#chocolate chip cookies of seething malice

[darkelfchicksick]

[canvas-the-florist]

Just a Little Flir-Tea

Ship(s): Romantic Moceit,

Warnings: food mention, misunderstandings, a lot of puns

Summary: Patton and Janus are enemies of the mindscape. Except, are they? Janus thinks so but could he be wrong? No… They must be enemies. Who else would tenderly make tea with him?

Word Count: 1.3k

-

   Patton walked throughout the mind palace, humming a song without memory of the lyrics. In his hands he held a plate of chocolate chip cookies and passed by Janus who was sipping tea and sitting calmly at the table. Well, he looked calm but he was really seething. How did Patton have the right to be so serene and happy and cute while they were obviously about to fight about something?! Janus could swear that Patton didn’t understand rivalries at all, it was very frustrating.

   Everything he did was absolutely infuriating. Patton would stare at him sometimes, and always seemed to “accidentally” become more clumsy. Janus would usually get back at him by responding to his puns without a reaction or pretend he was fine with it all. But something about Patton always riled him up and Janus couldn’t understand. Even with how Janus was treating him Patton would go out of his way to see him. What was his deal?

   “Oh, hey Janus! Fancy seeing you here!” Patton greeted, tilting his head to the side as he smiled. Janus’s face grew hot… FROM RAGE thank you very much and he put down his cup of tea. “Well, I guess you’re always fancy with the hat and cape and all.”

   Janus raised an eyebrow as Patton sat down next to him. “Wow Patton, what a delight to see you… in my personal space. That doesn’t bother me at all.”

   “Oh, that’s good! I wouldn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.” Patton placed the cookies next to Janus’s cup of tea, which spilled off the table, almost hitting Janus’s leg. He jumped up with a whelp, summoning the rest of his six arms before regaining his composure and coughing to lose the exaggerated expression. The arms didn’t disappear, instead Janus wrapped himself in a very dramatic arm crossing that only he could pull off. Patton put a hand over his mouth, with concern? Was he laughing? Janus couldn’t really tell but felt embarrassed anyways. “You okay, Jan? I’m so sorry I didn’t tea that coming!”

   Silence followed after the pun, with Janus staring blankly at Patton. Janus closed his eyes, the extra arms disappearing in a golden light before looking back at morality with an unenthusiastic expression. “That was a stretch, even for you.”

   Patton got up, smoothing the wrinkles in his pants with a small laugh. He walked over to Janus who stepped back a little bit. “Yeah, my bad. I won’t get oolong face about it though. Seriously, are you okay kiddo? I can get a towel or something.”

   Janus felt the human face of his face heat up again, possibly from the tea. Maybe it had gotten him after all? Patton furrowed his eyebrows, his head tilting to the side again. Janus looked away. Then, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned back. Patton didn’t have any malice in his face. They were rivals though, Janus felt really confused. They were supposed to be RIVALS. Not friends or anything. That’s how it was… Patton smiled and Janus’s shoulders relaxed. Wait no, he had to keep his guard up. It could be a trick or something!

  “Let’s go to the kitchen okay, I’ll get you a different cup of herbal tea. You like the mint lemon one, right?” Janus was so confused that he just nodded.

   “How did you know that?”

   Patton blinked and thought for a moment, contemplating. He dropped his arm back to his side. “Why wouldn’t I notice that, Janus? You drink a cup every morning. You’ve been making it at the same time I start baking! Now, c’mon I wouldn’t want my favorite reptile to get a stain on your cool cape!”

   That’s when it happened. Patton kissed Janus’s cheek and walked in the direction of the kitchen, after picking up the overturned tea cup. Janus felt like his brain was short circuiting. He blinked a few times in the now empty room. His hand hovered over his scales, imagining what just happened repeatedly in his head and then turned around to head into the kitchen after Patton. What happened to being rivals? Patton was humming the same song from earlier while washing the teacup in the sink so Janus could presumably use it again. He put the cup on the counter.

   “Do you want to help make it? I don’t want to mess it up.” Patton gestured to the cabinet to the right of him. He didn’t mention the minute he was standing idly in the other room and Janus was almost grateful. Almost. Janus walked over and filled the kettle with water and started to heat it up. His head felt heavy as all the thoughts in his mind seemed to be wrong. From a kiss on the cheek? He should gain his composure. He’s deceit! The scary snake boy with a wonderful aesthetic! Janus needs to calm down. “Hey Janus, not that I don’t love your enthusiastic hisses to yourself, the water is boiling.”

   Janus quickly lifted the kettle off the stove and hissed at Patton. “You didn’t think to mention that earlier?”

   “Sorry! I just-”

   “Patton why did you kiss me?” Janus asked, putting the kettle down. He looked back to Patton who seemed startled. Janus didn’t mean to bombard Patton with questions but he was really confused.

   “Chai don’t know what you mean?” Patton clapped his hands. “Oh, earlier? Was I not supposed to do that? I’m sorry but we’ve been dating for a couple months now and I-”

   “Stop with the puns- wait… dating?” Patton nodded. Janus thought back in his memory, thinking back to any moment he agreed to date his nemesis. It would’ve been. He suddenly remembered the start of the rivalry. Patton asked him to… go… out… “Oh.” OH.

   “Janus?” He sunk down the floor hiding his face in his hands. “You okay, bud?”

   Patton knelt down into a squat next to Janus, who mumbled into his gloves. “I think I… need to stew in my own emotions and regrets for a moment.”

   “Don’t you mean… ‘brew’ in your own emotions?” When Janus didn’t respond, Patton sighed quietly and stood back up. “Okay, bud. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I’ll leave you to that.”

   “Actually-” Janus grabbed Patton’s hand. When Patton looked at him, he blushed and looked away. Patton gave a soft smile that Janus didn’t see. “Actually, I wouldn’t mind some company to spend it with. If you want! I, uh, be-leaf that we have something to work out together. But for now… want to just be here for a moment?”

   Patton slid down the counter, still holding Janus’s hand as he joined him on the floor of the kitchen. They didn’t talk for the first few minutes as Janus was mentally beating himself up over it. But eventually they started talking. Patton was more endeared than offended by the one sided rivalry. Janus even laughed a little as Patton described his side of the story. In the end, the tea was forgotten on the counter. Janus decided that a romantic partner would be nicer than a rival. Well, if the second kiss said anything about that.

-

   Roman walked into the kitchen, looking behind him with more interest “Hey, Patton I noticed there were some cookies left on the table and I was wondering if I could have-” He saw Patton asleep on Janus’s shoulder. “OH MY I’M SORRY FOR WALKING IN ON ANYTHING BYE.” He walked out quickly, passing by Logan along the way.

   “Why did you augment your volume-” Roman grabbed Logan’s arm and walked them out of the dining room. “Roman, Roman stop ignoring me what’s happening-”

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