#dmitri-writes

Remus tugs on his little brother’s arm as the two run from the heavy footsteps behind them. “You two little monsters can’t hide,” a loud, echoing voice says as Remus shuts the closet door. He holds Janus close and listens close. The footsteps pass, “You’ve exhausted all your little rat holes,” The voice says a room away, and Remus lets out a shaky breath. He rubs circles into Janus’ back to try and calm the younger, but he knows it won’t help much. “God, why do mistakes like you two even exist? Just to turn people into evil little monsters just like you.” Remus shakes his head at the words, it’s not true its not true itsnottrue- The door to the closet is ripped open and Virgil yanks hard on Janus’ arm. Remus didn’t even notice he had been muttering. It’s his fault then, that his brother is being dragged down the hall, screaming and crying, begging for Virgil to let him go. It’s his fault. His fault. He tries to grab Janus back but Virgil pushed him back by the throat and he’s down, coughing and gasping for air. Janus is dragged into Virgil’s room and the door slams. Remus bangs on it, trying to get it open, but it’s locked. His fault. He’s a monster. He ruined Janus. Was a bad example. His fault. “Hello?” Remus jumps at the new voice. His head snaps to look at the stranger, who wears a back polo and blue tie and is about Virgil’s age. Behind him is a boy in a white and red shirt that looks strangely a lot like Remus. “Who are you?” The boy says, and Remus tries. Tries to say his name, but he can’t. “I’m a monster. You shouldn’t be talking to me.” The older one frowns, “You look like an ordinary person to me. Monsters aren’t real. Remus is taken aback by this, he can’t think of any response. “Where’s Virgil?” The younger boy says, and Remus is plunged back into anxiety. “He- he- he’s in there with my brother. Janus. He’s hurting him! Help us!” Remus starts babbling about what had happened moments earlier but the other two can’t understand him. “Roman, you help him calm down, okay? I’ll go in and see what’s happening.” Roman nods and kneels next to Remus, “I need you to look at my chest and copy my breathing, okay? Logan is going to help your brother but we need to get you to calm down.” Remus tries his hardest, and Logan tries the door. It’s still locked. He knocks three times, “Virgil? It’s Logan. Let me in please.” The door opens, and Logan enters, giving one last glance to the two kids that look so alike. 

“Logan. What can I help you with?” The logical side looks around the room quickly but carefully. Blankets half off the bed, scuff marks on the floor, desk clutter knocked over and on the ground. It looks like there was a fight. “I just met one of the other dark sides. You didn’t tell us they were kids. You said they were monsters, even as I told you monsters weren’t real.” Virgil sneers, “Those little shits are definitely monsters. Evil little failures, both of them.” “Where is the other one?” Logan says, getting to the point. He has an idea of what happened here. Virgil frowns, “He’s currently being punished. Shouldn’t be disturbed, he might hurt you.” Logan angrily frowns, “I don’t think that’s the case. I know you hurt him. The boy in the hall is covered in bruises. Where is he.” Virgil hisses as his spider form starts showing, “The little demon deserved it. You don’t get to tell me how to raise my kids.” Logan threatens right back, allowing his wings and talons to show through, “Where. Is he?” Virgil takes in Logan’s taller and more powerful form, and scowls, “In the closet. You can have them, but don’t come crawling back to me when they turn out to be hellspawn.” Logan relaxes again, then races over to the closet. Sure enough, inside is a small boy with scales littered on one side of his face. “Janus, yes? Your brother is waiting outside for you. Virgil won’t bother you anymore.” Logan leads Janus out of the room, glaring daggers at Virgil all the way, who glares back. 

The mindscape shifts. All the sides are used to this by now, cabinets being lower so a certain side could reach them, fridge stocking itself, bedrooms moving to accommodate new hobbies. But a new room was… rare. The last time it happened was when Janus and Remus became light sides. So when Logan finds a brand new room with an orange door and a name burned into it reading ‘Orion, Anger’, and hears a child sniffling inside… Well he can’t turn such a curious eye away. He knocks. “Who… who are you?” “My name is Logan. I am Logic. May I come in?” The door opens and a child stands there, wearing an orange shirt and black overalls with a fire patch on them, and some pig-like features like floppy ears, small tusks, and an upturned nose. He must have not learned how to shift yet.. “Hello Orion,” Logan says with a small smile, wanting to make the child feel comfortable. Orion leads him into his room. “So what do you want?” Logan makes no comment about the sharp tone, “I want to get to know you and help you assimilate comfortably into the mindscape. “Ass what?” Logan laughs a bit at the curse and explains, “Assimilate, to become part of. I think I’m the best choice to meet first. The others can be a bit… much.” “Oh. I guess that’s cool. What do you want to know?” “Hm… What things do you like?” Orion leans on his pumpkin patterned blankets, “Well… I like video games. And sports. And board games. Oh and ghosts, pumpkins, and fire. Logan nods thoughtfully, “I think you’ll get along just fine with Remus and Virgil.” 

Orion stays in his room for a few days, only talking to Logan. Virgil tells him that the anxiety he feels coming from the new sides room starts going down, and Logan decides to ask the question. “Would you be okay with meeting the others today?” Orion finishes killing the minecraft zombie before responding, “Maybe. Maybe only the ones you said I’d like?” “That would be fine. Would you rather them come here or you go out there. Orion gives that a long thought before deciding he would rather not have everyone know what his room looks like. Logan leads the boy to the kitchen, where Virgil and Remus were waiting. Orion hides partially behind him, holding a nintendo switch. Logan wouldn’t ask him to leave behind a comfort item when going into an unfamiliar situation. 

“Virgil, Remus. This is Orion. Orion, the purple one is Virgil, he’s Anxiety, and the green one is Remus, he’s Creativity.” “I’m Orion. I’m Anger.” Virgil waves calmly and Remus waves frantically. “It’s been ages since a new side showed up! I wanted to make a good impression so I made cookies all by myself. Logan said you liked pumpkins and fire so I made them pumpkin shaped and they’re holding matches with evil faces. Logan notes how tame these were to Remus’ usual creations and makes a mental note to thank him later. Orion smiles at the cookies and takes one before retreating back to Logan’s side. “I like your patch,” Virgil says, pointing at the fire patch on Orion’s overalls. “Thank you,” the boy responds through bites of his cookies. “Careful talking with your mouth full Ori,” Logan says, and Orion nods. “What game are you playing?” Virgil asks, and Orion perks up, “Minecraft! I’ve had this hardcore world since I got here.” Logan watches as Orion tours the two older sides around his minecraft world. Remus loves the monster grinders and Virgil likes the builds. Logan is happy this is going well. 

Remus had never been the romantic one. That had always been his brother's job. He was more of the flirt-then-fuck kind of guy. Now that he's actually trying to be romantic, he knows how hard it is. All Remus wants to do is plan a nice Valentine's day surprise for his boyfriends, but fuck if he knows what to get them. He wants to refrain from weird or gross presents but that's all he can come up with. Sighing, he decides its time to ask for help. He sinks down and directs his thought to his brother and pops up in front of him. "Brother stupidest-" "Remus! I stabbed you!" Remus stops and looks down towards his abdomen, where Roman's sword has gone through him. "Oh don't worry I can't feel it," Remus says with a smile as he faints. A few seconds later, he's awake and the sword wound is closed up.

"Anyway Lettuce, I need some help." Roman frowns as he dips his sword into a bucket of water, "What would you need my help with?" "Valentine's Day is coming and I want to make something cute for Double Dee and Logi," Remus sits in the mud and draws as he speaks, "But all I can think of are gross ones." Roman wipes his sword with a cloth and sends it to his room, "Why would you ask me for help? I have no clue what Logan likes, and all I know about Deceit is that he likes a good performance. Just give them your heart or something, or some nerdy play." Remus jumps up with a smile, "I got it! Thanks, Fallen Empire." Remus sinks out of Roman's side of the imagination, leaving behind portraits of Logan and Deceit.

Back in his room, Remus starts writing and drawing furiously on a piece of paper, occasionally referencing things on his laptop. Once he's done writing, he hides it and thinks of Logan. Logan answers the call and rises up in Remus' room, "What do you need stardust?" Remus smiles at Logan's nickname, "I need some help with a project. How many surgical books have you read?" Logan raises an eyebrow, "A few, why?" Remus summons a surgical table and hops on, "I need to remove my heart. Twice." Logan fails to suppress a grin as Remus summons up a mask, gloves, and the tools needed. Logan puts them on and Remus lays down, "Don't worry about hurting or killing me. I can't feel it and I respawn." Logan gets to work as Remus watches, interested. When Logan cuts the first artery, Remus faints. He wakes up a moment later after his chest is sewed back up. They go through the procedure one more time to get two hearts.

Logan removes the gloves and mask, "Whatever you're using those hearts for Remus, be careful with them." He kisses Remus' forehead before sinking down and leaving. Remus giggles and continues his project. An hour or so later, Remus calls Logan and Deceit to the theater. They give him a questioning look and Remus explains, "I wrote a play, just for you two." They sit and Remus hands them boxes, "Don't open them until after the play." Logan already knows what is in the box (he thinks) but agrees anyway. Remus goes up on stage and summons a few things before starting. The play is an hour long and about a combination of different interests, woven together somehow coherently. Logan and Deceit watch, interested, the entire time, which boosts Remus confidence. He even gets Logan to laugh, which paused the performance momentarily so Remus and Deceit could adore Logan.

Remus opens his laptop and checks a group chat for his friends, adequately named 'No Braincells Here'. He grins, seeing green dots next to all four of his friends and his brother; PappyPatton, AnxietyAttack, JekyllHyde, SpaceJam, and PositivelyPrincely. He turns on his mic, excited to wreak havoc as always and annoy his brother.

JeffreyDahmer: "What's up bitches one, two, three, four, and five."

The chat is filled with four voices; Roman groans, Virgil laughs, Patton says to watch his language, and Deceit says "Goodbye" and leaves, logging right back on. Remus also reads the texts sent by the only one never on voice chat, SpaceJam.

SpaceJam: Hello, Remus. I was starting to wonder where you were.

Remus smile grows, pleasantly surprised someone actually expects and wants him to be there. "Thanks, Space," He says through voice chat.

PappyPatton: "Now that Remus is here, we can talk about The Thing (TM)." PositivelyPrincely: "What is it this time Padre? Are you in need of spider killing? I'll run to your house now." PappyPatton: "No, Roman, It's- and he's gone..."

Remus hears his brother in the other room rummaging around for his sword. He doesn't stop him as he races out the door.

PappyPatton: "Remus, did he leave?" JeffreyDahmer: "Yeah." AnxietyAttack: "At least he's not knocking down my door this time." SpaceJam: Should we wait until he's back? PappyPatton: "I hear him knocking on my door... Be right back." SpaceJam: Does this happen often? Virgil, you didn't tell me you moved close to Roman and Remus.

Remus smiles, heart a little fluttery Space didn't just say Roman. It feels great to not be forgotten for once. Space always remembered him. Always.

AnxietyAttack: "Yeah, Patton is scared of spiders and since I own a few, Roman sometimes thinks they're mine and makes me check that they're all there and not fakes they replaced themselves with."

Remus' smile turns into a mischevious grin, knowing he caused the scene. He told Roman about Virgil's spiders, which he knew about since kindergarten. He also sometimes loosens their cages or catches wild spiders to put on Patton's lawn.

SpaceJam: Seems... Interesting. PappyPatton: "Okay Roman's next to me so I'm just gonna talk about it with him here, sorry for stealing your brother Remus." JeffreyDahmer: "Keep him." JekyllHyde: "I can't wait to hear what Patton has to say." PappyPatton: "What I was saying is... I got a boyfriend!" AnxietyAttack: "It's Roman, isn't it?" PappyPatton: "Yeah it's Roman." SpaceJam: Thank you for trusting us enough to tell us, Patton. SpaceJam: If it is alright, I would like to follow that up with my own announcement.

Remus' interest is piqued. Is Space going to announce their name? Gender? Sexuality? Romantic life? He's bouncing in his chair with excitement.

PappyPatton: "Go ahead Space!" SpaceJam: I am moving in with Virgil, now that his parents have formally adopted me. JekyllHyde: "ADOPTED?" JeffreyDahmer: "MOVING?" SpaceJam: Perhaps I should tell you more... PappyPatton: PLEASE -Roman

That was... NOT what Remus was expecting... but he's still excited! Space! Moving! Here! Okay, Remus needs to calm down before he falls out of his chair again.

SpaceJam: My name is Logan. I am a trans male and my parents were not too happy about it. While Virgil lived near me, he became worried about me. Once he knew of my situation, he told his parents, who have been fighting to adopt me. It has been finalized today, and I am currently packing.

Remus' head spins with the new information as he also hears Roman enter the house again. His bedroom door opens and Roman peeks his head in. "Good, you're still alive. You should take a shower since Space- er, Logan, is moving here." Remus absent-mindedly throws a pencil at his brother who dodges it and laughs.

JekyllHyde: "How are you getting here?" SpaceJam: I will be taking a plane. I'm very excited, planes are fascinating and I have wished to be on one. I do prefer spaceships though. PappyPatton: "Uh, Logan, I'd hate to push it so ignore me if you aren't comfortable with it but... could we hear your voice?" JeykllHyde: "Oh I would hate that." JeffreyDahmer: "Oh yes!" AnxietyAttack: "Guys shut the fuck up! It's stressful for him!" AnxietyAttack: "Logan if you don't want to its okay."

Remus watches the screen intently, glaring holes into to speaker icon next to Logan's username. He fills with delight as it's activated.

SpaceJam: "I-it's alright, I'm just... a bit nervous."

Remus accidentally slams his keyboard as he falls out of his chair, speaker locked on. He manages to get up and walks to the other side of his room, "HOLY MOTHER OF FUCK I AM IN LOVE!" Remus hears Roman's voice from the speakers and through the wall, "This dumbass fell out of his chair!" "Fuck off Roman I'm having a moment here!" Remus' face heats up as Logan's voice follows, "Remus are you hurt?" Why is Logan so nice? Remus can't handle this. "I'm alright Logan." After a few hours of bullshitting on chat and Remus freaking out over Logan, Logan advises all of them to go to bed. "I'm going to the airport now, if you get to sleep then you could see me as I arrive at Virgil's house." Remus happily replies, "Good night then, I want to be the first to get a look at you." He logs off and goes to read on his bed, knowing the excitement and his insomnia wouldn't allow him to sleep.

Remus is the first at Virgil's house in the morning and Virgil's mom offers to let him come with them, to which he happily and smugly agrees. He texts the chat smugly, excited to see Roman's reaction.

JeffreyDahmer: losers im going to the airport with virgil im gonna see logan first positivelyPrincely: OH THATS CHEATING YOU DIDNT EVEN SLEEP JeffreyDahmer: how was i supposed to? insomnia AND cute boy in the morning?

Remus waits by the gate with Virgil, who holds a sign reading 'Logan' in blue marker. Remus grins and asks Virgil to add something. Virgil rolls his eyes, "What do you want me to add?" "Space cutie!" Virgil laughs and lets Remus write it on underneath with a green marker. After a few minutes of waiting, Virgil points out a figure. He's wearing a blue tie over a black polo tucked into black jeans. He's pulling behind him two galaxy-themed suitcases. Virgil waves for his attention and gets it, sign being read. His face heats up and he walks over. "Lolo, so good to see you!" Virgil's mother hugs him, then Virgil does too, "I missed you L." Once freed from the hug, Logan looks over at Remus and gives a small smile, "Remus, right?" Remus' face lights up and he bounces on his feet, "How'd you know Spacey?" Logan laughs a bit, "You look exactly as I thought you would."

Virgil groans, "You two can flirt later. Let's go home so the others can meet you too." Logan and Remus talk on the way back to the car, keeping it more PG in front of Virgil's- and now Logan's- mom. As soon as the car pulls into the driveway, Roman and Patton run up to the car. Dee follows slowly behind. Logan goes to greet them all with a wave but Patton tackles him in a hug. "Oh, uh, hello Patton." Patton lets go of Logan so Roman can sling an arm over Logan's shoulder, "You're more handsome than I thought pocket protector. Still not a match for my princely charm, however." "Ah. You must be Roman." Dee walks up closer, "I know, Roman is so charming." Logan laughs a bit, "Good to see you, Dee." Dee breaks after a moment and gives Logan a hug while smiling." Virgil's mom gently tells them that Logan needs to unpack and the others groan but say goodbye and leave for their houses.

Remus goes to his room and sits in front of his computer, bouncing his leg as he stares at Logan's icon. After a few minutes, there is a ding, notifying a message and Remus smiles as he sees it's a private message from Logan.

SpaceJam: Remus, I am still packing but I wanted to ask you something before I 'chickened out' as Virgil says. SpaceJam: Would you like to accompany me to a museum of forensic anthropology?

Remus slides out of his chair and onto the floor, creating a small thump. Roman peeks his head into the room, "What happened? Did Logan say your name or something?" Remus points at the screen and Roman reads the messages, the nudges Remus with his foot, "Say yes you disaster! He's asking you on a date!" Remus lightly kicks Roman's leg, "Yeah, I know that!" He gets back up and types out a response but stares at it instead of pressing send. Roman sighs and hits send then goes back to what he was doing, leaving Remus to metaphorically die.

"Roman?" Virgil slowly opens the door to Roman's dark room. He doesn't turn on the light and instead uses the light from his phone to navigate the room. He gets to the bed and sees a lump in the center, completely covered in a blanket. "Roman, are you awake?" The lump hums. "You haven't come out in a while, so I figured you're having a creative block or depressive episode." The lump whines and shakes a little. "It's fine, Roman, you just need to take a break and recharge. I brought pasta salad." The lump wiggles out of the covers. Roman grabs the bowl from Virgil and scarfs down his depression meal. Virgil takes the empty bowl and places it on the nightstand. Roman flops back down on his bed. Virgil grabs the laptop at the foot of the bed and opens youtube. He reads out all of the playlists until Roman hums at one, then puts it on. Virgil pulls Roman closer to him and plays with his hair. Eventually, the two fall asleep.

Virgil looks up as his door opens after a light knock and sees Logan shuffling towards his bed. His shoulders are slumped a bit and his eyes are half shut. Virgil recognizes the behavior and goes through a mental list of what to do. He grabs his jacket from the foot of the bed and hands it to Logan, who puts it on and flops on the bed, curling up. It's worse than Virgil thought. He rubs circles into Logan's back and a bit of the tension fades slowly. Logan sits up and Virgil sees the emptiness in his gaze, his shut mouth, and slightly tensed jaw. This confirms his suspicions that it's one of Logan's episodes where he just runs out of energy completely. He can't even speak like this. Virgil gets them too sometimes. They always go to each other for these. Logan grabs his hand and he rubs circles into the side of Logan's hand with his thumb. Always circles.

Logan lays down with his head in Virgil's lap, so he plays with his hair. Logan takes out his phone and Virgil watches his scroll through playlists for a bit. He settles on one and hits play. As the soft music fills the room, Virgil hums along. Logan opens apps on his phone, then closes them, then opens a different one, then closes that one too. Virgil picks one for him, a self-care app that they both have. They found it during one of Virgil's episodes. Logan goes through the exercises, breathing slow, even and deep and focusing on the positive messages, petting a cat, filling in letters in positive messages. Virgil smiles at the sweater paw Logan gets from his jacket.

•ok so i have been dying for some snake!deceit so lets go!

•so janus can turn into a snake

•but not just any snake, a two-headed snake

•and snakes shed right?

•janus doesnt shed as often as regular snakes but when he does, its HELL

•you try getting skin off between two heads

•its very difficult

•now usually janus would suffer alone but as he gets closer to roman, he has a new solution

•janus starts shedding

•janus slithers his way through the mindscape, unable to turn human while hes shedding

•he finds roman sitting on the couch, watching a disney movie

•he hisses until roman notices him and picks him up

•"whats up slithery sleuth?"

•roman notices janus' heads rubbing his hand and hes like "???"

•so he looks closer and sees that janus is using his hand as like, a shedding helper, to rub the old scales off

•and maybe his heart kinda stopped bc holy crap thats adorable???

•out of everyone in the mindscape, janus chose him and roman is very honored