the space trash around Earth messed with our signal and the message never got to them!"

"Oooh, I like the idea. I'm always down to anything involving trash!" Remus seemed excited with the idea, already having the creepy glow in his eyes. "Maybe even the nerd could help us with that!"

"Yes, brilliant! And if anything ever comes to happen, then you can erase their memories and we try to make everything alright with the leaders," Janus concluded the plan.

"Sounds like a deal to me." Remus approached Janus, gave him a small kiss, licked his face and said, "Come on, let's rejoin our little humans. I guess we owe some explanations still."

Janus agreed, and they both made their way back to the polycule's apartment. They were received with a lot of hugs, excitement, curiosity, but most of all, happy feelings, happy that they were not going to part ways.

Many more months passed, and no reports were ever sent. Janus and Remus were fully adapted to their lives on Earth now, and they also got even closer with Patton, Logan and Roman. They kept their original jobs, they still had their fun and didn't see the need with trying to look for something new. Although the others kept their word, they really never shared their secret, Logan really wanted to know more about their origins, so occasionally they had study sessions where Janus and Remus would tell him about their planet of origin. They still tried to not go overboard with their powers, but Janus's shapeshifting ability came in handy a lot, specially when helping Roman rehearse and remember lines for his roles. Of course, Remus kept using his to survive his job at Remy's.

Janus looked up as Virgil stepped into the tavern, giving him a small wave. Virgil spotted him immediately and made his way over.

“Hey, Janus. Sorry I’m late.” 

“You still beat Roman, so you’re fine.” 

Virgil laughed as he settled in his seat, sliding one of the drinks Janus ordered over in front of himself. “True. He should be here any minute. He was so excited we finally managed to get the same day off.” “Yeah, he probably just overslept.” Janus nodded, taking a sip of his drink. “Didn’t he say he’s working nights now?” “I think so?” Virgil frowned. “That sounds familiar. He just got that new job over at…” 

He trailed off. 

Janus stared at him.

“...You don’t remember what he said, do you?”

“...No.” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck. “What was it again?” 

“I don’t know, I only saw him in passing.” Janus sighed. “...I know he told me, though. Damn it.” “I don’t want him to know I forgot. He was just so excited.”

Janus waved a hand dismissively.

“It’s fine. We’ll figure it out.” “...How?” “It’s Roman.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. 

Janus was smiling conspiratorily. “You know how much he loves to talk.”

“...You have a plan, don’t you?” “Always.” “I already don’t like the sound of this.” “You never do.” Janus just shrugged.

Virgil sighed. “You’re doing most of the talking.”

“Oh, no I won’t.” Janus smirked. “He will.” 

It wasn’t long before Roman jogged through the tavern doors, breaking into a grin as soon as he spotted them.

“Hey guys! Sorry!” he said as he reached the table. “Guess I was more tired than I thought.” 

“No worries,” Virgil said. “I’ve only been here for a few minutes.”

“And I haven't been here much longer,” Janus added.

Virgil noticed the slight gleam in Janus’s eye. 

Apparently he was going to start immediately.

“So,” Janus began casually, “long night?” 

Roman laughed.

“You could say that. Yesterday was rough.” 

“What happened?” Virgil asked, trying his best to sound nonchalant. “Oh, just some pests getting onto the grounds. Usually they’re just a nuisance, but this one must’ve had a personal grudge or something. By the time it was over I was damn near scorched.”

Virgil and Janus shared a glance. 

Groundskeeper was off the list.

“Were you hurt?” Janus asked. 

“Nah.” Roman shrugged. “A few aches, but nothing serious. I’ll probably spend tonight buffing out all the scuffs, though. You should see what happened to my gloves.”

He flexed his fingers, as though remembering. “That’s always the worst.” Virgil said, taking a sip of his drink. “My boss hates seeing us get dirty. Says it makes the whole shop look bad.” Roman blinked.

“Don’t you work at the apothecary? Why would that matter?”

Virgil froze.

So much for hoping Roman had forgotten their jobs too.

“He thinks customers will assume we’re careless if we look messy.”

“Oh.” Roman nodded. “I guess that makes sense.” “...Your boss doesn’t think like that?” Janus asked.

“Oh, he definitely doesn’t like us looking rough.” Roman laughed. “Just for… Different reasons.”

Janus nodded slowly.

“...Right. You wouldn’t want your customers thinking you aren’t very skilled.”

Roman gave him a puzzled look.

“Customers?” He paused for a moment, considering it. 

“…I suppose that’s one way to put it. And then, yeah. Looking incompetent wouldn’t exactly inspire much confidence.”

Merchant quietly joined groundskeeper on the eliminated list.

“...Anything else interesting happen to you lately?” Virgil asked, trying to steer the conversation back. 

“Umm… Oh, I had to reach right into the forge two days ago. It was so hard to convince myself to do it, even though I knew my gloves would protect my hands.” Virgil swore Janus’s eyes lit up.

“Did you drop something in? A new sword or something?” Janus asked.

“No, the blacksmith dropped this big ceremonial shield in there. Luckily I was right there. Took both of us to fish it out before it got too damaged. That would have been a real nightmare to sort out.”

The light in Janus’s eyes went right back out.

Blacksmith was crossed off the list almost as quickly as it had been added.

Virgil dragged his hands down his face. 

“Alright, I can’t take it anymore. Roman, what is it that you do?” Roman raised an eyebrow. “Wait… Did I not ever tell you guys?” Virgil opened his mouth to admit what happened, but Janus beat him to the punch. 

“You must have forgotten.” 

Roman skidded down the hallway, barely managing to avoid clipping his shoulder on the corner. “Logan! Virgil! Logan! Virgil!”He was repeating two of his roommates’ names like it was some kind of chant. By the time he found them in the living room, they had long been expecting him.

“What?” Virgil asked, an eyebrow raised.

“I have news. Very weird news!” He said, nearly vibrating where he stood.

“Okay? Then what is it?” Logan asked, looking up from his book. 

“I just got off the phone with Patton. He’s bringing someone home for dinner!” “...And? He’s adorable. It’s not surprising he’d meet someone.” Virgil said, shrugging and going back to his phone. 

Logan followed suit, returning to his novel.

Roman huffed. “He said he’s bringing his girlfriend.”

That actually stopped them in their tracks. Both of them turned back immediately. 

“What? Oh my god - next time lead with that!” Virgil said, fully dropping his phone onto the couch.

“I sprinted here. Cut me some slack.” “Maybe he’s recently discovered he’s bisexual?” Logan mused.

“Without mentioning it to any of us? And he’s been out as gay since we were in school. I don’t think that just changes overnight.”

“Did he say anything else? About… her?” “I asked a few questions after he asked if we’d mind him bringing someone over. Her name is Janice.”

“Janice?” Virgil repeated. “What else did you find out?” 

“Uh… They met a few nights ago. When Patton was walking home from spin class.” “I still say he needs a car,” Virgil muttered. “He has to pass that big graveyard on the way home.” “Stay on target.” 

“Sorry. It just creeps me out.” 

“What else?” 

“Umm… they’ve been going on dates. Yesterday it was antiquing, today the art museum. He seems really smitten.”

They paused, those weren’t Patton’s usual locales.

“She must like old things? I don’t know. He said they mostly bought clothes while they were antiquing. Maybe she’s just into vintage stuff? You know Patton would go anywhere to make someone happy.”

“I guess that’s romantic?”

“But he also said-”

The lock clicked, making them all freeze.

Patton’s voice drifted in from outside as the door opened. “Here we are! Come on in, you can meet everyone!” And then Patton stepped inside, beaming and tugging someone along behind him by their gloved hand.

There was the person in question.

Tall. Elegant. Dressed in a dark formal suit like something out of an old portrait. Closing a parasol despite the setting sun. 

Their skin was pale enough to make Virgil look downright sunkissed, and their eyes were a deep, unsettling red.

Several details should have been immediately concerning. But none of them seemed to even remotely register as they became hung up on one very particular thing.

They presented very masculinely.

But the last thing they’d ever do was be rude.

“Oh! You’re all here, perfect!” Patton said brightly. “This is Janus!” 

Janus gave a small, polite bow, removing his hat as he did so.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Janus’s voice was deep, with the faint edge of an unfamiliar accent. There was a glimpse of teeth when he spoke - bright white, a little too sharp.

Logan recovered the most quickly. “Likewise. Might I ask your pronouns, if you don’t mind?” Janus raised a brow, glancing at Patton like the question was a bit confusing.

“He/him.” Patton answered for him, looking a bit thrown as well.

The three of them blinked, silence filling the space for a few long moments.

Someone had to break eventually. 

It was Roman. 

“Patton, you told me that you were bringing home your girlfriend.” He blurted out. Patton blinked, then finally truly broke the silence by laughing, hard.

When he managed to stop, he was still smiling brightly.

====

Virgil always dreaded summer.

It was blisteringly hot, and humid enough that the air seemed to swim. The forest was at least a little cooler with the dappled shade from the trees and gentle breeze, so Virgil spent most of his time there. But just walking to Sam's house to play band was hell, let alone going to the saloon.

They still did, of course, because if Virgil didn't go then his friends would start breaking down his door to drag him out. But Virgil hated every minute of walking there. He hated going out in the summer at all. It was probably just a little bit to do with the fact that it was hard to wear his hoodie in the summer heat. Obviously he still did. There was no way he was sacrificing his hoodie for something as stupid as heat.

The one perk of this town was the fact that there was a beach practically on their doorstep, and as much as Virgil hated dressing for it, swimming and chilling on the sand - especially with Sam and his little brother - was one of his favourite summer activities. 

Yeah, he felt a little immature wearing black shorts and a black swim t-shirt with purple sleeves, but it was the only way he really felt comfortable leaving the house, so everyone else had learned to deal with it. At least he actually came to to the beach, unlike Seb and Abby.

Today was a beach day. Virgil had gotten there early and set up an umbrella to sit on a towel underneath until he was ready to swim and then to lie on when he got out. He'd brought his sketchbook and some snacks and planned to stay here pretty much all day, enjoying the breeze from the sea and the shade from his umbrella. Sam and his little brother Vincent had arrived an hour or so after Virgil had and, after greeting him, they'd gone off to play in the waves. 

Virgil would join them in a little while, once he was done with his current drawing.

Or, at least, he would have if they hadn't arrived. 

Roman was, of course, looking absolutely gorgeous in a more summery outfit. He was wearing tight denim shorts and work boots with red socks. Virgil's eyes were immediately caught by the crop top he was wearing though. A nice red floaty top with floral details and thin straps that showed off his broad shoulders and toned chest and lovely tan skin... 

Virgil really needed to stop staring. 

Especially when Janus locked eyes with him and Virgil was certain he had gone beet red. 

It didn't help that Janus was wearing the prettiest sundress Virgil had ever seen. It was a sunny yellow and printed subtly with flowers. The delicate black belt around his waist and black shoes tied it all together as the two of them walked together onto the docks. 

Virgil had quickly turned his face away when Janus caught him staring, though, because that was probably the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him. 

He'd been spotted ogling Janus' partner - and then probably Janus himself. How weird was he?

Roman had settled, sitting on the edge of the dock and pulling out a fishing rod. Janus sat on a bench behind him, crossing one leg over the other and pulling out a book. 

Okay, Virgil could handle this. It wasn't like they'd put themselves in the perfect position for Virgil's eyes to find them. They were so very pretty and Virgil was trying so hard to keep concentrating on his book.

"Hey Virge!" Sam yelled at the perfect moment, "Come over here!"

It was a good enough distraction as any, Virgil supposed. 

"One sec!" he yelled back, brushing off eraser shavings and putting his supplies back in their case so they wouldn't get lost in the sand before getting up and making his way down the beach towards the two of them.

"Would you be willing to make a sandcastle with Vincent?" Sam asked him quietly when he reached him. He stood a little further back from his little brother, who was trying to catch clumps of seaweed in the water, "I'm really sorry to dump him on you, dude, but I totally forgot mom asked me to get some stuff from Pierre's for dinner today-"

Virgil glanced at Vincent. He wasn't the best with kids, but building a sandcastle wouldn't be that hard he was sure. 

"How long will you be?" Virgil asked.

"Not more than like- fifteen minutes? Mum knows I'm watching Vincent so she won't keep me, I promise," Sam said, "Pleaseee? I'll owe you a favour?"

"...Fine," Virgil mumbled. There wasn't a lot he wouldn't do for his friends anyway. Sam's little brother wasn't that bad anyway - he could just be a little too energetic for Virgil sometimes. He had been intending to come over and hang out anyway, though. He could handle a sand castle. 

"Thank you so much," Sam said, "Hey Vincent! Virgil's gonna make a castle with you whilst I go get the stuff for mum, okay?"

"Okay!" Vincent called, rushing up out of the water to join Virgil on the sand. Virgil let him choose a spot before sitting down opposite him to start building.

And that was when he realised that he had absolutely no idea how to build a sand castle. 

Virgil usually only joined Sam and Vincent in the water. Otherwise if he was at the beach he was reading or drawing. He'd seen Sam do this with Vincent before, but now that he was tasked with actually doing it himself he felt a little out of his depths. 

"You good, there?" Vincent asked, and Virgil looked down to find that he was already stacking sand together. 

"Uh- yeah, I just.... don't know how this works," He admitted. Vincent paused where he was piling sand into a bucket and frowned up at him.

"You've never done this before?" Vincent asked, sounding almost offended, "Come on, I gotta show you how it works now, what sorta kid doesn't know how to build a sandcastle?"

Virgil was about to protest that he wasn't a kid anymore, but a bucket and a spade were shoved into his hands and he decided it was best to just accept his fate. So Virgil ended up spending the next fifteen minutes getting an indigence filled lesson on building sandcastles. Once they'd gotten a solid foundation Vincent went off to collect shells and Virgil took the opportunity to glance back at Janus and Roman, only to find Janus with his book closed watching Virgil. 

Virgil huffed, sending Janus a halfhearted glare before turning his attention back to supervising Vincent, who was sill collecting things from the shoreline.

Thankfully for Virgil, Sam arrived back on the beach a few minutes later and joined in the building of the sandcastle, somehow immediately able to make it much better than Virgil had when Vincent passed him more pieces of shell. 

Virgil didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse when Virgil was tapped on the shoulder and he looked up to see Roman standing behind him.

"Mind if I borrow you from your sand time?" Roman asked, tilting his head with a little smile on his face, "i was wondering if you'd like to walk with me?"

"Um," Virgil said eloquently, pretty sure his face was red once again.

"He would love to," Sam said, with a shit eating grin as he shoved Virgil a little, "Go on, I'll hold down the sand fort."

"...Okay," Virgil squeaked, forcing himself to his feet and brushing as much off the sand from his clothes as he could before turning properly to Roman. He was a little glad that he hadn't been in the sea yet. Whatever was going on he really didn't want to be doing it drenched in salt water. 

Roman continued to smile at him in a way that was almost uncanny as he began to walk and let Virgil follow him. 

"So... what's going on?" Virgil asked, trying not to sound as anxious as he was when in reality his heart felt like it was trying to beat right out of his chest. 

"Nothing really," Roman said, "I just needed to take a break from fishing, and I saw you over here and thought I might say hello! I haven't really seen you all that much since the flower dance after all, and I didn't even get to talk to you much then!"

"I... yeah," Virgil said, "I'm not really a summer guy."

"Really?" Roman asked, "I absolutely love summer! All of the warmth and the plants thriving and the smell in the air, the way everything feels so alive you know?"

"Not really," Virgil admitted, "It just sorta makes me feel sick - I uh- don't do that well with heat."

"But you're here at the beach?" Roman asked, seeming curious rather than offended. 

"Yeah - here at least I can get in the water if I start overheating, and it's breezy," Virgil shoved his hands in the pockets of his shirts and glanced down at the sand. There were always a whole lot of shells in the sand here, "Where are you taking me, anyway?"

"Oh! I repaired the old bridge over here a few days ago," Roman said, "I thought you might be interested in the rock pools."

"Rock pools?" Virgil asked. That old bridge had been broken since before he'd moved here. The wood scraps that had been left behind were ancient and Virgil was maybe a little worried about this 'repair' job from Roman. But when they arrived, Virgil found a pristine and sturdy looking plank bridge in place of the old broken planks. "I... wow, how did you do this?"

"Well I brought the wood down from some of the trees I've chopped down on the farm," Roman explained as he stepped onto the plank bridge and offered a hand to Virgil to help him up. He took it with a bright red face. "And then it just sorta.... got fixed!"

"What do you mean it 'got fixed'," Virgil huffed, putting air quotes around his words. The bridge was just as solid as it looked, but Roman's wording confused him. 

"I mean I left the wood here and the bridge was fixed the next time I came here," Roman said again, as if that made any sense whatsoever, "Like when you will something to happen?"

"...Sure, Roman," Virgil nodded, deciding... maybe it was best to just go along with the possibly crazy farmer. Roman helped him down from the plank on the other side, and Virgil's eyes widened as he took in the rock pools. 

They were beautiful, shallow pools full of anemones and coral surrounded by flat rocks. Virgil couldn't help but gasp softly as he slowly walked closer. 

"They're lovely, aren't they?" Roman smiled, following Virgil closer to the water and sitting down, brushing his fingers across the anenomies that seemed to reach for him as he dragged his fingers through the water. Virgil copied him, and found the water was warm on his hands. 

"Yeah," Virgil says softly, a little in awe.

"Janus told me you might like to see it," Roman said with a small smile, "I wanted to talk to you again, since I haven't gotten to, yet."

"Janus said I would?" Virgil asked, tilting his head. It was shocking to hear that Janus knew him well enough to predict that he would like this. He hadn't even been overly interested in the sea back in middle school. Sure he had always liked the ocean, but that didn't mean he was talking about it enough that he thought Janus would've noticed. Even if he had, he doubted Janus would've cared.

Roman was smiling, though, "Yeah! He said he remembered you saying something about visiting one of the Fern Islands with your parents and enjoying exploring pools?" 

It took a second to remember. Virgil's parents had taken him on a bunch of holidays. But that particular one... They'd gone out on a boat to a little island in the middle of nowhere, and he'd hated everything about the trip aside from the moments he could escape his parents to explore the rock pools on the beach. He remembered telling Janus about them when he was interrogated about where he'd been all week back in middle school. Even then he hadn't thought Janus would've actually cared about his answer neough to remember it.

"I didn't think Janus would remember that," Virgil said softly, glancing at Roman and quickly looking away again, focusing instead on the anemone. 

"His memory is surprisingly sharp when he likes someone," Roman said, "You know he remembered my favourite butterfly on our first anniversary? Made a cupcake with an iced one on top! It was something I'd mentioned as an ice breaker on our first date, it's crazy."

Virgil had been too fixated on the 'when he likes someone' part of that sentence to really register the rest of what Roman had said. He didn't think Janus had given a single shit about him before. But... liked him? It just didn't makes sense. 

"Janus didn't like me," Virgil corrected, shaking his head, "He- he liked to make fun of me."

"To make fun of you?" Roman asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah he- he used to... I guess keep me around to make himself feel better? Or make him look good for befriending the social reject. I don't know," Virgil sighed, "We were like... thirteen, so I'm sure he's different now, but he definitely didn't like me back then."

The expression on Roman's face plainly said his doubt, but he didn't argue with Virgil.

"...Are you guys going to be at the beach all day?" Virgil asked, trying to change the topic. Roman hummed.

"Not sure," Roman shrugged, "We didn't really have much of a plan for today, I wanted to catch some fish since a couple people needed them, but otherwise... no plans, really! It was a nice coincidence that you were here too so I could show you this, and Janus had a book he wanted to read, so... a perfect beach day, no?"

"I guess so," Virgil said with a nod, "I… should probably get back to Sam and Vincent, though, I've been gone a while…"

Roman's expression slipped into a frown at Virgil's quick retreat. "Ah… okay," he said, sounding so painfully dejected that Virgil couldn't help but turn.

"I'll see you later?" Virgil offered. He was relieved to see Roman brighten again.

"Indeed," Roman smiled, "I should get back to Janus anyway, shall we?"

Roman offered a hand to help Virgil over the bridge, only letting go to head back over to Janus.

Well Virgil had no idea what that was about.

----

The Luau was one of Virgil's top three least favourite festivals of the year. His least favourite being the flower dance. In this case it was mainly because it made the beach crowded and he never knew what the hell he was supposed to put in the soup. How was he supposed to add something nice to the soup when he didn't know what anyone else had put in it? Virgil couldn't even cook when he knew all of the ingredients. Every year he just brought a jar of fancy mixed spices and dumped them into the pot. It wasn't interesting or fun but spices were the safest bet, and it wasn't something he was going to get flamed for if the soup was shit. Unlike Sam and Sebastian, who liked to try and ruin the soup on purpose every year. It was a tossup whether they were caught before or after they'd already dumped whatever crazy thing in the soup. Virgil remembered the year Sam had to do community service for it well. They'd managed to get much more sneaky about it since then. 

He especially hated it because it was one of the few festivals his parents actually made an effort to attend. They even contributed something to the soup every year before trying to spend the whole time shmoozing with the governor. Virgil hated being in the same space as them, it was like he could feel every set of eyes on his back whenever he got within a certain distance.

Normally the rest of the townsfolk seemed to forget that Virgil was their son, considering he was seen much more regularly around town and would help out in Pierre's occasionally. But when he was seen with his mother and father... it was harder to ignore that he was still some rich kid outsider who's parents had destroyed a part of Cindersap forest for their ugly mansion. Especially so when they'd forced him to dress up in a formal outfit for a beach party.

So Virgil preferred to find a shaded corner and sit down away from the big party. Usually he'd bring his sketchbook and draw the ocean from a quieter spot on the docks. This year, though, it seemed he wouldn't be left alone. 

"Hello there, Virgil!" Came Janus' voice. When Virgil glanced up he found that Roman was there too. Of course the two of them had to be the ones to bother him, "We wondered what you might be doing out here away from everything?"

"Party's overwhelming, I don't want anything to do with my friends schemes, it's hot…" Virgil shrugged, "And my parents are here."

Janus' nose scrunched, and the expression was enough to pull a smile out of Virgil.

"Ah - I suppose they're the ones I didn't recognise," Roman hummed, "Honestly I thought they were here with the governor."

"He's basically the only reason they attend," Virgil grumbled, "They don't really leave the house much unless they're going away on a holiday or business trip anyway, so I don't blame you."

"I certainly didn't miss them after you left," Janus huffed, "I remember them being insufferable at parent teacher conferences."

Virgil winced, "Don't remind me."

"Can I get the tea?" Roman asked, sitting down on the bench next to Virgil and smirking. Virgil huffed.

"They just- were weird," Virgil sighed, "They're the type of rich people who know it and want everyone else to know it too. They suck."

Janus laughed, "That's quite the understatement - Do you remember when we were eleven and you failed a maths test and your mum tried to pay the teacher to give you a better grade? And then threw a tantrum in front of the whole class when he wouldn't?"

"Don't remind me," Virgil said, going to pull his hood up over his face only to be reminded he wasn't wearing his comfort hoodie. Meanwhile Roman laughed, "Everyone at school fucking hated me after that it was horrible."

"And that one time your parents wouldn't stop bragging about the trip you guys were going on too, oh and-"

"Janus shut up," Virgil snapped, already starting to get to his feet, "I don't want to hear a list of why you all hated me in middle school, okay? I already know."

Virgil didn't give them a chance to respond, grabbing his sketchbook and stalking off to find somewhere else quiet to sit. He found himself on the end of the eastern dock off of the rock pools, with his feet hanging off the side. He looked down into the water and let out a sigh. Soon enough he would've been here at the party an acceptable amount of time and then he could leave. Until then... until then he could just stay here, out of the way where no-one would bother him anymore.

----

The rest of summer passed wonderfully quickly. 

Virgil spent a lot more time at the rock pools now that he knew they were there, and otherwise avoided everyone. Especially the farmers.

He didn't need Roman and Janus to ask him what had happened back at the Luau. 

It was impossible to avoid everyone, though. At least Leah was good company. She liked to sit quietly and draw just like him, so it turned out that they didn't bother each other all that much. They hadn't really spoken all that much before, even in all of Virgil's years here. Leah lived out in the woods, drank wine in the saloon with Elliot and was more of an artsy sort - not the kind to hang around with Virgil and his friends. 

Relaxing at the beach with her was a nice break, though. They talked about how calming the waves were, how easy it was to clear your head and let go of anxious thoughts out here. The summer passed, and by the time they were starting to approach the transition to fall, Virgil felt like he could maybe call them friends. 

"What's wrong?" Leah asked him out of the blue one day. They'd been sitting quietly on the beach on a breezy day, and Virgil didn't think he'd done anything to show how off he had been feeling recently. But he must have done something, if she could pick up on it.

"What do you mean?" Virgil asked, frowning as he looked up from his sketchbook.

"Your eye's been twitching," Leah told him, "And you've been frowning at your sketchbook this entire time."

"I have?" He asked, before sighing, "It's nothing, really."

"I won't judge," Leah said closing her sketchbook and crossing her legs, "Or tell anyone, I promise."

"It's just-" Virgil sighed deeply, "It's the farmers, I uh - I... Oh I dunno."

"No no, it's okay, you can keep going," She said with a smile. "If you need to get something off of your chest?"

"Okay… it's just- I knew Janus, back in middle school, before I moved here." Virgil explained, "And I... I thought he hated me? I mean - he made fun of everyone back then - but we were talking at the Luau and it was weird?"

"In what way?" Leah pressed. She didn't seem judgemental, just... curious and open for Virgil to talk. To be a listening ear. It was kind of nice, and he was... grateful for it. He knew he could always talk to his friends, but they would just tease him about his crushes on the farmers. Virgil didn't think Leah would do that even if he admitted it.

"Well it kinda seemed like he was fond of the memories? Or excited to talk about them. I mean, maybe he's just remembering the times he got to laugh at me, but like," Virgil sighed, "I kinda assumed he wouldn't even remember I existed."

"I guess we all make a lot of assumptions on the people in our lives based on what we know," Leah said, nodding her head, "When who knows what they're really thinking."

"I guess so," Virgil said, tapping his pencil repeatedly against the sketchbook in his lap.

"The only way you could really know is by asking him." She said.

Virgil must have made some kind of face, because Leah started laughing.

"The dance of the moonlight jellies is coming up," She pointed out. "You could always ask them then."

Right, he could. Virgil really hoped that for some reason - Yoba's interference maybe - that the two farmers wouldn't show up.

----

Virgil sat on the edge of the western dock, swinging his feet whilst Sam and Sebastian argued over the idea of pushing each other in like they did every year. As of yet, no-one had actually taken a dip to see if the jellyfish were venomous, and Virgil would, personally, quite like to keep it that way.

Eventually, though, he got tired of their bickering. Abigail had noticed his restlessness and told him to take a walk before they launched the boat, so he'd dragged himself to his feet and started to wander.

When he reached the other dock, he ended up running into Thomas and his boyfriend, which honestly... Virgil wasn't sure if that was better or worse than running into the farmers.

"Hey Thomas," Virgil said, greeting his ex a little awkwardly. The awkwardness didn't come from their relationship status. There were no hard feelings from the time the two of them had dated. More so simply how they were. A little socially awkward, a little anxious, "Hi Nico."

"Heya Virge!" Thomas said with a smile regardless of the awkwardness, Nico gave a happy wave, "How's the sea breeze treating you?"

"My clothes are gonna smell like salt forever," He said, "How are the two of you?"

"We're great!" Nico said brightly, "I had some of that pudding Pierre is selling up on the beach - you should get some if you can, it's great, but damn it makes me want to fish for some reason."

"Sure," Virgil shrugged off the enthusiasm. It definitely wasn't the weirdest thing he'd seen someone say here in this town. Or even here tonight. 

"Have you seen the farmers?" Thomas asked. Virgil felt himself tense.

"Not yet, why?"

"I think Janus said he was looking for you earlier," Thomas said, Nico was nodding along.

"Oh! Yeah! They asked us to point you in their direction if we saw you." Nico nodded, backing Thomas up. 

"Oh, great," Virgil deadpanned, frowning in annoyance. Why were the farmers looking for him tonight? Now Virgil found himself wanting to avoid them more than ever despite the conversation he'd had with Leah.

He didn't stay with Thomas and Nico for very long after that, heading back to stand with his friends when Mayor Lewis announced that he'd be launching the boat soon. He was glad he'd left when he did, because across the pier he spotted Roman and Janus taking his place by Thomas and Nico only a moment later. The two of them were holding hands, with Roman's head resting on Janus' shoulder as they watched the beautiful, glowing jellyfish roll up to the docks. 

Virgil found that this year, he was more focused on watching the two farmers than he was the sea. 

-----

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Janus had insisted they keep the beast inside. Inside, it'll utterly destroy everything they own and leave them destitute. Outside, it'll utterly destroy random areas of the forest, invoking the wrath of the forest nymph and whatever other fae thingies might live there.

The first option had only one advantage: it was most likely to leave them alive.

But Remus couldn't stand to see the thing cooped up. It was like literally bouncing between the walls, tearing down shelves, destroying plates and pots, eating their flour. It was like a tiny tornado, a chunk of fog in roughly the shape of a lanky dog-thing, somewhere between corporeal and incorporeal, leaving a trail of smoke wherever it went.

"It'll only be for a year," Janus had said with a resigned sigh. "We should be grateful. Better they leave us with a Wild Hound than take one of us away."

But that year would suck for all of them, including the Hound. It was restless already, and Remus felt restless too just from watching it.

Maybe if he supervised it, letting it out would be okay.

- - -

Janus woke up to a suspiciously quiet home.

It took him a moment to place where his unease was coming from. Everything always felt so calm whenever he was wrapped in the star speckled blanket. Its magic was potent and effective; yet despite it, he felt a pit in his stomach.

He threw the blanket aside, and along with the cold, memories of the night came flooding back in. Remus, the Hunt, the Hound.

None of them were in sight.

Usually, Janus didn't like getting close to the windows; the curtain rods were made of rowanwood. While Logan would have been happy to exchange them for something less faerie repellant, Janus had protested the suggestion; anything that kept Janus inside also ensured other fae stayed out.

Now, he approached the window anyway, his skin crawling at the proximity to the rod. He pulled back the curtain, and peered down at the ground.

"Comet!" The word was out of his mouth before Janus could think. He was out there, and the Hound was attacking him. More wolf than dog, the thing was easily big enough to wrestle Remus to the ground. Its teeth and claws were solid enough to hurt. Red already marked the snow in splotches and streaks, leading up to where the Hound had a firm grip on Remus' forearm. Janus hurried back to bed to stir Logan awake, but he needn't have bothered.

Less than a minute later, Logan had gotten himself up, put on his glasses, assessed the situation, and tossed open the front door. "Enigma! Over here!"

Janus had already insisted on a strict no names rule over the next year, just in case the Hound could relay information to its masters.

But despite how quick Logan had been, the situation appeared to have resolved itself by the time he got downstairs. Remus was grinning from ear to ear, and the beast was laying belly up and chewing on a log of firewood while Remus administered what could only be described as belly rubs.

"What the fuck?" Logan muttered to himself.

Janus was already charging outside. "Get away from that thing!" he shouted.

"What? Why?"

The beast was on its feet in an instant, pouncing on Janus and knocking him over, but Remus was just as fast, tackling the thing to the ground.

"Come on, let's get it back inside before it ruins the forest." Janus was already shivering in the cold and ready for Remus to drag the thing to safety.

"It's not ruining anything!"

"You're bleeding!"

"Only a little."

Janus waved his arms wide, gesturing to the snow sharply contrasted by streaks of blood. "Only a little, ssssss-" The sure died on his tongue. "Just get inside."

"Most of that's the rabbit, not me."

The Hound had wriggled out of Remus' hold and was going for his arm again; Remus snatched the log of firewood from the ground and got it between them just in time. The powerful jaw locked onto the log, leading to some sort of tug-of-war.

"The rabbit? What rabbit?"

"The rabbit from yesterday."

Sure enough, the rabbit from yesterday lay shredded and sprinkled across the snow among the streaks of red.

That didn't change the fact that the creature was attacking Remus every chance it got.

In Janus' momentary silence, Remus had taken off running, and the thing chased him, then ran past him when he threw the log. While it gnawed, Remus reached down and made a snowball.

"Come on, Comet, don't be an idiot," Janus called.

"You're the idiot! We're having fun!"

The creature had gotten bored of the log within seconds, so Remus tossed a snowball. The creature leapt into the air for it. Its teeth snapped around the snow, coating its muzzle in white.

"Flower," Logan addressed Janus. He'd had the good sense to put on shoes and a cloak. "Have you considered that he might be right?"

"It's hurting him," Janus hissed, shivering against the cold.

Logan stepped close and wrapped the cloak around them both as best as he could. "He's keeping it from hurting him most of the time. Look."

Remus had climbed atop the pile of snow that used to be his snow cave, and the creature was bounding after him. Snow clung to its fog only briefly, dissipating and rolling off along with streaks of smoke. They both tumbled down the other side of the pile together, and then they both clambered to their feet again, taking off in another game of chase.

"From what I can see, they're not even hurting the forest. They're just playing in the snow."

Janus sighed. He didn't have a counter argument. That didn't mean he had to like it.

Logan took his hand. "Let me bring you back inside. You must be freezing."

- - -

It wasn't exactly intuitive for either of them to leave Remus out there with a beast that clearly meant him harm. They were only persuaded by the fact that Remus was not easily hurt, and he looked to be having as much fun as the beast in question.

Upstairs was already a disaster. In the few hours it had been inside, the beast had pulled down shelves, shattered plates and cups, torn books and diagrams, and even ripped the painstakingly untasseled blanket.

"This seems like a best case scenario," Janus admitted reluctantly as he sat nursing a cup of tea. "At least it won't break literally everything we own."

He wasn't just being materialistic; if the thing shredded all of their clothes and blankets, they would struggle to keep warm. If it ate through their pantry, they would struggle to eat. That wasn't even touching on the heartbreak of the thing destroying Logan's telescope and scale model of the solar system; or worse, making confetti out of all of Logan's accumulated books and studies. Logan wouldn't have the funds to replace his equipment or books, and his own tracking of the stars over the past several years would all go to waste if he lost his notes.

The few families that Janus knew that had been afflicted with the curse of a Wild Hound had spent the years after relying on the kindness of their neighbors. As long as the beast was with them, they were unable to keep any food or belongings in their home for any length of time. By the time it left, they'd had nothing.

"At least Remus heals quickly," Logan added, and then had a thought. "Forgive my ignorance. Is there a way to be rid of the creature? If we find a way to solve a riddle or something?"

Janus let out an exasperated sigh. "These are not the 'complete an impossible task and I'll reward you with riches' types of fae, my dear Starling," he explained. "This is the Wild Hunt. There's no reasoning with them. There's no playing their game. They don't even have a game. They just cause harm."

Logan looked down into his teacup. "Then I suppose this is the best case scenario."

- - -

Remus came back inside when evening grew close, his arms filled with barely contained smoke. When he laid it down carefully in front of the fireplace, it solidified into a curled up creature, whimpering at him to stay. Of course, Remus didn't need to be asked twice. He sat down, and the doggo put its head in his lap.

Logan and Janus were already making a fuss of him, rushing over with a first aid kit and a hearty stew. "Are you alri-" They both stopped short when the Hound growled at them.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, don't wake it!" Remus whispered, resting a hand on its head. The Hound responded immediately, laying its head back down and closing its glowing eyes. "It's tired."

Janus and Logan stared at each other.

- - -

Over the next few days, their lives fell into a sort of rhythm. Remus would spend all day playing with the beast–

"Whirlwind," Remus corrected every time someone called it a beast or monster or even creature. "It deserves to be called something. Whirlwind fits, right?"

Whirlwind did fit. It resembled a storm as it flew through the cold winter air, picking up and shedding snow as it went.

They would spend all day outside playing together, until Whirlwind was exhausted and Remus carried it back inside. They slept curled up together in front of the fireplace, so that as soon as the Hound stirred in the morning, Remus could take it outside to play again, before it had time to wreck anything inside.

Meanwhile, Janus and Logan would watch with worried reluctance. Remus' torn up arms never quite had time to heal overnight, and every day he would come in worse than the last.

- - -

It was the ninth night when their new rhythm was broken up. Logan and Janus woke up at midnight to find Whirlwind howling toward the window, Remus watching over it with concern. "It can't sleep," he said.

Outside, the Wild Hunt howled back.

"It's homesick," Remus added.

"It's a curse, it can't be homesick," Janus corrected as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"No, but it is! Just look!"

Whirlwind howled again. The sound was hollow, echoing around the room, omnipresent. It tossed its paws onto the windowsill, and immediately reeled back from the rowanwood above. Failing that, it started to pace, jogging toward Remus, then toward the window, and back again, howling all the while.

Janus sighed.

"What would you have us do?" Logan asked.

Remus didn't miss a beat. "We let it outside."

"Are you out of your mind?" Janus demanded. "You will not open the door at night during wintertime!"

"But he wants out!" Remus responded, his eyes as big and forlorn as the Hound itself.

Downstairs, something knocked on their door. Remus was up in an instant.

"Comet! Don't you dare – Comet!"

"It's my curse!" Remus was already several steps down the staircase, and Whirlwind was way ahead of him. "I know it best!"

Janus and Logan could do nothing but follow.

When Remus tore the door open, he was face to face with some sort of cloaked and hooded figure. Its only clear feature was its piercing eyes.

Whirlwind jumped right into the figure and settled as if in its arms, though it wasn't clear whether the figure had arms at all. If anything, it looked more like the two melded together into one vague shape. Whirlwind's head was barely visible, its tongue lolling out.

The figure's glowing eyes grazed over Logan, lingered on Janus, and settled firmly on Remus.

"Is this your caretaker?" Remus asked Whirlwind.

The figure shifted Whirlwind in its probable arms and took something out from its mass of a body. Sure enough, a spindly limb extended from the shadowy cloak holding a basket filled with something or other.

Remus glanced at the basket. "Do you want me to take it?"

The figure remained still.

Remus took the basket. "I'm grateful," he said. Janus and Logan had both drilled into him to never say 'please', 'thank you', or 'sorry' to a faerie, or else they'd interpret you as indebted to them.

The figure turned and drifted away, slowly dissipating into the fog and taking Whirlwind with it.

- - -

Nobody quite knew what to do with themselves after that.

They brought the basket upstairs and found it was full of wood shavings. They set it down among the torn down shelves they hadn't bothered to put back up yet.

Then Remus sat down and sang to himself.

When you find youself alone

And you feel you've lost your way

When your path is all unknown

And the world has turned to gray

Just know I'm thinking of you

And in your heart I'll stay

When it's dark and I am scared

And the sun is far away

When I feel so unprepared

For the hollow winter day

I'll know you're thinking of me

And in my heart you'll stay

As relieved as Janus and Logan were, they made sure to mind Remus' grief. While they couldn't quite understand how he'd gotten so very attached to a creature so hell bent on destroying everything it could get ahold of, they would be respectful of it.

They did eventually fall asleep, but Remus stayed up, listening to the Hunt wailing outside, his basket of wood shavings cradled in his lap. When the sunlight finally chased the howls away, he pulled a curtain aside and watched the clouds turn rainbow bright.

Winter came quick during Remus' first year. Waist deep snow blanketed the forest, and the cold drove Logan and Janus to stay inside as much as possible. Remus was way too restless for that. He'd practically be bouncing between the walls if he couldn't go out.

So he made good use of the few hours of daylight that they had. The first part of winter he spent building: a snow cave, then a snow fortress made of tightly packed snow bricks, then a pair of snowmen to guard the fortress' entrance, then a large snow dick to adorn the outside. He sculpted the latter carefully, leaving no details to the imagination.

When he eventually got bored of all of that, he pivoted to venturing into the woods. Animals were difficult to find out there, but the tracks they left were obvious, and beautiful. Birds, squirrels, deer, foxes. He couldn't tell what was what at first, but the winter was long, and he had plenty of time to learn. Luckily, and predictably, Logan had a book about wilderness survival that helped him identify what he saw.

When he'd gotten a good idea of how and where the animals moved, he switched to setting traps: jury rigged contraptions with trip wires or lures that would drop a cage or toss a net or fire a crossbow at the unsuspecting animal. It took many tries to get it right, but Remus felt like he had all the time in the world.

The only rule was he had to be home by dark. Before the Wild Hunt started their chase.

But tonight, dark was still a long way away, and Remus' most recent trap was close.

The trek through the snow was cumbersome as always, but less so ever since Logan gave him these weird twig-netted things to attach to his shoes so he wouldn't sink through the snow as much.

Bindings. The word took longer than normal to connect from idea to concept to word. The word itself had too many meanings muddling the connectivity.

The snowshoe bindings weren't exactly un-cumbersome either. They were bulky and difficult and in the way. But they were better than sinking through the snow with every step.

The snow in the air looked like the clouds were falling down. Logan had said they probably were. It's not like anyone had been up there to check, but it seemed likely, he said.

And the constantly falling clouds meant that whatever tracks Remus could find were always fresh. And he was hot on a trail of a rabbit who had been heading straight for his trap.

The sky was like a rainbow as sunlight danced over the clouds that hadn't fallen down yet. It was gonna set soon.

Remus still had time.

Sure enough, the rabbit lay dead, pierced perfectly through the head by Remus' crossbow. "Alright!" he said to himself as he picked it up by its ears. He'd gotten lucky too. A shot through the chest or hip or whatever would mean a hole in the pelt. A shot through the head was perfect!

Ideally, he'd reset the trap before he left. But it was almost dark. A little disappointed, he picked up the crossbow and started the trek back.

It was easier now that he could step in the tracks he'd already left. But he'd never figured out how to be fast in these snow bindings.

It wasn't until he heard an owl hoot that he started to grow worried. He looked up. Beyond the rainbow clouds, stars were peeking out. The wind howled in the trees, but something else howled too, and Remus was only halfway home.

He broke into a run as the night sky slowly descended.

Normally, he wasn't out this late. Normally, he'd have left earlier and come back earlier. Normally, he only heard the howling from inside.

Inside was safe. But out here, out here he was at the mercy of what was getting closer behind him, and from what Remus could glean, they were not merciful.

Barking, wailing, rushing. The bindings on his shoes were clunky and awkward, especially at a run. But home wasn't far away. They couldn't get him once he was inside.

Thoughts of getting ripped away by shadowy hands flew unbidden through Remus' mind. With them came a brand new sensation. A feeling connecting to a concept connecting to a word: fear.

The wind tore at him as he tore open the door. His ears filled with a deafening wail. Something was reaching. It didn't get him, but it brushed him. Another brand new sensation crashed over him like a wave. His mind leapt to the accompanying word, one right at the tip of his tongue.

Cold.

Janus was right. It felt like loneliness.

- - -

"Get out."

"What?" Remus snapped back to the present. It felt like an eternity between the moment he'd slammed the door behind him and now. He found himself leaning against the door. Janus bristled in front of him, scowling and flinching away after touching his shoulder.

"Janus, what are you talking about?"

"That's not our Comet."

"Explain." Logan sounded about as upset as Janus, but at least his attitude wasn't directed at Remus.

Janus was baring his teeth. "Whatever that is, it's cold to the touch. It belongs to the Wild Hunt."

"The fuck I do!" Remus shouted. He felt his breath shake. "They touched me, but they didn't take me!"

"They wouldn't touch you and leave you behind."

"I got away!" Remus insisted, finding himself suddenly overtaken by yet another new sensation: tears.

"Darling, look at him," Logan said from the staircase; Janus was deliberately blocking him from approaching. Remus couldn't keep looking at them. His head dropped. The dead rabbit was at his feet. Its eyes were empty as it stared up at him.

"Faeries are capable of glamour spells," Janus shot back.

"By that logic, anyone we ever meet could be a faerie in disguise. We cannot live our lives that way."

It was too loud. Not the arguing, that was fine. But inside. Inside his stomach, Remus could feel something thrashing. And while he could try to hold it in check, it seemed fruitless, or at least not worth the hassle. His hands clenched into fists and, aa though of their own accord, struck against the stone wall. It stung, but that didn't matter. He struck again. The force in his arms against the unyielding stone felt like relief.

By the time Logan made it to his side, he was hunched over, his shoulders raised to his ears, the skin on his hands torn, his face frozen in a silent scream. As soon as Logan touched him, he slapped the arm away hard enough to hurt.

"Alright," Logan said, stepping back. "I'm giving you a minute; however long you need. When you're ready, we'd like to hear what happened."

The words barely registered. Remus' shoulders heaved as he sobbed.

By the time he sank to his knees, he felt spent in a way he hadn't before, and unlike all his other new experiences today, he didn't have a word for this one.

The dead rabbit kept staring at nothing.

"Comet? Would you like to come upstairs?" A scaled hand floated beside him.

Remus sniffed. "Don't you think I'm one of them?"

The hand moved in a way that suggested a shrug. "That's no way to live my life."

- - -

The Hunt still howled and wailed outside. Hounds bayed and barked. The windows rattled.

"They're worse tonight than they normally are," Logan commented as they bundled Remus in all the blankets and wool sweaters they could find. It was already helping. His shivering hands had stilled, and the sores were healing up quickly.

"They want him back," Janus explained. Their voices were hushed, trying not to draw attention from outside. Not that it mattered. Remus had already done that.

"Should I let them have me?"

"No," Logan said sternly at the same time as Janus said, "Of course not."

"So we just wait for them to leave?"

"The morning sun will chase them away." Janus pressed a mug of tea into Remus' hands. He held it close to his chest.

"Being cold sucks balls."

Janus smiled half-heartedly. "It certainly does, sweetie."

There wasn't much to say after that. All there was, was listening to the fae that would haunt them all night. Maybe every night all winter. Maybe every winter.

Remus didn't like it. "Do you know any lullabies?" he asked instead.

They spent the night teaching him every lullaby they could think of.

- - -

When the morning sun finally did chase the Wild Hunt away, the howling and wailing died down. The windows stopped rattling. But one sound remained.

Virgil sighed, dramatic and long-suffering, but he shut his eyes. »If you try anything, I will leave.« »Duly noted,« Roman said, already moving away. »And deeply hurt.« Virgil listened as Roman moved around the room—footsteps, the soft scrape of furniture, the faint clink of something glass. There was a rustle overhead, then another and the unmistakable sound of balloons bumping into one another. Virgil shifted on the stool, nerves crawling under his skin. »This feels like a setup,« Virgil muttered. »And why do I hear balloons?« »No reason!« »That was not convincing.« Music started playing—low at first, then clearer. Virgil frowned. It was familiar. Not loud or flashy, just a steady, atmospheric track he liked to put on when his thoughts got too heavy. Roman knew that. There was the faint scent of something sweet in the air. Vanilla. Chocolate. Something richer underneath. This was… taking a while. »How long—« »Patience, my dark and stormy friend,« Roman interrupted, voice bright but oddly tight. »Great reveals require suspense.« Virgil waited. Seconds stretched. He counted his breaths, grounding himself, trying not to imagine every possible way this could go wrong. Roman hummed loudly, far too cheerfully, as if volume could erase suspicion. »This better not be another prank,« Virgil warned. »I don’t have the energy for theatrics today.« There was a pause. »It’s not a prank,« Roman said, softer than before. Virgil frowned, but before he could respond— »Okay,« Roman said. »You can look.« Virgil opened his eyes—and froze. The room was unrecognizable. Purple and black balloons hovered near the ceiling, light catching on their surfaces. Colorful banners crisscrossed the walls, and right in the center hung a sign that made his chest tighten before he could stop it. Happy Birthday, Virgil. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe...

❤️💜

----

The week that followed was a busy one for Thomas.

Having a new housemate - even a tiny one - was a somewhat stressful change in routine. Not that Logan himself was stressful! It was just that... having to consider another person in his home wasn't something Thomas had needed to think about since he moved away from his parents to study mechanics. Now he had to think about making the house - which was already somewhat rickety as it was - suitable for a borrower as well as a human and plenty of other things too. All whilst still going to work and doing his oh so fun job. 

The longer Thomas knew Logan, the more he dreaded every shift. He wished he had the space and money to save every borrower in those nasty places. Every time he saw them he just thought of his new friend. He hoped, eventually, he'd be able to do something. Maybe he could campaign, or try to convince people that treating them this badly was terrible - that they were people too.

But none of that was anything Thomas could do right now. Even Logan had said as much when he'd vented about it after his first shift since they'd met. Logan had actually seemed... almost annoyed, about Thomas' woes. He supposed him lamenting about not being able to do anything to help Logan's kind wasn't exactly nice to hear.

After Thomas' second day of work that week, he'd gone back to town without Logan and scoured the place for a borrower sized sewing kit. After searching around for hours and asking a few people if anyone knew a guy, he found someone who would be willing to make him such a thing. It would be... far more expensive than Thomas could really afford. 

It wasn't great. But Thomas wanted his new friend to be comfortable. He wanted to build that trust between them. Getting the borrower more tools to help him be independent was a huge step towards that. He thought back to the borrowers he'd always seen in the ships. He couldn't remember a single unique thing about any of them. They had different coloured hair and fur and skin, of course. Some of them were smaller or bigger. But Thomas couldn't remember a distinct face. He'd never looked hard enough or spent enough time to be able to picture a distinct borrower aside from Logan. That was how they always got treated. Like each of them was exactly the same as the next borrower. Thomas actually winced when he realised that also meant they would be easily seen as replaceable. 

So yeah, anything he could do to give Logan a sense of independence and individuality, he would do.

And if that meant commissioning someone to make him a miniature sewing kit for more than he could reasonably afford, then Thomas would do it. 

Keeping it a secret from the borrower wasn't something he was exactly confident about. On one hand, Thomas wanted to surprise the borrower with the fact that he'd been able to find someone making such a thing by giving it to him, not just telling him about it. On the other, keeping Logan in the dark about getting him the thing he wanted felt... unfair. 

In the end, Thomas had gone back and forth on it for a few days too long and felt he may as well just surprise him with it after the weekend anyway. 

Logan had gotten shockingly proficient at using some of Thomas' own tools in the meantime. It was unfortunate that Thomas still needed to carry Logan wherever he wanted to go in Thomas' house due to his injury. He had to think of a way to help with that somehow. For now, though Logan had been spending a lot of time in Thomas' workshop building himself tiny pieces of furniture using scraps Thomas had left lying around. He wasn't exactly the tidiest person. It was a good thing now, at least. It meant that Logan was able to use the leftover pieces, and Thomas was honestly quite glad to finally see them be used by someone. All of the things he had kept around 'just in case' finally seemed to have a purpose.

Another thing that Thomas had learned was that Logan did not like being talked to while he worked.

It wasn't something that Logan had ever said outright. But he'd made it clear enough through his actions and what he did say. Whenever Thomas asked what Logan was working on, he'd close off or get defensive. Sometimes he'd even stopped working on it altogether, looking as though he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't be. Despite Thomas assuring him that he was allowed to make whatever he wanted in here, it seemed that Logan still hadn't been able to shake the idea that he would get punished for crafting. 

It made Thomas feel horrible, but the best way he'd found to manage it for now was not to interrupt Logan doing it. Or pretend not to have noticed when he came in. For now, he was happy to bring Logan downstairs when he asked and pretend he didn't know why Logan wanted to be in his workshop.

That solution definitely wasn't permanent. He really hoped Logan would one day get to the point where he was comfortable discussing his projects with Thomas openly, but Thomas could recognise that right now that wasn't where they were at. He would need Logan's trust for that. And after nearly two weeks it was turning out that said trust was quite hard to gain.

He really hoped the sewing kit would help. 

----

The fabric shop in town sold little baskets of sewing scraps for cheap. 

Thomas had never been much for sewing. He could do simple stuff - patching up a hole, repairing a sock - but he would be hopeless if you gave him an entire project. That meant he had never really explored the fabric store his town had to offer, and he'd never found the scrap baskets before. 

It was a little late. He'd rushed into town after his last job today to collect the sewing kit, which was now safely tucked in his satchel. He'd realised as he was beginning to rush home - hoping to get back before it got dark so he could light the oil lamps for Logan - that he didn't have much fabric at all back home. 

They had the pieces they had bought back at the parts store, but most of those weren't really suitable for clothes. Plus, with the furniture Logan had been making they were staring to run out.

The baskets here were more curated. There were various different types of fabrics in all sorts of colours and patterns. But not only that, there were buttons - of all sizes, even tiny enough for borrower clothes - leftover thread, pins and all sorts of other bits and bobs thrown in along side the scrap pieces.

The baskets were organised roughly by colour, and they were incredibly cheap since most people wouldn't have a use for the odds and ends of fabric. Thomas ended up buying three. One of whites and creams, one of blacks and greys and one of a range of blues. The blue basket was slightly more expensive than the others - some of the baskets with brighter colours were - but Thomas was willing to spare a few extra shillings for what he was fairly certain was Logan's favourite colour.  

He would bring them back and surprise the borrower with them. 

Oh he really hoped that Logan liked it.

----

"Logan?" Thomas called when he got home, eyes sweeping the dining room for his borrower friend. With the newly built lift attached to the dresser, Logan could get around this room, but Thomas was fairly certain he wasn't able to make it downstairs to the workshop on his own. "I've got some stuff for you!"

No answer. Thomas frowned, placing the baskets down on the dining table and walking over to the dresser to see if maybe Logan was sleeping or something. He didn't see Logan in his bed, nor sitting at his little table. He even peeked around the little divider Logan had made to give himself some privacy and didn't find the borrower there either. 

Thomas frowned at the absence of his friend, wondering where on earth he might be as he walked over to check the adjoined kitchen. Logan should've been able to hear him call from in here. The kitchen was only separated from the combined seating area and dining room by a half height wall. Thomas didn't even know how Logan would've gotten up onto the counters, since Thomas hadn't yet put together a second lift for them - though he did plan to eventually - but he knew borrowers were capable of many things humans didn't always expect from them. So he'd checked anyway.

Not finding Logan on the counters, though, Thomas had started to panic. 

"Logan?" He tried again, searching the unlit fireplace in case his tiny friend had gotten trapped in there somehow, and then searching the armchairs and cushions in case he'd climbed up and fallen down the side and gotten stuck.

Failing to find Logan in any of those places, Thomas finally turned to the staircase.

Had Logan attempted to go downstairs?

Thomas was worried if he had. He really needed to figure out how to make the stairs borrower safe, There was every chance an uninjured borrower would fall and hurt themselves trying to climb their way down Thomas' steps, which were already dangerous enough for a human being as steep and narrow as they were. Thomas himself had almost tripped on them a handful of times, and he had been living in this house for years up until this point. 

And not to mention the fact that Logan was injured too. Thomas had no idea how Logan would've been able to get down these stairs by himself. Or why he would risk it. 

Taking a deep breath, Thomas went back into the main room to light a lantern. Night had started to fall as he got back and now it was starting to get too dark to see without a lamp. He hastily went around lighting all of the lamps in the main room, before taking his hand held lantern to the stairs. 

As he made his way down them, Thomas inspected each step. It would be absolutely horrible if he ended up stepping on Logan should he actually be stuck on the stairs. 

He was glad he did, too. Because about halfway down the staircase he noticed a dark splodge curled up in the corner of a step. He wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't been looking, especially not in the dark. Thomas wished he was rich enough to afford a lightbulb or two so he could see better at night.

Carefully, he passed the shape he was scared was Logan and turned around on the stairs, lowering his lantern to cast a light over what was, in fact, the sleeping form of his borrower friend curled up in the corner of the staircase.

Thomas had, for a split second, been terrified that Logan was dead. But with the light so close, he could see Logan's chest rising and falling, which eased his worry a tiny bit. 

Not enough to ready wave away all of his panic, though. Because what was Logan doing sleeping halfway down his staircase? Had something happened to him? Had he gotten stuck here? Had he been hiding from Thomas?

Without waking him up, Thomas couldn't tell if Logan was hurt or not. Unfortunately he also wasn't sure if waking Logan up was the best idea. Surely he was sleeping here for a reason. But the cold stone of the steps couldn't be good for the borrower, nor would it be comfortable. 

Eventually, Thomas realised that he was going to have to wake him up. He couldn't move Logan whilst he was sleeping without violating several boundaries the borrower had set, and he couldn't in his right mind let Logan stay here. Logan had asked Thomas before not to touch him without his permission, but Thomas could only assume going against that one wish would be better than going against that and several others by picking him up without asking whilst he was asleep and vulnerable. Especially when getting Logan to express those boundaries had been so difficult in the first place.

As gently as he could, Thomas reached out and gently nudged Logan with the tip of his finger. The borrower stirred, and then sat up with a start when Thomas whispered his name and poked him again. Logan looked around, clearly disoriented, noticing the lantern first and them looking over at Thomas. 

Thomas had been expecting upset when Logan woke up. When he was met with panic as Logan looked around, Thomas pulled back a little to give him space.

"Where am I?" Logan asked quickly, shifting only to hiss at a pain in his leg.

"I found you asleep on my stairs," Thomas said, gesturing up. Logan's eyes followed his hands and he frowned. The fear was starting to fade into something that might have been relief.

"You're back," Logan said, with a weight behind the words that said a lot.

"Yeah, I had to run some errands after work, but I'm back now - what happened to you? How'd you get down here?" Thomas asked, trying to keep his tone calm so that the borrower wouldn't think Thomas was mad. The last thing he needed was for Logan to try and make some kind of excuse that he thought Thomas wanted to hear rather than what actually happened. Logan looked down at his pawed feet. 

"I... wished to go to the workshop," Logan admitted quietly. 

"Right," Thomas nodded. Maybe the need for a borrower safe method of traversing the house was more of an immediate than he thought, "And...?"

It took Logan a little while longer to answer this time. It didn't seem like he was upset at Thomas' questioning, more so just a little embarrassed. Thomas didn't push him to speak, and eventually Logan did so on his own.

"I was doing so by lowering myself from each stair using my arms, until I got to this one," Logan gestured up to the stair above him, "I picked the wrong spot to hold, a piece came loose in my hand and I fell. I landed wrong on my injured leg and collapsed, deciding from that point it was not worth continuing."

Thomas nodded along as Logan spoke so matter-of-factly about what must have been a terrifying experience.

"I then realised that with my height, I could not reach the top of the stair again to pull myself back up without a high jump, which isn't achievable in my current state, and thus found myself stuck here," Logan gestured to the spot he was in now, "I figured I might as well rest here at the very least until the pain in my leg had subsided a little or you came back. And in doing so I must have fallen asleep."

Thomas nodded, before offering his hand, "Would you like help getting back upstairs? I can't imagine sleeping on the stone would be good for you."

Logan hesitated, looking up at Thomas' face for a long moment before standing up carefully, using the wall as a brace to stand and then slowly making his way over to Thomas' hand. The borrower near collapsed into Thomas' palm, which seemed to shock both of them, but once Logan was situated Thomas carried Logan back up to the dresser and put down his hand so Logan could climb off easily. The borrower immediately fell into one of the comfy looking chairs he had made for himself, setting his crutches to the side. 

"I've been thinking about how to make it easier for you to get around in here," Thomas said, "Admittedly I've been putting it off because I don't really have the money right now for more lift parts, and I'm not totally sure how to deal with the stairs, but I think it might be more important than I originally thought, huh?"

"I will not pressure you to do anything," Logan said.

"You wouldn't be pressuring me," Thomas quickly shook his head, "I'd do it either way, I'd just prefer your input so that I can actually make things easier for you, rather than harder or more complicated than they need to be."

"I... suppose that makes sense," Logan nodded.

"And that way you'll always have access to the workshop," Thomas said, "Or wherever else in the house you wanna go whilst I'm not here so you don't get too bored."

Logan nodded tentatively, "My projects are what have kept me occupied, since you have given me no work to do."

"Work?" Thomas asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Yes, you know - the job I am supposed to have?" he pointed out.

"You have a broken leg, Logan," Thomas pointed out, "Even if I was gonna make you work, it wouldn't be until after that had healed, but I don't plan on making you work at all. That would be cruel of me."

Logan said nothing, and Thomas sighed.

"I did get something that might be able to stave off the boredom for a while without you having to get to the workshop, though," Thomas said, hoping to lighten the mood a little. It seemed to work, as Logan's ear twitched just the tiniest bit and he sat up a straighter. With a smile, Thomas moved back to the dining table where he had set down his things and rifled through his bag until he could pull out the sewing kit. The man he had commissioned had done a wonderful job, some of the pieces were nearly too small for Thomas to see properly. There were needles the correct size for Logan's hands, a miniature pincushion and pins to go with it, tiny spools of the thinnest thread in a range of colours, even a few pieces of paper, a pencil, ruler and measuring tape made to Logan's size. 

There was clearly a lot of detail and effort put into this by someone who actually seemed to care about the comfort of the tiny using it. Thomas was, honestly, glad he had spent that much money for it. The man who'd made this deserved every penny.

"I found you a sewing kit," Thomas announced as he placed the small paper wrapped box down on Logan's tiny table. Once again, Logan hesitated to inspect it, but eventually he moved to unwrap it, gasping softly when he saw the pretty wooden box everything was kept in. When he opened it, the surprise became astonishment as he saw all of the tiny pieces inside.

"You... where did you get this?" Logan asked, inspecting the sewing needles and then the thread. On his face was what was quite possibly the first some Thomas had seen from the borrower.

"I asked around," Thomas said proudly, "Found someone who makes this sort of thing to order and asked for one! I thought you deserved it."

"...It's fine craftsmanship," Logan admitted, "A human made this?"

"Yep! It's pretty impressive, right? I had no idea our big ol' fingers could make something so small."

"Me neither," Logan agreed, carefully putting everything back into its place within the box, "I'll be sure to take great care of it, I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

"You don't have to repay me," Thomas shook his head, "It's a gift - speaking of!"

Thomas whirled around to grab the baskets from the table and bring them over for Logan to see. It was difficult to show him, since they were far bigger than the borrower, so he ended up holding them up to the edge of the table. 

"Sorry, they're a little big for you - I'll see if I have any better containers downstairs," Thomas said sheepishly, "But it's a bunch of fabric scraps and sewing bits they were selling really cheap at the fabric store. I thought at least some of it might be useful for you since we don't have much left of those other bits we bought."

"I-" Logan said, a little stunned as he stared at the contents of the baskets, "Thank you, I... cannot express how much I appreciate your generosity adequately."

"You don't have to," Thomas shook his head, "I can leave these up here - oh! Hmm... I wonder..."

Logan watched him as Thomas pulled out the top drawer of the dresser, putting down the basket to carefully remove the fancier plates that lived inside. He never used them, he figured it would be easy enough to find somewhere else to put them if this worked. 

Once the drawer was empty, Thomas positioned the baskets inside. They were taller, preventing the drawer from closing and coming up just a little lower than the full height of the dresser.

"Perfect fit! Now, if I make you a little ladder you'll be able to climb down into the baskets to grab bits," Thomas said, "Do you think that would work?"

"I... don't see why it wouldn't?" Logan said, looking a little dumbfounded, "I don't... understand... why you would give up your drawer for it, though."

Thomas shrugged, "Those plates may as well collect dust somewhere else, and I wanted these to be accessible to you whilst I'm not here - you should get to be independent."

Logan was silent for a long time before Thomas realised he wasn't going to say anything at all. 

"Right, uh, well I'm gonna figure out that ladder for you and then make us some dinner, sound good?" Thomas said, maybe just a little awkwardly.

Logan nodded, looking a little spaced out. Thomas felt a twinge of concern, but he didn't think it would be made better by pushing the issue. Instead he just nodded and made his way downstairs. putting together a ladder using toothpicks and some hastily whittled pieces of wood wasn't too difficult and hardly took very long. He'd likely made the ladder too long, but he could measure the distance and cut it to size when Logan was more okay with Thomas being nearby again. Clearly just now he had been trying to hint that he wanted Thomas to leave. That much was obvious enough.

Once he was done, he set about throwing together something the both of them could eat and leaving Logan's portion on the dresser for him to take whenever he was ready before grabbing his notebook and heading to sit down at the table with his own food. He had a whole lot of plans to make if he wanted to make this place safe for his borrower friend sooner rather than later.

----

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Parting the night before had hurt Janus. 

No matter what was proper, Janus had desperately wanted to follow his fellow prince to his room and spend the night. But Roman had gently declined, nudging Janus towards his own room and telling him to sleep well with a sweet kiss to his lips. Janus knew it was probably for the better that they were parting ways for now. It was proper and respectable, no matter what his heart wanted. 

When they had parted, Janus had invited Roman to breakfast with him the next morning. With Roman staying in the palace, Janus thought it would be a good opportunity to talk in a setting that was less formal and stuffy. 

Roman had agreed - to Janus' delight - and before he'd gone to sleep that night he'd instructed the maids to prepare a nice breakfast for the both of them the next morning.

The only problem now, was that Roman was late.

Janus tried not to let himself do something as undignified as fret. But he couldn't help but be worried about what would make Roman late for a breakfast he had agreed to. Janus tried to reassure himself that Roman had probably just slept in, or maybe gotten lost on the way. 

Either way, by the time it got to half an hour and the buffet of food was beginning to get cold, Janus decided it was probably time for him to go and seek out the man he had decided he wanted to court. He really hoped that there was a reasonable explanation for Roman's lateness, because if there wasn't Janus was certain he was going to end up devastated after the best night of his life.

The first place Janus would check was Roman's room. It only made sense, and if Janus had looked everywhere else first he would've felt just a little silly about it. 

Just as he had thought, knocking on Roman's door had gotten him a surprised yelp and a bang in response. Janus winced, he hoped Roman was okay.

"Roman, it's me, Janus" Janus said, resting his hand against the door, "You... never came to breakfast?"

"Oh- oh dear-" Came Roman's voice from inside the room, he sounded out of breath and nervous, for some reason. "Give me just a moment, please-"

Janus waited patiently. He was starting to think Roman actually had just slept in. 

"Alright- come in-" Roman called after a moment. Janus took a deep breath and pushed open the door. 

Roman was sitting across the room at the ornate, white wood vanity. Half obscured by the red drapes on the canopy bed and staring at the wall. The mirror on the vanity had been flipped on it's stand and Roman didn't turn to look at him when Janus closed the door behind him.

"Is... everything alright?" Janus asked tentatively, slightly worried that Roman was not, in fact, okay.

"I have not been completely honest with you, Janus," Roman said, "And I've felt terrible about it since last night. I'm sorry I never came to breakfast, I was trying to figure out... well... how to continue to keep myself hidden, I suppose, but then I realised that that wouldn't be right. I cannot have our relationship be founded on dishonesty."

That left Janus frowning in confusion. What in the world was Roman talking about?

"Roman...?" Janus asked, frowning, "What could you possibly have been hiding-?"

Roman stood, and that was when Janus noticed that he now had a scaly red tail that swept across the ground behind him with a plume of bright red fur at the end - yellow at the roots like a flame. He turned, and Janus' eyes widened when he saw Roman's face laiden with gold and red scales, dotting across his nose and cheeks. His eyes were the same as they had been the night before, except now his pupils were slit like a cat's. With the scales on his face visible, they seemed to glow. Amidst his untamed hair, Janus could now see a pair of small red horns that Janus was certain he hadn't had a moment ago.

Whilst Janus was staring in shock, Roman stood up and walked over to him, tail swishing across the stone floor behind him as he reached carefully for Janus. He didn't pull away when Roman reached for his hands, only tensed. Roman's hands were tipped with sharp looking red claws, though he was careful not to let them dig into Janus' hands.

"You.... you're a..." Janus whispered, trying to wrap his head around the fact that the man he had fooled around with and attempted to court the night before was a dragon, "Oh goodness - I'm so sorry for any offence I may have caused."

"Janus, darling-" Roman tried to interrupt.

"I can't believe how stupid I've been - I dressed up as a dragon- I was - parading around in what probably felt like a mockery of your people-"

"Janus," Roman said.

"I can't believe this, you can smite me if you wish, just-"

"Darling, please," Roman said, carefully cupping Janus' face with his hands. Finally, Janus gained the sense to shut up.

"...Yes?" Janus asked quietly.

"I am not upset with you," Roman said softly, "You are endearing, charming, and very very pretty, I feel there is little you could do to upset me."

"But I-"

"But nothing, darling," Roman huffed, leaning forward and kissing Janus' forehead, "I'm sincerely sorry to have lied to you, I was attempting to blend in."

"You did a great job," Janus said, Roman laughed.

"You do not need to lie to me, sweetheart, I know it went rather poorly," Roman corrected gently. Janus winced.

"I'm sorry - you probably hate me," Janus sighed, "I can't help lying, a lot of the time..."

Janus was well aware of dragon's preferences towards honesty. Lying to a dragon could easily be signing your own death warrant. Roman had lied to him, which could make it better, but Janus still wasn't certain enough not to worry at all. 

"None of that, my treasure," Roman said with a small smile, gently squishing Janus' face where he held it, "I have little problem asking again, or prompting you if you lie to me as I have been doing."

"...Really?" Janus asked, frowning at the dragon, "And... you really do want to court me?"

"Of course I do," Roman smiled, "I wouldn't have offered if I didn't, I assure you."

"But... why would you want me?" Janus asked quietly, "Surely... surely another dragon-?"

"No," Roman said, and Janus yipped in surprise when Roman scooped him up into his arms, spinning him around before pressing a kiss to his lips, "I would want no-one else."

Janus tried to push down the swooping flustered feeling that the gesture shot through his stomach, "That's so very sappy," He said, instead of any of the things he was currently feeling.

"Oh, you'll come to learn I am always sappy," Roman joked, "I'm sorry I was late to breakfast, my darling."

"It... it's fine, really, I understand now," Janus said, "I'm really just glad you didn't up and disappear on me."

Janus had meant it as a sly joke, but Roman looked downright devastated at the idea, "What sort of monster would do that to the person they planned to court? That would be so horrible of me to do-"

"It... happens to humans," Janus said softly, shocked that that wasn't something Roman was used to. 

"That... That's so sad, really?" Roman asked, looking upset as he looked down at Janus, "But is that not horrible?"

"Of course it's horrible," Janus shook his head, "But humans can be horrible sometimes, does that not happen to dragons?"

Roman just shook his head, before carrying Janus over to his bed and sitting, placing Janus onto his lap and letting his tail curl around him. With a glance at Roman to check if it was alright, Janus began to run his fingers through the feathered plume on the end of his tail.

"For dragons, courtship is incredibly important," Roman said, "It means a lot to us, and tends to be an incredibly long process in order for the two dragons to prove that they love each other - or break it off. Once a courtship is sealed, for us, it is for life."

Janus' eyes widened a little, "So, we-"

"Our courtship is not yet sealed," Roman said softly, hand travelling up Janus' back. The touch made his shudder, "I will admit, I rushed into things with you, because you are human - I've broken many a tradition, and I'm willing to break many more, but sealing our courtship at the heartstone is not something I will budge on."

Janus listened, curious as Roman explained, "We as humans don't have all that much information on dragons," he said, "You're going to have to elaborate."

With a chuckle, Roman scritched the hair at the back of Janus' neck, the sensation was almost enough to make him melt. "That's alright, I'm happy to explain - the heartstone is a large gemstone that resides in our kingdom, dragons swear their courtship in front of it and then take a chunk, with which they carve matching jewellery."

"Oh... Roman that sounds beautiful," Janus smiles, "Though I'm not sure I know how to carve jewellery."

Roman shook his head, "I can teach you, or find someone else to help if my teaching is not adequate - all else fails we can do it together."

"And you're absolutely sure you want to court me?" Janus asked, looking up at the dragon who was currently running claws through his hair. Janus tried to stamp down those feelings once again, but the look Roman was giving him was pure adoration. Janus wasn't entirely sure what he could have done to deserve such a look from someone so magnificent, but for some reason Roman was looking at him that way regardless.

"Of course I'm sure, my treasure, you are the most precious of humans I've ever met, I'd gladly have you for the rest of your life."

"I would like to get to know you better, but... I don't think I'd be opposed to that," Janus said with a soft smile, "...at least this revelation makes the nicknames make sense,"

Roman snorted, trying to contain a boisterous laugh that seemed like a great difference from how graceful he seemed. The sound made Janus smile.

"Well you are my newest and most precious treasure," Roman purred, "But... about that breakfast?"

"It's all cold by now," Janus huffed, shaking his head, "the maids probably cleared it away."

"Oh... I'm so sorry," Roman said, leaning down to gently nuzzle Janus' cheek. The scales on his face were hard and smooth, like he had gemstones set into his cheeks, "I didn't mean to ruin our breakfast."

"It's alright," Janus shook his head, even if he was still a little salty about it.

"It's not alright, I should've told you sooner," Roman said, squeezing him gently, "Instead of keeping myself a secret - really, I have to make up for my dishonesty-"

"It's- it's fine, really," Janus shook his head, "Heaven knows I've been far more dishonest than you have, you continuing to want me is repayment enough, I think."

Roman looked at him with his eyes wide and a little sad, "You are the sweetest - what shall we do about food if breakfast was ruined?"

"We can always steal from the kitchen?" Janus shrugged, as though the option to request a second breakfast wasn't there, "It could be fun."

"It certainly could," Roman said, letting the prince off of his lap, "Lead the way, my dear."

----

The next few days were spent rather peacefully. 

Janus was able to give Roman a proper tour of the palace and it's gardens, and the staff were slowly getting used to seeing a dragon around the place. Roman didn't seem worried about other's opinions, at least. Janus had been worried about that, especially when many people seemed to be somewhat scared of him.

When Janus had finally introduced Roman officially to his parents, they had been shockingly accepting towards Roman. Janus was pretty sure they were really just happy that Janus had someone to share his life with after multiple years of rejecting any and all suitors who would pursue him. Dragon or not, Roman had been accepted by Janus' parents, who'd called him sweet. Roman had been happy about it for the rest of the day, it was beautiful to see him so happy.

After three days, though, Roman brought up something much more important.

----

"I would like you to come back to my kingdom with me," Roman said softly as they laid together on Janus' bed, with Janus' head resting comfortably on Roman's stomach, and Roman carding fingers through Janus' long, blonde hair. 

"Hmm?" Janus asked, trying to wake himself up from the sleepy state Roman's petting had put him into. 

"I'm a Dragon Lord, I'm going to have to go back eventually," Roman told him, "I know you're prince here, too, but there's so much I want to show you! I want to introduce you to my brother, I need to check on my hoard, and of course there's the courting ritual, a lot of it can only be done in my homeland-"

Roman was starting ramble, as if Janus had considered denying him for even a second.

"I would love to come to your homeland with you," Janus said, turning his head to press a kiss to Roman's exposed stomach - he was once again wearing a crop top. Apparently it was a dragon thing, they preferred to wear as little clothing as possible apparently - Janus supposed they likely wouldn't wear any in their homelands, being fully dragon more often than not. 

"I- really?"

"Yes, of course," Janus smiled, "I've been able to show you around my home, at the very least you should get to show me around yours."

Roman brightened, jolting as though he'd stopped himself from fully leaping up and sending Janus flying. Janus chuckled at the thought.

"Oh I promise it'll be lovely, I'll take the best care of you I promise- you'll never want for anything," Roman said, wrapping and arm around Janus to pull him up to snuggle properly. Once they were sitting Roman's tail curled around Janus too.

"We'll only have to convince my parents," Janus pointed out, already burying his face into Roman's neck. 

"I'm sure they won't be too difficult to convince - they already like me, don't they?" Roman asked.

"Well... yes, but I still worry..." Janus hummed, "It'll be a big change, and they'll be wary because of the preconceptions we have about dragons, I'm sure we can strike some kind of deal, though..."

----

"Absolutely not!" The king yelled from his throne, "I forbid it, Janus, you are not going anywhere!"

This was one of the rare times Janus had actually addressed his parents properly. Usually if he needed something from them, or vice versa, they'd talk to him over dinner, or in one of their studies. Now, though, they were standing on the red carpet that led up steps to his parents thrones, with the king and queen sitting and looking down on the two of them.

It was the same way they would address visiting spokespeople from the kingdom asking for help or supplies, the same way they might address people of a lower status. The king wore an angry expression on his bearded face, and the queen looked apprehensive, even with her hands folded over her purple dress. Janus took a deep breath, knowing this would be difficult.

"Father-" Janus begins to protest, before Roman stepped forwards. He had wings on his back now, showcasing more of his draconic form than he normally did around the palace for everyone else's comfort. 

"Your highnesses," Roman said, wings spreading a little, "I have greatly enjoyed my time spent here in your magnificent kingdom, but I must return home at some point, I have my own kingdom to run."

Janus knew that the dragonlands weren't exactly a kingdom in the same way Janus' was. He'd explained how he was the equivalent of a prince, but they didn't have the same titles. Roman and his brother Remus were Dragon Lords, and they had claimed that position through a series of challenges. Janus wasn't sure on the details, but it had sounded like a ruthless and difficult affair. Janus wasn't surprised that Roman was willing to stand up to his parents.

"I wish to show Janus my homeland and kingdom, even if it is only for a short while," Roman told them, "My culture and customs are very important to me, and I would like to introduce him to those things as well."

His parents did seem to waiver at that. Roman's tone was persuasive and left little room for argument. Even they seemed to know better than to outright argue with a dragon - let alone a Dragon Lord. They may be of the same status as Roman, but that didn't mean they were equals.

"You can assure us he will be safe?" The queen asked, "As far as we know, sending a human into dragon country is practically giving them a death sentence."

"Dragons may be tougher and more combative, your majesty, but we are not cruel," Roman said, "We will not hurt any human unless they have wronged us first - tried to steal from a gold hoard or hurt one of us, for example. I have faith that Janus wouldn't do those things, and I will keep him safe, I promise you that.."

"And... Janus, you're sure about this?" Janus' father asked, looking over at him.

"I've never been more sure about something," Janus said, nodding his head. It was rare he felt he could be sincere with his parents, but in this moment it felt necessary. 

For a moment, his parents turned to each other and whispered. Whatever they said made Roman frown with his better hearing. Janus tensed a little as they waited for his parents to turn back to them, then they did both of them looked solemn.

"Give us a day to decide," The king said, sounding a little defeated, "This is not an easy decision - sending our only son into dangerous territory… I hope you understand."

"Of course, your highness," Roman said with a bow, "I will see you tomorrow."

With that, Roman took Janus' hand and led him out of the throne room. As soon as the carved wooden doors had closed behind him, Roman huffed out a cloud of smoke in irritation.

"You did a horrible job hiding how annoyed you were," Janus offered, and Roman smiled at him, "I don't think they realised."

"Thank you," Roman sighed, pulling Janus close with an arm around his shoulders, "You know I would keep you safe, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Janus said, leaning into Roman's side, "i don't doubt your ability to protect me, but they… they're not seeing you, they're seeing every rumour and terrible story we have about dragon kind."

Roman sighed softly, "Whatever did we do to earn such a horrible reputation with your people?"

"Nothing," Janus said, but Roman huffed.

"Try again?"

Janus sighed softly, "It really is very little that your people have done - humans just tend to fear anyone more powerful than then."

"And?" Roman asked, sensing that Janus wasn't telling the whole story.

"Well - you're people are territorial, I don't particularly think that's a bad thing, but people have turned stories about humans stupidly wandering into dragon territory with no escort and turned them into horror stories about your people's supposed cruelty."

"Just for defending our kingdom?" Roman asked, taken aback.

"Exactly," Janus sighed, shaking his head, "Come on, we should… do something nice, whilst we wait for a verdict."

The next afternoon, Janus and Roman had once again been summoned to the throne room. This time they seemed far less apprehensive and more determined, and Janus wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.

"We have a few conditions," The king said, after making them wait for a few minutes in silence, "And we will not allow you to go if they are not met."

"What are they?" Janus asked, barely containing his annoyance at the fact that his parents were controlling where he went at all. Roman reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Firstly, you will bring with you your personal guard," The king said, Janus frowned. Virgil should be arriving back today, but he had never been easy to convince when he didn't want to do something. Especially if that something was unknown or potentially dangerous. Unfortunately he couldn't deny that it made sense to bring Virgil along. He was the best fighter in the kingdom after all, if anyone stood a chance against a dragon it was him. Janus nodded.

"Alright…" He said, "I suppose that's reasonable, I'll talk to him tonight. What else?"

"You will return after a month, and no later," The queen took over, "if you are late with no word we will assume Janus has been killed and consider it a declaration of war that we will not hesitate to respond to accordingly. "

"An understandable response, but that will not be necessary," Roman shook his head, "I will ensure he returns home on time, even if I have to fly him here myself."

Janus was fairly certain Roman wouldhave to fly them anyway. At least part of the way. The dragonlands were treacherous to traverse if you weren't fireproof as dragons typically were. Especially in a carriage or on a horse. Dragons could also be rather hostile if you seemed to pose a threat, which Janus was sure Roman wouldn't want to risk. But he didn't say that as his parents hummed in approval.

"Next - you must send us letters, if you can," Janus' mother said, "Even if it's just to let us know you're alive. We'll be worried sick, otherwise."

"I will do my very best," Janus nodded, smiling as his parents nodded back in approval. 

"We can do that," Roman nodded, "It won't be the traditional way - but we have magic that'll let Janus write to you.2

"See to it that you do," The king said, "When will you be wishing to leave?"

"Is three days acceptable?" Janus asked, both to his parents and to Roman, "As long as we can get Virgil on board?"

Roman hummed, flexing his wings, "Three days sounds like more than enough."

"Three days it is then," The king nodded, "We will see you off - ensure that Virgil hears about this and have him tell us that he agrees, you are not to leave without him."

"I promise, father," Janus said with a bow, before taking Roman's hand and heading from the room. As soon as they'd turned the corner of the hallway, Roman made an excited noise and swept Janus off of his feet, lifting him easily and spinning him around before crushing Janus to his chest in a way that left Janus' feet dangling above the ground.

"Oh I'm so happy!" Roman chirped, shifting to instead cradle Janus in his arms, "I'll show you my home, everything-"

"That's as long as Virgil agrees," Janus said, before groaning, "He's going to be so annoying about this, I already know it..."

"I don't believe I've met a Virgil?" Roman asked, curious.

"He had a few days off around the festival," Janus said, shaking his head, "He's back today, he can be a little... grumpy?"

Janus waved his hand back and forth and Roman frowned, carrying Janus off back to his room as the two of them talked, "You think that'll make things difficult?"

"I suppose we'll just have to see..."

----

"Are you a fucking moron?" Virgil practically yelled when Janus explained the situation and their plan. As someone of a lower station, there was no way Virgil should be speaking to Janus like that. Janus, however, had found he didn't particularly mind Virgil's brashness. As a prince, it was rare to find someone who was willing to speak their mind to you, and sometimes Janus needed that. Right now, however, was not one of those times.

"Virgil," Janus snapped, making his guard startle, "I did not come here for your opinion on the matter."

"Janus-" Virgil pleaded, shaking his head, "I- I cannot in good faith let you do this."

"In that case I sincerely wish I didn't have to take you," Janus glared at his guard, who he knew he would want by his side no matter what he said, "Unfortunately, my parents have insisted that I cannot go without you as an escort, despite the fact that I trust Roman fully to keep me safe regardless."

"You've only known Roman for a few days! How do you know he's not dragging you back to the dragonlands just to kill you?" Virgil hissed, shaking his head as he glared at the floor, unwilling to fix such a look on his prince like he wanted to, "I wouldn't have expected you to end up lovesick, Your Highness, but it's making you act a fool-"

"My parents would send armies into the dragon lands if I don't return, he gains nothing but a war if he kills me, I am most certain Roman wouldn't be stupid enough to do that," Janus shook his head, irritated by his guard's refusal.

"And you know I won't really be any help if we were attacked by dragons, don't you?" Virgil said after a deep breath.

"Virgil," Janus said, "You are by leagues the best knight this kingdom has to offer-"

"Oh now I know you're lying to me," Virgil said, turning away.

"No, I'm not," Janus huffed, "I wouldn't lie about that - you are the only person I would trust with my entire life. You are my best friend, and even if you were not my guard I would want you there with me. I'm not nervous at all about how it'll go, of course, but... I could use your presence."

Virgil stood there for a long moment, stunned into silence.

"Also my parents won't let me go if you're not there."

Virgil laughed, "Yes, and I'm glad they at least see sense."

"Rude." Janus huffed.

"You know me," Virgil said, "And you'd also know that I really don't want you to do this."

"I know," Janus sighed, "Is there any way I could persuade you?"

"Any chance I'd be able to meet this Roman you're willing to run off to the dragon lands for?" Virgil asked, crossing his arms, "See if he really is all that wonderful?

"I… believe that would be an acceptable request," Janus nodded, "Are you busy right now?"

"I'm your guard," Virgil rolled his eyes, "Now that I'm here I'm back on duty, so no."

"Wonderful, follow me then."

----

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“So… the rain has stopped,” Roman observed, looking out of the tree hollow and down at the clearing below, finding himself a lot less scared than he had been the night before. Being able to sleep safe and dry with all of the soft blankets Virgil had in their… nest? Had been quite comfortable. Virgil crouched on a branch just outside of the hollow. The early afternoon sun was finally peeking through the clouds, lighting the trees and leaves in a warm golden colour.

“How observant of you,” Virgil said, tone mocking but not mean, “Come on, we should head down.”

Roman felt a wave of nausea as he looked down again, glancing back at Virgil, “You uh - do you think - you could maybe carry me back down?”

Rolling their eyes, Virgil made their way back over to Roman, scooping him into their arms yet again and beginning to make their way back down from the tree back to the clearing.

Roman’s breath left him as he looked around, the growing sunlight illuminated the spiderwebs so decorated beautifully with water droplets casting tiny rainbows over the space. The clearing looked almost ethereal - Roman almost felt bad about wanting to go home. 

“Well- you wanted to head back to the village,” Roman said once Virgil put him back down, brushing himself off and making sure all of his things were accounted for, “If we’re going to get back before dark, we should start walking.”

“We don’t need to walk,” Virgil said, and when Roman gave him a confused look Virgil sighed and made more of those strange spider-y chittering sounds, “They can help us.”

As they spoke, a few of the largest spiders came scuttling from somewhere beyond the trees, one of them greeting Virgil with a few clicks. And the other Roman with a wave of a foreleg, Roman waved back. It was strange how aware of their mannerisms he had become after only a few hours of real interaction. A little too late, Roman caught onto what Virgil was saying.

“Wait- I can’t-” Roman protested as Virgil swung their leg over the back of the spider to sit on its back almost as if it were a horse, he stared at the spider crouched in front of him, clearly waiting for him to do the same thing, “Surely I’m too heavy?”

“You’re not,” Virgil said, waving a hand, “They’re far stronger than I am, and you know that I can carry you - they carried you back here from your tree.”

“They did?” Roman yelped, glancing back at the crowd of spiders and then back at Virgil even as he realised he must have gotten to the clearing somehow and he certainly hadn’t been dragged all of the way, his clothes would be much more messed up and dirty if that were the case, “Okay… if you’re sure.”

—-

“From here, we’re going to have to be a little stealthy, oh, and you’ll need to walk like me,” Roman told Virgil as the spiders who brought them here disappeared into the undergrowth. There wasn’t far left to travel through the forest until they arrived at the edge of the village.

“Why?” Virgil asked, tilting their head, though they still followed his instruction and stood up to their full height. Roman was a little startled to find that Virgil was actually taller than him by a few inches, the way they coiled themself up simply made them look shorter. 

“Because only two people know I went in here, and I don’t want you to stick out so obviously,” Roman said, waving Virgil forward, “Any ideas about what you want to see first?”

They walked silently for a moment. Roman was happy to let Virgil think about it, the silence only gave him more time to work out what he would tell people when they inevitably asked who Virgil was. 

“Wherever the sweet stuff came from,” Virgil said, decisively, “Take me there.”

“Sweet stuff?” Roman asked, frowning.

“Yes, it was… golden, and thick?”

“Honey?” Roman said, almost to himself, “That’ll be the bakery, right.”

“...Bakery,” Virgil muttered, as though committing the word to memory.

Roman nodded, “There’s a bunch more in the bakery than honey, though, and my friend there knows where I was going, so it’s a wonderful place to start! Come this way.”

He was able to get them both out of the forest unnoticed. Virgil pulled up their hood as they got closer to the centre of town. People stopped to stare from where they were tending their gardens in the late afternoon or walking down the street with bags of wares. Roman couldn’t argue that Virgil looked abnormal regardless, and belatedly he remembered that he was also a complete mess. He’d have to see if Patton would let him borrow something until they got back to his own house. They reached the bakery. 

“We’re clos- oh! Roman! You’re back! Did you find anything? Were you hurt?” Patton called as he rushed from the back of the bakery upon hearing the bell over the door. Roman quickly closed the door behind them once Virgil had made their way inside.

“Hey Patton,” Roman said, smiling, “I had an easier time than expected, no I’m not hurt, oh,  and this is Virgil! Virgil, this is my friend Patton.”

“Hi ther- augh-” Patton said, jumping back when he really looked at Virgil, “Uhm- you’ve got a- a- uh-”

Virgil frowned, glancing over their shoulder in confusion, when they found no other reason for Patton’s fear, they hunched their shoulders, curling awkwardly in on themself as though to make themself seem like less of a threat. Roman sighed.

“Patton is a little scared of the spiders,” Roman explained, “Sorry, I should’ve mentioned that before we came in.”

“Oh,” Virgil said, even as Roman watched them he saw many of the spiders littering their cloak scuttle away, some onto the ground and some underneath the fabric to hide, “They don’t mean to scare you.”

Patton gasped at the spiders’ quick retreat, “O-oh! Well um, I don’t mean to be scared, but… well! It’s fine! Virgil, was it? Do you two want to sit down? Anything I can get for my favourite customer and his new friend?”

“Something with… honey?” Virgil asked, tilting their head as they looked over at Roman.

“Yeah, whatever you have that’s made with honey, and my usual if you’ve got it,” Roman said, shooting a smile Virgil’s way, “Oh- but I’ll have to pay you later, I don’t have any money with me.”

“That’s okay!” Patton called from the back, “Take it on the house! You look like a mess.”

“Wow,” Roman said, rolling his eyes, “Thanks.”

Patton chuckled as he placed a plate of pastries between them, “None of these were sold today - so they’d go to waste if you didn’t eat them - have you been to see Logan yet? He was trying to keep Remus distracted earlier, he’ll appreciate knowing your back.”

A dark look crossed Virgil’s face at that statement and Roman looked at them, an eyebrow raised in confusion while his mouth was full of sweet sugar pastry. 

“Remus? The Spider Killer?” Virgil asked, voice abnormally small as they stared at Roman with wide eyes. Roman paled, “He’s… here?”

“He’s… actually my brother,” Roman admitted once he’d finished his mouthful, Virgil went to say something else, but Roman was too quick, “Somehow I knew he’d have a reputation for what he does - I try to stop him, but he… finds it fun.”

“I don’t want to meet him,” Virgil said, shaking their head, “I don’t want anything to do with him.”

Nodding, Roman sighed, “That’s understandable - would you like to visit the library?” he asked instead, tilting his head.

“Library…?”

“It’s uh - big building with a lot of books, and one of my other friends will be there,” Roman explained quietly as he went to eat another one of the pastries, sighing happily at the flavour. 

“...Sure,” Virgil said, frowning, “I can’t read, though.”

“That's okay!” Roman said, “Though Logan might want to teach you, it’ll be nice for you to meet him either way.”

“Alright,” Virgil nodded, “We can do that.”

—-

Roman had been able to get Patton to lend him some clothes until he could return to his own house - which was looking even more unlikely now that he knew Virgil knew Remus. He really hoped that wouldn’t end badly. 

Instead, he led Virgil down to the library. It was late enough that the library wouldn’t be allowing visitors anymore. Roman knew that Logan would still be there, though, and Roman was an exception. 

He knocked on the library door, with Virgil hiding behind him just a little as they waited for Logan to open the door.

“Oh Roman,” Logan said, seeing him, quickly waving them into the library and closing the door behind him, “Thank goodness you’re safe, who’s your friend?”

“This is Virgil,” Roman said brightly, stepping aside to introduce them. Virgil gave a small awkward wave.

“Nice to meet you,” Virgil said softly, looking down at their feet.

“Nice to meet you as well, my name is Logan, welcome to the library,”  Logan said, stepping aside to let them in, “Please don’t mind the mess, I’ve been attempting to corral Remus all day and now the place is a mess.”

“...Ah,” Roman says, realising a fatal mistake, glancing back at Virgil, who looked just as uneasy, “Is…. he still…?”

“Indeed, but he is now sleeping on the sofa, thank goodness, I’m not sure how much more of his… Remus-ness I could handle.”

“I think I would rather not be here,” Virgil decided. Stopping in their tracks. 

“Is… something wrong?” Logan asked, confused. 

“Uhh - okay, stay here, Virgil, I’ll be right back, Logan, c’mere I’m going to talk to you for a second,” Roman said, dragging Logan further into the library. Virgil looked confused, but waited in the entrance as Roman dragged Logan away.

“Okay, so - Virgil is uh- one of the spiders?” Roman said, “Or - something like - they live out in the woods with them, and the spiders are semi-sentient, they’re Virgil’s family, and Remus has not got a very good reputation with them.”

Logan looked at him blankly.

“Just trust me - I know you don’t really believe the spiders are sentient, but I’ve been in the woods and I’ve seen it - they can communicate with the spiders - they have a whole language, I’m sure they’d show you if you asked, but we just need to keep them away from Remus, okay?”

Sighing, Logan nodded, “Alright, fine, let's go see your friend.”

When they returned to Virgil, Roman realised they had made a grave mistake by leaving Virgil there alone. 

“Where’d you come from? I’ve never seen you before,” Remus was asking as he poked at Virgil. To be entirely fair, Virgil was doing a remarkably good job of remaining stoic, brushing away Remus' poking hands. and standing up at their full height - looking rather intimidating.

"Leave me alone," Virgil said, firm but not angry. Remus huffed.

"Awee, you're not even gonna answer one question?" Remus sighed, "Oh hey Roro! You know this guy? He's real weird and covered in spiders."

"Yes, Remus," Roman sighed, "This is Virgil, and I would appreciate it if you'd stop touching them, they’re a new friend."

"I thought you were off getting fabrics, not a boyfriend," Remus said, but to his credit he did back away from Virgil, who visibly relaxed when he did so.

Roman took a deep breath, "I... lied to you, Remus, I went into the forest, I was attempting to find the source of the spiders and stop them coming into the village."

"Ooh! Are we finally gonna get to destroy em?"

The question made Virgil flinch, Roman stepped back and put his hand on Virgil's arm.

"No," Roman said, "We're not destroying anything. They're a civilisation, just like us - like I've always been telling you, we can't hurt them, okay?"

Remus rolled his eyes, "You and your sentiment."

"It's not sentiment," Virgil said, near hissing, "It's respect for your fellow beings, and if you don't learn some like your brother has I fear I cannot be responsible for what my siblings choose to do to you."

"Ooooh! Creepy!"

"Remus, he's being serious," Roman shook his head, "If I hadn't been friendly to them, I would be dead, if you had gone into the woods in my place you would be dead for what you've done to them. I don't want a dead brother, please listen, for once in your life."

Remus stared at Roman, unwavering, for a long moment, before sighing.

"Fine," Remus said, shaking his head, "If you insist, I'll stop killing the creepy crawlies, but I can't promise I'll be nice to them."

Virgil took a deep breath, "That... I suppose that'll have to be good enough for now."

"Yes!" Remus said, "So... what did you promise the spooky guy to get all the spiders to leave?"

"He's showing me the village," Virgil said, "and all the things your people have."

"Oh awesome!" Remus said brightly, "So, what have you seen so far?"

"The bakery," Virgil said, "Roman's friend gave me a treat, and now we're here to look at books."

"Indeed, hm - Virgil, do you know how to read?" Logan asked, reappearing - Roman hadn't even noticed him leave, "I was looking around to see if we had any books you might enjoy, but I realised I don't actually know much about your reading ability, and thus thought I should ask you."

"...Reading?" Virgil asked slowly, frowning.

"Well," Logan hummed, "I suppose that answers that question, come, I'm sure I can find something, I can help you learn, if you like?"

Virgil seemed vaguely interested, and Roman realised he was probably about to lose his friend to the library for the next few hours.

The idea just had Roman smiling - he was glad that Virgil was enjoying himself. Roman would be happy to wait until Virgil was done in the library to move on with their tour.

"You like him," Remus said, turning on Roman with a knowing grin, "Don't you?"

"Of course not," Roman rolled his eyes, "I would never."

----

Taglist:

He had to admit he had a little too much fun walking into the toy store fully clad in his villain uniform—he had Roman wear his own mask too, just in case—and then strolling about the store quite harmlessly, pushing a shopping cart in Roman’s happy wake and blithely ignoring the stares and murmurs of the other shoppers and employees. Instead he focused on Roman’s chatter and on answering his every single hesitant “can I—?” with an immediate “Yes,” no matter what.

The cart filled up quite rapidly as a result of this strategy, and though Virgil did his best to encourage Roman, eventually the child took notice of how many items he’d already chosen and clearly reigned himself in, much to Virgil’s chagrin.

“Um—” Roman hesitated, no longer bouncing around. “I think I’m done. This is plenty.”

“It’s not a problem,” Virgil assured him.

But Roman nodded his head. “I’m done.” He assessed Virgil’s face, where he likely found some trace of worry or dissatisfaction, because he then added comfortingly, “I mean, if it’s really important to you, it would definitely be okay for you to get me more later.”

This startled a laugh out of Virgil. “Good to know,” he said, allowing Roman to lead the way to the cash register.

***

Logan took a deep breath, then knocked on the door.

“Patton, baby, can you get it?” he heard Janus call from inside.

“Okay!” Patton responded; there were thumping footsteps, and the noise of the lock unbolting.

Logan set down the bag he was carrying, letting it lean against the wall, and braced himself as the door swung open.

Patton’s jaw dropped. “Uncle Logan?” He sprung into motion almost before he finished talking, and even though Logan had been prepared for it, the impact of Patton literally leaping into his arms sent him stumbling back a half step.

“Uncle Logan!” Patton repeated in a happy shriek, a little too close to Logan’s ear for comfort, his voice now bearing the undertones of a croak and the texture of his skin going from warm peach-fuzz to clammy and cool in the span of only a second or two.

Logan pressed a kiss to the little boy’s temple. “Hello, Tadpole,” he greeted, shifting to hold Patton more securely—the child was really too big to be picked up at this point, but his frog powers made him more than strong enough to climb anyone he pleased and hold on for as long as he wanted, so this made little difference. “I’ve missed you.”

“Well, I missed you, missed you, missed you! Which is more,” Patton said, nodding decisively. “You got too busy.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Logan tousled Patton’s hair. “How has—”

“Um, did you know Daddy got a boyfriend?” Patton interrupted. “It was a long time ago now, um, his name’s Remus. He’s really fun and cool.”

“I did know that, yes. He works in my lab.”

“What?” Patton shrieked, once again testing the strength of Logan’s eardrums.

“Indeed.” Logan pried Patton off himself and lowered the child to the ground.

“I didn’t know that!” Patton hopped in place. “So you’re friends with him?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” Logan picked up his bag and offered Patton his hand. “How has school been?”

Patton lit up again. “I can jump twelve feet high!” he started, and was off in an eager babble. Logan led him through the door, closing and locking it behind them, and sat on the living room couch, where Patton stood before him, still clasping Logan’s hand, hopping back and forth from foot to foot, seeming too energized to sit down as he continued eagerly telling Logan every little detail that came to mind.

Logan listened and nodded along, interjecting the occasional comment or question. Across the open floor plan, in the kitchen, he could see Janus and Remus; Remus’s back was to the living room, his arm was around Janus’s waist, and Janus was gazing up at him with an unguarded, adoring look, leaning up every so often to exchange tiny kisses in between the quiet conversation they seemed to be holding.

Logan, seeing that his attention was unlikely to be needed there while the pair of them were so engrossed in each other, looked back to his nephew and allowed himself to focus fully on Patton’s excited ramble.

At last, when Patton’s frog features had mostly faded away into relative calm and he had talked himself out for the time being, he drew in a huge gasp, turned on his heel, and flopped backwards to lay on the sofa beside Logan. “Do you think Remus’s mustache is silly?” he inquired, looking at the ceiling. “I think it makes him look like a hipster.”

Logan could not hold back a startled snort of laughter at the comparison.

“A WHAT?” Remus demanded at the top of his lungs from the kitchen, not turning around, sounding absolutely scandalized.

Patton bounced to sit upright at once, giggling. “It does!” he insisted. This, from both of their tones, was clearly an ongoing argument.

Logan could see where the child was coming from; he himself had, on occasion, devoted the occasional amused thought to pondering what percentage of Remus’s income must be devoted to mustache wax. The young man seemed to always have a container on his person, and spent a not-insignificant amount of time every day fiddling with his mustache, ensuring that its upward-curled tips were never less than pristine and perfectly pointed.

“You are the most pernicious, mischievous, slanderous little delight of a rapscallion I have ever—” Remus cut off very suddenly as he fully turned towards the sofa and caught sight of Logan. “Doc?” he said after a moment’s flabbergasted staring.

Well. The fact that he had immediately recognized Logan, despite never having seen his unmasked face before, was—well, since it was Remus and Logan trusted Remus, it was a good sign. Though it would have been disconcerting in most other circumstances.

Logan waved. “Hello.” He cleared his throat. “It’s—Logan, actually.”

Remus drew in a breath of realization, looking back to Janus. “That’s why you pronounce ‘Logic’ so weird sometimes?”

“It’s—listen, it’s not my fault his supername is so similar to his real name,” Janus said, flushing with embarrassment. “I—” She looked over at Logan helplessly. “I’ve never actually let it slip! I promise!”

“I know,” Logan assured him. “I would have known, and we would have had a very long conversation about it, if you had ever done so.”

“That’s not really reassuring,” Janus muttered with a roll of their eyes.

“Good,” Logan retorted lightly.

“Here, let me—” Remus moved around the kitchen counter into the living room and offered a hand to take the bag from Logan. Logan handed it off, and Remus hastened back to the kitchen, setting it down on the counter and unloading the food inside it.

Janus made a pleased noise, picking up the container of deviled eggs and transferring it to the fridge. “Ooh, my favorites.”

“I’m aware,” Logan said, offering Patton his palm to drum on. “That is precisely why I brought them.”

“I mean, I would hope you wouldn’t bring something I didn’t like on purpose.” Janus moved to the stove and lifted the lid of a pot simmering on it to check whatever was inside.

“I would not,” Logan agreed, “nor would I do so by accident, since I am very familiar with your tastes.”

“Yeah, yeah, you know everything about everyone, I get it.” Janus replaced the lid and reached up to set a timer on the microwave.

“Not quite,” Logan felt he ought to correct, though he was pleased by the flattery. “I do believe I know very close to everything about you, specifically, though.”

“Hey! I’m mysterious!” Janus put their hands on their hips.

Logan only bothered to dignify this argument with “I have known you since you were fifteen years old.”

Janus rolled her eyes, clearly trying not to smile. “Whatever. Shall we play a game before dinner?”

“Yes!” Patton answered first, followed by slightly slower (Remus) and quieter (Logan) agreement from the rest of the room. Remus followed Patton to the shelf tucked in the corner of the room, while Logan set about clearing space on the coffee table.

“Oh, this puzzle looks super sick,” Remus commented, picking up a box and hefting it consideringly.

“Nope!” Patton grabbed it right back and hastily returned it to its place on the shelf. “We can’t play puzzles with Uncle Logan,” he explained in a loud whisper.

“Oh, I see,” Remus whispered loudly back—his clearly a deliberate stage whisper rather than an accident born of youth. “How come?”

“It makes him go like this.” Patton hopped over to sit next to Logan on the couch and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clutching his head with both hands, making an exaggerated face of despair.

Remus looked over at Logan, clearly not sure if he was allowed to laugh; Janus, displaying no such qualms, was already in fits of delighted giggles at Patton’s imitation.

Logan smiled in spite of himself; Patton was simply too adorable. “Well. I try my best not to do that,” he commented mildly. “But sometimes it is very hard.”

“He’s toooooooooooo smart,” Patton explained to Remus. “And it bugs him watching everyone else do the puzzle wrong.” He scooted back across the couch until he could dangle over the arm to reach the shelf once more and pulled out a board game. “We should play this one instead! This one is lots of fun!”

Janus had by now composed himself, though slower and more dramatically than Logan thought was strictly warranted. (There had been a bit too much overexaggerated dabbing tears of laughter from her eyes for Logan’s taste.) “That’s a great choice, baby,” she told Patton, dragging the armchair from the corner over to within arm’s reach of the coffee table and relaxing into it.

Remus sat himself cross-legged on the floor by Janus’s knee and busied himself helping Patton to unpack and set up the game.

Janus was right, Logan noted—the game was indeed a good choice; he’d played it with Janus and Patton a handful of times before. It was a cooperative game with enough complexity to entertain on repeat playthroughs, while remaining simple enough that explaining the rules to Remus didn’t take too long. Patton was able to handle most of it during the setup.

“Coolio,” Remus commented at last, leaning against the side of Janus’s armchair. “I think I got it.” He picked up the green player token and moved it to the start point.

“There is plenty of room on the couch, Remus,” Logan pointed out.

“I’m good,” he said, reaching over and patting vaguely at Janus’s shins by way of explanation. “Thanks, though.”

Logan nodded and didn’t push it. He calculated that probably at least 70% of Remus’s motivations, if not more, truly did lie in being as close as possible to Janus—but he also detected just a hint of tension and apprehension in Remus’s demeanor.

It took very little thought to find a likely reason. Janus had said they weren’t telling Remus or Patton ahead of time that Logan was coming; Patton was, of course, more than accustomed to Logan’s presence, but Remus until now had only known him within the context of Dr Logic. Perhaps Logan wasn’t the only one feeling minor trepidations about adjusting to each other’s company in this new setting. And at least Logan had known to expect it. Remus, by Logan’s best estimation, must be trying to guess if this was truly a casual environment, or if he was expected to continue to behave with a semblance of professionalism in front of Logan, even outside of work.

Logan would simply have told Remus outright that all was well, but this would likely have inspired some defensiveness from Janus—he could tell they hadn’t yet realized anything was amiss with Remus, and the realization would certainly be an unwelcome one, what with how fond and protective of him they were. So Logan decided to wait for an opportune moment to speak to Remus, and in the meantime turned his focus back to the game and to Patton, who had easily taken his place as tiny director of the team.

“Remus, you can be focused on the forest,” Patton was saying, “and, um, for that, the bluebirds are pretty good, but the mushrooms are definitely the most important in the forest. And the hedgehogs are okay if you get one, but don’t, like, try to get them, they really don’t matter so much. The foxes are super cute but we don’t want them, try and trade them for owls if you can. Okay?”

Remus nodded seriously, palming the two forest die from the pile of supplies in the middle of the board. “What’s our policy on squirrels?”

“Oh, those are good too, but not as good as the mushrooms still.” Patton eyed the board critically. “Uncle Logan, you can do the water cycle like you normally do,” he suggested. (Logan found this greatly amenable and accepted the little bag of tokens with a smile.) “Mama, I want a turn running the market, so can you do the maze?”

“Sure, baby.” Janus took the spinner and balanced it on the arm of his chair, then went back to winding Remus’s curls around his fingers.

Patton beamed, lining up the different stacks of cards on the marked spaces in the market section. “Perfect! So I get to go first, because I’m the youngest and it’s the weekend.” He waved the rulebook, though nobody challenged the statement.

“So wait—” Remus pointed to the round base placed on the center of the board. “Who’s in charge of building the tree?”

“Everybody is,” Patton explained, rolling the basic non-forest dice, consulting Janus’s spinner, and marking down the results on the chart whiteboard. He moved his token forward a few spaces, passed a card from the market to Remus, and drew two for himself. “Technically everybody does everything whenever they need to, but Daddy and Uncle Logan and me figured out it gets a lot easier if each person keeps track of one section of the game the most. But everybody builds the tree, it doesn’t work otherwise.” He frowned at the cards. “I can’t put down any trunk pieces yet, so I guess I end my turn.”

Logan was next, and with a lucky roll from both the dice and the spinner, not only was he able to place the first trunk piece on the tree base, he also collected an owl and a card from the market, and he even scheduled a rainstorm for his next turn. A highly satisfactory first-round turn, if he did say so himself.

Gameplay continued on; Remus only had to be talked through his turn for a couple of rounds before he really started to get the hang of it. Logan clocked the exact moment—during his own turn on the fourth round—when Remus noticed the pride flag Logan wore on his watchband. He barely reacted, really hardly more than a blink, but that was still enough for Logan to notice it happen. The lack of fanfare was a tremendous reassurance—much greater than Logan had expected, in fact. Remus was clearly surprised, but not deeply so. It was news to him, but unremarkable news. Logan could practically hear the way he might say, “Oh! Neat,” before shrugging and moving on.

Well, there was that out of the way. Simple, quick, and relieving. Logan had, of course, known his nerves over coming out to Remus were overblown, but it was delightful nonetheless to be proven so thoroughly right.

The timer went off; Janus tossed the spinner at Logan’s head and slipped back into the kitchen.

“I can take that, Doc,” Remus offered quickly.

“Thank you, Remus.” Logan, who had rolled his eyes and made no effort to catch the spinner, picked it up off the couch where it had landed after bouncing off of him. “And you are welcome to call me Logan here,” he added, catching Remus’s gaze to make direct eye contact as an underline to his sincerity. “When I am out of my suit, my intent is that my ‘work hat’ is fully off. I intend for this to be more of a ‘casual’ setting, if you will.”

Remus bit back a smile. “You don’t need to do all those air quotes, I get it.” He situated the spinner on the table to the side of his various other game pieces. “Thanks,” he added, with a hesitant, “Logan.”

“Of course.” Logan nodded once, feeling hopeful that this exchange would successfully diffuse the slight awkwardness that had been in the air between them.

“Daddy, it’s your turn!” Patton called.

“You can skip me,” Janus responded.

Patton wrinkled his nose at the suggestion. “Can I do your turn for you?” he suggested instead.

“Sure.” There was a clattering of silverware. “Dinner’s ready in, like, maybe three minutes, though.”

“You want help, babe?” Remus hopped to his feet without waiting for an answer and made for the kitchen.

“I think that may be our cue to pause the game,” Logan informed Patton, who was busy moving about Janus’s tokens and cards.

“Okayyyy,” Patton agreed, not with enthusiasm. “Can you sit next to me at the table, too? I still have so much stuff to tell you!”

“I would be delighted to,” Logan informed him wholeheartedly.

***

By the time Roman and Virgil made it back to the lair, in addition to the clothes, toys, art supplies, and school supplies, they were also laden down with a bucket of red paint, some brightly-colored bedding and curtains, new snacks and sweets, and several boxes of furniture—a desk, some shelves and cupboards, hooks to hang on the walls, a bulletin board and some tacks, and further such things—that Virgil hoped would be more useful to Roman than the current setup of his room was. 

“Can we paint my room now?” Roman asked the moment they walked in the door, eyeing the paint bucket as Virgil set it on the countertop.

Virgil glanced at the clock. “I think not tonight,” he said, with some regret at the general concept of refusing anything to the kid. “It’s pretty much time for dinner. And it wouldn’t be good to sleep in a room full of wet paint. We can work on it tomorrow, or I can just have it done on Monday while you’re out at school. Or a bit of both. Whatever you want.”

“I want to do the painting!” Roman insisted. He twisted the paint bucket around until he could see the label and began reading it with interest.

“Sounds good. Tomorrow, then.” Virgil pulled up his calendar on his watch and checked his schedule for the next day. Pretty empty; one pending fight request from a hero whose name only sounded vaguely familiar. He opened that up and hit the decline button, then blocked off a few hours of his schedule for the painting escapade. After a moment’s consideration, he increased the length a bit, figuring that the chance of needing a shower afterward was high. Satisfied with this, he saved the calendar.

Roman had rapidly lost interest in the small print on the paint can, and was now rummaging through the bags. “Is this seriously all mine?” he inquired a little suspiciously.

“I don’t think that raincoat would exactly fit me, buddy,” Virgil wisecracked. “Yeah. All yours.”

“Wow,” Roman breathed, just as he obviously spotted the Lego bag amid the pile; he dropped the raincoat like a hot potato and pounced.

“What do you want for dinner?” Virgil asked hastily, before Roman could get too lost in that.

“Um, anything,” Roman said, clearly more focused on ripping open the box he’d selected. “Can I do this out here?” He looked up to gauge Virgil’s response. “Or does my stuff have to stay in my room?”

“Here is great,” Virgil said with a smile, and went to go see what he had in the fridge.

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