#familiar moceit

[spoondrifts]

new vid only supports my moceit agenda. janus cared so much about putting together something patton would genuinely really like, investing so much effort into the elaborate russian nesting doll gift and then finishing with a sweet little card that he knew patton would love & appreciate for its heartfelt simplicity, AUGH i'm so soft abt them

[stardustsides]

THE UNSLEEPING CITY

this is their dynamic to me

[stardustsides]

Love is a Beach

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Patton and Janus broke up months ago. The problem? They still haven’t told their friends, and their annual beach trip is looming. Not wanting to break the news and ruin the vacation, they come to an…unconventional agreement.

Word Count: 2597

Pairings: moceit, background prinxiety

Content Warnings: drinking, breakups, mild innuendo

Author’s Note: I finally wrote the fake-dating-exes “there’s only one bed” moceit fic I’ve been threatening you all with!! I tagged everyone who expressed interest in reading this when I posted about it months ago. This fic is loosely based off of the novel “Happy Place” by Emily Henry :)

~

Not for the first time, the rational part of Patton’s brain was telling him that this was a bad idea. He had known it since they cooked it up, but he guessed that it was one thing to talk about it and another entirely to put it into action. He stood in the driveway, holding a bag of pool noodles and feeling slightly nauseous.

The rush of blood in his ears nearly drowned out the familiar chatter of his friends: Logan reading their checklist aloud in his typical drone, the twins cracking jokes from the backseat, Virgil groaning and telling them to shut it, trying and failing to smother the grin on his face. It was a perfect tableau of the people he loved most in the world, who, under different circumstances, he would have been thrilled to spend the week on vacation with, as he was every year.

As Janus loaded the last of the bags into the trunk, Patton met his eyes, and looked away as quickly as he could, staring at the gravel by his feet. Off to a flying start.

Plastering a smile onto his face, he clapped his hands. “Everyone ready?” He asked cheerfully, plopping into the driver’s seat. “AYE AYE, CAPTAIN!” Roman and Remus crowed in unison, to which Logan rolled his eyes. Janus slid into the passenger’s seat next to him with the grace of a lethargic cat. Patton dutifully kept his eyes on the rear view mirror as he pulled out of the driveway.

“I’m trusting you on aux, Jan,” Roman called from the back. “You better not disappoint!” Roman was usually the DJ of their road trips, as he always called dibs on shotgun (“dibs” used loosely, as he’d fight anyone who dared take his place as the resident passenger princess), but he had graciously relinquished his seat to Janus for this particular trip.

In fact, all of them had been exceptionally kind to both him and Janus for the past few weeks; Virgil had dropped a homemade loaf of sourdough at his apartment last week, saying that he “made too much”; Logan had told Patton that he’d pay the gas bill that Patton’s minivan was racking up for this trip; and, of course, Roman wouldn’t hear a word against Patton and Janus taking the master bedroom in the beach house they were renting.

It would melt Patton’s heart if it didn’t make his stomach twist with guilt.

He knew exactly where it was all coming from: they were expecting a proposal soon.

When Patton and Janus had first started dating in junior year of college, they could sense the wariness in their friends; they had all been inseparable since they first met in freshman year, and their concern that it would ruin the group dynamic was palpable.

That had been six years ago, though, and it really had only brought them all closer together. Janus and Patton had earned the nicknames “Mom” and “Dad”, respectively, and the others had all delighted in the prospect of one day being uncles to their kids.

And so, six years on in their relationship, everyone was clearly trying to contain their excitement about the proposal that they knew had to be coming soon.

So no, they couldn’t just tell the others about the breakup.

When it happened two months ago, Patton had fretted for days over how to break the news. Their trip to the beach, which had been a yearly tradition since they were sophomores in college, was looming, and he couldn’t stand the thought of breaking their hearts. His own was shattered already.

So when Janus showed up to move his stuff out of their apartment and suggested that they not tell the others until after the trip, it seemed like the best course of action at the time.

Now, the reality of the situation was really settling in as he drove on the freeway. He was facing down a week of playing lovebirds with his ex-boyfriend, actively deceiving the people in his life who knew him best, so yeah, you could say his resolve weakened a bit.

“Just to confirm, to avoid any confusion,” Logan began for what had to have been the fifteenth time that week. “Patton and Janus will be staying in the master bedroom. Roman and Virgil will take the first guest room, and myself and Remus will be staying in the second one, correct?”

Patton caught Roman’s eye in the rear view and exchanged a wry glance. Logan was clearly reiterating the sleeping arrangements over and over again in a futile attempt to get out of staying with Remus. Based on the way that Virgil had flushed bright red when Roman declared that they could room together, though, Logan’s efforts were completely in vain. Patton smiled a little in spite of himself. Virgil’s massive crush on Roman was one of the worst-kept secrets in the group; everyone knew about it except, of course, Roman himself, who was almost impressively oblivious.

“Yep,” Roman replied. “That’s what we all agreed on two weeks ago, L.” Logan said nothing in response and turned to stare out the window.

Their planning day two weeks ago was the first time that Patton had seen Janus since he had moved out. It also served as their “test run” for their charade, and it was just about as soul-crushing as Patton was anticipating it would be. He sat as close to Janus as he could bear, and forced himself to keep smiling, even as Roman showed them pictures of the room that they’d be sharing—he wasn’t really paying attention, as he was too preoccupied with the proximity of Janus’ knee to his. A wisp of blond hair escaped from Janus’ bun, as it often did, and Patton fought the urge to tuck it back. Instead, he gulped down a glass of the wine Logan had brought a bit too eagerly and studiously ignored the look it got him from Janus, who had the audacity to look amused.

Easy-peasy, he thought to himself, desperately avoiding Janus’s gaze.

All he’d have to do is make it through the week. One week, and then they could drop the charade and stop the lying and nothing would ever be the same in the group again.

He’d poured himself another glass of wine.

“Are we almost there?” Remus whined from the back row of seats, jolting Patton back to the present.

“Still another hour or so, Ree,” he responded, glancing at the GPS. Remus let out an anguished groan.

“Would you like a book to pass the time?” Logan asked, reaching into the bag at his feet. Every year, they’d all place bets on how many books Logan would read on vacation. His record was currently sitting at twelve.

“I’d rather have my arm torn off by wolves, no offense.”

“You’re quiet, Janus,” Virgil remarked.

“Hm?” Janus said, jolting a little beside him. Patton gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, but it filled him with a grim satisfaction to know that at the very least, he was on edge too. “Oh, just lost in thought. I’m ready to get into bed.”

“I’ll bet,” Remus grinned devilishly.

“Shut up, Remus,” Virgil laughed, smacking his arm.

“Anyways, we’ll be there soon enough,” Patton said, hoping that the frantic pitch in his voice came across as embarrassment. He could feel the hot blush creeping across his face. “And I’ll make spaghetti once we get there!”

“You don’t have to do that,” Janus said, and Patton startled. “You just drove, the least we could do is cook dinner.”

“Oh,” Patton managed. “That’s alright, I really don’t mind.”

“I’ll order pizza,” he said decisively, and Patton felt a mix of annoyance and appreciation. He’s so thoughtful. He always had been.

“Okay, if that’s alright with everyone else,” he replied unsteadily. “Thanks, honey.”

The pet name was out before he could stop himself, a habit the product of six years together. He thanked his lucky stars that he was driving, so he wouldn’t have to look at Janus.

“Of course, dear.”

His face burned.

Easy-peasy.

~

The house was stupidly perfect. Nestled in the heart of a picturesque beach town, it stood behind a picket fence, with white shutters and blue trim, framed by yellow rose bushes. It looked exactly like the kind of house he and Janus had always talked about moving to once they got married, and Patton’s heart gave another painful twist.

Everyone clambered out of the car, Remus darting forward to unlock the front door, everyone else grabbing their luggage. Patton breathed in the sea air and tried to steady himself.

The interior was just as lovely as the outside; light blue wood paneled walls decorated with paintings of the beach, with a pristine white couch that Patton had no doubt somebody would spill some brightly colored beverage on by the end of the week. Roman was breezing from room to room, showing everyone around, clearly quite pleased with himself for being the one to pick out their lodgings.

“You can choose which bed you want, I don’t mind either way,” he was saying to Virgil, their luggage piled in the center of their room.

“The place is beautiful, Ro!” Patton exclaimed as he poked his head through the doorway. Roman swelled with pride.

“Wait until you see your room! Here, lemme show you—it’s the one upstairs, at the end of the hall!”

“There’s an upstairs?” Patton asked, unable to hide the surprise in his voice.

“Yep! You and Janus will have the floor all to yourself,” Roman said, throwing a playful wink at him. Patton hoped that the giggle he forced out was convincing. “Here, let me help you get your stuff upstairs.”

They trudged to the top of the stairs, bags in tow. As Roman pushed open the door to the room at the top, clearly awaiting his reaction, Patton schooled his features into what he hoped resembled joy.

The room was lovely. There was a seafoam green loveseat in the corner, a big window thrown open to reveal a clear view of the bay on the far side, white linen curtains dancing in the light breeze, and in the middle, of course, there was a plush king sized bed, covered in throw pillows shaped like seashells.

He had known that there would only be one bed. Obviously there would only be one bed. It was the master bedroom and him and Janus had been together for six years, of course they’d be sharing a bed.

But knowing that beforehand and seeing the bed in person were two entirely different things.

“Oh, Ro,” he managed. “It’s…it’s lovely. Thank you.”

Janus appeared in the doorway behind Roman, holding his own luggage.

“Of course, Pat,” Roman said, squeezing his hand. “I knew you’d love it. I’ll let you two get settled!” And with that, he slipped out, shutting the door behind him with a decisive click.

The silence stretched out, filling the room. It dawned on Patton that this was their first moment alone together in months. He felt uncomfortably warm. Finally, as the silence threatened to swallow them whole, Janus huffed. “You,” he began, “are a terrible actor.”

Patton opened his mouth and closed it. There was so much to say, and yet he could find no words at all. The tension was unbearable. He wanted to take Janus’s face in his hands, to search his gaze until he could fix whatever had broken between them. Instead, he pursed his lips and turned away, hoping that Janus wouldn’t hear the waver in his voice. “You knew that already.”

“I did,” Janus responded.

Patton cleared his throat. “There’s only one bed.”

“I’ve noticed.” Patton hated how utterly unbothered he sounded. So calm, cool, and collected while Patton was unraveling at the seams. As if six years down the drain meant nothing to him.

He made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. “So…?”

“So?” He could hear the edges of amusement creep into Janus’ voice, and his face burned.

“So, what do you want to do about it?”

Janus sighed. “I could sleep on the floor, if you want.”

“What? No! You—I wouldn’t make you do that!” He stammered out.

“I know you wouldn’t,” he said. “But I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“You sleeping on the floor for a week because of me would make me uncomfortable, Janus,” Patton shot back. “Please, let’s just—it’s fine. It’s a big bed, and it’s only a week.”

Janus was silent for a moment, staring at him. Patton tried not to squirm under his gaze.

“Fine. If that’s what you want,” he said finally.

“It is,” he responded, certain that his face was spectacularly red. “Um. I’m going to—grab my things.” He headed for the door.

Janus raised an eyebrow towards his luggage already piled in the doorway but said nothing.

He flew down the stairs, cheeks on fire, and into the kitchen, where Virgil was busy unpacking the food for the week.

“Oh, hey,” he said.

“Hi,” Patton responded, unsure why he was already so out of breath. “Um. I’ll cook tonight.”

“I thought we were ordering pizza, like Jan said?”

“I know, I know, I just—have a lot of energy right now, I want to keep myself busy.”

Virgil raised his eyebrows. “Uh, alright. Everything okay?”

“Yep!” he said, wincing at the strain in his voice. “I just had too much coffee this morning before the drive, so. You know.” Terrible actor, indeed.

Virgil looked unconvinced. “Okay, if you’re sure. Just, uh—take it easy, alright? It’s supposed to be a vacation.”

“Says you,” he said, grinning a little and poking Virgil’s arm. Virgil rolled his eyes.

“This isn’t about me.”

“It is now!” Virgil huffed.

“Just…take care of yourself, okay?” he asked, his voice softening a bit, hints of real concern in his eyes. “You’ve been a little…uh, off, lately—“

“Off?” Patton’s stomach twisted.

“Not off,” he amended. “Just…tightly wound? And, y’know, I get why, but—“

“What?” He asked, panicked. If Virgil already knew…

Virgil looked abjectly confused, holding up his hands. “Just, y’know…” he lowered his voice a little bit. “The proposal?”

Oh. Yeah. That made more sense. It did nothing to ease his nerves, though.

“Right,” he choked out. Virgil stared at him for a long moment, his eyes searching his face. Finally, he looked away, sighing.

“All I wanted to say was that I want you to take care of yourself. It’s a vacation, and none of us want you to spend it working yourself to the bone for our sake.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Yeah, I know, Virge. Thanks.”

“‘Course,” he said resignedly, awkwardly tapping his fingers against the countertop. There was an uncertain air between them, and Patton did his best to ignore it. He couldn’t have Virgil worrying about him—he wouldn’t have it. Otherwise, what was this whole charade even for?

He helped Virgil unpack the rest of the food, trying his best to diffuse the tension between them. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief when Virgil finally retreated into his room, resting his face in his hands.

He shouldn’t have come here. He should have pretended he had the flu, or told them that his apartment was robbed, or that his dog had gotten into chemical waste and was now a mutant wreaking havoc on the city, or—or something.

But then, that wouldn’t have really done anything—the others would have just rescheduled the trip for him, and then he’d have felt doubly bad.

He glanced at the clock, blinking green above the oven, sighed, and uncorked a bottle of wine.

Whatever happened tonight, at least he wouldn’t be sober for it.

~

Taglist (let me know if you want to be removed!)

@moceit @lily-janus @instantromannoodles

@bluejay-of-the-west @scare-amor @harmonialcollisions @emoprincey @dragonboots @just-my-interpretation @spicycreativity @infawrit10 @emophoenixreborn @6-paris-6 @thedeadandthedecaying @red-imeanblue

[thegoldenduckie]

I dare you to rank all sanders sides ships on a scale of 1-10. At least, as many as you can think up of.

OOO SOUNDS FUN ANON! Ill try to get as many ships as i can (but not that one, you know which one)

Rankings under cut

btw i used fanlore.org to look for all the ships, so idk if each of the ship names are right

AND THIS IS JUST MY SILLY OPINION! IF YOU DISAGREE THATS ALRIGHT THIS IS JUST WHAT I THINK!

Loceit: 8/10 Really good, love it, love the content of it

Moceit: 50/10 MOCEIT IS MY OTP! MY EVERYTHING, MY ABSLOUTE FAVOURITE SHIP

Dukeceit/Demus: 7/10 Its really good! Lovee their dynamic, its a shame we dont see these guys interact in the show much :(

Roceit: 7/10 Love roceit, so many angst and fluffy opportunities, honestly love the angst

Thomceit: 5/10 Honestly im not enthusiastic about sides x Thomas ships, but they can be pretty sweet! This ones really good, i see the appeal

Anxceit: 9/10 AHGG THEM! Sooo good! As platonic, romantic, familiar, and bitter exes! Love it! So many fun amd angsty posibilites!

Logicality: 7.5/10 Its so adorable!! I loveee logicality fanart and fics! I really loved logicality when i first joined watched the show, so it gets an extra .5 for nostagic sake

Intrulogical: 10/10 like DUDE INTRULOGICAL MAKES ME FERAL! Its so silly and adorable and freaky ahsxhjlsxkjkjhsx

Logince: 9/10 aaa its sooo fun! Their chemistry is SO INCREDIBLE

Lomas: 5/10 Again, not big on thomas and side ships, but this ones pretty cute

Analogical: 10/10 YESSS! YES YES YES! I COULD TALK ABOUT THEM FOREVER! THEY MAKE ME SOO HAPPPPYYY!! ESPECIALLY AS QPPS!! AAAA I LOOOVVEEEE THEMMM SO MUCH!

Intruality: 6/10 I like it! Its growing on me! Has a lot of adorableness

Royality: 6/10 Love it platonic, indifferent to it as romantic, and its just very sweet and seeing content of it makes me smile

Momas: 5/10

Moxiety: 6/10 again, love it familar and platonic, with a father son relationship! Honestly dont like it romantic

Platonic Creativitwins: 9/10 Yes! The twins! I love them just being chaotic siblings, or even on good terms and having being good brothers to eachother

Intrumas: 4/10

Dukexiety: 7/10 I like it a lot!!

Prinxiety: 8/10 its reeaally adorble, honestly love it lots

Analogince (Lo/Ro/Virge): 7/10 cute!

Romas: 5/10

Thomxiety: 5.5/10 this ones pretty cute

Logicalceit (Jan/Lo/Pat): 8/10 Its content is soo sweet

Intruloceit (Jan/Lo/Rem): 9/10 YEAHH I LOVE IT!! MAKES ME FROTH AT THE MOUTH

Roloceit (Jan/Lo/Ro): 7/10 Seems loevly

Analoceit (Jan/Lo/Virge): 9/10 At first i was indifferent to it, but a certain mutual made me see how amazing this ship is

Intrualceit? (Jan/Pat/Rem): 5/10 i think thats the name

Royalceit (Jan/Pat/Ro): 5.5/10 havent seen much of it, but points for that sick name

Moxiceit? (Jan/Pat/Virge): 7/10 ive seen some cute suff with this, i think thats the name

Anxceitmus (Jan/Rem/Virge): 9/10 YESS! AAAAA THESE THREEE MAKE ME SOOOO INSANE!

Anaroceit/Prinxieceit (Jan/Ro/Virge): 8/10 so much potential for a toxic yoai polycule

Intrugicality (Lo/Pat/Rem): 5/10

Morolo/Moralogince (Lo/Pat/Ro): 8/10 SO ADORABLE

Analogicality? (Lo/Pat/Virge): 6/10 i think thats the name

Anaintrulogical? (Lo/Rem/Virge): 6/10 i can see the appeal, i think thats the name

Anaintruality? (Pat/Virge/Rem): 5/10 i think thats the name

Anaroyality? (Virge/Ro/Pat): 5/10 i think thats the name

LAMP/CALM: 9/10 LOOOVEE IT! I DO NOT MAKE ENOUGH CONTENT OF THEM! ITS SO ADORBLE

DLAMP: 7/10

DLAMPR: 8/10 YES! ONE BIG HAPPY POLYCULE! THE BEST KIND OF SHIP

Thanks for the ask anon! Again, all these rankings are just my opinion, please dont fight me

[ashtonisvibing]

did i ever mention giving normalcy!moceit a kid?

did it ever even cross my mind before right now?

who knows who cares anyways picrew draft of moceit kiddo :3

(picrew used)

her name's jenny, she's 6 years old and likes climbing trees while wearing cute sun dresses. she also has a huge rock and seashell collection since her and her parents live close to a beach (i'm basing wherever the normalcy au takes place off of my home state of massachusetts since it's what i'm most familiar to, so the moceit fam would live around where plymouth and plymouth beach is)

uhhhhh pre warning for some angst and mentions of pregnancy/miscarriage

patton really considers her their little miracle, because since he was the one to carry her since he could (he had the equipment and honestly always wanted to be a seahorse dad if he could), he unfortunately suffered a few miscarriages before finally managing to carry jenny. so she gets spoiled by her parents because they want her to live happy and healthy, which is mostly just taking her to parks and the beach during the weekend since they're her favorite places to go

i forgot to give her headphones but she's always wearing noise canceling headphones when outside the house, she's autistic and is very sensitive around loud/sudden noises

anyways i love this lil girl she's so precious i wanna give her all the head kisses

[onthevirgeofdestruction]

Do it All the Time

Chapter 9: Loose Lips Sail Ships

Virgil's little slip-up at the end of chapter 37 has consequences.

Words: 1,005 Content Warnings: None Ships: Prinxiety/Moceit Rating: T+ (16+) Genre: Nonsense, Sass Additional Tags: Empathy is a bitch Between 37 and 38

   “Virgil, that’s not you, is it?” Roman asks in a confused voice, holding his hand over his chest.

   “No, when it comes to embarrassment, it’s usually Patton,” Virgil answered with a small sigh, feeling the bright, sharp shame pinching at her under her sternum another time this afternoon. “Should we ask why it keeps happening?”

   “And possibly make it worse? No, thank you,” Roman scoffed, waving his hand. “I have homework, anyway,” he muttered miserably, kicking at his desk leg.

   “No motivation to do it again?” Virgil asked.

   “I am ready to burn all of it before my brain will even let me look at it. And I’m medicated, this is bullshit,” Roman mumbles, crossing his arms and pacing the room. “Speaking of… you mention it relatively often. Have you ever committed arson, Virgil?” Roman asked curiously.

   “Be gay, do crimes,” Virgil responds with a salute and a smirk.

   “Virgil, my vampiric darling, that doesn’t answer my question,” Roman insists, now standing over Virgil in her desk with his arms crossed.

   “What are you, a narc? Don’t make me call my lawyer,” Virgil huffed, rolling her eyes at him.

   “We are both dating your lawyer,” Roman pointed out.

   “At least he’s not a narc,” Virgil stated flatly, drumming her fingers on the desk.

   “When have I ever narced on you?” Roman asked, his arms slipping from their position.

   “I plead the 13th,” Virgil states, turning away to look back at her laptop.

   “Virgil, I’m not a history person, or whatever, but I’m pretty certain that abolishes slavery,” Roman said, sounding completely confused.

   “Damn right.” Virgil nodded vehemently.

   “You could have just said you don’t want to answer,” Roman said flatly, putting his hand on her shoulder. Virgil paused, listening and hearing a familiar pair of feet coming down the hall. “What is it?” Roman asked.

   “Patton?” Virgil responded distractedly, gently pushing Roman out of the way to get up and open the dorm door. Patton is just standing there when she gets there a moment later, bright red in the face. Virgil doesn’t know what’s happening, so she steps out of the way and Patton walks in, holding themselves tightly, and Virgil closes up behind them.

   “What’s up, Pat?” Roman asks, putting his hand on Patton’s shoulder.

   Patton moves to collapse in Virgil’s chair, still biting their lip and completely red in the face. “Oh. You know. Logan just asked me to explain what a vampire kink entails,” Patton whispered, Roman’s back shooting straight with his eyes going wide. “He wasn’t teasing or anything. He was just curious. The problem was I just stammered out ‘teeth’ after three minutes of standing there like a deer in headlights,” Patton whispers. Roman snorts, his hand shooting over his mouth as he holds back the urge to laugh.

   “Is teeth the thing?” Virgil asks curiously, honestly having no idea what exactly it was about vampires that Patton was into.

   “That’s the other problem. He looked up vampires online. Showed me some art. Asked me to pinpoint what was sexy about it. I’m very tired from that exchange, and I am here to demand unshielded cuddles from Ms. Accidentally-outs-her-friend-as-being-into-vampires. Not answer more questions that I don’t really want to field,” Patton muttered, looking up at Virgil from the chair. Roman’s still holding back laughter, now also red in the face from holding his breath.

   “Whoops,” Virgil muttered, dropping her shield automatically. Patton let out a soft sigh, already reaching out for Virgil's bond.

   “You didn't,” Roman gasped, putting his hand over his mouth.

   “I just didn't understand why Logan would want to be bitten by me, okay?” Virgil hissed out. “It was an accident, and I offered to fix it, but Logan wouldn't let me wipe his memory,” she muttered. “So, setting up the air mattress, I'm guessing?” Virgil asked, trying to change the subject and take care of Patton.

   “Virgil,” Roman groaned, rubbing his face with his hand.

   “What?” Virgil demanded, feeling incredibly ashamed all over again. Probably from Patton.

   “Did you forget you're hot again?” Roman asked indignantly.

   “I run cold, remember?” Virgil joked, moving to go set up the air mattress anyway. Patton seemed too red to respond.

   “Not only do you look like some kind of alt himbo, you're about as smart as one, too,” Roman sighed heavily, running his hand through his hair. “Virgil. Get it through your hard skull. Humans don't need a vampire kink. You don't even need your fancy brain-melting voice. You're built like a damned marble statue. People don't need more than that,” Roman insisted vehemently, and Virgil paused, blinking at Roman.

   “Are you sure Logan wasn't just being nice?” Virgil asked, feeling a little lost. She naturally scares people off.

   “Probably a better conclusion to jump to than vampire kink,” Patton whispered, gripping their skirt in their hands.

   “… Double whoops. Sorry, Pat,” Virgil apologized, rubbing the back of her head. In retrospect, that wasn't her best moment.

   “It'll be fine. Just cuddle me,” Patton murmured, clenching the skirt in their hands.

   “On it. Sorry again.” Virgil felt the heat in her face from Patton's blush. 

   Virgil set up the bed quickly, and Patton got up to nervously stand next to the bed while Virgil finished. She wrapped them up in her arms as soon as possible, pulling them down onto the bed and under the blankets without hesitating. Patton let out another sigh, their arms hesitantly coming up to hug Virgil back under the sheets. 

   “I’ll join you too in a hot minute, just need to finish this damn homework,” Roman huffed, kicking at the floor and going to sit at his desk. 

   “Was this the right motivation?” Virgil joked quietly as Patton nestled closer, curling into her chest.

   “With Patton’s emotions like this?” Roman whispered near-silently. “I don’t think there’s anything better,” he said, a certain resignation in his voice as he started his homework. Virgil suppressed a grimace, holding Patton close. Though as far as consequences went, this wasn’t the worst outcome she’d ever had to face.

[tss-storytime-summaries]

2

Expected Rating: Teen

Warnings: Bullying, peer pressure, toxic friendship (they all love each other just bad at communication), panic attacks, self degrading thoughts, nightmares, swords, swearing, Remus being himself, manipulation courtesy of Janus, lying, black and white morality, fighting and yelling, divorced parents, strict parents, not being listened to, monsters and gore.

Characters: Janus, Remus, Virgil, Roman, Logan, Patton

Romantic relationships: Intrulogical maybe and moceit maybe, still not sure

Summary: Remus- loud, crude, doesn't know the definition of tact. Janus- smart, cunning, manipulative and a complete control freak. Virgil- anxious, an overthinker, highly insecure and has an overwhelming fear of abondenment.

What do these three have in common? An overwhelming fear of change and the unknown.

So what will they do when they, quite literally, are sucked into facing it?

An Amphibia AU for those familiar with the show.

[thebestestboyo]

How Remus Started Working For Patton: Part Two

Masterpost

Tw: Swearing, brief vomiting mention, mention of burn scar

"What do you mean you lost a bet?? Who was this guy???"

Virgil was seven shades of anxious, pacing back and forth after he had helped Remus get to their beat-up couch, since Ree couldn't really walk well by himself still.

"His name was Patton, and I'd let him cut open my stomach with a butter knife. Oo! I wonder if my organs would splatter like the ones at Logan's lab?"

"Ree, now isn't the time for your gorey science friend. If Patton is who I think he is, then he knows dangerous people."

"Ah you worry too much! He couldn't hurt a fly, he showed up to the bar in a sweater and a cute little skirt. He has great legs." It was hard not to be at least a little insulted at Virgil's prods at Pat, when he was such a sweet guy. "And I didn't see his brother well, I think his name was something to do with D? The memory is hazy."

"Please, please tell me you're not seriously saying that you met Demetrius and Patton Crim. Please."

"Virg, I never got their last names. How would I know??"

"Because they're on the news every other day???"

Before Remus could reply, he felt a surge of pain in his stomach, beginning signs that all that alcohol he had drunk, was going to be undrunk, whether he liked it or not. "Bucket. Please."

As much as Virgil clearly wanted to still argue with him, he definitely wouldn't want to clean up Remus's puke. Sighing, he went and grabbed the designated 'chuck bucket™' and brought it over to Ree.

He was also nice enough to hold back his long hair, knowing that it took forever to get puke out of hair. (He would never admit it, but Remus remembers when Virgil grew out his hair down to his shoulders during their college years. It was cute! But Virg cut it again since he was tired of being mistaken for a girl).

"Sorry Vee. I guess I let my impulse get the better of me again huh?"

"No shit Sherlock." Most people would take that as an insult, but Remus knew that was him calming down a little, which he was thankful for. He didn't want to give Virg an anxiety attack over him.

"So who are these guys? You said they're on the news?"

Virgil had begun to run his fingers through the knots in Remus's wavy locks while he spoke, his voice evening out as he did. "Mmhm. Which you would know if you actually watched the news with me!" There was a slight tug on Ree's head, playful.

"You know I only watch it for the murder stories! And anyways, watching too much of that bull makes you nervous, you know that. Its good I drag you away from it, otherwise you'd never leave the apartment."

"Ha ha, very funny. But I'm serious. They're bad news."

"Regular gang stuff or worse?"

"Worse. They have control over most of downtown, and who knows where else. As far as I've picked up, they're notorious for kidnappings, grand theft auto, money laundering, the works."

"Ah, so saucy gang members." Ree nodded in complete serious, taking the hint.

"The sauciest. At least for our city."

"Yikes. So THAT'S why you don't want me going downtown. I was imagining you worked in a strip club or something and you didn't want me to stumble upon it." It wasn't really a jab, more of a tease, which Virg immediately picked up on.

"Nah, more like I didn't want you to come across all your fangirls from highschool. That's their terf, and they can smell your musty ass from miles away."

"I'm not musty! Unless you're talking about mustard, which I may have fell into on occasion."

"Gross! Take a shower you pile of burning trash!"

"If you take off your headphones you introverted bat-spider amalgamation!"

Laughing softly, Virg picked up the 'chuck bucket™' and tossed the contents into the trash can, his almond milk eyes shining. "Excuse you, I'm clearly a vampire. That's the only explanation I will take."

"Nah, you'd have to be hot for that to work."

"Hey!"

Remus only stuck out his tongue, stretching out his sore muscles before he could stand up, even if he still needed to hold a hand on the wall for balance. "I clearly have all the attractiveness out of the two of us."

"If attractiveness is now a synonym for repulsiveness then sure."

Gently pushing Virg on his way to the bathroom, the two only laughed, the danger that Remus had put himself in forgotten for the moment, but not completely.

On the other side of the city, Dee was working through all of the paperwork that came with being the head of a gang, which is surprisingly more than you think. Checkbooks, money from protection fees needing to be sorted and seen to, it was awful. The older Crim was just about ready to set it all on fire just to get rid of the hassle.

"Dee...?"

Thank goodness, Patton was here. He wouldn't have to work on this for a while yet, but Pat usually wasn't up this early, epecially after the two of them had gone to a deal, nevermind the fact that Pat had gotten ridiculously drunk. He usually took the next day off to nurse his hangover, and to get back some of the sleep he missed.

"Yes Patty?"

"Can I ask you a question please?" Turning his head, he could see Patton in his pajamas, blanket still around his shoulders to keep him warm.

"Anything you wish. What's bothering you?"

"Do you think Remus will be angry to realize who we are? You did just essentially mark that he's part of our gang, even if it's subtle." It must have been bothering him immensely, usually he would have hidden a couple puns in his sentences by now.

"I'm unsure Patton, he was drunk and so were you, so he might not even remember it."

"Oh..."

That was the wrong thing to say, Dee noticed that almost immediately. That just wouldn't do, not on his watch. "Come up and sit by me. I know you're probably cold, even with that blanket."

Patton shuffled quietly over, sitting up on Dee's lap like when they were younger, and Pat would have a bad dream. It didn't matter how old the two of them got, Dee would never stop him from doing this.

Rubbing Pat's back soothingly, he let him lean into his chest, arms wrapped around Dee's middle. "I just thought he was nice. He didn't seem scared of either of us, but I can't tell if it's because he didn't know, or was just too drunk to care."

"I will admit, usually the people you insist those we give a ride to comment on my face. He didn't even mention it."

Feeling a chord of guilt at scaring Pat's potential boyfriends away, he held him closer to his chest, the burn scar on his face feeling the same as it did ten years ago, hot and painful.

As if he had read his mind, Pat turned his head up to look at Dee best he could. "Its not your fault you know, we both knew what it would mean to start up the gang. And if people are scared of your scar, that's not to be blamed on yourself!"

"That's besides the point right now Patty, but I appreciate your positivity. Would you want to pay a visit to Remus later, to sort this out? I don't think we'll fix this while you're half-hungover."

Nodding, Patton just curled up further into his brother's frame, drifting back to sleep. Dee waited till his breathing was even and soft, before he lifted him up, bringing him back to his bedroom and tucking the blankets around him.

"Sleep well, I love you Pat."

And with that, Dee was once again stuck with all the papers. Fantastic.

It was going to be a long morning.

[voidlitmoon]

Head empty only Moceit cuddles

[hottestthingalive]

sometimes family is two not-quite-human fairy guardians, their respective familiars in animal form, and the young princes they raise together.

woke up this morning and found this in my notes and honestly yeah okay i'm down

[theimprobabledreamersworld]

Have I just spent the last couple of hours writing a quick Platonic Moceit hurt/comfort fic on my phone because I love the dialogue from Zootropolis and wanted to use it as a prompt?

Yes, yes I did! 😊

It was fun to write something off the cuff, hope you like it too!

Writing taglist: @the-duke-of-nuts @lost-in-thought-20 @red-imeanblue @jwillowwolf @psychedelicships

Two Things

Janus opened his eyes blearily as the incessant knocking wouldn't cease on his room door. He sighed as he realised that he had fallen asleep reading his 'Complete Tales of Edgar Allan Poe' hardback, the two pages slightly crumpled and imprinted with his scales.

"Alright, alright!" He called out in frustration and stumbled to his feet before immediately tripping over once again. His room was completely cluttered with all manner of items. Clothes, cups, books. He scowled at his bowler hat which caused him to fall, glaring at it like it purposefully committed the act.

Eventually, he carefully made his way to the door. Janus would normally feel embarrassed at anyone seeing his room in such disarray, even Remus. Now, he couldn't bring himself to care, the emotional numbness consuming him entirely. He opened the door and was accidentally hit in the chest by an all too familiar cardigan wearing side.

"Oh gosh! Janus! Oh boy, I'm so sorry. I didn't realise you had opened the door!" Patton rambled as he stared at Janus' hair, obviously confused that the bowler hat was missing. Janus leant against the doorframe and raised a tired eyebrow as Patton continued to ramble. He coughed obviously which caused Patton to stop in his tracks.

"Ah, Patton. As delighted as I am about having your company. I would love to know why you were hammering my door down." He asked in his usual sarcastic tone, Janus watched as Patton's eyes danced with worry. Janus sighed, his voice was apparently betraying him... again.

"You... You haven't been out of your room for a week. I haven't seen you since... that. I had to make sure you were okay." Patton's voice trembled slightly as he spoke and Janus had to fight the urge to laugh. It would be an empty laugh, but it would obscure the fact that he really wanted to let Patton in, to speak in nothing but truths to him.

"Concerned? About me? I'm surprised. I thought after the little altercation last week, I thought staying out of everyone's way would be the best thing ever!" Janus' voice regained its sarcasm as Patton flinched, the memory flooding his mind.

The memory of Patton losing control and feeling so lost, confused, desperate to help, the memory of Janus being laughed at when he was truthful about the most important part of himself... The memory of both of them calling a truce when it was over. The last part unfortunately being overshadowed by all of the other events.

"Janus. I know things were rough when everything... pretty much fell apart. I thought we at least had some kind of understanding of one another. That we had all learnt things." Patton sighed, but he kept the peppy tone to his voice, something that Janus had to admit that he admired Patton in that regard.

Patton could always find something to be positive about. He wished he could see that sort of thing more often too, but it wasn't his purpose was it? Not according to them.

"Well, I certainly learnt two things after I stopped disguising myself as one of you." Janus couldn't stop the bitterness from consuming his tone, but he was more surprised that Patton was still standing in front of him, patiently listening. He had come this far, he might as well say what he had been desperate to say to anyone who would listen.

"One, I was never going to let any of you see that you got to me."

"... And two?" Patton asked gently.

Janus scoffed as the bitterness returned, as all the words that had been associated with Janus returned in a frenzy, threatening to overwhelm him.

"If you're all going to see me as nothing but slimy and untrustworthy... Then there's no point trying to be anything else. Not anymore." His tone was a staggering mix of bitterness and sadness.

Janus looked away down the corridor, glancing at all of the closed doors surrounding him. All the doors that would most likely never open to him again. Of course, Remus was the obvious exception, but the fact that Patton's door was already open gave him a microscopic amount of hope He almost didn't feel Patton's hand resting on his shoulder, the reassurance surging through him alleviated the emotional numbness a miniscule amount. He felt his gaze being pulled back to Patton.

"...Jan... You're so much more than that." The sincerity in Patton's voice not enough to convince him, but he appreciated the gesture more than he could say. He smiled softly, a silent thank you for reaching out to him. Patton squeezed Janus' shoulder before walking away to his door, unsubtly leaving it open.

Janus smirked slightly before turning back into his room, leaving his door open as well. He began to clear up all of the clutter and built-up mess, suddenly feeling a little bit of energy to do so. As he put his bowler hat back on his head, only one thought stayed in his mind.

Maybe things would get better after all, in time, of course.

[lily-janus]

Okay so, here's the thing: I planned on doing a 7 chapters long fic for this week, finished the first two chapters, only to get stuck half way through the third chapter. So here's what I'll do, I'll post the first two chapters that I did manage to write in time and for the rest of the days I'll do random one shots. Don't worry though, I'll continue this fic later, I love the concept too much to give it up! Sorry for the long intro but here's the first chapter for day 1!

Prompts: Flowers/Surprise

@moceit-appreciation-week

Chapter 1 - Sorry For Dropping In... Literally

Summary: earth mages and sky mages don't exactly... get along. Each year they hold a festival in which chosen champions from each side competes to determine who's best. This year Janus is the earth mages' chosen champion while the sky mages' champion in Patton.

Chapter summary: after a long and exhausting day of training, Janus finally convinces his teacher to give him a short break, he goes to his favorite patch of flowers in the forest for some relaxing cloud-gazing... unfortunately his break is interrupted by an unexpected guest...

Pairing: moceit

Warnings: don't think there is any but if I missed something let me know!

Word count: 1,320

"One of the main principles in earth magic is creating a personal connection between you-"

"And the nature around you, yes, I know this already." Janus interrupts his teacher.

It has been a long day of endless lectures and practice that had Janus absolutely drained. He couldn't wait to get away and take a freaking break already.

His teacher scowled at him. "We will go over the basics as many times as necessary, Janus, the festival is fast arriving and we're all counting on you to bring us victory against those care-free puffballs."

Janus snorts. "Don't worry, Teach, I know this is my first time competing but I got this." He winks at him.

"I asked you to call me Logan and I am worried. Last year's festival was… embarrassing… to say the least…"

Janus shook his head. "That's because Virgil was clearly the wrong choice. Sure he's one of the most talented mages I encountered, but he gets scared fairly easily. I, on the other hand, fear nothing." Janus said with a smirk.

But Logan still looked troubled, Janus sighed. "Can we at least take a break, Teach? It's been a long day."

Logan probably sensed his exhaustion for he sighed in resignation. "Alright, but just for a short time-"

Logan barely finished his sentence and Janus already let the ground swallow him, letting it lead him to his favorite place.

He emerged from the ground and sighed in relief as his nose detected the familiar scent of the blossoms.

He looked around the comforting sight of the golden petalled flowers, glistening in the gently warm sunlight of late afternoon.

Not wanting to squish any of the beautiful flowers, he moves the ground a bit to make a clearing that he can lay in.

Lying down, Janus puts his hands behind his head and gazes at the clouds moving lazily in the sky, letting himself finally relax after this long day-

Someone falls face down right next to him.

Janus jumps to his feet, wincing as he sensed the squished flowers' pain, as the man jumped to his feet as well, giggling.

"Welp, this try was another bust, but third time's the charm I guess" the man laughs to himself, picking up his glasses from the ground and putting them on. He doesn't seem to have noticed Janus yet.

Judging by his bright blue clothing and the fact that he just fell from the sky, Janus has no doubt he's one of those pesky sky mages.

"Excuse you, would you mind stop trampling the flowers? There are things more important than your careless flying you know" Janus shoots at him, making the sky mage jump and turn around to face him.

"Oh! Hello there! Didn't see you" he says cheerfully. "Sorry, didn't mean to intrude, I'm just practicing for the festival and can't get this maneuver down. I'm not great with spirals in general but my instructor makes it look so easy! But I think I'm getting to it! Maybe a little more thrust before each would work or sharper turns…" the man keeps on rumbling, making Janus' head hurt.

"Hey, hey, let's take a breather okay?" Janus cuts him off and the sky mage stops immediately, blushing.

"Sorry, I was rumbling, wasn't I? Anyway, my name's Patton!" He says with a bright smile, extending a hand.

Janus ignores the hand. "Did you say you were practicing for the festival?"

He nods eagerly "I've waited to be picked for years and I finally got it! Why?"

Janus snorts. Of course, of course this is the sky mages' champion. This should be a piece of cake.

Patton's smile shrinks a little in doubt. "Wha-what's so funny?"

"Oh nothing, nothing at all. Just that we're going to crush that free-spirit of yours at the festival" Janus says with a smirk.

Patton's smile vanished and he scowled at Janus. "Hey! Why you gotta be so mean? Besides, we won last year" he points out.

"That's simply because they chose the wrong person. I never lose." Janus says smoothly, making the patch of ground beneath them shake a bit as if to demonstrate.

"Ohhh! You're the earth mages' champion aren't ya? What a coincidence that we met huh?" Patton smiled a little.

Janus rolled his eyes. "Yes, really delightful. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some serious practice to do. Have fun looking like an idiot in the sky!" He said and sank into the ground before he was able to hear Patton's response.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Yeah well, have fun being grounded!" Patton shoots back at the rude earth mage, but he is already gone, swallowed up by the ground.

"Stupid earth mage… Didn't even say his name…" Patton grumbled to himself.

Just then, his instructor landed gently beside him, grinning. "Flirting with an earth mage? Should I start calling you Romeo?" Remus remarked with a wink.

Patton blushed and scoffed "yeah right, he was very rude anyway, seems fitting for the earth mages' champion"

Remus lets out an impressed whistle. "And not any earth mage, this year's champion no less, you better check there's no one around before you kiss him, you might be disqualified" Remus giggles.

"Don't worry, I don't think he's my type. But anyway, I almost got it this time right?" Patton quickly changed the topic.

Remus clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Not even close, Patty boy, but I appreciate your optimism. Worry not, we have months of practice ahead of us."

He patted his back and shot into the air, Patton quickly following, trying his best to keep up with Remus until they landed on the main cloud, bustling with activity as usual.

"Why did we land here and not on the training cloud? Didn't you say I need more practice?" Patton questioned as he jogged after his agile teacher.

Remus giggled, turning to him. "I think we both need a break, Pat. Besides, you just met your opponent, maybe we can use that somehow or something" he shrugged.

Patton smiled knowingly. "You just wanna grab sky-cream don't you?"

Remus winks. "And what if I do?"

“Your problem, Pat, is that you think about it too much. Flying is about trusting your instincts, being one with the wind, shutting down that thinking machine of yours, you following?” Remus explains as he licks his bright green, fluffy sky-cream.

Patton sighs. “You make it sound so easy.” Patton looks down at his colorful sky-cream cone, thoughts somber.

“Hey, look at me Patty boy, do you know why I voted for you this year?”

Patton shook his head.

Remus reached over and tapped on his chest, where his heart is. “Because of this. You have the true heart of a sky mage, I’ve seen you try for this championship year after year without fail. A true sky mage is not bothered by failure or things not going their way, they adapt to it. You literally fell on your face twice in a single hour to just proceed and laugh it off as a learning experience. I have no doubt you’ll get it in no time.” Remus smiled and winked at him.

Patton smiled back. “Thank you, Remus.”

“I think that’s enough for today, I’m afraid not even your magical glasses can withstand so much crushing in one day” Remus barked a laugh, making Patton’s cheeks flush.

“Hey! I’ve just learned about this maneuver, okay?” Patton said defensively.

Remus bended his knees, preparing to shoot into the air and fly to his personal cloud as he giggled. “Just don’t kiss any earth mages while I’m gone!” He calls after him as he flies away.

Patton shook his head with a smile, that won’t be a problem. If earth mages are anything like this year’s champion… Well, he won’t be coming back unless he has to, that's for sure.

Then why can’t he shake off that earth mages’ image from his mind?

[fairy-godlogan]

What if, like.

Patton's upset and hurt but Janus begs Patton to listen to his reason.

Patton probably refuses because sometimes when you're hurt you need a bit of time before listening to what could be a valid reason or what could just be an excuse.

So, Patton goes off for a walk away from camp and ends up deep in the woods. Which, in a fantasy universe(or really any universe where people/creatures may attack you), is never a good place to be. And, of course, Patton gets attacked by people or some terrifying creature. Patton fends for himself for quite a while(because Lilypadton exists, so Patton deserves to be strong and buff in fanfics), but eventually he gets overwhelmed.

Janus, who followed him from a distance to try to apologize, rushes in at the last moment and manages to save Patton. He then promptly passes out, due to injuries or magic overuse or something of that kind. Patton works as hard as possible to help Janus, but eventually all he can do is wait for Janus to finally wake up.

When Janus does, he gets an armful of sobbing Patton, who's babbling about being sorry that Janus got hurt and wishing he was strong enough to have kept him safe and how grateful he is Janus followed him and how sorry he is for storming away from their fight instead of listening to Janus.

Janus is kind of overwhelmed because this man just woke up, but he says that he saved Patton of his own free will, so Patton had nothing to apologize for. Patton tries to argue, but Janus cuts him off by saying that Patton was extremely strong to be able to hold his own for so long, especially given that he wasn't prepared for a fight. He smiles at Patton and tells him that it's okay to need help, that Patton doesn't have to be the one to protect everyone else all the time. Janus also admits that he should have told Patton about being his ex-betrothed, but that he honestly thought he would just drop Patton off in the kingdom he was traveling to and never see him again. So, why should it matter if he didn't admit to being the same prince Patton was running from?

By the point that he fell in love with Patton, he had no clue how to tell him "Hey, I'm the prince you literally ran away from, but I'm totally in love with you so it shouldn't matter that I lied to you and am the person you don't wanna marry, totally not." So Janus just. Didn't tell Patton, and we know how that blew up in his face.

Patton, who's honestly probably still crying at this point, is like "You idiot, I said I didn't want to marry a stranger. After all we've been through, you're hardly a stranger."

Then they kiss and end up becoming nomadic travelers who forcibly adopt 4 children(or maybe legal adults, you can become someone's new kid at any age if they have enough parental energy).

They also send both Janus and Patton's parents very strongly worded letters about how arranged marriages are cruel and a whole mess, as well as telling them that both are engaged to be married and will not be taking the throne.

And, in the future, while Janus shops for essentials at towns they visit, Patton likes to sit with the kids in the town square and the them about the runaway prince who met another runaway prince and fell in love.

Had inspiration for a moceit au where Patton is a prince who is forced to have an arranged marriage. Patton is terrified of marrying this stranger his parents picked out for him so he runs away from his kingdom.

While on the run he meets Janus who claims to be a nomadic traveller just passing through. Patton asks Janus for help to escape to the next kingdom without getting caught by the royal guards. Janus agrees to help the prince find refuge and we follow their travels.

Yada yada... slow burn they fall in love and Patton accidentally somehow finds out that Janus is also a runaway prince and the man he was arranged to be married to. Patton feels betrayed by Janus... Something something they eventually make up, denounce the throne and live happily ever after

Or something like that.

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

uhhhh would like qpr or romantic moceit? like hurt/comfort with janus being sad

This Is Fine

Rating: teen

Word Count: 1693

Pairing: pre-Moceit

Warnings: mugging/physical assault aftermath, hurt!janus, all the Sides are mentioned but I’m not gonna tag them

~~~START~~~

Waking up in a dark, cold, alley is… not ideal.

Janus grunts at the effort just to sit up; the side of his face and left ankle are both throbbing painfully with every beat of his heart, his vision is swimming in the dim light, and the cold turkey sandwich he ate for dinner is threatening to make an encore appearance. His coat and gloves are gone, and a quick check of his pockets reveal that his phone, wallet, and keys have similarly been liberated from his person.

No phone, no wallet, no keys, and no coat in winter. Yeah, not ideal.

Using the alley wall for support, Janus manages to lever himself to his feet; his ankle gives another sharp throb of pain, but he’s pretty sure it’s not broken.

His hat is sitting on the ground nearby; it’s crumpled and torn, and someone probably stepped on it at least once during or after the altercation, but he can’t bear to leave it behind. So, he picks it up, smooths out the top as best he can, and places it back on his head. It does bring him a little comfort; he’s worn his gloves and hat as armor for years, and even crumpled and broken, he’s retained at least a little bit of that armor.

He doesn’t quite remember where he is — downtown, but that’s not too helpful — and even when he manages to drag himself to the mouth of the alley, nothing looks familiar. The sign on the corner says 35th and Pine, and even with his spotty-at-best internal map, he’s certain it’ll take him hours to make it back to his apartment.

…his apartment that he can’t get into because his keys got stolen - shit!

Janus almost wants to give up; his ankle is killing him, and he has no way of contacting anyone to help him — not that he has anyone that would come, he’s done a pretty good job of burning every single one of his bridges. But it’s the middle of the night and he’s freezing; if he stays here like this, he might not get up in the morning.

So, pressing on is his only option, because Janus is anything but a quitter.

Going home isn’t a viable option, so what else can he do? Many of his ex-friends live in the area, maybe showing up on someone’s doorstep, pitiful as he is, will gain him the barest hint of kindness. But who to go to?

Logan would be the most likely to help him, he’s practical, and despite his insistence to the contrary, he has more empathy than he knows what to do with. Logan would probably patch him up, help him cancel his credit card, and drive him home without any trouble or ass-kissing on Janus’s part.

The only problem is that Logan lives almost as far away as Janus does, and his ankle was definitely never going to be able to make it there.

The twins live closest to his current location — at least, they did last he checked — but they both hate Janus’s guts. He and Roman had been close in high school, but in college they’d drifted apart. Somewhere along the way their friendly banter had lost its soft edges, leaving only sharp words meant to cut, and tear, and harm.

He’d ruined his relationship with Remus during one of these arguments. A barb about not being sure who the evil twin was cutting both twins where they were the most vulnerable. His comment might even have ruined the relationship between the brothers, and he had no way of knowing whether or not they still lived together, let alone if either of them still lived in that apartment.

So the twins were a definite no.

That just left Virgil or Patton. His fallout with Virgil hadn’t been as explosive as his fallout with the twins, but that didn’t make it any less devastating, or any less final. (And the very real possibility that showing up on Virgil’s doorstep will only to get him turned away without an ounce of regret is more than enough to scare Janus away from ever trying.)

Janus’s feet are taking him in the direction of Patton’s apartment before his brain even has a chance to catch up with him.

Patton was probably the safest option after Logan; they were soft, and caring, and they went out of their way to provide their friends with the parental figure many of them had been lacking most of their lives.

That being said, they were also Virgil’s sibling, so there was a greater than zero chance that they’d just slam the door in Janus’s face. It’s a chance he’ll have to take.

It takes him twice as long as it should have to make it to Patton’s apartment complex; his ankle is begging him for a rest, and he’s shivering so badly he can barely keep his balance, but he makes it. The few people he had passed on his way over had studiously avoided him, but he was fine with it — he doesn’t need any more trouble tonight.

Janus hesitates slightly at the buzzer, momentarily worried that he misremembers Patton’s apartment number, but he shakes it off quickly. It’s number 420, he’s certain; Patton is a master at making 420 jokes while somehow also maintaining the innocent air of someone who has no idea what ‘Mary Jane’ means, and has never seen a joint before in their life.

It’s a quality that Janus had found to be both infuriating and endearing.

Patton doesn’t answer on the first buzz, nor do they answer on the second. Janus is preparing himself for the eventuality that Patton won’t answer at all when Patton finally picks up on the third buzz.

“Yeah?” They sound groggy. Of course they do, it’s the middle of the night.

“P-p-p-pat-t-ton?” Janus says into the microphone, cringing at the way his voice shakes. “It-it’s J-ja-jan-us-s. C-can I c-c-come in?” After a moment he adds “p-please?”

Patton can’t resist ‘please’, right? They’re a sucker for words like ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘there’ll be a dog there’.

Patton doesn’t respond, but a moment later, the door clicks open. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Janus immediately drags the door open and slips inside. Somehow the warmth of the building causes Janus to shiver even more.

Patton’s building is a walk-up, and he’s so tired. He’s almost tempted to sleep in the lobby, but he knows if he does that then Patton’s super will probably call the police, and he really doesn’t need to add another layer to his shit sandwich.

The stairwell is daunting, but Janus tries not to think too much about it as he grabs the handrail and forces himself up, keeping as much weight off his ankle as possible. He’s so focused on his task, in fact, that he doesn’t notice the sound of footsteps echoing around the stairwell until a warm — oh so very warm — hand comes to rest on his free arm.

“Janus?” Janus almost cries at the sound of Patton’s voice — or maybe he does because their tone becomes even more concerned. “Oh, you poor darling, you’re freezing! Here, let me help you.”

Patton pulls Janus close, supporting most of his weight as he inadvertently sags into their warmth. They continue speaking, but Janus can’t focus on anything other than the sudden feeling of being warm and safe.

Somehow, Patton manages to half-carry Janus up two and a half more flights up to their apartment. They deposit Janus on the couch and wrap a blanket around him before rushing to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

Janus makes an involuntary sound of protest when Patton pulls away, and clutches the blanket close. It’s handknit and lumpy, with uneven stitches, and rough transitions, but it’s soft, and it’s warm, and it’s so very very Patton that Janus actually does start crying.

“Oh honey!” Patton cries. There’s the clink of a cup being set down on the coffee table then Patton’s arms are back, wrapped around Janus, over the blanket. “It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m right here, I promise.”

Janus buries his face in Patton’s shoulder, continuing to shudder and sob.

“I want to ice your bruises,” Patton comments after a moment of just holding him, gently tracing one finger over the swollen side of Janus’s face. “But I think we should warm you up a little first. I made you some tea — chamomile, your favorite — and I put some thick socks and a blanket in the dryer so they’ll be nice and warm for you in a moment.”

“Th-thank you.”

Patton smiles and continues to hold Janus until the dryer starts buzzing. When they pull away, Janus reaches for the mug of tea, letting the hot cup warm his cold fingers. Patton returns a moment later; they take the knit blanket from around Janus and replace it with the dyer-warmed blanket before layering the knit blanket back on top.

“How’s that, Jan?” They ask, fretting over Janus like a mother hen.

“‘S good,” Janus slurs, his tired and aching body finally relaxing in the safe and warm environment of Patton’s apartment. ���Warm.”

“Can I take your shoes off?”

“Mhmm.” Under normal circumstances, he would never allow himself to be so vulnerable, but he was tired, and cold, and Patton was so gentle.

Patton removes Janus’s shoes, then his socks. They make a faint sound of concern when they see his swollen ankle, but they don’t comment, instead pulling the warm socks over Janus’s mostly-frozen toes. “There, all warm.”

“Thanks,” Janus mutters into his mug. The tea is perfect — though in his current state, Janus would have probably been happy if Patton had just given him hot, flavorless water.

Patton smiles at him, once again taking their place on the couch by his side.

Exhaustion is taking over again — probably aided by the tea — and Janus finds himself slowly pitching to the side. Soon enough, his head is pressed against Patton’s chest, and he hears them humming a soft lullaby.

Janus drifts to sleep, safe in Patton’s arms.

~~~END~~~

And in the morning Patton gives Janus lots of kisses 💙💛

Requests still open 💜

General taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @knight-shives

[random-snippets]

Second Chance

Summary: Human AU Virgil has a conversation with his adoptive father after a getting into a fight at school. 

Characters/Pairings: Romantic Moceit, paternal Anxceit and Moxiety

Notes: This is an AU that popped fully-formed into my head and I have tons of background info about it if anyone’s curious. All the Moceit feels right now, amirite?

Warnings: Mentions of homophobia, references to homophobic slurs, mentions of violence (schoolyard fight), mentions of injuries (minor), mentions of blood, self-deprecating thoughts, abandonment issues. Let me know if I missed anything I need to warn for! 

*

A soft knock on Virgil’s door made him flinch, but he sighed, reaching up and pulling his headphones off his head. Time to face the music. “Come in,” he mumbled. 

The door creaked open, and his dad’s fiance poked his head in. “Virgil,” he said softly. “Can I come in?” 

“Already said you could.” Virgil shifted and reached up to brush his hair out of his face, wincing when his fingers bumped his bruised right eye. 

“So you did.” Janus stepped into the bedroom and closed the door softly behind himself. Virgil swallowed, anxiety ratcheting up a little, and Janus paused, giving him a look that Virgil knew all too well. The one that said ‘I just read you like an open book.’ “Do you want me to leave it open?” he asked.

Virgil shrugged. “Don’t care,” he said, but the thought of being locked in with Janus--with anyone--still frightened him. He just sort of hated that Janus knew that, and knew without having to ask. 

Janus raised his eyebrows, hand still lingering on the knob. “Second chance?” he offered. 

Virgil sighed and slumped. “Maybe a little bit open?” 

Janus nodded and opened the door about a foot. It was enough that Virgil could hear his dad (Patton? Should I be calling him Patton again? Or maybe--oh God please no--maybe Mr. Sanders?) in the kitchen, busy with dinner preparations. The sounds would have been comforting and familiar, if it hadn’t been for the notable absence of the usual string of singing, whistling, or talking to himself Patton usually engaged in. He swallowed again, wishing he could bury his face in his arms, but along with his eye, his lip was split and swollen, and while the nurse had claimed his nose to be unbroken, it still felt pretty awful. He’d stuffed two wads of toilet paper into his nostrils to stem the flow of blood, and he realized he hadn’t taken them out yet. He did so now, crumpling the blood-soaked tissue in his fist. 

“You here to yell at me?” he mumbled, as Janus moved to settle into Virgil’s desk chair across from the bed. 

“Do I look like I’m here to yell at you?” 

“I hate it when you do that.”

The corner of Janus’s mouth twitched up. “Do what?” 

“Answer a question with another question. I hate when you get all...shrink-y.” 

Janus’s smile grew fractionally. “All right, then. Let me ask a different question. Do you want me to yell at you?”

Virgil shrugged one shoulder. In truth, he kind of wished someone would. Yelling he was used to; yelling made sense. 

Instead, when Patton had picked him up from school after the principal had called him in, his dad had just asked him quietly if he was okay, and if he wanted to talk about it. When Virgil had nodded at the first question and shaken his head at the second, Patton had merely turned his attention to the road to finish the drive home in silence. But there’d been a flash of something in his eyes--something that Virgil was terrified had been disappointment--and when he’d fled to his room the moment they’d gotten home, Patton hadn’t tried to stop him. 

It was that, more than anything, that had him so terrified now. If he’d disappointed Patton...what would that mean? Would he change his mind about letting Virgil stay? Would he...un-adopt him? Surely you could do that, right? His mom had given him up and she’d actually given birth to him so surely if all you did was adopt someone, if all it was was paperwork, there were ways to undo it, right? And it wasn’t like it had been that long ago, either. Maybe there was like...a 90-day money back guarantee or something. Not completely satisfied with your screw-up of a kid? No problem! Bring him on back to Kids-R-Us, and we’ll be happy to find you a better one! Refunds and exchanges welcome anytime! 

Shit.

“Well, whether you want me to or not, no, I’m not here to yell at you,” Janus cut into his cycle of terrified thoughts, and when Virgil looked up, he found his...his brain always faltered here. What was Janus? His dad’s fiance? His stepdad? They’d said to just think of him as his dad too but was that right? He didn’t know Janus, not as well as Patton; he’d been busy working on his book and then away on the signing and lecture tour and sure they’d skyped a lot but Janus hadn’t had to deal with him, not like Patton had. Janus didn’t know him. Janus probably saw him as another screwed up kid he could write a case study about, not as a son. 

And now he was the kid who’d upset his fiance. 

“So if you don’t want to yell at me, what do you want, then?”  

“I want to know what happened.” 

Virgil lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “I got in a fight.” 

“Over what?” 

“Nothing.” 

“I very much doubt that.” Virgil looked up and saw Janus regarding him knowingly, in that way he did that drove Virgil crazy. If the X-men were real, this would be what it felt like to have Professor Xavier reading your mind. 

“It was just a stupid fight with some stupid kids from my stupid class,” Virgil said. “I don’t know what you want from me. I won’t do it again.” 

“Won’t you?” 

Virgil frowned. “What?” 

“Well,” Janus lifted one leg and crossed it over the other, folding his hands on his knees and tipping his head. The effect would’ve been sort of comical if things hadn’t felt so serious. “If the circumstances that caused this fight were to recur, or ones similar to it, wouldn’t your response be similar?” 

Virgil snorted, then winced when his bruised and battered nose protested the decision. “You sound like Logan.” 

Janus smiled. “There are worse people to sound like. Your uncle’s a smart guy.” 

“He’s not my uncle.”

“Isn’t he? He’s your dad’s brother.” 

“Patton’s not my dad.” Virgil meant to sound tough and confident. Instead it came out sort of choked and muffled. Maybe he’d made his nose clog up when he’d snorted a second ago.

“I have a piece of paper from the state department of health and human services that suggests otherwise.” Janus’s voice was light, but almost unbearably gentle, too, and Virgil scowled, hating that his eyes were beginning to sting. 

“So? It’s just a piece of paper. It doesn’t mean anything.” 

“I think Patton would be very sad to hear you say that,” Janus said softly, and when Virgil looked up, he saw an echo of that same sadness on his face.

“Why?” Virgil said thickly. He reached up and rubbed at the top of his lip gingerly, under his nose, which was beginning to trickle. “I just keep screwing up. Why would he want to keep me? Why would either of you?” 

Janus lifted the box of tissues from Virgil’s desk and handed them over wordlessly; Virgil took one and began to gingerly dab at his aching nose. Dammit. He hated crying, but it was so much worse after getting beaten up. 

“You didn’t screw up,” Janus said. “You got into a fight. Thirteen-year-old boys do that.” 

“Yeah, well, at least some of them win sometimes,” Virgil groused. “I just get my a--my butt kicked.” It figured: he couldn’t even get in trouble right. 

“Did you ever learn how?” 

“What?” Virgil looked up at his stepfather, too startled by the words to remember to be upset. “What do you mean?” 

Janus shrugged. “I mean, did anyone ever really teach you how to hold your own in a fight? Especially when you’re outnumbered against a group of opponents bigger than you are?” 

Virgil blinked. “I...I mean...no?” 

“Well, what did you do? When the fight started, I mean?” 

“I...” Virgil stared at him. “I dunno, I punched the guy?” 

“Which one?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“There was more than one boy, right?” 

“How did...how did you know that?” 

“Well, bullies tend to travel in packs. They’re cowardly like that. Did you go for the leader?” 

Virgil shrugged. “No, I...the one that was closest, I guess. He was smaller.” He’d still been huge next to Virgil, but at the time he’d seemed slightly less dangerous than the hulking monster of a seventh grader who’d seemed to be in charge.

Janus nodded. “Always go for the leader,” he said. “Like I said, bullies are cowards. If you take down the leader they usually scatter.” 

“I mean, I feel like he would’ve kicked my...my butt either way,” Virgil said. “The guy was fu--freaking huge.” 

“Heavy-set? Or tall?” 

“Both, I guess.”

“Heavyset isn’t always a bad thing,” Janus said. “Heavier boys are often slower than smaller ones. Tall is the problem. His reach is longer than yours.” Janus sat up and held his fists in a boxing stance, then extending his arm. It came just to Virgil’s chin. “Try to reach me with your arm.” Virgil did; his fist barely reached past Janus’s elbow. “See? I’ve got like two feet of reach on you; you’re never gonna get in a good hit if I’m on my guard. 

“So what do I do?” 

“Hit them with something unexpected. Your legs--that’s where you’ve got some reach. A bully coming in for a punch is going to put himself within kicking distance, and you can usually get in a good hit and incapacitate him pretty quick. Just gotta practice your front kick.”

“Wh--why...why are you teaching me to fight?” Virgil asked, abruptly aware of just how absurd this whole conversation felt. “Shouldn’t you tell me to run away and find a teacher?” 

“It’s foolish to assume that will always be an option,” Janus said, sitting back. “Maybe in a perfect world, but...” 

“I feel like in a perfect world bullies wouldn’t be trying to beat me up in the first place,” Virgil grumped.

Janus grinned, looking pleased, and it sent a thrilled, proud little shiver up Virgil’s spine. “Touche. So since we’ve established the world we’re in isn’t perfect, it’s important you know how to defend yourself, isn’t it?” 

“I mean...yeah, but...I dunno, I feel like grown ups are supposed to tell you to like...be the bigger person, turn the other cheek, some bullsh--some stupid...thing like that.” 

Janus glanced at the open doorway, then leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and regarding him seriously. “Virgil, let’s make a deal: as long as you promise not to do it in front of Patton, when you and I are talking, you can curse a few times.” 

Virgil perked up a bit. “How many times?” 

“Five times per conversation.” 

“Ten.” 

“Seven. Final offer.” 

“Deal.” Virgil giggled, as Janus extended his hand and shook his solemnly. “Okay,” he said. “So aren’t grownups supposed to tell you to be the better person or some...bullshit like that?” It felt very strange, saying that word in front of Janus--indulgent, like sneaking a cigarette out of an unwatched purse. 

“Maybe.” Janus shrugged. “To be honest, I’ve never been that great at being a responsible grownup. I leave that to your dad.” 

Virgil barely stopped himself from snorting again. “Dude. You’re literally a doctor.” 

“I have a PhD, yes.” 

“In child psychology.” 

“Exactly.” Janus arched one eyebrow conspiratorially. “I studied child behavior. Not grownup.” 

Virgil laughed in spite of himself. “Oh my God, you are suck a fucking dork.” Fucking was a little too intense, and it didn’t taste as good on his tongue as bullshit had; it was an overindulgence, like puking after trying to smoke that stolen cigarette. “Freaking dork,” he said softly, lowering his eyes and hoping Janus didn’t call him on his backpedaling. 

Janus merely shrugged. “No arguments there.” 

“How’d you learn how to fight, anyway?” Virgil decided to get the conversation back on track. “I mean, like...who taught you?” 

Janus regarded him for a second calmly. Then he said: “Well, I learned in the system. Some of the bigger boys in my foster house thought I should know how, considering, well.” He pointed at the side of his face and smirked. 

Virgil, however, had stopped smiling; the expression had fallen from his face the second the words had hit him. In the system. “You...you were in the foster system?” 

Janus nodded. “I was.” 

“Wh--when did--why didn’t you--?” 

“Why didn’t we tell you?” Janus finished, and Virgil nodded hard, hair flopping into his face. He brushed it away without thinking, then winced when his fingers again brushed the bruised flesh around his eye. 

“Did Patton give you an ice pack for that?” Janus asked, seeing his wince. 

“Yeah, but it melted.” 

“As ice does. Want to get another one? I think your eye is starting to swell a bit.”

“In a minute.” As soon as they went downstairs, Virgil was afraid this--whatever it was, this spell that had fallen between them--it would go away, and he had to know. He had to have answers. Because if Janus had been in the system... “Why were you in the system? How long? What happened to your parents?”

“Getting right to it, aren’t we?” 

“I...” Virgil cringed, realizing it was probably impolite to ask questions like that--or worse, that doing so may have opened old wounds. This was probably why they didn’t tell you, he chastised himself. They knew you’d be an asshole about it.

He flushed, ashamed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to--” 

“No, no,” Janus said softly. “It’s okay. You deserve to know, and I’m...happy to share.” 

Virgil looked up at the slight hitch in Janus’s voice. “Second chance?” he offered quietly.

Janus smiled. “Okay,” he admitted, “I’m willing to share, which amounts to the same thing, and if it helps you feel like you really belong here with Patton and me, then I’m happy for that. What do you want to know?” 

Virgil hesitated. “How many questions do I get?” 

“Hmm.” Janus considered. “Let’s say five for tonight. Otherwise we might miss dinner.” 

Virgil smiled sheepishly. “Okay. Um. How long?”

“Thirteen years.” 

“Whoa.” Virgil’s eyes widened. Janus had been in the system longer than he had? “How old were you?”

“When I got in or when I got out?” 

“I guess...both?” 

“You sure about that? If I give you one, you can do the math and figure out the other on your own, and save yourself a question.” 

“Shit! Okay yeah, just...how old were you when you got put in?” 

“Five.” 

“Five.” Virgil frowned, then said, “You...got out at 18?” 

“I did.” Janus’s face, like his voice, was calm and quiet, but Virgil understood something about it--something he realized had always been there, but hidden, like fish swimming below the ice of a frozen lake. 

His heart sank as the real reason for that deep, long-buried sadness finally dawned on him. “You were never adopted,” he whispered. 

“No,” Janus agreed. “I wasn’t.” 

“You never got a family?” 

“I didn’t say that.” 

Virgil frowned, before the meaning of Janus’s words sunk in, making him feel at once like he might laugh and cry. He swallowed, scooting back and resting against the headboard of his bed, wrapping his arms around his knees, as though he might be able to contain the strange emotion swelling inside him.

Janus watched him for a second, then said, “Mind if I join you up there? This chair wasn’t really made for adult butts.” 

Virgil smiled weakly at what he understood was Janus’s attempt to cheer him up, and nodded, watching as the man climbed up onto the bed and settled beside him. He didn’t try to hug Virgil, as Patton might have, but settled close enough that he would be easy to reach out and touch, if Virgil needed. Janus leaned his head back against the wall, and sighed. “Much better,” he declared. 

Virgil found himself studying him, as Janus sat quietly, apparently willing to wait for the next question as long as it took Virgil to ask it. His eyes trailed along the marks on the man’s face: spatters of dark red splotches across his cheekbone and jaw, and along one side of his nose. A port wine stain, Patton had told him it was called; just a harmless birthmark. Virgil had always been impressed by the way Janus had refused to cover it up with make-up. Impressed, and kind of glad; he always thought it looked kinda cool, like dragon scales or something.

Still, he doubted it made things any easier for him as a kid in the system. They didn’t usually give you bonus points for things that made you stand out.

“Is that why you didn’t get adopted?” he asked quietly, then winced, wondering if this time he had stepped over a line. 

Janus glanced at him, not having to ask what Virgil was referring to. “Maybe,” he said. “Maybe not. It doesn’t really matter now, does it?” 

“I guess not.” Virgil hesitated, then scooted a fraction of an inch closer, angling himself toward Janus ever so slightly. Janus wordlessly lifted an arm, and Virgil scooted underneath it immediately, some of the turmoil in his chest calming down as the arm settled around his shoulders. “What happened? To your birth family?” 

“My parents died in an accident.”

“Oh.” 

“I didn’t have any extended family to speak of, other than a grandfather who lived in an assisted care facility and couldn’t take care of me. So into the system I went.” 

Virgil nibbled at the uninjured side of his lip, leaning his head against Janus’s shoulder lightly. “Were you scared?” 

“Sure. Scared, mad, sad, all of it.” 

“What happened after you turned eighteen?” 

Janus glanced down at him and smiled slightly. “I went to college,” he said. “And I started studying. A lot.” 

“Is that how come you wanted to be a child psychologist?” 

“Pretty much, yeah. I knew there were lots of kids like me who were scared. I figured I could help them figure out how to survive. Teach them how to fight.” 

Virgil tipped his head back and looked at him dubiously. “They let shrinks do that?”

“There are lots of different kinds of fights, Virgil,” Janus said. “Not all of them involve fists and feet.” 

“Huh.” Virgil frowned, leaning his head against Janus’s shoulder again. “They called you guys the f-word,” he said after a moment of silence. 

“Hmm?” 

“The kids at school.” Virgil scowled, then stopped when the expression pulled at his swollen lip. “That’s why I got into the fight. They called you guys the f-word.” 

“I see.” Janus sounded...Virgil wasn’t sure. Upset? Maybe...but mad? He didn’t think so. At least, not at Virgil. “You know what that says about them, don’t you?”

“That they’re fucking assholes?” Virgil spat, scowling again in spite of the stinging in his lip. This time, he found, the word ‘fucking’ didn’t taste so bitter. 

“No. Well, yes, quite possibly, but usually? It means they’re being raised by assholes. Lots of kids that age just parrot what they grew up hearing.” 

“That’s bullshit,” Virgil said, drawing back and glaring at him. “I had plenty of asshole foster parents and I don’t go around saying shit like that.”

“Well, that’s because you’re smarter than most kids your age. You had to be.” The smile on his face was proud, and Virgil flushed, squirming a little under the intensity of the expression. Patton looked at him like that a lot, but he never really felt like he’d earned it. Tonight, though...he kind of felt like maybe he did. He kind of felt like Janus didn’t give out smiles like that to just anyone, or for just anything. 

It felt good. 

He slumped back against him, too overwhelmed by that expression to keep looking at it, and Janus let his arm loop back over his shoulders easily. They lapsed into silence for a little while, listening to the clanging of pots and pans coming from the kitchen. Virgil could smell something good, something that smelled hearty and made his mouth water a little, and knew that soon, maybe in just a few minutes, Patton would holler up the stairs at them to come and get it. 

Soon. But they had a few seconds left, he was pretty sure, and so he said, “Janus?” 

“Yeah?” 

He hesitated, not exactly sure what he wanted to ask. Finally, he said, “Do you ever...worry? That it’ll...I dunno. That it’ll all go away again?” 

Janus didn’t have to ask him what he meant. “Sometimes.” 

“Really?” Virgil was surprised. He’d expected Janus to be reassuring--to lie, maybe, but to pretend like nothing ever got to him now. 

“Sure. That surprises you?” 

“I mean...yeah, kinda?” Virgil shrugged. “I guess I thought you’d tell me it gets better. That you stop being so scared all the time.” 

“It does,” Janus said. “Just because I still get scared sometimes doesn’t mean it’s not better than it used to be.” 

“Oh.” 

“You know what used to scare me the most?” Janus said after a second, and Virgil looked at him curiously. Janus smiled. “Patton.” 

“Patton scared you?” Virgil couldn’t even begin to believe it. “How the hell could Patton scare you?” 

“Patton himself didn’t,” Janus said. “But you know him. When I first met him, I thought, ‘here’s this amazing guy who’s had this perfect life, with this perfect family that loves him, he’s probably a total asshole or a complete rich snob.’ I kind of wanted to hate him, because he had everything I’d ever wanted, right? Like what did he do to deserve it?” He chuckled and shook his head. “Then I spent more than five minutes with him and realized no, he’s actually a total sweetheart, and he cares about everyone so much, and when we started dating I kept thinking, ‘how can someone this good see anything of value in someone like me?” 

Virgil’s breath caught in his throat, hearing his own deepest fears echoed in Janus’s voice.

“I just kept thinking, ‘eventually he’s going to realize how much better he could be doing. He’s gonna find someone who doesn’t have a temper, who doesn’t have rejection and abandonment issues, who’s as nice as he is and who isn’t this complete and total nobody.’“ 

“Exactly,” Virgil breathed, staring at Janus with wide eyes. 

“Of course,” Janus continued, “eventually I realized a few things.” 

“What things?” 

“Well, first of all, I realized that while Patton is an extremely kind and wonderful man, he’s not perfect, and it was actually really unfair of me to put him up on a pedestal like that. He makes mistakes, he has a temper too--you’ve seen him on game night when he’s losing at Monopoly” --here Virgil broke into soft giggles and nodded, “--and he worries. A lot. He also tends to give the people who hurt him more chances than they deserve.” 

Virgil’s smile faded. “But...what if I’m one of those people?” he whispered. “If I keep hurting him, or disappointing him...” 

“No, Virgil.” Janus’s voice was firm. “You could never disappoint him. He worries about you, but that’s just because that’s what he does. But he’s never going to be disappointed.” He paused, and glanced at Virgil sidelong. “However,” he said lightly, “he would probably tell you that you don’t need to go picking fights at school to defend our honor.” 

Virgil grimaced. “Yeah, I know,” he said. Then: “What would you tell me?” 

“I’d tell you that there are lots of reasons to fight in this world, and lots of things worth fighting for, but I never want to see you hurt over something as petty as someone calling your dad and me a stupid name.” 

Virgil sighed, and leaned against Janus’s shoulder again. “Yeah, I know,” he said again. “I just got so mad. Like who are these assholes to judge you guys? You’re...” he faltered, feeling a little choked and more than a little embarrassed, but forced himself to finish: “You’re both so amazing, and you gave me an actual real family, and...and who cares if you’re gay, why should that even matter? You’re...” 

“Hey.” Janus reached out and gently brushed the few tears that had escaped away from Virgil’s cheeks, being careful of his bruises. “Thank you, kiddo. I mean that. But you know what? Next time that happens, you ignore them, or defend yourself if they physically attack you first--I’ll help teach you how--and then you come home and you and me, we can talk it out. Vent, whatever. That way you can deal with it, but you don’t have to take a beating. Right?” 

Virgil sighed, and nodded again, finally letting go of the last of his worry and anger. “Yeah, okay,” he said. “I guess so.” 

“Good. Now. Are you hungry? It smells like Patton’s just about done down there, and I want to get more ice on that eye of yours anyway.” 

“Yeah.” Virgil realized with some surprise that he was hungry--his stomach had untied itself from the knots it’d been in since he’d gotten home, and the scents wafting from the kitchen had only gotten better in the last few minutes. 

“Great. C’mon.” 

Janus rose from the bed and held out a hand; Virgil took it and let him help him to his feet. “Is it just your face?” Janus asked. “No other injuries anywhere else?” 

“No. I mean yeah, just my face.” Virgil shrugged sheepishly. “The guy just hit me once. The rest is from when he knocked me down.” 

“Gotcha. That’s good, then. Let’s go.” 

“Wait...Janus?” 

Janus paused in the doorway of Virgil’s room and glanced back at him. Virgil shifted nervously, then smiled a little hesitantly. “Thanks.” 

Janus’s face broke into the first broad grin of the evening. “What I’m here for, bud,” he said. “C’mon, let’s go eat.” 

Virgil nodded, following his...his father...out of the bedroom, and down the stairs to the kitchen. Patton looked up when they arrived, having just set a pan of what looked and smelled like lasagna--Virgil’s favorite--onto the table. 

“Perfect timing!” he said cheerfully, moving to kiss Janus hello, then looking over at Virgil. “Hope you’re hungry. You okay?” 

“Yeah,” Virgil said, hugging himself, still feeling a little uncertain. That flash of something on Patton’s face in the car still had him worried, and in spite of Janus’s words, he found himself wondering if his dad was disappointed. 

Patton tilted his head, apparently hearing the uncertainty in Virgil’s voice. He moved forward and laid a gentle hand on Virgil’s shoulder, while Janus busied himself making a new ice pack. 

“Second chance,” he murmured. “You okay, kiddo?” 

Virgil looked up at Patton, studying his face, and in it, he saw lots of things--worry, concern, a little bit of anxiety, sure--but no anger. And beneath it all, so obvious it almost hurt to look at: a deep, abiding love. 

Virgil relaxed at last, and gave Patton a genuine smile. “Yeah,” he said again, stronger this time, and when Patton beamed and opened his arms, Virgil stepped into the embrace gladly. “Yeah, I’m okay, Dad.” 

“Good,” Patton whispered, and Virgil felt a kiss dropped into his hair before Patton drew away and said, “All right, let’s get to it, then. This lasagna isn’t going to eat itself!” 

Virgil settled at the table, watching as his dad and J--and his father--updated each other on their day, laughing and joking lightly with one another. He held the ice pack Janus had given him to his cheek with one hand, and with the other, ate the lasagna Patton had made for him. 

And even though it pulled slightly painfully at his split lip, he couldn’t help but grin. 

* 

Thanks for reading! 

A little background info (and to clarify something, just in case it wasn’t clear enough in the text): the “Second chance” bit is a rule they have in their household. Janus is a child psychologist, and he specializes in lying as a defense mechanism created by abuse victims to placate their abusers. He theorizes that your first response to any question that causes a heightened emotional response is usually a lie, because your instinct to protect yourself kicks in and forces you to say what you think the asker wants to hear. In their household, they have a policy that if someone thinks the answer they got might not have been truthful, you can say “second chance” and answer again, with no repercussions about having lied.

They use this to ask each other “are you sure,” as well as to admit to having lied themselves (So sometimes one of them will answer or say something, then say “second chance” and amend their own statement. Like “Hey Dad, do you want to play this video game with me?” “Sure kiddo! Well...second chance, how scary is it? I don’t want to have nightmares.” ). 

[shortprince-cos]

Presents Or Pranks?

Summary: Janus assumes his "secret admirer" is a prankster, but a familiar face proves him wrong.

Ship: Romantic Moceit (Patton x Janus)

Warnings: Stabbing mention (doesn't actually happen i swear-), pranking mention, high school, Valentine's Day(?). Tell me if I need to add anything else!

Note: Happy Valentine's Day!!! Hope you have a good day regardless of if you have a s/o or not! Also i forgot that Valentine's day wasn't on a school day this year, so ignore that cause i didn't want to rewrite it. Pretend its an AU.

Thank you to @emy-loves-you for helping me with some plot (and basically every other fic I've written)!

~~~~~

If there was ever a time for Janus to develop anxiety, it would be now.

For weeks he had been wondering who kept putting letters - love letters - in his locker at least twice a week. The last letter had said to meet him here, under the bleachers on the football field, after school, on Valentine's Day.

There were two possible situations that this could turn into: One, this was a really elaborate prank and he was about to either get humiliated or stabbed, whichever came first, or two, someone who has a crush on him was about to meet him, and he would have to break their heart or make out with them.

At least if he gets attacked he can defend himself, and humiliate the stranger instead. If it was an admirer, then they would both be humiliated.

He hoped it was a prankster, because if the person was real, they seemed really sweet, and Janus didn't want to do that to them.

It's probably some straight girl who wants a bad boy. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened, but Janus was tired of explaining that he was gay to every girl he ever crossed paths with.

The letters and gifts had always been very stereotypical, like ones you would see in rom-coms and books. They usually consisted of chocolates, little poems, and pressed yellow flowers.

They were all really sweet gifts (especially the chocolates), but Janus still couldn't help but worry over who the 'admirer' was.

Janus anxiously checked his phone. The stranger was seven minutes late.

It was probably a prankster, and he was probably being filmed right now. Janus looked around, but all that was there was an empty football field.

Janus sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

Would a prankster even put this much effort into a joke? This was going on for weeks, and unless this person really hated Janus, he doubted it was a prank. As awful as that was.

Who would even have a crush on Janus, anyway? He wasn't exactly nice or pretty, he was mean and- well, he wasn't ugly, but he definitely wasn't charismatic.

His whole aesthetic was 'stay away from me', so he always wondered why that seemed to attract girls to him, until Remus enlightened him.

"They want a bad boy." Remus explained one day. "They think the idea of an angry guy with a soft spot only for them, is sexy."

"That's stupid." Janus had replied.

And it was stupid- is stupid. What kind of girl wants someone who's mean to them? Janus blamed the Twilight saga.

Janus checked his phone again. Eleven minutes late.

Janus cursed and decided to call it quits. He picked up his backpack and started walking towards the parking lot before he heard someone shouting something behind him.

He looked back towards the football field to see a short, blond, boy, running at him as fast as they could.

"W-Wait!" They yelled.

Janus waited for the short person to catch up, when they did, they put their hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath.

They looked kind of familiar, but everyone does when you go to the same highschool.

"Sorry- sorry!" The stranger looked up at him with blue eyes looking through round glasses. "I'm so sorry I'm late! I promise I didn't mean to be, but my teacher wanted to talk to me after class about my grades, and I tried to tell her I was late, but she wouldn't listen! And then my friends wanted advice about their gifts for their partners, and I got caught up! I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting!"

Janus knew he should probably be listening to what the shorter boy was saying, but all his mind was thinking was that he was rather adorable.

"W-What?"

Oh, did he say that out loud?

Janus smirked. "You're adorable when you're rambling."

The boy blushed quickly. "I- u-uh- thank you?"

Janus chuckled. "So, you're the one putting those gifts in my locker?"

The blue-eyed stranger shifted on his feet. "Y-Yeah, I did. I did wanna talk to you about that! Which, is the whole reason we're here- obviously- why else would we-?" He giggled nervously. "Anyway, the reason I put those there is because...uh- I kinda- maybe sorta...like you?"

"Why?" Janus immediately asked.

"I- what?"

Janus crossed his arms. "You said you liked me, and I want to know why."

"O-Oh. I didn't expect you to- uh- ask that?"

"Well, do you have a reason, or-?"

"No- yeah! Of-of course I do...you-you want to hear it?"

"No, I just asked because I was curious." Janus answered sarcastically.

"R-Right. Yeah, okay, um- well-"

Janus smirked as he saw the shorter one fumble over his words.

"Well, over winter break? You uh- you volunteer at an animal shelter in the next town over?"

Janus' eyes widened in shock. "How did you-"

"I work there too! I do every weekend when I'm at my dad's house! Uh- anyway, I saw you there over winter break, and you were just so...soft, with the animals, and it was really cute to see you playing with kittens, and you always took the older dogs on walks because they were sad they never got adopted, ooh! And then you helped me carry some boxes in that one time 'cause no one else was, and you kinda called me pretty? I guess that part isn't as important, heh- oh my gosh I'm rambling! I'm sorry!"

Janus was shocked at how specific this guy's examples were. Then he thought about the situations again.

"You had blue hair."

The bubbly boy's face lit up. "You remember me?"

"A little. You cried when puppies got adopted."

"Can you blame me?! I loved playing with them, and I just wanted to make sure they got a good home!"

Janus outright laughed - which, if you talked to Janus' friends, they would claim that Janus only laughed when a kid fell off a bike.

"S-Sorry- I-" Janus laughed a bit more. "That was the most innocent thing I've ever heard."

The blue-clad boy pouted and crossed his arms in the least intimidating way possible.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Janus apologized while still chuckling slightly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. A-Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that okay I'll be going now-"

"Wait." Janus said before the smaller one ran off. "What are you doing tonight?"

"O-Oh! I'm not doing anything...why?"

"The dance tonight? Would the unnamed stranger in front of me like to go?"

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry, I totally forgot to introduce myself! My name's Patton!"

Janus smiled. "Alright then. Would you like to go to the dance with me, Patton?"

Patton immediately blushed more. "Oh gosh, you don't have to-"

Janus took Patton's hand in his own and brought it up to his lips. "Now why wouldn't I want to take my beautiful admirer to a nice dance?" He pressed a kiss to Patton's knuckles and watched as Patton's face turned even redder.

"I-I...y-yeah, I wanna go with you!" He squeaked out.

Janus dropped Patton's hand. "I'll see you tonight, then?"

"Y-Yeah, sure!"

Janus picked up his bag again as Patton started to gather his as well. "Oh, and, Patton?"

"Yeah?"

"I hope you know that I will have to repay you for those presents you gifted me."

Patton sputtered. "You don't have to! I just wanted to give you something-"

"Nope, too late, I've already decided." Janus started walking back towards the parking lot. "See you later, cutie!"

Thinking about the future dance, Janus decided that maybe an admirer was better than a prankster after all.

~~~~~

Sorry this is so short, but I thought something was better than nothing! I hope you guys enjoyed!

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