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ibelieveinahappilyeverafter · 4 years ago

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Writing Commission - Where I Want To Be - Chapter Five

Summary: Yamada Hizashi, better known as the Voice Hero Present Mic, is a busy man. He has classes and students to teach English to, an agency that always seemed to be in the middle of a disaster to help deal with, and a radio station that was one bad show away from being cancelled to run. He doesn’t have time for a bad day triggered by nightmares and fears and anxieties that just never seem to stop.

Luckily for him, his partners are Aizawa Shouta and Yagi Toshinori and neither of those two are very good at leaving Hizashi to suffer alone.

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia

Characters: Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Yagi Toshinori | All Might

Rating: Teen Audiences

Word Count: 29,323

Transaction Amount: $200 (USD)

WARNINGS FOR: Past childhood abuse (both emotional and physical) and anxiety attacks verging on panic to PTSD episodes. Please read with caution if needed.

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Check out my writing commission information here! Pledge to my Patreon to get exclusive content! Or buy me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

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Chapter Index

<<1>> <<2>> <<3>> <<4>> <<5>> <<6>> <<7>> <<8>> <<9>>

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On the average day Hizashi loved his agency. It was bright, and loud, and full of sound and laughter and life and, more often than not, it reminded him of just why he had become a hero in the first place. It was a place where, no matter what, he knew he was making a difference -- however small it might be.

Hizashi did not love his agency when he was having a rough day, however. His aching head, already pounding from a headache that was quickly starting to edge into migraine levels, screamed in pain at everything that was going on. He knew, without a doubt, that if he removed his sunglasses for even a second then it would be just enough to kick him into a sensory overload. Even with his hearing aids turned down it was still, well…

Gaggles and groups of interns were dashing across the main lobby and disappearing into elevators or hallways, harried lawyers who looked one bad moment away from a breakdown were rushing to elevators with files upon files of paperwork, engineers and designers for their in-house support equipment were lugging around large crates and yelling every time someone stepped in their path, and overall it was like Hizashi had walked into hell.

He couldn’t help the half-step he took back towards the door that he was still holding open. The urge to just turn around and head back home where he knew Shouta and Toshinori would be was overwhelming. He knew he would never do it, though. As much as he would love to skip out on an agency day, he had far too much paperwork to get done. Not to mention he had way too many interns and sidekicks to corral to even attempt leaving.

Besides, the wonderful, but terrifying woman who ran the front desk had already seen him. She was typically cheerful, but considering the chaos of everything, she was looking at Hizashi as if daring him to try and leave. It was a look that, the longer he stood there, was morphing into one of murderous rage and, considering she was the linchpin that kept his agency from collapsing, Hizashi decided to hustle his way inside. He wasn’t sure if he feared murder from her more, or her quitting on them. Probably the latter, all things considered.

She at least seemed mollified when she saw Hizashi heading towards the elevators, but he noticed a quick glimpse of concern on her face. It was enough to have him resisting the urge to groan. If she could tell he was having an off day from just one look at him from so far away, then he didn’t have high hopes for nobody else noticing. He did work with pro-heroes, after all.

He at least had hope that the day might just look busy but would actually be slow. Those hopes were soon crushed and Hizashi knew exactly what sort of day it would be when two lawyers converged on him before he could even step inside the elevator. “Yamada-san! Here are the files concerning the last three major incidents during your patrols. This includes the altercation at the Mitsuya building.” Ah, right. The mall that had almost been destroyed by a couple of pricks with a grudge against… capitalism? Hizashi hadn’t really been sure.

“Thank you, Heartfilia-san,” Hizashi sighed, accepting the files and trying not to flinch at how heavy they felt. No one had ever warned him as a kid just how much paperwork was involved with being a pro hero -- especially a public pro hero who had to worry about things like property damage. Pushing his sigh back, Hizashi looked to the other lawyer. “Nozu-san? How’s everything regarding the last raid we did?”

The apologetic look on the man’s face had Hizashi closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He felt his head pound in tune with his urges to just drop everything and scream. Nozu seemed to realize he was close to losing it, because he was quick to add, “It could certainly be worse, Present Mic, sir.”

“Let me guess, it could always be better?” The thick file Hizashi was handed made him bitterly regret his decision to not just remain as a sidekick for the rest of his days. Even if his life had been hell as a sidekick and he would have long since been dead, he wouldn’t have so much paperwork. “What’s the deadline for getting this in?”

“Well, that’s where the good news comes in,” Nozu perked up, looking delighted to have some good news to share. Hizashi couldn’t blame him. “In a typical case like this we would need to have everything submitted in two days in order for all criminals to be properly and legally charged and contained-”

“Two days?!” Hizashi was having a heart attack. He was going to die. He was just going to drop dead and let his skull split open from his migraine and allow his anxiety to eat him alive. It would be better than two days-

“In a typical case! This isn’t typical! We have more time!” While Nozu explained in a panic, Heartfilia gave a soft snort of laughter, looking as tired as Hizashi felt. The man had no doubt been pulling double and triple shifts.

“Next time?” Heartfilia spoke up, “Lead with that.” Hizashi couldn’t help but agree because, wow, yeah… He hadn’t thought his day could have gotten worse, and yet. “At least it’s not two days considering how much of a shitshow that case was. How much time?”

“One week from today,” Nozu sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Sorry, sir, for the scare. Thankfully one of the criminals that were caught slipped up enough that he’s being suspected as being part of a string of other crimes and robberies. We’ve been given extra time to complete things on our end while the court looks into it.”

Alright. Hizashi could handle dealing with a case like this in a week, at least. Closing his eyes and wincing at the pounding in his head, Hizashi swallowed and forced himself to keep it together as he nodded at the two, “Alright. I’ll get this all filled out and drop it back off with Crow-san. Anything else?”

Nozu shook his head rapidly, still young and new enough to be just the tiniest bit starstruck. Heartfilia, who had been stuck dealing with him for years, shook his head, “Just get some rest before you drive yourself into the ground. Again.”

“Ha, ha,” Hizashi responded dryly. “You’re hilarious, truly. I can see the career in comedy already.” Hizashi pressed a button to call the elevator, looking over his shoulder as he waited for it to arrive. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Heartfilia smirked, crossing his arms with too smug of an expression. “Ito-san is looking for you.” Fuck. The ding of the elevator was the only thing that stopped him from actually letting slip a few curses.

“I hate you,” Hizashi called as he pressed the floor for media relations, shutting his eyes and swallowing around the heavy, clogged feeling in his throat. The only thing keeping him even relatively sane was the fact he could and was still talking. Then again, if his migraine got much worse his quirk would start slipping, and if that happened then he could hurt people, and if his quirk was out of control then he was dangerous-

“Oh, hello, Yamada-san.” Startling at his name and trying not to show it, and realizing the elevator had stopped and opened its doors for him, Hizashi looked down at one of Ito’s interns. “Ito-san is waiting for you in her office.”

Mumbling a quick thanks, Hizashi headed towards Ito’s office, wincing at some of the sympathetic looks he was being given. That never meant good things and today, of all days, Hizashi wasn’t sure if he could handle whatever news Ito had for him. As his media and public relations manager, she was in charge of making sure he had a good image when it came to the general public. It didn’t always go well.

Clutching the files he had been forced to take, Hizashi half-wondered if he could use them as an impromptu shield or weapon as he cleared his throat, knocked, and cracked open the door, “Good afternoon, Ito-san, Japan’s finest and best-”

“Save it.” The barked order had Hizashi snapping his mouth shut at once, and, yeah. It was definitely that sort of day. “Sit your ass down and explain to me why I have three media outlets trying to get comments on the fact that you got into a fist fight at a bar of all places.” Ah… Ah, right. Hizashi had almost forgotten about that.

Hovering by the door and debating escape for a moment, Hizashi finally slipped in and took a seat as far away from Ito as he could get. It didn’t feel like it helped him very much, Ito taking a seat behind her own desk and simply staring at him. It was her favorite intimidating tactic and, unfortunately for Hizashi, it often worked.

Finally, after eons had passed, Ito braced her elbows on the desk and laced her fingers together, pushing out a long sigh that made guilt claw at his chest. Hizashi wasn’t exactly sure what he was guilty for, but the guilt was there all the same.

“Alright, Yamada.” Ito’s eyes, which had fluttered shut for a moment, snapped open and gave him a look that was as cold as ice. “Explain to me why I shouldn’t let you deal with this mess on your own.”

Blanching, Hizashi tried not to fully flinch away, instead roughly clearing his throat, and, alright. He was good with words. He was a language teacher, after all. “Well… If you think about it, I was off-duty at the time-”

“You were still wearing your full uniform and all of your support equipment,” Ito interrupted, eyes radiating her hatred and ire perfectly. “I have over a dozen unique photos from social media accounts of you, Present Mic, in a fist fight with a member of the public at a bar. It’s already spread rapidly across the top three social media sites and is gaining traction on another two sites as we speak.”

Ito paused, taking in a breath. The pause, Hizashi figured, was more terrifying than her anger. “Now, I want an explanation -- and not your media explanation for which I will give you something that you will repeat word-for-word. No. I want your honest explanation as to what stupidity went through your head when you thought you could just-”

“He was drugging a girl’s drink.” Hizashi braced for something to be thrown at him, waiting nervously before Ito, silent, gave a nod for him to continue. “I had just finished up my patrol and I stopped by that bar to talk to the owner about some of my contacts and some people I had on watch. I noticed that the bastard I punched had been flirting with someone who was pretty unreceptive and, when she wasn’t looking, he slipped a powder into her drink that dissolved immediately.

“The girl was about to drink from her cup as an excuse to not talk to him, so I snatched it from her and then confronted the asshole about the little addition to the cup. It, uh… It didn’t remain much of a civil conversation for long.” Hizashi, still seeing the displeasure, hopefully added, “I didn’t throw the first punch?”

There was a long, long moment of silence, Ito narrowing her eyes at him before giving a single nod that had Hizashi almost collapsing in relief. “I’ll deal with it, in that case. Can the owner or bartender confirm your story and the events?”

“Of course! I should have both their numbers. They offered ‘em up when they realized what went down and are willing to act as witnesses.” Hizashi knew he was in the clear when Ito looked pleased, some of the manic tension bleeding out of her. She really deserved a vacation soon. “So… public image?”

Ito looked down at her scattering of papers and forms, shoving a few to the floor before pulling some out of her drawer. It was an effort to not laugh. “Not the best, but not the worst, either. With that bar fight, now that I know the truth, I can spin it to get you some positive attention for a week or two, at least.”

Hizashi watched as Ito scattered around a few more papers before pulling another out of a pile, “The Mitsuya Mall, as I don’t need to tell you, was an utter disaster.” Yeah, it had… definitely not ended well when it came to property damage. “Thankfully no one was hurt, so that makes the outcome more positive on the overall. Your show’s doing well, so that’s helping-”

“And what are the more official sources saying?” Because Ito could go on all day if he let her and Hizashi knew that public opinion could mean more than just the average citizen’s opinion. “Bad or bad?”

Ito’s lips twisted up into a wry smile as she chuckled, “Just bad, for now. I think the new drivel is claiming you’re a laidback playboy who’s focused more on his radio show and his ratings rather than the safety of Japan.”

“Playboy? Playboy? Really?” Hizashi made a face, shaking his head. He had been with Shouta since they were teenagers, after all, and the only other person he had ever felt the urge to really be with was Toshinori. “Jeez, alright. At least it’s just about the radio show. That always passes.”

“It does if you keep getting good ratings,” Ito snorted, fixing a stack of papers, and then looking at her desk. “That seems to be the worst of it for now. Did Heartfilia-san get you those files yet?”

“Saw him just before you,” Hizashi said, holding up his files. He couldn’t blame Ito for not appearing very sympathetic considering her own workload. “How’s opinion looking like on the case?”

“Varied.” Well. It could be worse. “The public still seems to be under the impression we’re competent, at the very least, and I’m happy to keep it that way.” Ito looked at her desk one last time before nodding and waving her hand at him, “Alright, you can go. I’ll fix the latest mess you dropped in my lap and then I don’t want any disasters from you for at least two weeks. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am,” Hizashi nodded, standing up and walking towards the door. He paused for a moment, hand hovering over the doorknob. “Actually… what’s the current opinion on my image in regards to my… my quirk.”

Hizashi didn’t turn around to see whatever look Ito was giving him, instead just waiting in the growing silence as he felt phantom pressure around his throat, pressing in tightly while phantom straps dug into his jaw and silenced him-

“You’re a good man and hero with a powerful quirk that has only ever been used to protect the public.” Ito’s voice was soft, yet firm. She had known him long enough to no doubt know what was on his mind. “The worst I have for you right now is that you’re too loud, but, honestly, that’s more about your wardrobe than your voice.”

The unexpected dig had Hizashi giving a snort of laughter, quiet as he left the office and pushed out a soft sigh, eyes closing. His head was still pounding, and he still felt those phantom touches brushing against him, but it was enough to know that no one feared him or his quirk. Ito had never sugarcoated things for him, after all. It wasn’t much to know that he was at least decent in regards to the public, but… it helped a little.

“Um, Present Mic-san, sir?” Prying his eyes open, Hizashi blinked down a trio of new third-year interns. Two of them looked ready to burst into tears and the third looked as if she was ready to get into a fight for her life. “We’re, uh- Well, we’re new here, of course we’re new here, not that I expect you to know that, but, um-”

“Ignore her, she’s freaking out,” the one who didn’t look ready to cry said, stepping forward. “Our supervisor told us to go down to help support for the day but didn’t bother to tell us what floor or elevator to take. Think you could point us in the right direction?”

Ah, third years… They were either one moment from breaking down completely or they no longer cared if they lived or died. Hizashi not only remembered that time well, but even now he could relate.

“Better than that, I can take you down there myself!” He made a mental note to later put in a work order request to submit for his next speaker, now that he was reminded. The last thing he needed was for them to fiddle with the specs again. “Come along, herolets!”

“We’re, um- We’re not, uh, hero students, sir. We’re- We’re support students,” one girl nervously corrected, looking panicked as one of her friends pulled her along towards the elevator after Hizashi.

“Really? If you ask me, those in support are just as much heroes as the rest of us.” Hizashi pushed the button for the right floor, looking at the third years seriously, sunglasses slipping down for a moment. “Listen. There will be plenty of people in your line of work who will doubt what it is you can do. They’ll think that just because you’re not out there on the front lines you’re doing less.”

“Isn’t that what we are doing?” The calm one, who looked put together and like she knew how the world worked far too well, stepped forward. “It’s nice of you to give us a pep talk, sir, but we aren’t heroes. We don’t have powerful, flashy quirks. We just know how to put things together without them falling apart.”

Hizashi stared for a moment, tilting his head before giving a huff of a laugh. Shouta, he was surer, would have loved this kid, “What’s your name, listener?”

“Ishii Chisuzu, sir.” Yeah. Hizashi would definitely have to remember that name for the future. He had a good feeling about it.

“Well, Ishii Chisuzu, I’m about to give you the best piece of advice you’ll ever get. Ready for it?” Waiting for the girl to nod, Hizashi gave her a sharp grin. “What you can do is not less. Got it?”

The elevator doors opened with a soft ding, the other two girls looking at him with wide eyes while Ishii gave the smallest hint of a smile, “Got it.”

“Good! Now, off you scurry. If anyone gets after you for being late or something just send ‘em to me,” Hizashi winked, watching as the girls scattered for another direction. Hizashi stared after them for a moment, quietly hitting the button for the floor his office was on, leaning back against the elevator and pushing out a slow breath as he swallowed around his dry throat.

As much as he loved his agency, it was such a public place. That was fine, typically, considering that he loved being a part of all the action and crazy problems that were always happening. It was just that on some days, when the past pressed against him far too closely, Hizashi really wished he didn’t work in a place that constantly reminded him of his quirk and what it was he could do.

He was fine in the school where he was focused on teaching English and had so many fond memories and had Shouta nearby in case his quirk was to ever slip from his control. When he was away from all of that, however, from the feeling of safety and protection, that was when he could feel the straps tightening around his jaw, and the hands against his throat, and the whispered words of how he would never be a hero with such an awful villain’s quirk and why couldn’t he just be silent-

Rushing out of the elevator as soon as it hit his floor, Hizashi slipped into his office, tossed his files of paperwork onto his desk, and collapsed onto the nap lounge he had dragged in forever ago. He kept the lights off, letting the dark room soothe his aching eyes and pounding head as he tried to steady his breathing.

He should have just gone home early and stayed with Shouta and Toshinori, but he had work to do. Some stupid childhood trauma that had happened decades ago was not going to stop him from being the hero he had become. It didn’t matter that his skull felt like it was cracking open, or that his throat could barely make any noise without trying to close, or that he couldn’t stop feeling that damn muzzle-

It didn’t matter. The media could make fun of him all they wanted to, but Present Mic still had work to do. His public image was meant to be friendly and a bit silly, ready to help but also just as ready to make jokes and have some fun. It wasn’t an accident it was that way. He had known from the beginning how the world would see him, but that was good. It left him the room and freedom he needed to do what had to get done.

That included doing the work he needed to, even on his bad days; no matter how tempted he was to take a page out of Shouta’s book and just fall asleep where he was lying down. It wouldn’t be for long. A half hour, maybe an hour, possibly until the world ended -- just long enough for him to stop feeling so tired and strung out.

The one thing that kept him from following through was his buzzing phone, Hizashi swearing as he dug it out and pulled it up in front of his face before scrambling to lower the brightness in the dark room. It took a few moments before he noticed the sender was Nemuri, Hizashi already regretting his entire life as he opened the attached images.

He had been prepared for anything and everything, but not for the half a dozen images of young Present Mic fans who couldn’t be older than six or seven. It was the cute pictures that Nemuri had promised to show him at lunch before getting distracted, Nemuri sending a simple text that read, ‘One of them told me to tell you thank you for having a voice quirk and still becoming a hero.’

It was a simple message, and cute, silly pictures, but Hizashi felt like he could burst into tears as he looked through them slowly one-by-one. Once he closed out of the last one, he saw a few missed texts, all of them from friends or other co-workers who were checking in on him. Tensei, who had no doubt been told of his rough day by Tenya, had sent near fifteen messages in the last ten minutes alone, along with a selfie of him doing a wheelie with his wheelchair.

Overall his messages were filled with support or just a kind word or two, Hizashi finally, slowly, after an eternity, pushing himself up and heading towards his desk.

He may not have been some incredible hero like Toshinori or even a deadly, fearless hero like Shouta, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t a hero. Present Mic had work to do it and Hizashi would see it through until the end.

The idea of crawling into a corner and sleeping until the end of the world was still tempting, though.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #where i want to be #allerasermic #mha #my hero academia #original #my writing

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coffehousecreations · 5 years ago

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And They Were Roommates

Jack of All Trades Chpt 1.

Click here for the Prologue

Word Count: 1591

TW: Cussing and creepy roommates

Hope y’all like my lil update. I just realized that this is my first real writing project, so go easy on me. I’m I really love this story and can’t wait to write more!!! I put most of it under the cut so I don’t clog up anyone’s dash. Let me know if you want to be added to a taglist or somethin’

Love coffee ☕️

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As a rule, Nova took very good care to remain anonymous. She operated under the name Echo. She didn’t interact with her more serious customers if she could help it and stuck to shadows. On the job, her face was always covered by a hood or mask. Her body type obscured by baggy clothes and various sized heels.

She was a ghost.

However, Nova had been on the Italian Mafia’s most wanted list ever since she invited the cops to the Conte’s “family gathering”. A rather affectionate name for a weapons exchange deal she thought. That was a few months ago. Still, the mob has a talent for sniffing out rats in the street. And while she was confident in her own safety, Nova didn’t want to jeopardize her contacts in the NYPD.

Staten Island is barely a part of New York City, but it’s easy to blend in so it makes a good place to put a safe house. No one knew Nova, no one would, and she liked it that way. Even if the pizza wasn’t as good as Sal’s, at least it wasn’t fucking New Jersey.

Nova sighed and sat down at her computer. Alright. It’s time to move again. She pulled up craigslist, her best friend since she moved back to New York, and began to scroll. She needed a bit of cash and an apartment with no questions asked. Luckily, she found both.

“PLZ HELP” in bright blue letters. She clicked on the listing.

“Please help me get rid of my crazy roommate. He’s insane but i think we can trick him if you move in and we pretend he never existed. The room will be free for the first month if you want to stay. It’ll be like that episode in friends please I don’t know what to do”

Underneath the plea, were pictures of a clean, medium sized, two bedroom apartment. Along with these photos was a video titled “And they were roommates”. It was a five minute video pieced together from snapchat stories and secret filming of a short man with black hair and olive skin doing increasingly creepy shit. Things like calling every 20 mins, watching people sleep, and somehow almost burning the kitchen down after trying to “cook a goldfish.”

She’d never seen Friends, but it sounded like the perfect job after being stuck in a small studio apartment. Ever since she was young, Nova liked to prank people. At least now it’s for a good cause She reasoned. If she was being honest with herself, however, Nova knew she was excited for any excuse to get out of the safe house. Her fingers clicked along the keyboard to inquire after the job and apartment.

Hardly a minute later her computer chimed and a message appeared.

“OOf thank you so much I was starting to lose hope. YES. I still need help with this as soon as you can. If you can come today I would be forever grateful. My roommate is out until 2 so if you can come before that it would be grEAT. Thank you so much again.”

Now there was a curiosity in Nova. What the hell was she getting herself into?

She knew nothing about who she was coming to the aid of. By the state of his message and listing, he was at the very least desperate. Although Nova was not the most adept at using technology, it didn’t seem to be a scam. Thoughts raced through her head, calculating possibilities and outcomes. What if her new roommate be just as crazy as the one she was meant to replace? Then again, it was a free apartment.

“I’ll be there in an hour.”

A ferry ride, a subway, and an uber later, Nova was there. All of her belongings fit into a suitcase and a backpack, which served as her loyal companions during the trip. The address was on a corner of Broadway street next to an old theater. She smirked and her eyes darted around, taking in the sight with anticipation. As she walked up the stairs there was a slight creaking, but she could work with that. Promptly, Nova reached her destination: apartment 310.

The man that opened the door before her didn’t look insane. He was wearing a fashionable outfit for late summer in New York: a well fitting button down with khakis and even matching shoes. But his eyes were a tired and worn out brown under slightly askew glasses.

“Jack of all trades?” he half pleaded. That was Nova’s username for smaller gigs like this and she was used to the sound of it now.

“Looks like we’re going to be roommates for a while,” She hesitated before reciting his username back, “frog legs and fried chicken???”

Turning into the apartment, the young man gave a slight chuckle and introduced himself as Dallas Montgomery the Third. Nova was hardly surprised at the bit of southern twang in his voice. One that was energized and enunciated yet retained some drawl. Most likely northern Louisiana she determined.

“Alright, so I’ve already changed the locks and put his stuff out on the street, but that’s the easy part. How do we convince Tommy boy he don’t live here?” Dallas put his hands on his hips and squinted, looking around the apartment as if it was hiding answers somewhere.

Nova followed suit. Her eyes traced the details of the apartment. A couch and a few chairs were facing the TV on the wall. The clock said it was almost 2. The kitchen was off to the left and the bedrooms just beyond. Only the living room could be seen from the doorway.

As his eyes scanned the room, Dallas noticed his new roommate walking aimlessly with a suitcase in hand. “Your room is the one on the left.” There was a nod of acknowledgement and she disappeared behind a door. The next moment, she reappeared with a large painting where her suitcase had been previously.

Dallas blinked. “Redecorating already, or did you just really not want that in your room?” He queried, watching as she glided across the room and replaced the piece she was holding with an old movie poster on the wall. He blinked again and realized that his jaw must have dropped at the sight, cause when Nova caught sight of his face, her smirk turned into a wide grin.

“Relax, it’s only temporary.” Her voice soothed and her eyes reassured. The poster was set against the back of the couch. “Help me move this?” Nova motioned to the chair. Dazed and confused, yet willing, Dallas picked up one end and shuffled across the room.

Suddenly, there was a banging on the door and a muffled, angry voice. Dallas turned wide eyes to his only hope at getting his apartment back to normal. But, Nova didn’t seem shaken at all. In fact, still wore a small smirk as she grabbed a large plant and walked towards the door. Setting it down right next to the kitchen entrance, she signaled for Dallas to get behind it. She took a deep breath as the pounding continued and was grateful that she had decided to wear a striped shirt. Then Nova opened the door.

In its place was the angry, short man from the video who was still shouting. “What the hell Dal? Why’s all my shit on the street and my keys don’t even work, man! What the Hell?” He tried to push his way past the door. However, Nova’s foot was placed firmly behind it, leaving a small opening that the roommate was too muscled to fit though. He finally stopped throwing a tantrum long enough to look at Nova and realize that it was not his roommate. Blonde hair framed innocent brown eyes that looked up at him. “Who da fuck are you?”

“Pardon,” she batted her eye-lashes at him and continued in a light and flawless french accent, “I believe you have the wrong apartment.” He stared, stupefied. “Desole - uh, sorry,” she continued and began to close the door. At the movement, the crazy roommate, Tommy, snapped to his senses.

“Nah uh, I live here. This is my apartment.” He pushed once more at the door and it slammed back into her foot. “This is my apartment,” He repeated, a bit louder and slower, as if doing so would change the language in which it was said, despite his New Yorker accent.

If there was a camera to look into, Dallas would’ve been Jim from the Office. Nova maintained her composure, however, in her response. “C’est dommage. This apartment is mine.” Although her smile was still friendly, her eyes were about to throw daggers while her head tilted inside. Tommy’s eyes narrowed as they left Nova’s face and transitioned to the apartment. She saw them hit the painting and his eyebrows raised. Swiftly, they moved to the green leaves behind her, down to a non-existent chair and stopped.

Tommy took a step back, closing his eyes and letting out a distressed huff through his nose. He looked like an angry customer who claimed to know the manager while unknowingly talking to the manager.

“So sorry miss - uh.” He looked behind him while Nova smiled sweetly. “I’ll just be going. Sorry to trouble you.”

“No problem,” Nova beamed. “Pleure un coup, tu pisseras moins.” Laughing awkwardly, Tommy quickly retreated down the stairs. As soon as the door shut, Dallas emerged from the plant.

“You are a Goddess among men.”

“Damn right.”

#writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #my writing #writblr #wip #coffeewrites #origional writing #jack of all trades

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rovvboat · 6 years ago

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Paper Planes

Colossus/Piotr Rasputin x Reader

A/N: Prompt by the wonderful @candle-light-writings!! <3 <3 Sorry it took me awhile!! Hope you like it hehe

word count: 5.2k (I DONT KNOW HOW?!)

Summary: You’re a young mutant-in-training at the newly opened Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. You (quite literally) run into Colossus on a packed day, and end up becoming friends with the mutant, who offers to help with your combat training. The friendship soon grows into something more, and takes flight to bring him home.

You were running late yet again. Stupid alarm clock. It just had to get busted on one of the most important days of your time in Xavier’s school.

You dash through the hallways that were clogged with students as you weave through them on your way to your training class. As you reach the end of the crowd, you see that it’s a clear route for you – through to the training grounds – and you pick up speed.

Your thoughts were so focused on reaching the class on time that you neglected to watch out for the blind-spot at the adjacent corridor that joins the hallway.

In a split second, you make contact with a tall, brawny student – whose stacks of paper goes flying all around the corridor.

‘’SHIT. I’m so sorry!’’ You quickly got up before he did.

You wave your arms around, the papers spiral above the fallen man’s head as he watches – baffled by the flying papers – before once again becoming a neat stack – categorized exactly as it was before the fall. The papers come to rest gently into your right arm, as you offer your other hand to the unfortunate student. He takes it, lifting himself up with the help of your anchor.

You quickly pass the stack to him, before zooming off again – leaving the man to watch you disappear as quickly as you appeared.

As the man returns to his duties, he catches something shimmering on the floor and bends down to pick it up. It was a beautifully folded paper crane, though it felt a lot sturdier and tougher than your average origami crane. He picks it up and inspects it – catching the name of the owner scribbled under one of its wings. He carefully places it on the top of the stack, before making his way to his own training room.

‘’You oughta’ be more careful about these things, darlin’.’’ Logan explains. ‘’You can’t keep being late for these important trainings, especially not when your skills ‘ave yet to be mastered fully in terms of combat.’’

You look to the ground, one arm across your stomach holding onto the other, embarrassed at the fact that you were late once again.

‘’I’m sorry, Logan. I just… don’t think that my powers would be the best for offensive tactics…’’ You sigh.

‘’Listen, darlin’. All that doesn’t matter. Most of our ops are on the offensive, and if that is what you’re weakest at, then we are going ta’ have to train that the most.’’

You nod as he pats your back. ‘’Have more faith in your abilities. They might surprise you.’’

You sulk all the way back to your dorm room. Most days in the school were like this. Mostly disappointing. You plop down onto your bed and let out a heavy sigh.

If everyday is going to be this disappointing, I don’t think I want to be here anymore. Maybe I could just sell paper cranes for a living.

Your train of thought is halted by a knock on the door.

‘’Coming!’’

Great. They probably want to add some after school combat training lessons.

You open the door, and your eyes meet the large torso of a man, who was looking down on you. Your eyes trail up to his face, and you’re greeted by a set of serene blue eyes.

You pause for a moment, not knowing what to say or do. The man staring back at you was obviously Piotr Rasputin, or Colossus – as he was called on the field. You’ve heard many stories about this student, mostly about how good his fighting skills were and how strong he was, not to mention how he was set to be one of the main members of the X-Men team.

He was also very, v e r y easy on the eyes. His hair was neatly styled up, wearing a white t-shirt that fit snugly over his muscles. Torso tapered down like a V. The other students nicknamed him Hercules, built like a Greek demi-god.

You notice his mouth moving, snapping you back into the present moment.

‘’Hello. I am sorry to intrude, but are you Y/N?’’ He asks.

‘’Yes, did Logan send you?’’

‘’Oh no, he did not. I just found this–‘’ he shows you something in his palm– ‘’beautifully made paper crane. It fell this morning when we… collided. I thought you might want this returned. It looks absolutely wonderful. And I thought it would be missed.’’

‘’Oh my God, you were the person I banged into this morning! I’m so sorry about that! Are you alright? Here, come on in.’’ You open the door wider for him to make his way into your room.

He slowly enters your room, taking in all of the different kinds of paper stacked neatly on your shelves. He stops by your small display case of a plethora of foldings– from roses of various colours, to plants, to animals. They all looked so realistic and intricate.

‘’Don’t mind them too much.’’ You laugh nervously.

‘’They are… very beautiful.’’ He says to you, clearly impressed.

You quietly watch as he takes his time to admire them. You clear your throat in the silence.

‘’I could make one for you if you’d like.’’ You wave at the papers across the room and, as if on command, they glides towards you and fold intricately into several shapes – tearing and twisting in impossible ways – before floating gently onto your palm in a shape of a confidently roaring tiger.

Colossus watches all of this in awe.

You present the tiger to him, shimmying your fingers over it – bringing it to life as it gives a mighty roar.

‘’Bozhe moi! That is amazing! What beautiful powers you have!’’ He exclaims.

‘’Well… they’re not much use for fighting… I thought you came here because Logan sent you to ask me about some combat lessons or something.’’

‘’Oh, no he didn’t. But is it something that you would be needing help with? I am happy to help out a fellow X-Man whenever I can.’’

Your eyes light up at the proposition.

‘’Are you sure? I’m kind of known to be… difficult. Especially with combat.’’

‘’No such thing! I will do everything in my power to make you the best combat X-Man the world has ever seen!’’ He says, flexing in a dramatic way to drive the point home.

You laugh at that, before nodding at the proposal.

‘’That is really nice of you to do, Colossus.’’

‘’Please, call me Piotr.’’

‘’Alrighty, Mr Piotr. I’ll meet you when you’re free?’’

‘’Of course! We will start as soon as possible! We shall meet at the break of dawn tomorrow.’’

Your face changes from a grin to a shocked expression, causing Piotr to laugh.

‘’You’re not kidding, are you?’’

‘’Early bird catches the worm.’’ He responds cheekily. You respond with a palm to your face, before laughing.

‘’Alright then, I’ll see you tomorrow. But seriously, thank you so much for helping me out. I’ll have to give you a treat for that.’’ You say as he checks his watch.

‘’It is not needed.’’ He holds his palms up with a smile. ‘’We are X-Men, and X-Men do not hold favours. Now, you would have to excuse me. I have some matters I need to attend to. It was nice meeting you today, Y/N. And thank you very much for the pet tiger you have gifted me. I appreciate it very much.’’ He admires the paper tiger on his palm, before bidding you farewell and stepping out of your room.

You thank whatever god or fate that helped you get this arrangement, before getting ready for dinner and heading to bed.

Your eyes open at the sound of your new alarm clock, blaring a rendition of I’m Still Standing, playing on the radio. You whine, and flip over onto your stomach, holding the pillow tightly, promptly burying your face in it – before hammering down on the alarm clock’s snooze button.

Not 2 minutes later, Elton John’s voice breaks the silence yet again.

Don’t you know l’m standing better than I ever did. Looking like a true survivor, feelin’ like a little kid.

You let it play, before a knock sounds at your door. You snooze the alarm, and get up to greet whoever was at the door. You catch your reflection in the adjacent mirror – hair fuzzy from sleeping, a big long sweatshirt draped over your body with just a little bit of your shorts peaking out from the end of it. Peak dating material.

You open to door, and it feels like the same scene from yesterday plays out.

Piotr takes a pause, looking at you at your most comfortable state; you bring up a hand, trying to rub your eyes out of sleepiness. He chuckles a little. Your eyes adjust to Piotr standing in front of you and you flash him a smile.

‘’I guess I was right in my assumption that you would not be ready before I was. I am sorry if I woke you up, but it is almost time for our training.’’ He says, tapping at his watch.

You yawn and tiptoe into a stretch – extending your arms up to really get your muscles working. ‘’Yeah, I’m up. Gimme 5 minutes to get ready.’’ You say as you close the door. You quickly wash up before throwing on your training outfit – a white tank top paired with black sweatpants. You open the door to Piotr waiting for you in the hallway.

‘’Morning! Sorry it took me a while to get up. I’m still feeling a little tired. Not used to the whole early bird thing, yknow? I assume you do this every day. Why would you want to be up this early, anyway?’’ You jokingly ask as you lock your door.

Piotr’s deep laugh rumbles down the quiet corridor. ‘’I have been known to be an early riser, yes. But worry not, you will get used to it. Working in a farm as boy helped me a lot.’’

‘’You were a farmer? I never would’ve guessed!’’

‘’Yes, back in Russia my family used to run a farm. It was hard work but… it was with family, and it was home.’’ A sadness was etched in his voice. You decided not to press the matter, instead you tried to get his spirits up a little.

‘’But hey, family is always with you,’’ you place a hand to his chest, near where his heart would be, ‘’right here. They’ll always be here’’ You give him a few pats. ‘’Now c’mon! I’m itching for some learning!’’ You say as you walk ahead, out onto the training field. Normally you wouldn’t be this excited, but being trained by one of the coveted X-Men? You best take all you can out of it.

The sun was just looming over the horizon, the heat slowly replacing the chill of the morning. You and Piotr do a few laps around the track, warming up for the training session.

‘’Before I teach you anything, I would like to know where you stand with regard to your combat.’’

‘’I’m just really bad, I don’t know what to tell ya.’’ You shrug.

Piotr laughs. ‘’We can get better, no matter which stage we are. I would like for you to attack me. Feel free to not hold back.’’

‘’But you’re not in your metal-man form. Is that alright?’’ You ask. Piotr nods an affirmative.

You stand up, dusting yourself off the freshly chipped grass on your ass. You get into your fighting stance – the one Logan always emphasized.

‘’Good stance, but you need a wider footing.’’ Piotr remarks. You shift accordingly.

Piotr gets into his fighting stance. You contemplate what you are going to do, before lunging towards him with a hand balled into a fist. He expertly dodges it, and you switch to the other hand – trying again to make first contact. He dodges some, while blocking others.

‘’You are aggressive, but you have to be smart. Look for openings.’’

You knit your eyebrows in concentration. You try again, jabbing at him multiple times – never once actually hitting him. At one instance, whilst he was too focused on blocking your blows, you find an opening near his stomach. You retract your arm, and spring a punch towards it – stopping right before making contact.

‘’Why did you stop?’’

‘’I didn’t want to hurt you.’’

‘’It is alright. You need not be afraid of that. Training requires that we take some risks. On the battlefield, there is no such thing as mercy.’’ He says solemnly.

You stare at him in disbelief. A tension rising in the air, before you both erupt into laughter. These moral dilemmas were so prominent in your lives that it becomes more of an inside joke than anything – meant to be laughed away instead of brooded over.

Piotr wraps up the training session by teaching you some offensive tactics, before you both head towards the showers.

From that day onwards, you notice just how much you’ve been running into the him without actually noticing. Your paths had crossed almost every class, though you shared none with him for this year, and you never once thought about it until now.

At the beginning it was just shy hellos and see you laters. But as you trained with him more often, it transformed into a kind of friendship that you never knew you needed. You built a confidence that you never knew you had from the time you spent with him. You’d spend mornings training with Piotr, afternoons training with Logan, and evenings painting with Piotr. (Though your painting normally consisted of getting paint on yourself when you accidentally use your brush contemplate your next stroke – inevitably landing some on your face.)

Your hand-to-hand combat improved tremendously, which Logan takes note of instantly from the way your body moves so fluidly and confidently against him.

‘’That’s some good fightin’ you brought to the table. ‘M glad you’re improvin’ Y/N.’’ He commends, proudly crossing his arms. You beam at him. Finally, finally some improvement. Logan lets you off way earlier than usual, on account of your excellent performance.

You run towards the library’s art studio, because you know that’s where Piotr would be, excited to tell him the good news. You hadn’t had the time to have a proper meet up or training with him for the past week, and you felt happy to finally be able to do so.

You greet the librarian with a curt nod, before moving up the stairs towards Piotrs’ art cave. The room is open for people to move freely in and out, but today there wasn’t much traffic due to the upcoming exams.

You stand at the doorway, scanning the room for the uncanny figure of the burly Russian. You spot him sitting on a tall bar stool in front of an easel with a canvas. He was dressed in a white wifebeater – much like what Logan would wear, but with additional paint smudges and ink stains – paired with baggy sweat pants. The canvas in front of him was empty, which was highly uncharacteristic. He’s usually halfway through his works by the time you come to visit.

You hunker down, sneaking up to a nearby shelf, and watch as he holds onto something – a photograph – in his hand. He longingly stares at it. You catch a glimpse of blonde hair and cheery smiles on it, and you know right away what made him look so forlorn. He heaves a sigh, tucking the picture into his chest pocket.

Your heart breaks for Piotr. And even though his power is his strength, in this moment – with the rays of the sun filtering into the room, dust particles dancing around him in this musky room – he looks so alone. You decide that you couldn’t bear to see him this way, as you stealthily pull a few papers from the cabinets. The wind rustles through the window in perfect fashion, just as you will the sheets to fold into each other in front of you, the winds helping you to mask the noises of the paper. Once you were finished, a grey-metallic coloured figure of Colossus floats gently onto your palm – a folding which you fittingly dub ‘’mini-Colossus’’

You send in mini-Colossus, as Piotr stares at the empty canvas – with one hand positioned over it to make a stroke with the paintbrush. His shoulders slump over, before bringing a hand over his forehead in conceded frustration – covering his eyes. It was very unlike him to look so… tired. And it tugged at your heart how sad and distressed he looked.

You make mini-Colossus get Piotr’s attention by making it dancing infront of him. First, it does the macarena, then disco dances, and even does a split on the easel. When none of this gets his attention, you finally make mini-Colossus pat Piotr on the hand – surprising Piotr. He watches with confusion as mini-Colossus repeats the macarena, before noticing that it’s a paper cut-out. His head swerves around the studio looking for you, when you finally emerge from the back shelf.

‘’Y/N. I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized that you were done with your classes already.’’ He gives you an apologetic look, but his eyes looked tired, and his smile felt forced. You go over to him, draping an arm over his shoulder, and placing a hand to his chest.

‘’Hey, buddy, it’s alright. You feeling okay? I saw you looking at that picture of you and Illyana.’’

‘’I am not sure. I… miss home. And my little snowflake. Dearly.’’ His voice wavers a little. ‘’I wish I could visit more often, but the Professor says it is much too risky. And that I am needed here.’’ He looks away at that. You reposition your arm, and allow your hand to find his back, slowly stroking down to provide any semblance of comfort that you can. You move in front of him, before embracing his large body in a big hug, holding onto him as tightly as you can. His hands slowly come up to hold you close, his face feels like it’s burning hot against your shoulder.

‘’It’s alright, Piotr. Your family is always with you no matter where you are. And I’m sure Illyana is happy to know that her brother is out here making the world a better place for her.’’ You console him. You feel a slight wetness on your shoulder, and you pull away to look at him. His eyes were red and teary – and you feel your heart drop. You cup your hands around his face, using your thumbs to wipe away the stray tears. He closes his eyes and let his head fall forward. You pull him back into a hug, and allow him to let it out.

Your hand moves to comfortingly stroke down his back. He’s silent, and you can tell he feels embarrassed to be crying like this, but you also know that he needs this right now.

Several moments pass, before Piotr shifts in his seat. You instinctively step aside, giving him some room to breathe.

He goes to the washroom to wash his face before coming back to the room. You patiently wait for him to say something, as he perches on the high stool again, his body facing you. He takes a deep breath.

‘’Thank you, Y/N. For being here. I… It can be difficult sometimes. Usually I am not… this way.’’

‘’Hey, don’t worry about that. We all have our days and I understand. I just hope you know that… you’re family to me too.’’ You offer as you move closer to him. He holds your gaze, his lips curving into a warm smile. His arm stretches out and pulls you into another, more mellow hug. He speaks in a low voice.

‘’Mne tak povezló tebyá vstrétit. I am so lucky to have met you, Y/N.’’

You feel a blush creep up your cheeks as you slowly bring your arms up to his back, returning the hug.

That night, you couldn’t catch a wink of sleep. You catch yourself thinking about how Piotrs’ arms felt around you, and the warm way he regarded you in his thick Russian.

I am so lucky to have met you.

The phrase lingers around you; your stomach exploding with butterflies, as a warmth spread across your chest. You’ve always considered him a friend, and, of course, you loved him unconditionally. But seeing him today, made you feel like there was maybe more to be found in this friendship – for the both of you.

The next day, you head over to the Professor’s office. You carefully look out for anyone else before approaching his door. And there it stood, tall and heavyset, in all of its’ oak brown glory – the Professor’s name written boldly across in gold metallic letters. It was the only thing standing between you and the arduous task that would be talking to the Professor.

It’s not like the man was going to eat you up. You just had a kind of reverence for him. You gathered your courage and knocked on the door. Part of you was hoping that he would be out, but you knew that him being available was important, and tried to push those hopes away.

A few seconds pass, and just as you turn to leave, a voice sounds through the door.

‘’You may come in.’’ The voice reverberated through the hardwood door, but so much clearer than it should be.

Is he in my head?

You hear a laugh, which unnerves you to no end. But the twisting of your nerves gives you a strange sense of confidence, as you walk up to the door and swing it open in one swift motion.

‘’Welcome child. What is it that you need on this fine day?’’ He enquires. He has his elbows on the table, hands clasped together expectantly.

‘’Well, I assume you already know what I’m here for, but I guess I have to tell you anyway, won’t I?’’ You give him a little snark. He gives you a smile as you go about stating your business.

‘’Okay. Well, I just think it would be good for Piotr if he got to visit his family. Just for a few days. I can cover his teaching classes and help him out with the stuff he’s missed out. I’m doing pretty well in all other areas, and I’ve gotten much better at my combat too.’’ You lay out your credentials and it feels like the tides are pushing in your favour.

The Professor smirks at you. ‘’You make a compelling argument, child. But do not underestimate the commitments that Piotr has as Colossus. He is our strength on the battle field. Would you be able to fill that role, considering your powers?’’

He has you pinned down, and you know the answer he’s looking for.

‘’You are the only person who knows what my paper is... capable of. I’m pretty sure I can handle it. I just need… more control over it.’’ You clench your fists a little.

‘’Very well. If you allow me to train you, I will let you take on the responsibilities of Colossus, and he may visit his family.’’

You grow wide-eyed at the proposition. Trained personally by the Professor? It felt too good to be true. And the fact that in return you get to give Piotr a chance to visit his family? It was an offer that was impossible to resist.

‘’Hell yeah! – I mean, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much, Prof.’’ You reply sheepishly, in an effort to downplay the fact that you were absolutely ecstatic about the arrangement. ‘’Can I go tell Piotr now? We can arrange training sessions later on! Can he take the X-Jet? Does he need a pilot? Do you have a pilot? It’s going to be a long trip to–‘’ You’re interrupted by the Professor clearing his throat.

‘’There is one jet available. Piotr’s a trained pilot, so he should be able to fly to and from his destination. You need not worry, arrangements will be made for him to leave tomorrow morning.’’

You do a fist pump, with a celebratory ‘’YES!’’ as the Professor watches with amusement. You excuse yourself from the room and dart towards the training field where you know Piotr would be. The timing was perfect as well, seeing as he was just about done with his field training session with some of the other senior X-Men.

Piotr stands on the field, stretching his arms after the session, when he sees your figure belting down the steps. He tilts his head quizzically at you. ‘’Y/N…?’’

‘’Piotr! I have a surprise for you! Piotr Piotr Piotr Piotr!’’ You repeat with increasing excitement as you speed across the field at top speed. Piotr raises his hands in defeat, and chuckles at your exhilarated movement that translate into almost comical, before he realizes that you had no intention of slowing down.

‘’Y/N, wha–‘’ You crash into him – arms wide and moving to loop around his neck – as his arms open to embrace you; his body does a small 180 turn to stop you from toppling him over. You hang onto him as he holds you up by your waist, and you give a hearty laugh, making Piotr chuckle from how utterly delighted you look. You shift your head to look directly at him and share the news.

‘’I have a surprise for you!’’ You cheer as you beam at him, before realizing that the other X-Men are staring at what looks like an incredibly loving reunion. Piotr realises it as he catches you watching the others. He clears his throat and sets you down.

‘’Perhaps we could discuss this in private.’’ A bashful Piotr says as he moves to walk away from the crowd, ushering you with him.

Once you were at a considerable distance from the rest, you couldn’t help your excitement translate into you hopping in place as you spoke.

‘’Guess what I got you.’’

Piotr puts a finger to his chin, trying to guess with a hum. ‘’I am not sure… Is it new paint colours? I’ve been running out so quickly…’’

Your eyes grow wide in anticipation as you continue to grin at him.

‘’Is that not it? Hmm… Is it another mini-Colossus? Or a mini-You?’’ He asks playfully.

‘’I got you… A trip back home your family!’’ You announce triumphantly. Piotr looks dumbfounded at your words. He was at a loss for words, and he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

‘’Are you… You’re not… But how?’’ He staggers for an explanation.

‘’Pulled some favours from Prof X. You don’t have to worry too much about the details, buddy. He said you could take the X-Jet with you but you gotta get ready to leave tomorrow morning! How amazing is that!’’

Piotr continues to stare at you, looking completely stunned.

‘’I… I cannot believe my ears… Bozhe moi… This feels like a dream. Y/N, you did not have to do this for me.’’

You raise both palms up in surrender to halt his train of thought. ‘’Woah, woah – No such thing. You’ve helped me regain my confidence, and better yet… you gave me a good friend. You’ve done more for me than I can thank you for. I can only try my best to make you happy.’’ Your voice goes soft as you look away with a coy smile. His blue eyes regard you with warmth, and holds your gaze when you look back to him. You feel your cheeks burn up with feeling as your heart rate soars through the roof. You decide to break the feeling and grab his hand, dragging him behind you towards his room.

‘’C’mon, we gotta get packing! I’ll help!’’ You say as you try your best to mask your emotions.

The next morning, you get up before your alarm clock and get yourself ready in record time, before dashing out the door towards Piotr’s room. You slap the door repeatedly, mostly out of excitement. He opens the door with a bemused look. Your eyes grow wide and your jaw drops.

He’s dressed in a crisp white button-down shirt and khaki pants, matched nicely with a brown leather belt. He has his hair styled up, and you notice that his eyes are now a different colour – a gentle russet-brown.

His hand finds the back of his neck as he flashes you a sheepish smile. ‘’Too much?’’

‘’You look… beautiful, Piotr.’’ You say with sincerity in your voice. ‘’There is no other way to describe you… Handsome doesn’t even get close to covering it.’’

‘’I am glad you like it, Y/N. Though I do not like wearing contacts… But the Professor says I need to have a secret identity. A small price to pay.’’ Piotr chuckles.

Your face hasn’t fallen from its’ awe, and you realise how obviously you were gawking. You immediately bring up your watch to check the time. ‘’Oh uh, I guess it’s time soon. Let’s get going. The sooner you leave, the quicker you can reach Russia.’’ You urge.

You tell him about the arrangements as you both make your way to the hanger.

‘’I packed some extra protein bars and milkshakes for you – don’t worry, they’re healthy. There’s also a crate of fruits that I made them put in the jet. Unfortunately you’re going to have to eat some ready-made meals though and also–‘’ You ramble on about his inventory. He nods at everything you say, admiring the way you put yourself to task. He thinks about how you would’ve stubbornly insisted on the crate of fruits, and chuckles to himself.

‘’What’s so funny?’’ You tilt your head as your brows furrow.

‘’It is nothing.’’ He smiles.

Once all the last-minute checks were made, the hanger door opens – allowing the chill of the early morning to rush into the large area. You instinctively embrace yourself from the cold, when Piotr’s arm comes up around behind you, rubbing your shoulder to try to keep you warm. The small rush in your chest warmed you up instantly, as you look over to Piotr, smiling back at you.

You lower your arms to your side as he moves to face you.

‘’Please, no more words. You’ve got a family to visit, dumbo! You gotta go!’’ You insist – though part of you didn’t truly want him to leave so soon.

His lips were still curved, tenderly watching you do your best to get him home as quickly as possible. You hold his gaze, and he steps forward, gathering you tightly in his arms – his head lowered to your shoulder as he talks.

‘’Thank you so much, Y/N.’’ He breathes, and it feels like he’s just let go of a mountain on his shoulders. You hug him as tightly and hold onto him, arms snaked around his neck. He shifts his head back, tilting your head up to him, before placing a kiss on your forehead.

‘’I will be back soon, myshka. I will write to you.’’

‘’Wait! I almost forget! Here–‘’ you pull out a polaroid out of your pocket and present it to Piotr. ‘’Something to remember me by.’’ You grin at him.

He looks at the picture and beams. It was the first picture that you took of the both of you in his studio; when you tried painting with him – both of you covered in paint stains – smiling with undeniable happiness. ‘’I will keep this close to my heart.’’ He looks back at you.

You wave at him, pushing him to make a move. He walks into the jet, turning back to wave at you as the jet door closes.

You watch as the engine rumbles and zooms out of the hanger. You stay in the hanger for a moment, before moving to go about the rest of your day – one week without Piotr would pass by quickly, and you were already excited to greet him once he comes back home.

Taglist!

@emma-frxst <3 <3

#Colossus x reader #piotr rasputin x reader #colossus #piotr rasputin #x men fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #requested!#colossus/piotr rasputin x reader

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kristallioness · 7 years ago

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Good (early) morning, dear followers! Phew! So much happened last week and I'm gonna try to sum everything up now that I finally have the time to write it down...

First off, I'm gonna start with our surprising weather conditions. Exactly a week ago, on Tuesday the 17th, I woke up around 1 pm and witnessed how the sky turned really dark, like it was nightfall or something. The darkness lasted for 1-2 hours and later I learned from our local news that it was caused by three factors: storm Ophelia carried dust from the Sahara desert and smoke from the wildfires in Portugal all over Estonia!

I've never seen anything quite like it, not to mention the triple rainbow (+ a double rainbow a few hours later) that I saw on my dad's birthday last Thursday. It was so beautiful since I actually saw the end of the rainbow come closer until the rain stopped and it disappeared (wasn't fast enough to take a pic with my camera and there wasn't a pot of gold either *sigh*). And since it's becoming colder around here, the forecast said it could possibly snow this week already. The first snow of this approaching winter, yay!

Second, and most importantly, I had the time of my life on Friday and Saturday! It was my school's 40th homecoming. On the first day, there were 3 sports games that registered alumni teams could play and spectators could watch. I spent like half an hour watching some basketball and chatting to my old classmate (K.H.), who also came and found me sitting there.

Then I headed to another old classmate's (K.P.) house for our class reunion. It was so great to hear what everybody was up to. She had her big and sweet dog walk around the guest room. His name is Dash and he's such a good pupper. I let him sniff my hand to greet him and introduce myself. He would just come and put his big head near my lap and wait for me to pet him.. Anyways, after that we all went to the party at our local club to hang out for a bit longer and enjoy ourselves and dance.

On the second day, there was a big concert/musical held in our cultural center, which was really funny and festive and formal, too. Once it was over, the crowd started to gather at our own schoolhouse for the big party! The entire evening was bittersweet (since the building will be almost completely demolished soon and a new one will be constructed around the gym instead), full of fun, eating and drinking (I didn't drink a drop of alcohol, but the food at our school cafeteria was still SO GOOOOD), dancing, hugs (LOTS OF HUGS!!!), fond memories being shared, simply being together again (like coming back home to my family). So many familiar faces, older graduates who I know (or who I know because my parents know them), old teachers, old classmates..

I honestly felt anxious at first (especially a couple of days before), going there and admitting that I'm not doing as great as I should. But once I was there (on both days), I was totally relaxed around my friends, my family who I know and love so much. Like nothing had changed. I'm forever grateful that everything turned out far better than I ever could've hoped for. Thanks goes to my fellow alumni for being there on those two very special days. It wouldn't have been the same without them.. *wipes away tear* I'll always remember my first homecoming fondly.

Alright, and finally some random news (mostly related to Avatar, I think).. While I was out having fun at my first homecoming, @avatarsymbolism reblogged this post of mine and now it's nearing the 5000 notes mark (I can't believe it, my most popular post!). Thank you!

Also, now that I should have more free time, I'll continue work on my Hakoda and Katara piece and try to finish it before Father's Day (in three weeks' time). I've been watching "Call the Midwife" and slowly developing an idea for a veeeery long fanfic of Katara doing something similar. And I'm pleased to announce that I might just know what I'm going to write and will probably begin working on it as soon as I finish that card (it's gonna be NaNoWriMo after all). @avatarwindboy - I'll definitely let you know once I've posted it.

To finish this personal update, I'd like to promote two things. The first one would be @zuzuthebloodsucker's blog, which is full of so much good Avatar (+ other) content that I like (I've especially missed seeing quality Avatar content). I should've followed you sooner (I was honestly hesitant since I was afraid of too much new stuff flooding my dash), but your blog is a true blessing and exactly what I needed. *hugs* On that note, I'm sorry for posting so frequently, but my queue and drafts would otherwise become clogged and none of those awesome posts would ever appear on my blog!

The other one would be a user on YouTube called Kataang Videos. They create lovely Avatar-themed AMVs with some of my favourite songs. I just watched this one today and shed a few tears - the part where they edited the sound together so that Aang would say "I love you, Katara." broke my heart (he NEVER said it with her name in the end and hearing the whole sentence in this order was so beautiful!).

#personal #shards of Kristal

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kiminicricket · 7 years ago

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85 Questions

Rules: you must answer these 85 statements and tag 20 people

tagged by: @tragically-broken and @courtofpainteddreams Thanks so much guys :)

tagging: (feel free to disreguard if you have already done one of these, or do it again, it could be fun) @tntwme @elidexlorcan @cresswellvaneck @e-maurie @just-mebeing-me (and anyone else who wants.. hit me up and I will tag you :))

so I decided to put a read more in because I don’t want to clog up your dashes... if you are interested, find out LOTS about be below:

the last … 

1. drink: water

2. phone call: my friend Brittany

3. text message: Mum trying to find each other at the shops yesterday

4. song you listened to: The Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera

5. time you cried: uhm... at a big family gathering and they had one of those nature shows on, and there was a lion cub with an illness or disability or something, and he couldn’t keep up with his pack, and I begged them to turn it off, but they didn't until I actually burst into tears in front of everyone, and they were like, oh, ok she was serious...

6. dated someone twice: not yet............................ DANG THESE FEELINGS

7. kissed someone and regretted it: yes

8. been cheated on: yes

9. lost someone special: yes

10. been depressed: yep

11. gotten drunk and thrown up: nope

favorite colors

12. Pink

13. yellow

14. forest green

in the last year have you…

15. made new friends: Yes!

16. fallen out of love: no, but I might be falling back in... someone please help!

17. laughed until you cried: hahaha yes! all the time :)

18. found out someone was talking about you: yes, but i’m not sure if I believe it

19. met someone who changed you: I dont think so.

20. found out who your friends are: I always know

21. kissed someone on your facebook list: negative

general

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: most of them

23. do you have any pets: yes :) two kitties (one is technically mums) - Manny and Catniss, and one giant pupper named Ryder

24. do you want to change your name: No I actually really like my name :)

25. what did you do for your last birthday: uuuuuuuuummmmmmm.... i think we went to dinner? it was a pretty chill birthday

26. what time did you wake up: haha like 11:58am

27. what were you doing at midnight last night: Watching the new shadow hunters episode

28. name something you can’t wait for: My bro is getting married in like just over a month! I am hella beyond excited :D :D

29. when was the last time you saw your mom: Yesterday, we went shopping together

31. what are you listening to right now: nothing.. I like silence, which weirds a lot of people out. I just like to be able to think without being distracted

32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: I do believe I knew someone named Tom

33. something that is getting on your nerves: like right now??? uuuhhhmmm nothing, but on the trip there was an aunt who kept asking “You like that one” about any ‘funny’ phrase she had said and I just about went batty

34. most visited website: this one, facebook, and netflix..

35. hair colour: Natural brown but currently sporting a plum colour

36. long or short hair: short, just got it cut a few weeks ago and LOVING IT

37. do you have a crush on someone: aside from Matthew Daddario? ahem. maybe.

38. what do you like about yourself: My ability to be ‘cool-under-pressure’

39. piercings: ears

40. blood type: yeah I used to know, but I forgot.... MUM WHATS MY BLOOD TYPE.. oh shes at work..

41. nickname: kim, kimini, kimberelli, kimbersmelly, kimbumberly, kiminiminimini, kiminicricket, oi you, brat, snowflake...

42. relationship status: single with feeeeeeelings haha

43. zodiac: virgo

44. pronouns: she/her

45. favourite tv show: at the moment, shadowhunters. I was hooked on One Tree Hill for the longest time though, and Once Upon a Time, and Chuck, and Mcleods Daughters

46. tattoos: I was thinking about it for a long time, but I have decided that tattoos are not for me. I love them and think they are beautiful, but I just don’t want any for myself

47. right or left handed: Ambidextrous thanks to breaking one of my fingers in middle school and HAVING to use my left hand for pretty much everything for like six weeks

48. surgery: No, but I need to get my wisdom teeth out soon... Please help me I’m scared!!

49. piercing: see answer 39

50. sport: Horse Riding & surfing

51. vacation: Oh I want to travel the world!

52. pair of trainers: I dont know what this is supposed to mean..

more general

53. eating: my favourite food is Lasagne and chocolate... not together, although if you could make a chocolate lasagne that would probably be my favourite for ever and ever

54. drinking: I am so addicted to vanilla coke it isn’t funny, but I have to try and not drink so much of it because I have to fit into my bridesmaids dress (WHICH IS SO PRETTY)

55. i’m about to: I have literally nothing on my agenda today, so I’m trying to do some writing.. hopefully will have a fic drafted by the end of the day... just a short one :)

56. waiting for: SOMEONE TO TEXT ME

57. want: ah where to start...

58. get married: that is on the bucket list :P

59. career: writer would be nice :)

60. hugs or kisses: BOTH

61. lips or eyes: eyes

62. shorter or taller: in what regard? I am a shorty so most things/people are taller than me naturally

63. older or younger: older….

64. nice arms or nice stomach: Por qué no tanto

65. hook up or relationship: relationshippppppppppppppp

66. troublemaker or hesitant: me? trouble trouble maker yeah thats my middle name :P

67. kissed a stranger: nope

68. drank hard liquor: one tequila two tequila three tequila floor

69. lost glasses/contact lenses: haha a few times.. hey that reminds me, I need to get my eyes re-checked

70. turned someone down: aha not on purpose... so this dude used to come into work and he was pretty friendly... anyway, he comes in this one day, is acting a little strange, but I don’t think too much of it because I am pretty obtuse when it comes to that sort of thing.. anyways, he looks like he wants to say something, but leaves instead, and calls me up not two minutes later. I was all like ‘oh hey did you forget something?’ and he was like ‘no I was wondering if you wanted to get a drink sometime?’ and I nearly fell off my chair in shock, and I didn’t say anything for a minute because like no one had ever straight-up asked me out like a man before so I didn’t know what to do and I ended up nervously laughing and saying something like ‘maybe’ and he got off the phone real quick and upon reflection I decided that yes, I would like to go on a date with this dude, but he never came back in, and he never called back...

71. sex on the first date: sorry but nope

72. broken someone’s heart: maybe the previously mentioned guy? but like I said, I didnt mean to

73. had your heart broken: yeah

74. been arrested: no

75. cried when someone died: yes

76. fallen for a friend: hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

do you believe in …

77. yourself: most of the time

78. miracles: yes I do

79. love at first sight: hmmm.. in Matthew Daddario’s case yes definitely

80. santa clause: nope

81. kiss on the first date: depends ;) but probably not... if it is mr. someone who I am hoping will make a move, well I’ve known him forever, so maybe

82. angels: Yas

other

83. current best friend’s name: Brittany and Bethany

84. eye colour: brown

85. favourite movie: Ugh to make me choose is so cruel! Anastasia?

#kc answers #tag games #seriously congrats if you read all of that

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snowdice · 4 years ago

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Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 25]

Here is my starting post for today’s study break stories session. See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. I’ll be constantly looking for ideas of times and places for Janus to have missions, so feel free to send in any you can think of at any point!

If you are a new follower or just don’t want all of these posts clogging your dash, please feel free to block the tag “study break stories” as all posts and voting about it will go there. You can still see the finished product of the story even if you are blocking that tag as I will not tag the edited chapters with “study break stories” but with the tag “folds in paper.” See edited chapters below. Chapters 3-8 and what I have of Chapter 9 are under the cut.

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

Alright. I have a midterm that is due in 24 hours so we’re going to be going quite a while today. I’ll probably even stay up late since that class is canceled in the morning and I’ll sleep better if I go to bed at 2am with it done then I will if I go to bed at 10pm with it not done. I have a lot of water, tea, and snacks. Feel free to send me Lo-fi playlists because I’m not sure what vibe I want today and took 15 minutes to pick out my first one. XD

Chapter 7

“Him,” was the only thing Janus said before taking off after the figure who had just disappeared into the game area.

“What?” Remus’s voice followed after him. “Janus! What?!”

Janus did not pause, just continuing to run after Pat, hopping over two barricades as a shortcut. Janus cursed when he lost sight of the man for just a moment near the prize table filled with colorful goldfish, but he was able to spot him once again walking into one of the tents. Janus blasted into the tent. It was a game where they raced rats, and when Janus entered, Pat was cooing at one of them.

“Who’s a tiny little squishy precious baby?” he was asking one of them, wiggling his pointer finger at it.

“You,” Janus growled stepping up to him.

He turned and tilted his head at Janus with a frown. “Um, me?” he asked, pointing to his chest, all sorts of innocent, but Janus could see a spot of hidden amusement in his eyes.

“Where is it?”

His eyebrows drew together, but it was an act. It was clearly an act! “Where is what?”

“The…” he glanced around them at the people surrounding them. “Thing you just took.”

“I didn’t take anything,” Pat said with a frown.

“Oh, no,” Janus said. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fooling me twice is not an option.”

“I’m sorry sir,” Pat said. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bull. Shit.”

Just then, Remus jogged into the tent. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s him,” Janus said pointing. “He took it. He has it.”

“I… don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pat said. He looked over to Remus with a confused frown.

Remus looked at Janus. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Janus said. “It’s him. It has to be him. He’s the mask guy.”

Remus squinted at Pat. “He is?”

“Whoever you think I am, I’m not. I haven’t worn a mask all night. I just did the face paint,” he pointed to his cheeks.

Remus raised his wrist and his timepiece lit up green. He looked at Janus.

“I lost sight of him for five seconds. He must have stashed it somewhere,” Janus said. He turned on Pat. “Where did you put it?”

“…Are you,” Pat asked, his eyes going back and forth between Janus and Remus, “… the police?”

“We are, actually,” Khalid said as she stepped into the tent. Remus must have called her. She inserted herself between Janus and Pat. “Agent Khalid,” she said, offering a hand with a smile. Pat looked at it in surprise and then smiled back hesitantly as he took it. “Apologizes, one of the big game prizes was stolen by someone matching your description. Would you mind coming down to security for questioning? Just to clear it up.”

“Oh,” Pat said, hesitant. Janus expected him to refuse outright, but then he said. “Uh, sure.”

“Thank you very much, Mr…”

“Jonas,” Pat told her earnestly. “Do I need to be handcuffed?”

“No,” Khalid said. Janus frowned at her, but she ignored him. “It’s just a talk for now.” She gestured to the tent entrance. “Come with us.”

He did without argument, and Remus and Janus followed behind the both of them. Khalid did not lead them back to the base, but to a little spot that said “security” near the center of the event. Remy was already there waiting for them at a desk.

“Remy, would you please take Mr. Jonas to go sit down?” she asked.

“Sure, boss,” Remy said, standing up. He led Pat away.

Khalid turned to Janus and Remus once they were out of earshot. “What is going on?”

“It’s the mask man,” Janus said, “the one from 1923, and my scanner said the time bomb was on the Millenia Bird outside the games entrance, but then it was gone the next second, and I saw him, and then he ran away.”

“So, does he have it on him?”

“No. I lost sight of him, and he must have stored it somewhere, but I know he took it.”

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“He’s the man from 1923?” she asked.

“Yes! Remus, that’s him, right? You recognize him.”

“Well,” Remus said thoughtfully. “He was in a mask, and it was dark in the room with the necklace. Other than that, I only really saw his back, and he was wearing pants. Mr. Jonas is wearing a dress, so I can’t really tell if their asses match.”

“Okay, but I was with him for hours. I swear it’s him, and I swear he took it,” Janus just about shouted.

“We’ll question him,” Khalid placated, “and Fred and Lena will keep looking in the meantime.”

“He knows where it is,” Janus insisted. “I swear.”

“Okay,” Khalid said, before leaving to follow where Remy and Pat had gone. She stopped Janus with a hand on his shoulder. “I think Remus and I will do the interrogation.” He opened his mouth to argue. “You know the most about him, so observe from the sidelines and see if he makes any mistakes that indicate you’re right.”

“That’s just to placate me and you know it.”

“Observation’s over there,” she said pointing.

He got a thumbs up from Remus as he walked by, and Janus glared at his back before walking off to the indicated location.

He watched as Remus and Khalid entered the room, and Remy left it. Remy joined him in the observation room after leaving and leaned against the wall.

Pat was sitting at a table and watched Remus and Khalid with that same rubbish placid confusion that he had before. “So,” Khalid said, “Mr. Jonas.”

“You can call me Nick,” Pat interrupted.

“Lia,” Khalid replied. He smiled at her happily. “So, are you enjoying your day?” she asked.

“I am!” he replied. “It’s a big day. You only get to see the turn of a millennia once in your life.”

“Ah, yes,” Khalid said. “Doing anything special for it?”

“Um, not really,” he said. “Other than the party. I’m going to meet up with my roommates after dinner. Kevin doesn’t like this sort of thing, and Joe couldn’t come.”

“Your roommates,” Khalid said, considering him. “Do you live around here?”

“Uh huh,” Pat replied.

“Do you have any ID?”

“I do, want me to get it?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Pat unzipped one of the bubbles on his waist and handed her a chip. “Remus, would you mind going out and getting the ID scanner?” she asked, even though her timepiece would be able to read it.

“Ah, shit,” Remy said. “Props. What do those things even look like?”

As Remy scrambled to find something that would pass for an ID reader so “Nick” didn’t get suspicious of Khalid using her timepiece, Janus watched the two alone in the room like a hawk.

“I see you’re wearing a dress inspired by the 2770s,” Khalid noted, as Remus came to stand next to him.

“Yeah!” Pat replied. “Joe made it for me. He’s really good at fashion design!”

“Can I see?” she asked.

With a happy smile, he reached over the table to let her get a look of the sleeves. Janus saw her subtly scan the fabric, probably to make sure it was from the 2990s and not actually from the 2770s. Considering she didn’t mention it, Janus assumed it checked out.

Remy came back with some sort of device then and handed it to Remus who saluted and wandered back into the interrogation room. Khalid pretended to scan the ID in her hand. She handed it back to him without comment. “So, you said you live with your roommates: Joe and Kevin?” she asked.

“Yep!” he replied. “We’re practically like brothers.”

“Would you mind calling them?”

“Erm,” he titled his head like he was confused by the question. “Well, like I said, Joe is a bit busy, but I could definitely call Kevin.

“Here,” Khalid said, “use my phone.”

“I have my own,” he said with a frown.

“Humor me,” she requested.

“Uh, okay,” Pat agreed. He took the offered 2999 phone and dialed a number on it. Khalid reached over to put it on speaker.

“Hello?” a voice asked after a few seconds.

“Um, hey Kevin, it’s Nick.”

There was a sigh on the other end. “Hello Nick, is something wrong? Why are you calling me from someone else’s phone?”

“I’m fine, I think.” He looked up at Khalid. “Why am I calling him exactly?”

“Hello, I’m Officer Khalid,” Khalid said. “I just wanted to confirm that you are Nick Jonas’s roommate, and he does live in Manaus.”

“Yes, we live together with our other roommate,” the man replied flippantly. “Officer? Is something wrong?”

“I believe there was just a case of mistaken identity,” Khalid said.

“Bullshit there was!” Janus hissed, though she could not hear him.

“No need to worry,” Khalid continued.

“I’m good Kevin,” Pat said.

��Are you absolutely sure?” Kevin asked.

“Don’t be Paranoid, Kevin. I’ll see you Tonight for the New Years Celebration. You know I Live to Party.”

“I am hanging up now,” Kevin said.

“No! Comeback.” The line went dead. Pat handed the device back to Khalid.

She took it and smiled at him. “Give us just a couple of minutes,” she requested. He nodded easily, and she and Remus exited the interrogation room. “I… think we’re done here,” Khalid said.

“No, he’s lying,” Janus insisted, and got a dubious look in return. “I know he is! Remus!”

“The alibi is pretty solid…” Remus said, “and he doesn’t have the bomb on him.”

“Oh, come on,” Janus said. “You can’t say there is nothing fishy going on here.”

Khalid and Remus shared a look. “Janus,” Khalid said. “I respect your intuition. It is usually very good, but you have been a bit intense about the man from the 1920s, and I think that may be blinding you a bit...”

“I am not imagining this!” Janus said. “That’s him and he took it.”

“You only met him once while he was wearing a mask,” Khalid pointed out with a frown, “and you didn’t see him take the bomb, did you?”

“No, but he looked at me and I knew,” Janus argued. They both gave him a skeptical look. “Oh, come on!”

“You know that’s a little weak, Jan,” Remus said.

“Let me talk to him,” Janus requested. “Just give me five minutes to talk with him.”

Khalid raised one eyebrow. “Fine,” she agreed. “You have five minutes, but after that, you have to let it go. We can’t waste any more time.”

Chapter 8

Pat looked up as Janus stepped into the interrogation room. “Hi,” he said with an innocent smile that could cut steal.

Janus didn’t say a word as he took a seat; he just watched him intently. He leaned slightly over the table and steepled his fingers in front of his chin. “So, your name is Nick this time?” Janus asked.

“Nicholas Jonas,” he said. “Always has been.”

“Stop it,” Janus said.

“Stop what?”

“Cut the crap. I know.”

Pat leaned forward, mirroring Janus as he leaned closer, interlocking his fingers and laying his chin on top of his knuckles. “What did you say your name was again?” he asked, pleasantly.

“Janus,” Janus replied.

“No, I’m Jonas,” he said, pointing to his chest.

“Not Jonas,” Janus spat. “Janus.”

“Um,” Pat said, eyes alight with amusement. The bastard. “Those are the same words.”

“No, they’re not. It’s Janus. J-A-N-U.-S.”

“Well, that’s confusing,” Pat said with a frown, but his nose was crinkling. “It’s close to my name. You should go by a nickname instead.”

“What?” Janus said. “No.”

Pat hummed. “How about Love Bug?”

“What! No!” Janus sputtered, almost flipping the table, as Pat winked at him.

“BB Good?”

“What does that even mean?!”

“Mandy.”

“No!”

“Okay, okay, how about Macy Misa.”

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Janus stared at him for a moment. “Fine. Whatever. What was I even talking about?”

“Hmm. I Believe we were talking about my name and how you think it’s not my name.”

“Right,” Janus said. “So, Nick. That was your roommate, Kevin on the phone, right? He seemed a bit unhappy with you. Any reason?”

“Nah, we’re Cool” said Pat. “That’s Just the Way We Roll.”

“Not because you’re messing up a mission right now?”

Pat’s eyes crinkled together. “A mission?” he parroted. “I’m not messing up a mission.”

“Oh, really?” Janus growled. “Because you’ve been captured by the TPI, and I know who you are and what you’ve been doing.”

“I have no idea what the TPI is,” he claimed.

“Yes, you do!” Janus said, standing up. “You obviously do! Or you wouldn’t be playing this game!”

“Game?” Pat asked. “Macy I ask you what you’re talking about.”

“This is all just a game to you isn’t it!” Janus said, slamming his hands down on the table in front of them.

“Whoa,” Pat said, putting his hands up. “Calm down. Your face is getting all red. You must be Burnin’ Up.”

“I’m not sure what, but something about what you just said pisses me off.”

“And that is five minutes,” Khalid said, bursting into the room. He felt a tug on the back of his shirt and glared back at Remus who was putting his own body between Janus and Pat.

“There was no way that was five minutes,” Janus growled.

“It was five minutes,” Khalid gritted out. “Remus, get him out of here.”

“Come on Jay,” Remus said, dragging him back towards the door.

“Remus, I swear to god.”

“Just chill, Janus,” Remus said, slamming the door closed behind them.

Janus shrugged him off. “You chill!” he snapped. “He’s playing you all for the fool.”

“Wow, Macy,” Remy drawled like an asshole. “I’ve never seen you so fired up.”

“Oh, my gosh. No one is going to believe me, and he’s going to get away with this.”

“You’re not really helping your case, babe,” Remy said.

Remus grabbed him by the shoulders again. “Here, let’s go get some water.”

“I don’t want water,” he said even as he let Remus lead him to another room to get a glass of water.

“Look,” Remus said. “I know the Mask Guy thing really sucked, but you have to look at the facts.

“I am looking at the facts,” Janus insisted, “and the facts are, he’s fucking with me.”

“You don’t know what mask guy looks like,” Remus said. “You didn’t see Nick take the time bomb, he has an ID from this time period and a roommate in this time he called on the phone, and he legitimately seems to not know what any of us are talking about.”

“Did you even listen to our conversation?” Janus asked. “He was screwing with me the entire time!”

“Janus…” Remus said.

“What?” Janus said, narrowing his eyes at Remus’s tone.

“I know you recently had a bad experience, but not everyone who flirts with you is doing it out of evil.”

Janus’s mouth hung open for a few seconds. “That’s what you got out of our conversation?”

“He called you Love Bug.”

Janus felt his face heat a bit at the reminder. “That’s not… I. I’m stealing your cat and then never speaking to you again.”

Remus laughed. “Ah,” he said. “Young lust.”

Janus elbowed him roughly in the side. “No!”

“Yes!” he crooned, pleased.

“You are the worst partner,” Janus hissed. “When I’m right you owe me 10 loafs of your fresh bread.”

“Branching out from poptarts?” Remus asked.

Janus shook his head. He still wasn’t happy about the state of things, but he could feel himself cooling down a bit.

Khalid came out of the integration room after a few minutes, leaving Pat with Remy. “What was that?” she asked him.

“He got under my skin,” Janus said.

“We’ll talk about it later,” she said. “For now, we’re letting him go and then going back to looking for the bomb like we’re meant to be.”

“Fine,” Janus relented. “Just do me the favor of tagging him before he leaves. Just that. I beg of you.”

“Sure,” she agreed. “If it will calm you down.”

He nodded.

“Then, let’s go,” she said. When they met back up with Remy and Pat, he saw Khalid make the subtle gesture that would tag Pat like they would have for the Millennium Birds. Pat sent him what could pass as a sweet smile if Janus didn’t know better. Then, they walked him outside, leaving Remy on clean-up duty for the make-shift security office.

“So, I’m free to go?” Pat asked. His bemused expression edged far too much on the side of amused verses confused for Janus’s taste.

“You are,” Khalid said. “Have fun at the festivities.”

His hands went flapping about. “Oh, you too!” he said. “Well, I guess you’re working, but you can have fun anyway, I’m sure.”

“We’ll do our best,” she said.

He gave her a blinding smile and reached forward to shake her hand enthusiastically. Janus rolled his eyes and looked up at the heavens. “It was nice to meet you!” he said, “and you too, Remus!” He turned to meet Janus’s eyes. “Macy Misa.”

Janus pressed his lips together.

Then, Pat turned and walked away.

“Well, now that we’re done with that,” Khalid said, turning to them. “We have only a few more hours before midnight and we really need to find the time bomb.

“Oh,” Pat called. He’d paused a few yards away and turned back to them. “Thanks for letting me go so easily by the way,” he said, “and just in the Nick,” he winked, “of time too.” Janus narrowed his eyes at him. He smiled back. “Wrist check,” he said holding up his arm to show off the timepiece there. Khalid immediately looked down at her own wrist just to see that the one timepiece that could move through the time lock was no longer there. Pat made a gesture and disappeared.

All three of them stared at the spot he’d been for a long moment.

Janus was the one to speak first. “I want. The yellow. To be erased. From my record.”

Chapter 9

Khalid immediately called everyone back to base.

“What happened?” asked Fred when he and Lena arrived. The tech people were already scrambling to get through to the TPI and get the time lock broken from the outside.

“Remus, Remy, and Khalid got played by Pat or whatever his name is. It certainly isn’t Nick. He was just setting up a joke,” Janus told him.

“Stop being smug,” Remy said. “It’s not a good look for you.”

“Pat is…?” Lena asked.

“They guy who fucked me over in 1923,” Janus said, “and is currently in the middle of fucking us all over because he stole the pin timepiece, and by extrapolation, probably the time bomb too.”

“It will be fine,” said Khalid, “because what he doesn’t know is that timepiece has a tracker on it. Wherever and whenever he went, we’ll have his coordinates.”

“Speaking of,” one of the techies said. “It’s about to break. You might want to hold onto something.” Janus grabbed for a support beam next to him as the techie put a device on the ground in the center of the base. It blinked once, twice, and on the third blink the ground rumbled. There were sounds of panicked yelps outside. The fail safe for the time lock was not nearly as gentle as ending it correctly.

Everything settled after a few moments, and they all straightened themselves out. Janus’s timepiece buzzed to indicate it was now functioning normally. Khalid had returned her usual timepiece to her wrist and now used it to open a display they could all see. “The pin timepiece’s closest time/space coordinates are…” she trailed off. “Right outside?” She frowned. “That’s strange. Why would he still be here?” She turned to march outside, following the coordinates to a trash can. She pulled the pin timepiece out and stared at it. “Fuck,” she said.

“What just happened?” Remy asked.

“He ticked us,” Janus said. “Again.”

“He was stuck in the time lock,” Khalid said. “That’s why he got our attention. He couldn’t leave with the time bomb unless he had the pin timepiece or we broke the time lock. Apparently, he’s smart enough to know that if he took the pin timepiece away from here, we’d probably be able to find him, but he knew we’d break the lock as soon as the pin went missing. So, he must have stashed his own timepiece and went back in time within the time lock to grab it while we were distracted with the past version of him. As soon as the time lock went down, I imagine he left.”

“Probably with the time bomb,” Janus said.

“Probably with the time bomb,” she confirmed.

And everyone knew the only thing worse than a time bomb was a time bomb you didn’t know the location of.

They evacuated after that, of course, and time locked the location once they were out just in case they were wrong, but midnight 3000 struck without thousands of people dying in Brazil, so the time bomb had defiantly been removed from then.

The, they initiated a time travel lockdown for all nonessentials, not willing to let random history students get caught up in an explosion if Pat decided to set the thing off somewhere.

Then, it was a matter of figuring out everything they could about ‘Pat.’ First, they checked the tracker data as Khalid had tagged him with one of the Millennium Bird trackers. It wouldn’t work outside of the zone they’d set up that day, but the record would show his behavior during the time lock after he’d escaped with the pin timepiece.

There had been many little green dots on the map that day as Fred and Lena had actually been doing the job they’d set out to do, but most of those were running around in the south. There had been one green dot, however, that appeared suddenly in the game area about 10 minutes before the time bomb had been stolen.

They could see Janus’s yellow dot almost brush his when he’d been chasing the earlier Pat down, around when he’d lost him briefly. The earlier Pat must have all but handed it off to his future self.

“He doubled back,” Remus commented when they watched the recorded data. It was a ballsy move and one that most people balked at, because there were inherent dangers any time you interacted with yourself from a different point in the timestream. It was ripe for paradoxes. It made everyone at the agency even more worried, because if he was willing to risk that, then what else was he willing to do?

Because of the lockdown of all nonessential time travel, people working for the TPI were not allowed to go home for the night. They were allowed to pick up anyone or anything dependent on them for care like kids and pets if there wasn’t someone in their home time to care for them, but other than that, they were unfortunately all sleeping in their offices for the foreseeable future.

“You are the only tolerable one,” Janus told the cat who upon being let loose in the office by Remus, immediately jumped on Janus’s lap.

“I have literally done nothing to you,” Lena said, but then added. “Yet.”

“You exist. In my space.”

“Can’t we just all get along?” asked Fred. “It’s only been an hour past when we’d usually go home. I went and grabbed milk and I have my giant thing of different flavored hot chocolate under my desk. We can try them all and vote on which is better.”

“Fuck your hot chocolate, Fred,” Janus growled, having been one of the three who had chipped in to buy it for him on his last birthday.

“Don’t go after Fred, jackass,” Lena spat.

“He’s just testy because his boyfriend escaped,” Remus contributed.

Janus’s lips turned down into a frown and he cupped Diesel Fuel’s face. “We agree we’re eating him first, right?” he asked her.

She purred her agreement.

“I’d have it no other way,” Remus replied.

“There is plenty of food,” Fred said, sounding stressed. “In fact, I was thinking we should all chip in on ordering take-out soon. “What does everyone like on pizza?”

“This is not a slumber party, Fred,” Janus pointed out.

“Shut it,” Lena snapped and turned to Fred. “I’m fine with almost everything, except…”

“Bananas and tuna salad!” Remus interrupted.

“…whatever Remus is about to say.”

Janus rolled his eyes as that started a debate about whether or not fruit and/or fish belonged on pizza. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, which was when there was a knock on the door.

He froze when he heard the familiar voice. “Hello, hello,” said Emile, cheerfully. Janus looked up to see Emile standing at the open office door. Shit. Apparently, the man had decided to give up on sending lackeys to come fetch him and had decided to track him down himself when Janus couldn’t even escape without breaking a time lockdown. They met eyes briefly and Janus could see irritation if not anger in his eyes despite his otherwise cheerful expression and tone.

“Janus,” he said when he’d gotten their attention. “I’d like to have dinner with you.” The word choice told Janus everything he needed to know. Usually Emile was careful with how he said things to make sure people knew they had a choice. Typically he’d say something like, “I was wondering if you’d have time to have dinner with me tonight,” or “I’m about to go get food, would you like to come?” Today, there was no choice in the statement.

Janus still dried to dodge anyway. “Uh,” he said. “We were actually about to order pizza.”

“Go ahead,” said Fred kindly. Janus wanted to strangle him. “We can order pizza with olives if you’re not here.”

“I…” said Janus. “Guess, I’ll be going with you.”

“Great!” Emile said. “Let’s go.”

“Oh,” Janus said. “Uh, now?”

“Now,” Emile said a bit of uncharacteristic steel to his tone.

Well, Janus was screwed. He swallowed his nervousness and got to his feet, taking Diesel Fuel with him. He turned to hand her off to Remus with a plea in his eye, but he just got an eyebrow raise in return. Traitor.

Then, he followed Emile out of the office door. “What would you like to eat?” asked Emile.

“Uh,” Janus said. “I don’t know. You asked me to eat, don’t you have any ideas?”

“I don’t actually,” Emile replied. Right.

“…Noddle Bar?” Janus threw out the nearest restaurant he knew.

“The one noodle restaurant? Sure,” Emile answered simply. They walked side by side out of the front doors of the TPI building. Janus actually couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken these stairs. He usually used his timepiece to get in and out.

The noodle bar was only moderately busy at this time. They were quickly able to find a table near the back and Emile pulled his menu up in front of him. Emile hummed as he flipped through the different displays. “What are you having?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Janus said, only then pulling up the menu himself, but still not quite looking at it.

“What about the fortune noodles,” Emile suggested.

Janus shook his head. “I don’t like those,” he said.

Emile glanced at him through the menu displays. “You used to.” Fortune noodles were a bit cheekily named. They didn’t actually indicate anything about your future. They were just supposed to taste like what you wanted from your future. A grad student might experience a feeling like they’d just aced a paper. A child that they got to stay up an hour later that night. Janus had liked the experience when he was younger, but in recent years, he’d begun to taste the underlying chemicals in the dish until that’s all he could.

“Well,” Emile said lightly, eyes on his menu. “That makes me even more worried for your mental health than I already was because of the almost three years of you avoiding talking to me.”

“No small talk, huh?” Janus asked.

“Forgive me,” Emile said, eyes now focused on Janus, and tone much darker. “How has your life been since I last saw your face 5 months ago during a business meeting and you refused to look me in the eye? Anything interesting happen? Shave your head and let it all regrow? Develop an allergy to peanuts? Join a convent and take an oath of silence that you only just broke today?”

“No,” said Janus quietly into the table.

“Great,” Emile said clipped. “Small talk over. Order your food.” Janus reached up blindly to select the first thing that came up on the food and drink menu as Emile punched something into his own and both menu displays disappeared, meaning there was nothing between their faces anymore. “You know, I was willing to give you a year,” Emile said. “I was willing to let you deal with it on your own because I thought eventually, you’d come talk to me about it, but apparently I was mistaken. The next year, I thought maybe you thought I didn’t want to talk to you, so I subtly made myself available, and you never took me up on the offer. I thought maybe I was just not being clear, and I should make my desire to talk to you more explicit, but as you have been routinely, clearly avoiding me at every single turn, I’ve decided I’ve had enough. So, let’s lay it all on the table. Is it me or do you need help?”

Janus closed his eyes. “It’s not you.”

“Then you need help,” Emile concluded.

Janus shook his head.

“Yes,” Emile snapped. “Whatever this is has gone on far too long.”

Janus stood up and slammed his hand down on the table. “And it’s going to keep going on!” he said. The food popped up at that moment. It appeared Janus had ordered lasagna and bubble tea, and Emile had ordered something with spaghetti and a fizzy drink.

“So, you’re just planning to go on being miserable then?” Emile asked, and Janus wasn’t sure if it was worse or better that he didn’t sound angry anymore.

14656

Janus slapped his hand down on the “To Go” button and his dinner was insta-wrapped by the table. “Yes,” he said.

“What exactly do you think you’re paying penance for, Janus?” Emile asked.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Janus said, paying for both of their meals with his fingerprint.

“That’s a cop out and you know it,” Emile said. “All you’d have to do is talk to me. Or even just talk to someone else. Please.”

“Just…” Janus said, grabbing his bag of food to avoid looking at him. “Just, leave me be.” He walked out of the noodle shop without another word.

Chapter 10

“And I thought Remus was going to be the most disgusting roommate in this equation,” Lena grumbled. Janus and Lena were apparently the earlier risers in the group as Fred was still curled up around a pillow and Remus was sprawled out under his desk.

Janus flipped her off.

“Protein infused Poptarts and caffeinated orange juice for breakfast?” she asked. “Just eat an energy bar and have a cup of coffee like a normal person.”

He took another pointed bite of his Poptart.

“You’re a horrible roommate. This is why they gave us different partners.”

“Yeah, well you snore, asshole,” Janus said after finishing off his meal.

“I’d tell you to go eat shit, but you already did that once this morning.”

A pillow flew across the room and somehow managed to hit the both of them. “S’op fighting,” Fred mumbled. “It’s sleep time.”

“It’s morning Fred,” Lena said.

“No,” Fred mumbled.

Janus ignored them, turning back to his integration port to continue to keep plugging in phrases of interest, but he kept getting nothing.

“What are you doing?” Lena asked after a few moments of him huffing at his screen reader.

“Trying to do anything that may change our current living arrangements.”

She puffed out an amused breath. “Can I help?”

“Can you see any connection between these words and phrases?” he asked, pulling away his screen reader and tapping at the words he’d typed out.

“Paranoid, tonight, I live to party, comeback, love Bug, BB good, Mandy, Macy Misa, I believe, cool, that’s just the way we roll, burnin’ up,” she said. “What are these?”

“They’re things Pat said when we interrogated that struck me funny,” Janus explained. “I feel like he was saying something more than what he said.”

“Hmm,” she said. “PTI for the first three?”

“Maybe,” Janus agreed, “but what about the rest of it? I feel like I’m missing something.”

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“Millennia,” Remus mumbled from under his desk. Janus hadn’t been aware he was awake. “He said something something about it being the only time he could see the change of the millennia.” He turned his head to look at Janus. “Considering he’s a time traveler, that’s definitely a weird thing to say.”

“Millennia,” Janus contemplated. “A different turn of the millennia. Oh no.”

“What?” Lena asked.

Janus sighed, and rubbed his temple. “I know someone who studied the 1700-2200s.”

“Isn’t that good?”

“No,” Janus groaned, “because now I have to go talk to him.” He stood with a sigh and then paused. “How do I even get to Silver Mountains University without my timepiece?”

Luckily Sliver Mountains ended up only being about an hour away from the TPI by time adherent travel, but considering Janus was used to his travel being instantaneous, it was an aggravating trip. He had to show ID and be buzzed up to the fourth floor since it was usually locked to everyone not traveling by timepiece or who worked in the office.

The receptionist was the same man as before. “I’m here to speak to Professor Eran,” Janus said.

The receptionist nodded. “He mentioned you asked to meet him but didn’t know when you’d arrive. He’ll be done teaching his class in about 5 minutes. You can wait over there.”

Janus nodded and sat, waiting for time to slowly tick by. Virgil arrived after a few minutes, lugging a giant bag with him. He caught sight of Janus and wordlessly jerked his head towards the hallway. Janus followed him.

“What’s in the bag?” Janus asked.

“Early 21st century cell phones,” Virgil said, dropping it on his desk. “I let my students mess around with them for their lab.”

“I see,” Janus said.

“What did you need?” Virgil asked. “You said it was official business.”

“You’ve heard about the lockdown, I presume,” Janus said.

“Yeah, it really screws up my research schedule for the summer,” Virgil said.

15412

“Do you know why the lockdown was instituted?” Janus asked. Virgil shook his head, so Janus explained briefly that they had been trying to find a timebomb on the eve of the year 3000, but it had been swiped by a free agent time traveler. “Some of the things seemed to be references to things that I couldn’t place, and I was wondering if you would recognize any.”

“Shoot,” Virgil requested, seeming intrigued by the prospect.

“Okay,” Janus said. “First, the alias he was using was Nick Jonas.” A weird expression crossed Virgil’s face immediately and Janus paused.

“You said the year 3000?” Virgil asked.

“Er. Yes.”

“Nick Jonas. Year 3000,” Virgil repeated with a snort. “Were Joe and Kevin a part of this too?”

Janus blinked. “Yes, how did you know that?”

“Yo-you’re going to have,” his sentence was broken by a giggle, and actual full-fledged giggle, “have to give me a minute.” With that, he sort of listed to the side and seemed to purposefully fall off his chair onto the floor under his desk.

Janus blinked and when he didn’t surface after a moment, he stood up to lean over the desk and look down at him. Virgil had his arm thrown over his beat red face, as he shook from what Janus thought was suppressed laughter.

“What?” Janus asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Just…” Virgil said, sobbing through his laughter. “Just tell me the things he said.”

“Er, mostly he just had weird inflections on words and phrases. There was ‘paranoid, tonight, I live to party, comeback…’”

“Wait, stop,” Virgil said. “Let me guess a few. That’s Just the Way We Roll, Burnin’ Up, Sucker.”

“The first two were, but not the last one.”

Virgil laughed. “Maybe the last one was just implied.”

Janus frowned down. “What are you talking about? What does this all mean?”

Virgil pulled himself out from under his desk and grabbed his bag of phones. He dug through it for a few seconds before pulling one out and handing it to Janus. “I have a lab for my students where they get preloaded phones from the early 21st century and are supposed to guess the demographics of the person who owns it. This one is an iPhone 3 meant to belong to a pre-teen to teenage girl from the year 2009. Look under music artists starting with the letter ‘J.’”

15810

Confused, Janus scrolled through the old style phone, finding the music app and opening it easily. Upon getting to the ‘J’s, he immediately paused on an artist called the ‘Jonas Brothers.’ He clicked on it and read a few of the song titles. They weren’t all there, but…

“That rat bastard,” Janus said.

“Scroll to the bottom,” Virgil said. Janus did and found a song titled ‘Year 3000.’

“You’re kidding me.”

“Click on it,” Virgil requested.

Janus did, listening to the fairly standard pop like intro from the time period. It wasn’t until he got to the lyrics saying, ‘He told me he built a time machine’ that he cursed, understanding exactly what Pat had been doing. When the singer a few lines latter proclaimed that his neighbor said ‘I’ve been to the year 3000’ he almost smashed the artifact to pieces right then and there.

“I have no idea who this guy is,” Virgil said, “but he’s a comedic genius.”

Chapter 11

Khalid caught him on his way back into the TPI building. “I heard you went to Silver Mountains to follow up on a lead,” she said.

“Yeah, but it was garbage,” he seethed. “All I learned was ‘Pat’ knows early 2000s popular culture and likes to fuck with us.”

She hummed. “I’d still like a report about whatever you found. Who knows what we might end up getting from seemingly inconsequential data.”

“Sure,” he said.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I have a mission for you.”

“We’re on lockdown,” Janus pointed out with a frown.

“For nonessentials,” she said. “This is essential.”

“What happened?” Janus asked.

“We picked up a small time distortion in France 2027. At the moment, it is small enough not to cause any disruptions, but it is slowly growing, and we don’t know what caused it. Usually we’d just send surveillance agents at this stage, but considering what’s going on, I think it would be best to send a field agent. And it would just be you, because we don’t want to send too many people out at once.”

“Is this related to the time bomb?” Janus asked.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “At the very least, it’s not it being set off as it was in 2999, but if it’s been altered for some other purpose…”

“I’ll go,” Janus said.

“I’ll send over the mission directive to everyone who needs it. You’ll go in around 3 hours.”

He nodded. “I’ll be ready,” he agreed.

In less then 3 hours, he was dressed for 2027 France and in decontamination. “Well,” he said out loud when he was given the all clear sign, “I hope I don’t explode.” He selected the coordinates on the timepiece and the next moment he was in a small alleyway in the city of Montpellier, France in 2027.

It was a little bit warm, but not stifling even in the mid-afternoon and he could faintly smell the sea on the breeze.

After a moment to get his bearings, Janus made his way out of the alleyway and onto a small street. The street was lined with restaurants and shops as people went about their daily lives. He carefully integrated himself into the crowd and began weaving his way through them. He needed to find the source of the distortion but doing a quick scan with his timepiece told him there wasn’t any sign of it yet. He’d have to wait for it to act up.

For now, he decided to get slightly away from people by heading towards the river. He found a park that had benches along water.

As he walked towards the river, he noticed a man on the bench, angled slightly away from Janus and looking out at the water. He immediately recognized the man. “You!” he exclaimed.

Pat’s head shot around to look at him, and he gave a slight head tilt. Then, he smiled, amused. “You are not the person I’m here for,” he said.

“Well, I am now,” Janus snapped. “Where’s the time bomb?”

“Time bomb?” Pat asked, eyebrows drawing together, but amusement on his lips. “Oh sweetie, the time bomb happened a long time ago for me.”

“What?” Janus asked.

“Oh, you’re just a baby,” Pat laughed. “Don’t you get it yet? The two of us are out of sync timeline wise. You’ve been apparently running around with a much younger version of me, but all of that happened quite a while ago for me. Don’t worry though, it gets better.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The time bomb has been long deactivated. Here,” he reached into his pocket and tossed him something. Janus caught it on instinct. “Proof. Don’t worry, we took all of the dangerous bits out years ago from my perspective.” It was the core of a time bomb, the time bomb Pat had stolen if he was to be believed. “You can tell your people it’s safe to remove the lockdown.”

Janus curled his fingers around it. “I don’t get it.”

Something on Pat’s wrist beeped and he looked at it curiously before he stood from the bench, “and I don’t have time to explain it.”

Janus jerked forward to grab his wrist. “Don’t you dare.”

Pat reached up to pat his face. “Don’t worry honey, you’ll be seeing me later.” He twisted his wrist and a small electric current sparked between them. Janus jerked his hand away, and Pat smiled at him. “Or… earlier.” He winked, and then he was gone.

Janus cursed, but he didn’t have more than a moment to be angry because in the next second there was a yelp, and something landed on top of him. He was bowled over into a tangle of limbs and pained noises.

“Oh my god, we need to figure out the height thing,” a familiar voice groaned, just as Janus managed to pull himself away. Pat blinked up at him and his eyes narrowed. “You,” he hissed.

“…What?”

Pat jumped to his feet, leaving Janus on the ground in front of him. “What are you doing here?” he spat, his tone much different then the one he’d been using a moment earlier. His hair was longer than it had been before, and if Janus looked closely, he did seem like he was a couple of years younger suddenly. Out of sync timelines. I’ll see you earlier. Holy shit.

He was suddenly very glad he’d been forced to let the other Pat (the older Pat?) go, else they’d have a whole thing on their hands.

“What are you doing here?” was Janus’s retort as he stood up and dusted himself off.

“It’s none of your business,” Pat told him.

“It is my business,” Janus said, “because for all I know, you are the cause of the time distortions I’m after. Considering that I doubt you have a license for that,” he waved at the odd looking timepiece of Pat’s wrist, “it’s very possible.”

“What are you?” Pat asked, “the time police.”

“Yes.”

Pat dared to roll his eyes, but then he tilted his head slightly. “Time distortions?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s why I’m here.”

He still had a confused frown on his face. Did… did he not know what a time distortion was?

Just then there was a sudden flash of lightening through the sky despite the absolutely lack of clouds. He and Pat both looked up.

“Is that the time distortion?” Pat asked.

“It’s probably the beginning of it,” Janus said.

“That doesn’t look good,” Pat said as he squinted at the sky.

“Just wait,” Janus answered grimly. He looked at Pat. “Usually I’d arrest you on the spot,” he said, “but I’m alone for this one, and that is far more important at the moment. So, have a nice day doing whatever bullshit you are doing.” He glanced at his timepiece.

Janus turned to walk away from him.

“Wait!” Pat exclaimed, and Janus turned back to him to see that his eyes were wide. Janus raised an eyebrow. “So, this time distortion thing is dangerous, right?”

“Depending on the severity, it could cause time to fracture around this place and time, basically erasing it from existence and killing everyone in it.”

“Well, in that case, I should go with you. To help.”

Janus looked him up and down. “You… have no idea what’s happening, do you? You’re an amateur.”

“I’m not,” he claimed. “I just. Pooling resources. You know?”

Janus sighed. “Well, you going around mucking about this time period without knowing what you’re doing could just exasperate the situation, so fine, you can tag along.”

“I know what I’m doing,” he grumbled even as he rushed to Janus’s side at the permission.

“Sure,” Janus said with an eyeroll. He guessed he was a babysitter now. “I believe you.”

Chapter 12

There was something off about his readings. Clearly the time distortion was starting to pull at this place with the way the weather was flickering between storming and sunny, but he still couldn’t quite pinpoint the exact location of the source of it. He could, however, get that it must be somewhere on this side of the river more into the downtown area, so that’s the way he was walking, Pat close on his heels.

“What’s your name, by the way?” he asked.

Janus shot him a glare. “Elvis Presley,” he said.

Pat frowned, clearly knowing who that was. “There’s no reason to be mean.”

“You did it to me first.”

“…Introduced myself as a famous musician?” he asked. Janus didn’t respond, and after a moment, Pat laughed lightly. “You really don’t understand time travel, do you?”

“Oh, yeah,” Janus said. “Name the three types of time distortions.”

“Just because I don’t know the names of things doesn’t mean I don’t understand them.” He stuck out his tongue. Janus was dealing with an actual toddler. “Unlike you who has a bunch of fancy words, but just caused a time loop.”

Janus scoffed. “I did not just cause a time loop.”

“Maybe not a big one,” Pat agreed, “but you did.”

Janus raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never introduced myself to you with a musician’s name, but now you’ve told me that I will. So, at some point in the future I will have to, thereby making you think to say that now. Time loop.”

“That’s not… that doesn’t count.”

“Does too,” Pat claimed. “Like I have said once before and you may or may not have heard me say before, anything you do to me to get back at me for something I haven’t done yet, just causes whatever that is to happen in the first place.”

“But you’re still going to do it.”

“Then take it up with future me. I haven’t done anything to you.” Then he paused and sighed. “…Which I guess means you’ve done nothing to me.” He seemed to mull this concept over for a long moment. “Well you were a bit crabby about me not knowing what a time distortion was, but I can forgive you for that.”

“And I’m supposed to forgive you?”

“Like I said,” Pat said. “I haven’t done anything yet.”

“You also haven’t done anything to endear yourself to me either,” Janus grumbled.

“Hmm,” Pat said. “Fine.” He pulled something out of his pocket. “You’re obviously not having much luck finding whatever you’re looking for. Tell me what it is and I’ll help.”

Janus squinted at what was in his hand. “Is that… an iPhone 5?”

“No!” he said. “It’s super-secret time travel tech disguised as an iPhone 5!”

“We’re in 2027,” Janus said. “Not a great disguise. Those things have been obsolete for a decade.”

“Well I’ll keep in mind to have my tech disguised as phones from the right year next time,” Pat said, sticking out his tongue. “Now what are we looking for?”

“If my timepiece can’t find it, I’m certain yours can’t.”

Pat rolled his eyes and tapped on the device’s screen a couple of times. “I’m going to guess it’s that,” he said proudly.

Janus leaned over to look at the screen. “Are you using google maps?” he sputtered.

“It integrates time relevant data like traffic conditions and local weather warnings with time travel technology,” Pat explained. “Something seems to be going on in a museum a couple of blocks that way.”

“I…” Janus said. That was actually a really good idea, usually unnecessary with scouts observing that data beforehand, and Janus wasn’t sure how good the accuracy would be considering whatever was taking it into account was automated, but still a good idea. “Well, I guess since we have no other leads, we can check it out.”

Pat looked far too proud for having only used a piece of tech that hadn’t even been confirmed as accurate. “Then, let’s go,” he said right as a chilly wind started to pick up and a couple of snowflakes began to fall around them. “Before that gets worse…”

Janus let Pat lead with his iPhone. Janus’s timepiece still wasn’t picking up a clear signal for some reason, but it seemed to point in the same general direction as Pat’s. Strangely though, as they got closer to their destination, the signal started to get fuzzier. Pat’s tech seemed unaffected leading them closer to the museum.

When they got to the Musée Fabre museum, Janus stopped. “What?” Pat asked. He was shivering slightly in the cold and holding his arms around himself.

“My timepiece stopped working completely,” he said.

“I’m assuming that’s weird?” Pat said.

“It is,” Janus confirmed, turning to squint at him suspiciously. “How do I know you’re not the one doing it?”

“If I was doing it, wouldn’t I have just knocked it out from the get go?” Pat questioned.

Janus pursed his lips. “I don’t know,” he said. “Would you have? Maybe it’s a trick.”

Pat’s eyes narrowed a bit on him. “Think what you want, but I’m freezing. Come in with me if you want.”

He dithered from a few moments before following Pat inside. Pat had already struck up a conversation with the woman charging admission into art museum. She was looking at him, her brow knit as he spoke. Janus nudged him away from her getting a confused glance from him in return. He shot a smile at the woman.

“Two adult passes for the museum and the Hotel Sabatier d’Espevran, please,” he said, placing down 14 euro.

“Ah,” she said, still looking at Pat oddly. “Yes sir.” She gave them the passes and Janus quickly shuffled Pat away.

“What is wrong with your French?” he hissed once they were out of earshot.

“What?” he asked, bewildered.

“You sound like you’re reading Le Comte de Monte-Cristo. No one talks like that anymore.”

“I’m a little rusty,” Pat defended himself.

“Two centuries?” Janus asked. Pat stuck his tongue out like a child once again. “Is that your only way to respond to legitimate criticism?”

“What does it even matter anyway? No one ever expects time travel, at least not for something so silly.”

“It’s not silly,” Janus said. “It’s a legitimate issue. The wrong person who’s watched too much science fiction notices and you’re putting the timeline at risk. Not to mention if there are other time travelers around that aren’t as nice as me.”

“Are there a lot of time travelers around?” Pat asked, sounding intrigued.

“There are plenty, both legal and not.”

“Huh,” he said, “but what are the chances we’ll run into another one?”

“Considering the time distortion? There could be many. Opportunists wanting to capitalize off the chaos, people trying to stop it, like me, and not to mention the person who caused it.”

“Wait, someone made it happen?” Pat asked.

“These things don’t just happen naturally.”

“Huh. So, something like this has to be caused by a person?”

“Yes,” Janus said. “…Why?”

Pat smiled. “No reason. I think we should head upstairs. Whatever I’m picking up says it’s around here, but I don’t see anything. Maybe it’s a floor or two above us.”

“Which is why it’s ridiculous to use Google Maps.”

“Would you rather use yours?” he asked sweetly.

“I’m still not convinced it’s not your doing,” Janus growled. “Why does your tech still work when mine doesn’t?”

“Probably the same reason the ring did,” he muttered.

“What?”

“You may be the most aggravating being in the universe.”

Pat glanced at him with a bit of a smirk. “I can’t tell you,” he said. “It would be a much bigger risk to the timeline than me speaking in French from the 1830s. But, I’m pretty sure the reason mine still works is just a software difference.”

“What the hell do you mean a software difference?”

Pat opened his mouth, doubtlessly to supply him with yet another frustratingly cheeky and unhelpful answer. Yet, Pat did not have a chance to do so as, just as Janus stepped onto the second floor of the museum, the ground started to violently shake. Janus tried to turn to catch Pat as the other man’s foot slipped on the last step, but he couldn’t do so in time. Pat fell onto his hands and knees, sliding back a few steps and smacking his face into the stairs hard once and then a couple of times more after that as he slid.

Chapter 13

The room stopped shaking after a moment. “Ow,” Pat said. He seemed a bit stunned but was still moving at least. He carefully maneuvered himself into a seating position. “Ouch. Owie.” He reached up to poke his own nose. “Ow!” Janus slapped his hand away when he got there. A bit of blood was already trickling from his nose and there was a small cut over his eye, but it wasn’t bleeding too much.

Janus pushed him so he was leaning slightly forward and produced a pack of time appropriate tissues from his pocket. He pulled one out of the package and offered it to him.

He took it and pressed it up against his nose to try to stop the bleeding. He seemed mostly alright though Janus imagined he’d have plenty of bruises down the line. The power in the museum flickered and Janus looked up. Now that he was listening, he could hear people panicking in and out of the museum.

“We should probably get off of the stairs,” he suggested.

“Yeah,” Pat agreed. Janus helped him to his feet, and they climbed back up the steps. Janus looked around and found an employees only sign a few feet away. Usually he’d not risk that as it could get him into trouble he didn’t want to be in, but considering the earthquake that had just happened, he could probably play it off as panic.

He ushered Pat into a small room and found a chair and table. He had Pat sit in the chair and pulled out another one of the tissues to dab at the blood coming from the cut over his eyes. “Here,” he said. “Hold that there. I’m going to go see if there are any bandages about.”

Pat took the tissue with the hand not already holding one to his nose. “Thanks,” he said.

Janus nodded and got to his feet. The lights flickered once again but didn’t stay off for now. He didn’t know how long that would last.

He couldn’t see anything that might hold bandages in this room, but there was a second door. “I’ll be right back,” he told Pat, exiting through it.

The lights flickered once more as the door closed behind him and he cursed. When they came back up Janus’s eyes immediately fell on a man. They both froze.

“Remus!” Janus hissed the second their eyes met. “What are you doing here?”

Remus blinked at him for a moment. “Hi. Janus,” he said. “I… come to France for… tea sometimes?”

“There isn’t any tea back here.”

“So, there isn’t…” he said. There was a moment of silence. “Uh, so I actually cannot talk to you right now.”

“What do you mean?” Janus asked. Remus grimaced in a way Janus had never seen from him before. It immediately set off alarm bells in Janus’s head. “Oh my god,” Janus said. “Oh my god. You’re not from the same time as me.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Remus mumbled.

“Holy shit, you’re looping?!”

“It’s… not looping if I wasn’t here the first time.”

“Remus, we spend more than 12 hours a day together most of the time. The only thing worse than this is if I looped back to this time myself.”

“…Yeah. Anyway, I need to leave now.”

“Please do.”

He turned to go, but then stopped. “Oh, and,” he reached into his pocket and tossed something at Janus. Janus caught it.

It was Band-Aids.

“Oh, shit,” Janus spat at the clear use of foreknowledge. “I hate this. I hate you. I’m going to kill you the next time you see me.”

“Sure, Jan.”

“Go.”

He did, slipping into the next room while Janus took a deep breath and then turned back to the door behind him. He schooled his face before Pat looked up. “I found some Band-Aids.”

Pat nodded and Janus came over to squat next to him.

Janus opened the box and Pat looked down. His eyes lit up with sudden joy so intense that Janus felt like he’d just gotten a punch to the gut. “Kitty Band-Aids!” he exclaimed. Janus bothered to actually look at the design on the container, only to note the cartoon cats on the front. Pat was almost vibrating off his seat. “Look they’re all so cute!” He grabbed the container from him to inspect the different designs printed on the back with glee even as a bit of blood was still trickling from his nose.

Janus took the box back gently and guided the wad of bloody Kleenexes back to his nose.

“Which would you like?” Janus asked.

“Oh, they are all so cute,” Pat cooed. “Um, how about that one!” he pointed. “Or that one! Or that one!”

“Pat you only have one cut.”

“But they’re all so cute!” Pat said, tongue tucking into his cheek. He contemplated the box again. “Let’s do the black one,” he finally settled on.

Janus selected one of the Band-Aids with a black cat wrapped around a pink ball of yarn and staring back at them with wide green eyes. The think looked like it had partaken in one two many doses of catnip, but Janus didn’t mention that.

Instead, he just carefully unstuck the backing from the Band-Aid and motioned for Pat to remove the tissue from his forehead. He smiled at Janus as he drew back.

Janus cleared his throat. “How’s the nose.”

“It’s slowing down,” Pat replied. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Janus replied. They met eyes for a second before Pat looked away back at the box of Band-Aids.

“Oh,” Pat said. “There’s a grey one. I didn’t notice.” He pointed to it. “I should have used that one.”

“Do you like grey cats?” Janus asked.

“I like all kitties,” he said, “but one of my roommates loves grey cats. He had one when he was a kid and thinks of them as good omens. Seeing one always brightens up his day.”

“A friend of mine has a grey cat,” Janus said. “She’s much more tolerable than him.”

Pat laughed a bit. “Don’t be mean,” he said.

“Oh, he deserves it, don’t worry.” Janus considered him for a moment. “Here,” he said, pulling out one of the Band-Aids with the grey cat on it. It did, actually, look a lot like Diesel Fuel.

“But I don’t…”

Janus just shrugged and stuck it on his cheek where there was no wound. Pat giggled and touched it with a finger. Janus stood back up.

“Can I have another tissue?” Pat asked.

“Sure.” Janus handed a tissue over to him and he crumpled up the bloody ones in his hand.

“I think I’m good to keep going,” Pat said, putting the new tissue under his nose. “The nose will stop soon.”

Pat got out his iPhone and directed him back out of the room. They checked the second floor and didn’t find anything and so went to the third floor. The second they arrived in the room that Patton’s phone was directing them too, Janus knew that it must be right. There was a strange, distorted whirling sound and the entire room was shaking slightly like they were standing next to a railroad track.

“I’m guessing this is it,” Pat said.

Janus nodded and looked over his shoulder at the screen. They both cautiously walked towards where the little dot was on the phone.

“Is that it?” Pat asked, pointing at a small device on the center column in the room. Janus reached forward to flip the switch on it. The whirling stopped and the room settled. Janus’s time piece vibrated as it came back online. They waited for a few moments. “I assumed… time distortions would be more…”

“They are,” Janus said. “This one is artificial.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a simulation,” Janus said. “It causes similar symptoms to a time distortion, but it’s not actually fracturing time at all.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Pat asked.

“I don’t know,” Janus said. He took the piece of tech of the wall and carefully stored it in his pocket, “but someone’s trying to get our attention.”

Chapter 14

20204

Janus didn’t feel comfortable leaving France 2027 just yet, still weirded out by the strange turn of events. So, he and Pat ended up sticking around for a couple of hours. They looked through the art museum for a bit, but Janus was having trouble focusing on the pieces, and Pat eventually suggested they get some air. Janus agreed considering the museum would close for the night soon anyway.

They wandered around the downtown for a bit. The people seemed to jump back from the strange weather and earthquake that afternoon rather quickly, and there were plenty still about to blend into.

#study break stories #not writing

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snowdice · 4 years ago

Text

Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 26]

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

It has been a busy weekend. I will answer asks not related to this at a later day. For now I have to study.

Chapter 7

“Him,” was the only thing Janus said before taking off after the figure who had just disappeared into the game area.

“What?” Remus’s voice followed after him. “Janus! What?!”

“Who’s a tiny little squishy precious baby?” he was asking one of them, wiggling his pointer finger at it.

“You,” Janus growled stepping up to him.

He turned and tilted his head at Janus with a frown. “Um, me?” he asked, pointing to his chest, all sorts of innocent, but Janus could see a spot of hidden amusement in his eyes.

“Where is it?”

His eyebrows drew together, but it was an act. It was clearly an act! “Where is what?”

“The…” he glanced around them at the people surrounding them. “Thing you just took.”

“I didn’t take anything,” Pat said with a frown.

“Oh, no,” Janus said. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fooling me twice is not an option.”

“I’m sorry sir,” Pat said. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bull. Shit.”

Just then, Remus jogged into the tent. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s him,” Janus said pointing. “He took it. He has it.”

“I… don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pat said. He looked over to Remus with a confused frown.

Remus looked at Janus. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Janus said. “It’s him. It has to be him. He’s the mask guy.”

Remus squinted at Pat. “He is?”

“Whoever you think I am, I’m not. I haven’t worn a mask all night. I just did the face paint,” he pointed to his cheeks.

Remus raised his wrist and his timepiece lit up green. He looked at Janus.

“I lost sight of him for five seconds. He must have stashed it somewhere,” Janus said. He turned on Pat. “Where did you put it?”

“…Are you,” Pat asked, his eyes going back and forth between Janus and Remus, “… the police?”

“Oh,” Pat said, hesitant. Janus expected him to refuse outright, but then he said. “Uh, sure.”

“Thank you very much, Mr…”

“Jonas,” Pat told her earnestly. “Do I need to be handcuffed?”

“No,” Khalid said. Janus frowned at her, but she ignored him. “It’s just a talk for now.” She gestured to the tent entrance. “Come with us.”

“Remy, would you please take Mr. Jonas to go sit down?” she asked.

“Sure, boss,” Remy said, standing up. He led Pat away.

Khalid turned to Janus and Remus once they were out of earshot. “What is going on?”

“So, does he have it on him?”

“No. I lost sight of him, and he must have stored it somewhere, but I know he took it.”

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“He’s the man from 1923?” she asked.

“Yes! Remus, that’s him, right? You recognize him.”

“Okay, but I was with him for hours. I swear it’s him, and I swear he took it,” Janus just about shouted.

“We’ll question him,” Khalid placated, “and Fred and Lena will keep looking in the meantime.”

“He knows where it is,” Janus insisted. “I swear.”

“That’s just to placate me and you know it.”

“Observation’s over there,” she said pointing.

He got a thumbs up from Remus as he walked by, and Janus glared at his back before walking off to the indicated location.

He watched as Remus and Khalid entered the room, and Remy left it. Remy joined him in the observation room after leaving and leaned against the wall.

Pat was sitting at a table and watched Remus and Khalid with that same rubbish placid confusion that he had before. “So,” Khalid said, “Mr. Jonas.”

“You can call me Nick,” Pat interrupted.

“Lia,” Khalid replied. He smiled at her happily. “So, are you enjoying your day?” she asked.

“I am!” he replied. “It’s a big day. You only get to see the turn of a millennia once in your life.”

“Ah, yes,” Khalid said. “Doing anything special for it?”

“Um, not really,” he said. “Other than the party. I’m going to meet up with my roommates after dinner. Kevin doesn’t like this sort of thing, and Joe couldn’t come.”

“Your roommates,” Khalid said, considering him. “Do you live around here?”

“Uh huh,” Pat replied.

“Do you have any ID?”

“I do, want me to get it?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Pat unzipped one of the bubbles on his waist and handed her a chip. “Remus, would you mind going out and getting the ID scanner?” she asked, even though her timepiece would be able to read it.

“Ah, shit,” Remy said. “Props. What do those things even look like?”

As Remy scrambled to find something that would pass for an ID reader so “Nick” didn’t get suspicious of Khalid using her timepiece, Janus watched the two alone in the room like a hawk.

“I see you’re wearing a dress inspired by the 2770s,” Khalid noted, as Remus came to stand next to him.

“Yeah!” Pat replied. “Joe made it for me. He’s really good at fashion design!”

“Can I see?” she asked.

“Yep!” he replied. “We’re practically like brothers.”

“Would you mind calling them?”

“Erm,” he titled his head like he was confused by the question. “Well, like I said, Joe is a bit busy, but I could definitely call Kevin.

“Here,” Khalid said, “use my phone.”

“I have my own,” he said with a frown.

“Humor me,” she requested.

“Uh, okay,” Pat agreed. He took the offered 2999 phone and dialed a number on it. Khalid reached over to put it on speaker.

“Hello?” a voice asked after a few seconds.

“Um, hey Kevin, it’s Nick.”

There was a sigh on the other end. “Hello Nick, is something wrong? Why are you calling me from someone else’s phone?”

“I’m fine, I think.” He looked up at Khalid. “Why am I calling him exactly?”

“Hello, I’m Officer Khalid,” Khalid said. “I just wanted to confirm that you are Nick Jonas’s roommate, and he does live in Manaus.”

“Yes, we live together with our other roommate,” the man replied flippantly. “Officer? Is something wrong?”

“I believe there was just a case of mistaken identity,” Khalid said.

“Bullshit there was!” Janus hissed, though she could not hear him.

“No need to worry,” Khalid continued.

“I’m good Kevin,” Pat said.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Kevin asked.

“Don’t be Paranoid, Kevin. I’ll see you Tonight for the New Years Celebration. You know I Live to Party.”

“I am hanging up now,” Kevin said.

“No! Comeback.” The line went dead. Pat handed the device back to Khalid.

“No, he’s lying,” Janus insisted, and got a dubious look in return. “I know he is! Remus!”

“The alibi is pretty solid…” Remus said, “and he doesn’t have the bomb on him.”

“Oh, come on,” Janus said. “You can’t say there is nothing fishy going on here.”

“I am not imagining this!” Janus said. “That’s him and he took it.”

“You only met him once while he was wearing a mask,” Khalid pointed out with a frown, “and you didn’t see him take the bomb, did you?”

“No, but he looked at me and I knew,” Janus argued. They both gave him a skeptical look. “Oh, come on!”

“You know that’s a little weak, Jan,” Remus said.

“Let me talk to him,” Janus requested. “Just give me five minutes to talk with him.”

Khalid raised one eyebrow. “Fine,” she agreed. “You have five minutes, but after that, you have to let it go. We can’t waste any more time.”

Chapter 8

Pat looked up as Janus stepped into the interrogation room. “Hi,” he said with an innocent smile that could cut steal.

“Nicholas Jonas,” he said. “Always has been.”

“Stop it,” Janus said.

“Stop what?”

“Cut the crap. I know.”

Pat leaned forward, mirroring Janus as he leaned closer, interlocking his fingers and laying his chin on top of his knuckles. “What did you say your name was again?” he asked, pleasantly.

“Janus,” Janus replied.

“No, I’m Jonas,” he said, pointing to his chest.

“Not Jonas,” Janus spat. “Janus.”

“Um,” Pat said, eyes alight with amusement. The bastard. “Those are the same words.”

“No, they’re not. It’s Janus. J-A-N-U.-S.”

“Well, that’s confusing,” Pat said with a frown, but his nose was crinkling. “It’s close to my name. You should go by a nickname instead.”

“What?” Janus said. “No.”

Pat hummed. “How about Love Bug?”

“What! No!” Janus sputtered, almost flipping the table, as Pat winked at him.

“BB Good?”

“What does that even mean?!”

“Mandy.”

“No!”

“Okay, okay, how about Macy Misa.”

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Janus stared at him for a moment. “Fine. Whatever. What was I even talking about?”

“Hmm. I Believe we were talking about my name and how you think it’s not my name.”

“Right,” Janus said. “So, Nick. That was your roommate, Kevin on the phone, right? He seemed a bit unhappy with you. Any reason?”

“Nah, we’re Cool” said Pat. “That’s Just the Way We Roll.”

“Not because you’re messing up a mission right now?”

Pat’s eyes crinkled together. “A mission?” he parroted. “I’m not messing up a mission.”

“Oh, really?” Janus growled. “Because you’ve been captured by the TPI, and I know who you are and what you’ve been doing.”

“I have no idea what the TPI is,” he claimed.

“Yes, you do!” Janus said, standing up. “You obviously do! Or you wouldn’t be playing this game!”

“Game?” Pat asked. “Macy I ask you what you’re talking about.”

“This is all just a game to you isn’t it!” Janus said, slamming his hands down on the table in front of them.

“Whoa,” Pat said, putting his hands up. “Calm down. Your face is getting all red. You must be Burnin’ Up.”

“I’m not sure what, but something about what you just said pisses me off.”

“And that is five minutes,” Khalid said, bursting into the room. He felt a tug on the back of his shirt and glared back at Remus who was putting his own body between Janus and Pat.

“There was no way that was five minutes,” Janus growled.

“It was five minutes,” Khalid gritted out. “Remus, get him out of here.”

“Come on Jay,” Remus said, dragging him back towards the door.

“Remus, I swear to god.”

“Just chill, Janus,” Remus said, slamming the door closed behind them.

Janus shrugged him off. “You chill!” he snapped. “He’s playing you all for the fool.”

“Wow, Macy,” Remy drawled like an asshole. “I’ve never seen you so fired up.”

“Oh, my gosh. No one is going to believe me, and he’s going to get away with this.”

“You’re not really helping your case, babe,” Remy said.

Remus grabbed him by the shoulders again. “Here, let’s go get some water.”

“I don’t want water,” he said even as he let Remus lead him to another room to get a glass of water.

“Look,” Remus said. “I know the Mask Guy thing really sucked, but you have to look at the facts.

“I am looking at the facts,” Janus insisted, “and the facts are, he’s fucking with me.”

“Did you even listen to our conversation?” Janus asked. “He was screwing with me the entire time!”

“Janus…” Remus said.

“What?” Janus said, narrowing his eyes at Remus’s tone.

“I know you recently had a bad experience, but not everyone who flirts with you is doing it out of evil.”

Janus’s mouth hung open for a few seconds. “That’s what you got out of our conversation?”

“He called you Love Bug.”

Janus felt his face heat a bit at the reminder. “That’s not… I. I’m stealing your cat and then never speaking to you again.”

Remus laughed. “Ah,” he said. “Young lust.”

Janus elbowed him roughly in the side. “No!”

“Yes!” he crooned, pleased.

“You are the worst partner,” Janus hissed. “When I’m right you owe me 10 loafs of your fresh bread.”

“Branching out from poptarts?” Remus asked.

Janus shook his head. He still wasn’t happy about the state of things, but he could feel himself cooling down a bit.

Khalid came out of the integration room after a few minutes, leaving Pat with Remy. “What was that?” she asked him.

“He got under my skin,” Janus said.

“We’ll talk about it later,” she said. “For now, we’re letting him go and then going back to looking for the bomb like we’re meant to be.”

“Fine,” Janus relented. “Just do me the favor of tagging him before he leaves. Just that. I beg of you.”

“Sure,” she agreed. “If it will calm you down.”

He nodded.

“So, I’m free to go?” Pat asked. His bemused expression edged far too much on the side of amused verses confused for Janus’s taste.

“You are,” Khalid said. “Have fun at the festivities.”

His hands went flapping about. “Oh, you too!” he said. “Well, I guess you’re working, but you can have fun anyway, I’m sure.”

“We’ll do our best,” she said.

Janus pressed his lips together.

Then, Pat turned and walked away.

“Well, now that we’re done with that,” Khalid said, turning to them. “We have only a few more hours before midnight and we really need to find the time bomb.

All three of them stared at the spot he’d been for a long moment.

Janus was the one to speak first. “I want. The yellow. To be erased. From my record.”

Chapter 9

Khalid immediately called everyone back to base.

“What happened?” asked Fred when he and Lena arrived. The tech people were already scrambling to get through to the TPI and get the time lock broken from the outside.

“Remus, Remy, and Khalid got played by Pat or whatever his name is. It certainly isn’t Nick. He was just setting up a joke,” Janus told him.

“Stop being smug,” Remy said. “It’s not a good look for you.”

“Pat is…?” Lena asked.

“It will be fine,” said Khalid, “because what he doesn’t know is that timepiece has a tracker on it. Wherever and whenever he went, we’ll have his coordinates.”

“What just happened?” Remy asked.

“He ticked us,” Janus said. “Again.”

“Probably with the time bomb,” Janus said.

“Probably with the time bomb,” she confirmed.

And everyone knew the only thing worse than a time bomb was a time bomb you didn’t know the location of.

The, they initiated a time travel lockdown for all nonessentials, not willing to let random history students get caught up in an explosion if Pat decided to set the thing off somewhere.

“You are the only tolerable one,” Janus told the cat who upon being let loose in the office by Remus, immediately jumped on Janus’s lap.

“I have literally done nothing to you,” Lena said, but then added. “Yet.”

“You exist. In my space.”

“Fuck your hot chocolate, Fred,” Janus growled, having been one of the three who had chipped in to buy it for him on his last birthday.

“Don’t go after Fred, jackass,” Lena spat.

“He’s just testy because his boyfriend escaped,” Remus contributed.

Janus’s lips turned down into a frown and he cupped Diesel Fuel’s face. “We agree we’re eating him first, right?” he asked her.

She purred her agreement.

“I’d have it no other way,” Remus replied.

“There is plenty of food,” Fred said, sounding stressed. “In fact, I was thinking we should all chip in on ordering take-out soon. “What does everyone like on pizza?”

“This is not a slumber party, Fred,” Janus pointed out.

“Shut it,” Lena snapped and turned to Fred. “I’m fine with almost everything, except…”

“Bananas and tuna salad!” Remus interrupted.

“…whatever Remus is about to say.”

Janus rolled his eyes as that started a debate about whether or not fruit and/or fish belonged on pizza. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, which was when there was a knock on the door.

Janus still dried to dodge anyway. “Uh,” he said. “We were actually about to order pizza.”

“Go ahead,” said Fred kindly. Janus wanted to strangle him. “We can order pizza with olives if you’re not here.”

“I…” said Janus. “Guess, I’ll be going with you.”

“Great!” Emile said. “Let’s go.”

“Oh,” Janus said. “Uh, now?”

“Now,” Emile said a bit of uncharacteristic steel to his tone.

Then, he followed Emile out of the office door. “What would you like to eat?” asked Emile.

“Uh,” Janus said. “I don’t know. You asked me to eat, don’t you have any ideas?”

“I don’t actually,” Emile replied. Right.

“…Noddle Bar?” Janus threw out the nearest restaurant he knew.

“I don’t know,” Janus said, only then pulling up the menu himself, but still not quite looking at it.

“What about the fortune noodles,” Emile suggested.

Janus shook his head. “I don’t like those,” he said.

“Well,” Emile said lightly, eyes on his menu. “That makes me even more worried for your mental health than I already was because of the almost three years of you avoiding talking to me.”

“No small talk, huh?” Janus asked.

“No,” said Janus quietly into the table.

Janus closed his eyes. “It’s not you.”

“Then you need help,” Emile concluded.

Janus shook his head.

“Yes,” Emile snapped. “Whatever this is has gone on far too long.”

“So, you’re just planning to go on being miserable then?” Emile asked, and Janus wasn’t sure if it was worse or better that he didn’t sound angry anymore.

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Janus slapped his hand down on the “To Go” button and his dinner was insta-wrapped by the table. “Yes,” he said.

“What exactly do you think you’re paying penance for, Janus?” Emile asked.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Janus said, paying for both of their meals with his fingerprint.

“That’s a cop out and you know it,” Emile said. “All you’d have to do is talk to me. Or even just talk to someone else. Please.”

“Just…” Janus said, grabbing his bag of food to avoid looking at him. “Just, leave me be.” He walked out of the noodle shop without another word.

Chapter 10

Janus flipped her off.

“Protein infused Poptarts and caffeinated orange juice for breakfast?” she asked. “Just eat an energy bar and have a cup of coffee like a normal person.”

He took another pointed bite of his Poptart.

“You’re a horrible roommate. This is why they gave us different partners.”

“Yeah, well you snore, asshole,” Janus said after finishing off his meal.

“I’d tell you to go eat shit, but you already did that once this morning.”

A pillow flew across the room and somehow managed to hit the both of them. “S’op fighting,” Fred mumbled. “It’s sleep time.”

“It’s morning Fred,” Lena said.

“No,” Fred mumbled.

Janus ignored them, turning back to his integration port to continue to keep plugging in phrases of interest, but he kept getting nothing.

“What are you doing?” Lena asked after a few moments of him huffing at his screen reader.

“Trying to do anything that may change our current living arrangements.”

She puffed out an amused breath. “Can I help?”

“Can you see any connection between these words and phrases?” he asked, pulling away his screen reader and tapping at the words he’d typed out.

“Paranoid, tonight, I live to party, comeback, love Bug, BB good, Mandy, Macy Misa, I believe, cool, that’s just the way we roll, burnin’ up,” she said. “What are these?”

“They’re things Pat said when we interrogated that struck me funny,” Janus explained. “I feel like he was saying something more than what he said.”

“Hmm,” she said. “PTI for the first three?”

“Maybe,” Janus agreed, “but what about the rest of it? I feel like I’m missing something.”

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“Millennia,” Janus contemplated. “A different turn of the millennia. Oh no.”

“What?” Lena asked.

Janus sighed, and rubbed his temple. “I know someone who studied the 1700-2200s.”

“Isn’t that good?”

“No,” Janus groaned, “because now I have to go talk to him.” He stood with a sigh and then paused. “How do I even get to Silver Mountains University without my timepiece?”

The receptionist was the same man as before. “I’m here to speak to Professor Eran,” Janus said.

The receptionist nodded. “He mentioned you asked to meet him but didn’t know when you’d arrive. He’ll be done teaching his class in about 5 minutes. You can wait over there.”

“What’s in the bag?” Janus asked.

“Early 21st century cell phones,” Virgil said, dropping it on his desk. “I let my students mess around with them for their lab.”

“I see,” Janus said.

“What did you need?” Virgil asked. “You said it was official business.”

“You’ve heard about the lockdown, I presume,” Janus said.

“Yeah, it really screws up my research schedule for the summer,” Virgil said.

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“Shoot,” Virgil requested, seeming intrigued by the prospect.

“Okay,” Janus said. “First, the alias he was using was Nick Jonas.” A weird expression crossed Virgil’s face immediately and Janus paused.

“You said the year 3000?” Virgil asked.

“Er. Yes.”

“Nick Jonas. Year 3000,” Virgil repeated with a snort. “Were Joe and Kevin a part of this too?”

Janus blinked. “Yes, how did you know that?”

“What?” Janus asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Just…” Virgil said, sobbing through his laughter. “Just tell me the things he said.”

“Er, mostly he just had weird inflections on words and phrases. There was ‘paranoid, tonight, I live to party, comeback…’”

“Wait, stop,” Virgil said. “Let me guess a few. That’s Just the Way We Roll, Burnin’ Up, Sucker.”

“The first two were, but not the last one.”

Virgil laughed. “Maybe the last one was just implied.”

Janus frowned down. “What are you talking about? What does this all mean?”

15810

“That rat bastard,” Janus said.

“Scroll to the bottom,” Virgil said. Janus did and found a song titled ‘Year 3000.’

“You’re kidding me.”

“Click on it,” Virgil requested.

“I have no idea who this guy is,” Virgil said, “but he’s a comedic genius.”

Chapter 11

Khalid caught him on his way back into the TPI building. “I heard you went to Silver Mountains to follow up on a lead,” she said.

“Yeah, but it was garbage,” he seethed. “All I learned was ‘Pat’ knows early 2000s popular culture and likes to fuck with us.”

She hummed. “I’d still like a report about whatever you found. Who knows what we might end up getting from seemingly inconsequential data.”

“Sure,” he said.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I have a mission for you.”

“We’re on lockdown,” Janus pointed out with a frown.

“For nonessentials,” she said. “This is essential.”

“What happened?” Janus asked.

“Is this related to the time bomb?” Janus asked.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “At the very least, it’s not it being set off as it was in 2999, but if it’s been altered for some other purpose…”

“I’ll go,” Janus said.

“I’ll send over the mission directive to everyone who needs it. You’ll go in around 3 hours.”

He nodded. “I’ll be ready,” he agreed.

It was a little bit warm, but not stifling even in the mid-afternoon and he could faintly smell the sea on the breeze.

For now, he decided to get slightly away from people by heading towards the river. He found a park that had benches along water.

As he walked towards the river, he noticed a man on the bench, angled slightly away from Janus and looking out at the water. He immediately recognized the man. “You!” he exclaimed.

Pat’s head shot around to look at him, and he gave a slight head tilt. Then, he smiled, amused. “You are not the person I’m here for,” he said.

“Well, I am now,” Janus snapped. “Where’s the time bomb?”

“Time bomb?” Pat asked, eyebrows drawing together, but amusement on his lips. “Oh sweetie, the time bomb happened a long time ago for me.”

“What?” Janus asked.

“What are you talking about?”

Janus curled his fingers around it. “I don’t get it.”

Something on Pat’s wrist beeped and he looked at it curiously before he stood from the bench, “and I don’t have time to explain it.”

Janus jerked forward to grab his wrist. “Don’t you dare.”

“Oh my god, we need to figure out the height thing,” a familiar voice groaned, just as Janus managed to pull himself away. Pat blinked up at him and his eyes narrowed. “You,” he hissed.

“…What?”

He was suddenly very glad he’d been forced to let the other Pat (the older Pat?) go, else they’d have a whole thing on their hands.

“What are you doing here?” was Janus’s retort as he stood up and dusted himself off.

“It’s none of your business,” Pat told him.

“What are you?” Pat asked, “the time police.”

“Yes.”

Pat dared to roll his eyes, but then he tilted his head slightly. “Time distortions?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s why I’m here.”

He still had a confused frown on his face. Did… did he not know what a time distortion was?

Just then there was a sudden flash of lightening through the sky despite the absolutely lack of clouds. He and Pat both looked up.

“Is that the time distortion?” Pat asked.

“It’s probably the beginning of it,” Janus said.

“That doesn’t look good,” Pat said as he squinted at the sky.

Janus turned to walk away from him.

“Wait!” Pat exclaimed, and Janus turned back to him to see that his eyes were wide. Janus raised an eyebrow. “So, this time distortion thing is dangerous, right?”

“Depending on the severity, it could cause time to fracture around this place and time, basically erasing it from existence and killing everyone in it.”

“Well, in that case, I should go with you. To help.”

Janus looked him up and down. “You… have no idea what’s happening, do you? You’re an amateur.”

“I’m not,” he claimed. “I just. Pooling resources. You know?”

Janus sighed. “Well, you going around mucking about this time period without knowing what you’re doing could just exasperate the situation, so fine, you can tag along.”

“I know what I’m doing,” he grumbled even as he rushed to Janus’s side at the permission.

“Sure,” Janus said with an eyeroll. He guessed he was a babysitter now. “I believe you.”

Chapter 12

“What’s your name, by the way?” he asked.

Janus shot him a glare. “Elvis Presley,” he said.

Pat frowned, clearly knowing who that was. “There’s no reason to be mean.”

“You did it to me first.”

“…Introduced myself as a famous musician?” he asked. Janus didn’t respond, and after a moment, Pat laughed lightly. “You really don’t understand time travel, do you?”

“Oh, yeah,” Janus said. “Name the three types of time distortions.”

Janus scoffed. “I did not just cause a time loop.”

“Maybe not a big one,” Pat agreed, “but you did.”

“That’s not… that doesn’t count.”

“But you’re still going to do it.”

“And I’m supposed to forgive you?”

“Like I said,” Pat said. “I haven’t done anything yet.”

“You also haven’t done anything to endear yourself to me either,” Janus grumbled.

“Hmm,” Pat said. “Fine.” He pulled something out of his pocket. “You’re obviously not having much luck finding whatever you’re looking for. Tell me what it is and I’ll help.”

Janus squinted at what was in his hand. “Is that… an iPhone 5?”

“No!” he said. “It’s super-secret time travel tech disguised as an iPhone 5!”

“We’re in 2027,” Janus said. “Not a great disguise. Those things have been obsolete for a decade.”

“Well I’ll keep in mind to have my tech disguised as phones from the right year next time,” Pat said, sticking out his tongue. “Now what are we looking for?”

“If my timepiece can’t find it, I’m certain yours can’t.”

Pat rolled his eyes and tapped on the device’s screen a couple of times. “I’m going to guess it’s that,” he said proudly.

Janus leaned over to look at the screen. “Are you using google maps?” he sputtered.

When they got to the Musée Fabre museum, Janus stopped. “What?” Pat asked. He was shivering slightly in the cold and holding his arms around himself.

“My timepiece stopped working completely,” he said.

“I’m assuming that’s weird?” Pat said.

“It is,” Janus confirmed, turning to squint at him suspiciously. “How do I know you’re not the one doing it?”

“If I was doing it, wouldn’t I have just knocked it out from the get go?” Pat questioned.

Janus pursed his lips. “I don’t know,” he said. “Would you have? Maybe it’s a trick.”

Pat’s eyes narrowed a bit on him. “Think what you want, but I’m freezing. Come in with me if you want.”

“Two adult passes for the museum and the Hotel Sabatier d’Espevran, please,” he said, placing down 14 euro.

“Ah,” she said, still looking at Pat oddly. “Yes sir.” She gave them the passes and Janus quickly shuffled Pat away.

“What is wrong with your French?” he hissed once they were out of earshot.

“What?” he asked, bewildered.

“You sound like you’re reading Le Comte de Monte-Cristo. No one talks like that anymore.”

“I’m a little rusty,” Pat defended himself.

“Two centuries?” Janus asked. Pat stuck his tongue out like a child once again. “Is that your only way to respond to legitimate criticism?”

“What does it even matter anyway? No one ever expects time travel, at least not for something so silly.”

“Are there a lot of time travelers around?” Pat asked, sounding intrigued.

“There are plenty, both legal and not.”

“Huh,” he said, “but what are the chances we’ll run into another one?”

“Considering the time distortion? There could be many. Opportunists wanting to capitalize off the chaos, people trying to stop it, like me, and not to mention the person who caused it.”

“Wait, someone made it happen?” Pat asked.

“These things don’t just happen naturally.”

“Huh. So, something like this has to be caused by a person?”

“Yes,” Janus said. “…Why?”

Pat smiled. “No reason. I think we should head upstairs. Whatever I’m picking up says it’s around here, but I don’t see anything. Maybe it’s a floor or two above us.”

“Which is why it’s ridiculous to use Google Maps.”

“Would you rather use yours?” he asked sweetly.

“I’m still not convinced it’s not your doing,” Janus growled. “Why does your tech still work when mine doesn’t?”

“Probably the same reason the ring did,” he muttered.

“What?”

“You may be the most aggravating being in the universe.”

“What the hell do you mean a software difference?”

Chapter 13

Janus pushed him so he was leaning slightly forward and produced a pack of time appropriate tissues from his pocket. He pulled one out of the package and offered it to him.

“We should probably get off of the stairs,” he suggested.

Pat took the tissue with the hand not already holding one to his nose. “Thanks,” he said.

Janus nodded and got to his feet. The lights flickered once again but didn’t stay off for now. He didn’t know how long that would last.

He couldn’t see anything that might hold bandages in this room, but there was a second door. “I’ll be right back,” he told Pat, exiting through it.

The lights flickered once more as the door closed behind him and he cursed. When they came back up Janus’s eyes immediately fell on a man. They both froze.

“Remus!” Janus hissed the second their eyes met. “What are you doing here?”

Remus blinked at him for a moment. “Hi. Janus,” he said. “I… come to France for… tea sometimes?”

“There isn’t any tea back here.”

“So, there isn’t…” he said. There was a moment of silence. “Uh, so I actually cannot talk to you right now.”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Remus mumbled.

“Holy shit, you’re looping?!”

“It’s… not looping if I wasn’t here the first time.”

“Remus, we spend more than 12 hours a day together most of the time. The only thing worse than this is if I looped back to this time myself.”

“…Yeah. Anyway, I need to leave now.”

“Please do.”

He turned to go, but then stopped. “Oh, and,” he reached into his pocket and tossed something at Janus. Janus caught it.

It was Band-Aids.

“Oh, shit,” Janus spat at the clear use of foreknowledge. “I hate this. I hate you. I’m going to kill you the next time you see me.”

“Sure, Jan.”

“Go.”

He did, slipping into the next room while Janus took a deep breath and then turned back to the door behind him. He schooled his face before Pat looked up. “I found some Band-Aids.”

Pat nodded and Janus came over to squat next to him.

Janus took the box back gently and guided the wad of bloody Kleenexes back to his nose.

“Which would you like?” Janus asked.

“Oh, they are all so cute,” Pat cooed. “Um, how about that one!” he pointed. “Or that one! Or that one!”

“Pat you only have one cut.”

“But they’re all so cute!” Pat said, tongue tucking into his cheek. He contemplated the box again. “Let’s do the black one,” he finally settled on.

Instead, he just carefully unstuck the backing from the Band-Aid and motioned for Pat to remove the tissue from his forehead. He smiled at Janus as he drew back.

Janus cleared his throat. “How’s the nose.”

“It’s slowing down,” Pat replied. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Janus replied. They met eyes for a second before Pat looked away back at the box of Band-Aids.

“Oh,” Pat said. “There’s a grey one. I didn’t notice.” He pointed to it. “I should have used that one.”

“Do you like grey cats?” Janus asked.

“I like all kitties,” he said, “but one of my roommates loves grey cats. He had one when he was a kid and thinks of them as good omens. Seeing one always brightens up his day.”

“A friend of mine has a grey cat,” Janus said. “She’s much more tolerable than him.”

Pat laughed a bit. “Don’t be mean,” he said.

“But I don’t…”

Janus just shrugged and stuck it on his cheek where there was no wound. Pat giggled and touched it with a finger. Janus stood back up.

“Can I have another tissue?” Pat asked.

“Sure.” Janus handed a tissue over to him and he crumpled up the bloody ones in his hand.

“I think I’m good to keep going,” Pat said, putting the new tissue under his nose. “The nose will stop soon.”

“I’m guessing this is it,” Pat said.

Janus nodded and looked over his shoulder at the screen. They both cautiously walked towards where the little dot was on the phone.

“They are,” Janus said. “This one is artificial.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s a simulation,” Janus said. “It causes similar symptoms to a time distortion, but it’s not actually fracturing time at all.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Pat asked.

“I don’t know,” Janus said. He took the piece of tech of the wall and carefully stored it in his pocket, “but someone’s trying to get our attention.”

Chapter 14

They wandered around the downtown for a bit. The people seemed to jump back from the strange weather and earthquake that afternoon rather quickly, and there were plenty still about to blend into.

Pat was snapping photos every so often like a tourist which Janus shook his head at but allowed because even with the outdated phone it almost made them blend in even more. It also might stop any questions about Pat’s weird way of speaking French. They could just say he was an overeager tourist who watched too many old movies.

“Ooo!” Pat said. “We should get crepes.”

“Why?”

“You can’t go to France and not eat crepes.”

“I assure you, you can,” Janus said dryly.

Pat shot a pout at him and the next thing he knew he was in a small crepe shop.

For Janus, choosing something was easy. He just ordered the first thing he found on the menu which seemed to be a standard one with ham and eggs. Pat on the other hand seemed to be struggling greatly, and Janus had to gently push him to the side to let some other customers order first.

“What should I get!?” Pat asked. “They all look so good! I could do strawberry preserves or maple syrup or just sugar!”

“Or you could get one that is actually food,” Janus suggested mildly. “I don’t think you need any more sugar judging by how you are acting.”

Pat rolled his eyes. “You sound like Lo.”

Janus made a note of the name ‘Lo’ even though it surely was a nickname.

“But, since you’re insisting, I’ll get something healthy. I’ll have the strawberry one. That’s a fruit!”

“It comes with a cream cheese filling,” Janus pointed out.

“And it’s fruit!”

Janus shook his head and stepped up to the counter. “One ham and cheese and one strawberry preserve, please,” he said to the cashier as he was not allowing Patton to order in French and accidently say something stupid. He forked over some euros.

“You don’t have to pay for me,” Patton protested when he saw that.

Janus glanced back at him. “I was afraid you’d try to pay in francs,” he said dryly.

It looked like Pat was about to stick his tongue out at him, remembered that Janus had criticized him for that earlier, and then just scrunched up his face in displeasure as though that was any less childish.

They waited for their crepes to be finished and then went to eat them outside near a water fountain.

“I can pay you back for the crepe,” Pat said after they sat down. “I do actually have euros.”

Janus waved him off. “It wasn’t that expensive.”

Pat hummed. “Well, in that case. I insist on paying for a wish for you.” Janus raised an eyebrow. “In the fountain!” Pat clarified.

Pat set aside his crepe to dig in his pocket for a couple of coins. “Here!” he said handing one over.

Janus glanced over at the fountain. “No.”

“Oh, come on,” Pat beseeched. “You have to want something. I’ll even throw it in for you, but you have to make a wish first!”

“No.”

“Please!”

Janus sighed. “Fine.” He popped the rest of his crepe in his mouth. “I wish for a crepe,” he said after swallowing.

“You just had a crepe, silly.”

“But I liked it, so I want another one.”

“We can go back and get you another crepe.”

“Ah, but I’m not hungry anymore.”

Pat crossed his arms. “You’re just being difficult on purpose.”

“Not me,” Janus said putting hand over his heart. “I would never do something like that.”

Pat glared at him, but then snatched the coin out of his hand. “Fine!” he said. “One crepe wish coming right up.” He hopped up with the two coins and darted over to the water fountain. Janus turned to watch him go but then happened to catch sight of something out of the corner of his eyes.

Pat’s phone.

He didn’t pause in his movement, completing the turn, but as he watched Pat close his eyes, presumably to focus on his own wish, Janus snuck a hand out and grabbed the phone without looking. He slipped it into his own pocket.

Pat came back over after throwing both coins in the fountain and didn’t even seem to notice that his phone was missing, picking up his crepe to take another bite. Just to make sure, though Janus decided to distract him. “What do you think of your crepe?” Janus asked.

“I like it! It’s sweet, but not too sweet. There was a crepe place across the street from my apartment in college, but they always put a bit too much sugar in the dough, I think. I’d still eat them, but these are much better.”

Janus nodded and kept up the light conversation until Pat was finished.

21088

“Well,” he said then, getting to his feet. “It seems that nothing else is going to happen regarding the time distortion. I should be getting back.”

Pat hummed. “I should too. It’s movie night!”

“I probably should arrest you,” Janus noted.

“In the middle of all of these people?” Pat asked mildly.

“Touché,” Janus said.

Pat gasped and pointed at him. “Pun!” he said. Janus blinked at him. “Because we’re in France! That’s French!”

“…Goodbye Pat,” Janus said, turning to walk away from him.

“Goodbye… wait I still don’t know your name!”

Janus stopped to look back at him for a moment. “Like I said,” he replied. “Elvis.”

“Fine,” Pat said. “Au revoir, mon chéri.”

“You never stop, do you?” Janus asked.

Patton giggled. “Considering I don’t know what you mean, I imagine I’m just getting started.”

Janus actually left then, walking off towards the alley he’d first arrived in. In some ways, the mission had been a bust, but in others it had gone very well.

He felt for the weight of the phone in his pocket before pulling up the display screen on his timepiece to go back to the TPI.

It had gone very well indeed.

Chapter 15

The first thing Janus had done when he’d returned to the TPI was hand over the timebomb to Khalid who sent it to forensics. Within the hour, forensics got back to them that it was the same timebomb as 2999 and that it had never exploded, but simply been diffused. Which meant, blessings on blessings, everyone got to go home that night.

Not that Janus went home, no, he ended up falling asleep on his desk somewhere between 3 and 4am, but at least he wasn’t sharing his space with anyone. He’d been trying to hack the cell phone all night to see if it had anything he could use, but he honestly had no idea what he was doing. All it seemed he could do was play some annoying song over and over again about never giving someone up. At around 2am, he’d finally broken and sent off an email, though, he’d continued to try to mess with it after that.

He got woken up by Lena coming into the office at 7am, and noticed he already had an email response asking when Janus wanted to come in.

“Now?” he sent back.

“…Do you sleep?” was the immediate response. “And yes.”

His wrist buzzed as an appointment in 5 seconds downloaded to his timepiece. He selected the coordinates and landed at Cultural Outreach. The receptionist blinked up at him and then back down at the screen on his desk. “Oh!” he said. “I didn’t see this appointment. I think Professor Eran is in his office.”

He didn’t stand to escort Janus this time, so Janus went ahead and went down the hall to Virgil’s office himself.

He knocked on the door and while he was waiting for Virgil to open it, the infernal contraption once again started to play the same stupid song.

“I didn’t even touch you!” he spat, getting it out and tapping on the screen.

“Jonas Brothers dude again?” Virgil asked causally upon opening the door.

Janus shoved it at him. “Make it stop.”

Virgil took it and fiddled with it for a few moments before it stopped with the song. “Oh my gosh,” he said scrolling through something on the screen.

“What.”

“What maniac sets a custom alarm for every 30-60 minutes for a week that just plays ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’? Oh, and one ‘It’s Not Unusual’ on Saturday. He’s mixing memes at an alarming rate.”

“Can you. Just. Make it not happen. Anymore?”

Virgil smirked at him. “Maybe.” He turned around to go back into his office.

“Virgil,” Janus growled following him in.

Virgil just laughed. “What do you want to know about it?” he asked. “Just a fair warning… the song means he… likely was aware someone would steal it.”

“Of course, he was,” Janus groaned.

“But I’m sure we can still get something out of it.” Virgil started tapping at the screen again. “Okay, let’s see. It’s an iPhone 5, and someone jailbroke it.”

“What does that mean?”

“Tampered with it so they could install non-company approved software,” Virgil explained.

“Well I figured that since he was using Google Maps to track time distortions,” Janus grumbled.

“I think I have something,” Virgil said to himself while digging through his desk. “Ah ha!” He held up some sort of cord. “This will let me hook it up to my integrator.” He slotted the cord into the bottom of the iPhone and then crawled under his desk to fiddle around with some other things. “There we go,” Virgil said popping back up. “It might take a few minutes. Running the program any faster might overheat the phone.”

Janus nodded and sat back to wait. Virgil grabbed the phone and started to play around with it a bit even as it uploaded all of its information to his computer.

“Weird,” Virgil said after a moment.

“What?” Janus asked, sitting up straighter.

“There are exactly two contacts. Fewer than I’d anticipate for a regular phone from the 2010s. More than I would expect from one clearly not being used as a phone.

Virgil glanced to the side, and it must have finished the download because he unhooked it from the computer. “I have a 21st century phone network adapter,” Virgil said. “It transfers call back to whatever date the phone says. Do you want to try calling one?”

“It’s worth a shot,” Janus replied.

Virgil dug back into his desk for a small device that he plugged into the same port he’d plugged the earlier cord. “Okay, which contact do you want to try first?” he asked. “One has ‘Ro’ with a crown, red heart, and a gold star emoji. The other has “Lo” with a book, blue heart, and Milky Way emoji.”

“He mentioned a Lo,” Janus said. “So, try him first.”

Virgil nodded. “I’ll put it on speaker.” He pressed some buttons before setting the phone on the desk between them.

The phone rang three times before with a bit of a crackle, it was answered. “Salutations,” a voice said, voice sounding a bit scratchy as though he had only just gotten up.

Virgil motioned with his head for Janus to speak. “Are you ‘Lo’?” he asked.

The man hummed. “To some people.”

Janus… didn’t quite know what to say to that, or even what questions he should ask.

“I’m assuming you’re the man that stole my associate’s phone.”

#study break stories #not writing

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snowdice · 4 years ago

Text

Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 18]

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

I have homework due tomorrow, so let’s go.

Arc I: Finding Cinderella

Chapter 4

Janus was frozen in surprise for a few long moments after Pat disappeared. Which had been, admittedly, his mistake, because, while their window had technically been until 11:17pm and it was only 11:10, the loud crack that whatever Pat had been using for time travel made, garnered the attention of someone else.

“Uh oh,” Remus said, likely hearing footsteps. “Hide.”

That snapped Janus into action, but instead of hiding immediately like a sensible human being, he chose to go for the only link to the man who’d just stolen time travel tech and waltzed away, the mask.

Which was why he ended up getting arrested.

Remy tsked the moment they were all alone in the police car having come to ‘transfer Lee to another facility.’ Remus was already waiting in the front seat, and flashed Janus a smug smile. If Janus wasn’t still handcuffed, he’d slap him.

“Well,” Remy said. “At least you didn’t shoot anybody like I asked. I was joking by the way. I didn’t really want to pick you up from a 1920s police station period.”

“It wasn’t my fault.”

“Mmm, nah, ‘cause Remus managed to not get arrested this time, so you defiantly screwed something up.”

“Oh, he defiantly wanted to screw something all right,” Remus said joyfully.

“Remus,” Janus hissed.

“What?” he asked. “I’m not the horny one for once. Well, no, that’s a lie, but it didn’t affect the job this time.”

Janus groaned and leaned his head back against the seat.

Remy pulled into a seemingly random garage around 20 minutes later. “Alright,” he said. “Here we are.” He got out of the car and then helped Janus out before uncuffing him. “Here’s your ‘watch,’” Remy handed him the timepiece that had been confiscated when he’d been arrested.

Janus put it on and activated it. “Shit,” he said.

“What?” Remus asked.

“An appointment with cultural outreach has already been downloaded to my calendar for once we get out of decon.”

“Oof. Going to baby jail,” Remy laughed. Remus was cackling.

“This,” Janus said, “was not a cultural faux pas. I did nothing that indicated that I was not from this time. I am not some rookie.”

“Don’t forget cell phones don’t exist in the 1920s,” Remus sang.

“The real question is whether or not my foot exists in your…” Remus disappeared before he could finish, a smirk on his face. Janus growled. “By Remy,” he gritted out. He selected the decontamination chamber from his queue, ignoring the appointment that came after it for now.

He knew exactly where Remus would be standing when he landed, which was why he stepped forward on reentry to ram into him.

He yelped in surprise. “Sorry,” Janus said pleasantly. “I must have also forgotten landing procedures.

Remus laughed good naturally. “Aw, come on Jay,” he said, bumping Janus back, albeit much gentler than Janus had been. “It’s not a big deal. You just go talk with some crusty old college professor who is far too interested in spoons and then everything’s fine.”

“It’s the principle of the thing,” he growled. “They’re treating me like I’m an idiot who accidently invented disco in the 1920s when I was conned by some free agent time traveler.”

“‘Conned,’ Remus said. Is that what they’re calling it now?”

“I know where and when you live Remus,” Janus said.

Remus gave him a dopey smile as the decontamination cycle finished and the door unlocked. Janus’s wrist buzzed telling him that the coordinates to the cultural outreach office were now unlocked. Instead of pulling them up, Janus walked to the door.

“Um,” Remus said, following him. “Aren’t you supposed to be going to your appointment?” Janus just kept walking towards their office. “Uh… Jan?”

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that I have to go to cultural outreach,” Janus said. “In fact, no one can make me. If they want me to go have a discussion about the definition of ‘bushwa,’ they’re going to have to have me dragged there.”

“Mmm, I feel like The Boss won’t be too happy about that, and I have a feeling she’d be 100% down to dragging you there herself.”

“Well, then, let her,” Janus said, stalking through the door to his office. “I’m not going to…”

“Ah, Agent Picani,” the woman standing next to his desk, clearly waiting for him, said when he came through the door. “Dr. Picani was informed that there were complications with your last mission and wishes to have a conversation with you and asks that you meet him in his office at the AMO.”

“Oh, um,” Janus said, stumbling a bit before plastering on a regretful half smile. “Unfortunately, I actually have an appointment right now at Cultural Outreach. It’s mandatory and very important, and I have to go now. So, I’ll have to take a raincheck on that.”

“But-” she started, frowning.

“Remus, work on the report!” Janus said quickly as he waved his hand to bring up his timepiece display and jammed his finger at the glowing appointment card in his queue. A few moments later, Janus was at Cultural Outreach.

Cultural Outreach was not part of the TPI, though it often worked very closely with them. It was a collaboration between the government and multiple universities to help government workers, politicians, and other citizens understand and bridge cultural gaps. It had existed before time travel was invented but had expanded to also teach people who needed to time travel how to behave in unfamiliar times and cultures.

After it had to be expanded to provide for the TPI, it had been moved to Silver Mountains University. The building had once just been a museum, but it had been thoroughly renovated and there had been add-ons for office space and some classrooms. It was still a museum, however, its purpose had expanded greatly and there were many areas that were off limits to the general public.

One of these areas was the fourth floor, where Janus’s timepiece had dumped him. This was the floor that was almost exclusively for TPI agents and staff of Cultural Outreach who worked with them.

He immediately turned away from the reception area, hoping that he could escape and go sit on the university’s quad or something of the like for the next hour or so in hopes the woman his brother sent to fetch him would give up and go back to the AMO. Yet, the receptionist apparently saw him.

“Janus Picani?” he asked.

Janus grimaced and turned back towards him. “Yes,” he said.

“Is something wrong?” he asked. “You’re 5 minutes late for your appointment and seem disoriented.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Is your timepiece malfunctioning?”

“No.”

“Uh… okay. Well, if you sign in here, I can take you to your appointment.”

“…Fine.”

He begrudgingly stepped forward and touched the screen he’d gestured to sign with his fingerprint, and then let the man lead him down the hall.

The door they stopped at was propped open slightly, but he still paused and knocked. “Professor Eran? Your 2:30 is here.”

Janus had just a moment upon hearing the name to think that maybe there was actually some sort of intelligent design of the universe and whatever being of ultimate power had crafted it was a dick.

The door opened and Virgil Eran’s eyes immediately narrowed on him. “Janus.”

“Virgil.”

“I see you’re still late for everything.”

“I see you’re still a bastard.”

Janus saw the receptionist slowly back away in the direction they’d come.

“Why don’t you come in?” Virgil said faux pleasantly.

Janus did, because he really didn’t have much of a choice at this point unless he wanted to jump out of a window… or push someone out of a window.

Virgil turned back into his office and took a seat behind his desk. Janus unhappily followed him in and sat across from him.

He took his time pulling up whatever the TPI sent him and reading it over. “So, I see you failed your recovery mission and were arrested in 1923.”

“It wasn’t like that,” Janus said. “I shouldn’t be here.”

Virgil gave him that same suspicious look he used to give Janus whenever Janus claimed to have not eaten his hot pockets out of the freezer in the middle of the night. He’d only been lying 80% of the time. Virgil had a tendency to forget what he’d eaten in a half-conscious state at 3 o’clock in the morning.

“I shouldn’t,” Janus snapped defensively. “Nothing went wrong with anyone from the time period. An illegal time traveler screwed up the mission details.”

“Well, it is still protocol to make sure nothing slipped when agents go off script. You weren’t prepared to be in a jail cell, and it is possible that you screwed something up.”

“I didn’t screw anything up,” Janus growled.

“Alright,” Virgil said pulling up a document on his desk. “The mission started on July 27th, 1923 at 9:58pm, correct?”

“Oh, god, we’re not really going to fill out a time sheet. I don’t have time for that today.”

“It is protocol and best that the information is documented when it is still fresh in your mind. Besides, your schedule has been cleared for the rest of the workday.” The bastard was enjoying this. He knew how much Janus hated this stuff.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Janus said, “it was the damned illicit time traveler.”

“And I will be the judge of that,” Virgil said. Janus should have just bit the bullet and had coffee with his brother. “If you truly did nothing wrong, your supervisor will see that when I send this to her.”

Yet, despite the fact that Virgil clearly relished in his suffering, he was charitable enough to do most of the actual filling out of the forms. He’d read out the questions and write down what Janus said instead of making him do it himself. Janus really only had to do a quick quality check and sign it at the end.

He still was an asshole about the details, but really he’d been like that about stupid thing like the settings for the dish washer and how the pantry was organized during their college days before they’d had their falling out, so Janus wasn’t particularly surprised. When they were finally done, Virgil sent it off to get filed by the TPI.

Then, they were left staring at each other with nothing between them but almost a decade of radio silence and a whole lot of awkwardness.

“I should go,” Janus finally said, standing up.

Virgil tilted his head slightly to the side and gave him a half smile. “Don’t lock the door behind you,” he said. “Not that I’d expect you too.”

Janus took it for the clear attempt at a joke it was intended to be and puffed out a breath of amusement with a head shake. “No risk of that,” he said. Then, he turned and walked out of the office.

Chapter 5

Janus stepped back into the reception area and booted up his time piece. Instinct said to go back to the office despite the fact that it was late enough that most people had gone home, but he hesitated. Surely Emile had given up by now, but considering he’d sent someone to ambush him in his office, Janus wasn’t sure if he should trust that. He could just go home, but he already knew his mind was racing too much to sleep tonight so he’d probably just end up staring at the lake for the next 6 hours. So, he decided on the only other legitimate option he had. He pulled up Remus’s home coordinates and selected.

The home that Remus had chosen (after his long line of rejected requests) managed to somehow make no and absolute sense simultaneously to anyone who knew him. It was a small farm in the United States just west of the Mississippi in 1842 in what would be ratified as the state of Iowa in a few years. When asked why he would choose that time and place, Remus always responded with “I thought it was funny,” whatever that meant.

Unlike most time agents who simply used the identities assigned to them by the AMO as a cover, Remus actually lived his part time.

Janus was… fairly certain he was cheating a bit to get everything done, but he maintained his small farm all on his own, growing most of his own food. The neighbors he had lived very far away, but he still spoke with them far more than Janus did his own.

Janus appeared inside the small home, his eyes already shut. “Are you hear and dressed?” Janus called. Something bumped lightly into his legs.

“I’m in the kitchen!”

Janus peaked his eyes open and squatted to pet the cat at his feet. “That doesn’t answer my question!” he called back to Remus.

“It’s a surprise!” Remus said.

“Remus.” Diesel Fuel the cat flopped to her side on the ground as Janus continued to pet her ears. He heard Remus’s footsteps, and saw cloth covering his legs, so risked looking up. He was currently not only dressed, but wearing an apron that Janus was fairly sure was not time appropriate judging by the fabric and cat pawprint design. He had a bit of flour on his hands, and it may have been a bit too white for the time and place, but Janus couldn’t be completely sure.

“What’re you doing here?” Remus asked.

“My day has been an endless series of frustrations,” Janus said. “So, I have come to see the only tolerable being in the history of the universe.”

Remus snorted. “Since I know that isn’t me, I’ll assume you’re talking about the cat.”

“I still don’t understand why you tolerate this creature,” Janus addressed Diesel Fuel. She blinked slowly up at him. “To be fair, he was assigned as my partner. I didn’t have much of a choice in it. You could go always run away and become feral in the woods if you’d like.”

“So could you, technically,” Remus pointed out.

“I’m thinking about it after today.”

“Would you like some bread?” Remus asked. “That’s all I’ve been making this afternoon. Some fresh should be coming out of the oven in a few minutes.”

“Do you have anything stronger made out of wheat?”

“Ew, no, but I do have vodka.”

“Vodka works.”

“Want me to mix it with something?”

“No.”

“One of those night then,” Remus said, easily. “Let me finish up the bread, so I don’t burn the kitchen down. You can go get the alcohol from the cellar while you wait if you want, or you can just flop down on the couch.”

He was going to just flop down on the couch.

He did just that as Remus disappeared back into his kitchen. The cat hopped onto his stomach, proceeding to purr loudly and kneed at chest. Janus petted the cat and listened to the noise of Remus moving around in the other room, letting his mind drift. His mind drifted to Virgil for a bit and he steadfastly did not allow it to drift to his brother. Yet, the thing that most was on his mind was the strange man who had flirted and charmed Janus all night before mercilessly screwing him over. ‘Pat’ he’d said his name was, but surely that was not his real name.

Janus sighed and scratched the cat’s ear. “He certainly wasn’t an amateur,” Janus mused to the cat. “With that amount of precision to get in before we did, he must have someone not on the ground feeding him information. Perhaps more than one.” He was part of a group of time traveling thieves perhaps or something worse. “I didn’t get a good look at his face since he was wearing a mask,” Janus said, “but I spent a lot of time with him, and I’m sure Remy swiped the mask from the police since it had been on me when I was arrested. It’s a good lead.”

He continued to pet Diesel Fuel. Eventually, Remus came back in, noticed Janus hadn’t bothered to get the alcohol and went outside to the cellar. “I’m going to find him,” Janus told Diesel Fuel. “I’ll stop whatever it is he’s doing, and I’ll bring him in.” Diesel Fuel mewed her support, and Janus patted her on top of the head.

Remus came back in with the bottle of vodka and handed it to him without a word. He sat down on the couch near Janus’s feet and patted his lap so Diesel Fuel would come over to him and allow Janus to sit up.

The bastard waited until he was approximately 3 shots in (he didn’t have a shot glass and was just taking drinks from the bottle) to ask the questions Janus really didn’t want to answer. “Are you mad at Emile?” Remus asked.

Janus groaned, trying to wash out the bitter taste of shame and grief with the sharp sting of vodka. It didn’t work. “No,” he said to Remus.

“Then why have you been avoiding him?”

“Shit, I’m here because I didn’t want to think about it. Can’t we just not.”

“Don’t want to think about what?

“It’s none of your business, Remus.”

He could feel Remus frowning at him, but Janus stared resolutely ahead. At least, he did until a foot poked his face. He slapped it away, but it did the job of getting Janus to look at Remus.

“It is my business,” Remus said, foot still in the air. “I’m your partner and your friend.”

“If I’m your friend, you’ll drop it.”

“So, you’re not mad at Emile,” Remus continued, contemplatively. “Did you do something to him, then?” Janus bit his lip and looked away. “What?” Remus asked. Janus didn’t respond. “Look, I’m sure he’ll forgive you for whatever it is. He’s a good guy. Just talk to him about it.”

“I can’t,” Janus said.

“Whatever it is, it’s probably been long enough that he forgives you. You literally just have to have a conversation, say you’re sorry, and everything will be A-OK.”

“I can’t,” Janus repeated.

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t know about it.”

Remus paused. “So, as far as he knows, you just cut contact with him all of a sudden for no reason and have been avoiding him ever since?”

Janus looked at his shoes. “Yeah.”

“That…” Remus said, “is not fucking fair Janus.”

“I know.”

“Then why the hell are you doing that to him? He’s like… soft and feeling-y. He’s probably really upset.”

“I know, Remus.”

“Tell him. Whatever it is.”

“I can’t.”

“Look,” Remus said. “You tell him and he either forgives you or he doesn’t. If he does, everything’s fine. If he doesn’t… well, it’s not like it would be any different from you two never being in the same room the last few years. Either way, you can’t just do this to him. He’ll probably forgive you. He’s your brother. Brothers don’t… brothers would forgive each other.”

Janus laughed softly and met Remus’s eyes. “That’s the problem,” he said. “He’d definitely forgive me.” He turned away and opened the vodka bottle again. “Now, if you’ll shut up for a few minutes, I’m going to drink until I black out.”

Chapter 6

“Really, Khalid,” Janus said, storming into his boss’s office. “A yellow?” It had been about a week since the 1920s incident, and his incident report had finally been cleared. Sure, it wasn’t a red or a black and he wasn’t facing any reprimand, but it should have been a green.

She looked up at him, clearly unconcerned. “There was an incident,” she said. “You handled it well, but there was one. Therefore, yellow.”

“It wasn’t a time travel incident! It was a rouge time traveler.”

“Janus, you helped me make these rules,” she said impatiently.

“Which is why I know this is bullshit,” he snapped.

She rolled her eyes. “If it was anyone else, you would agree with me. While you didn’t go against protocol and had no time related incidents, the fact of the matter is, you were still distracted by this ‘rouge time traveler,’ didn’t complete your mission, and were arrested.”

“He was good,” Janus said. “You can’t fault me for that. He also could be dangerous and you’re busy handing out yellows instead of working to track him down.”

She raised an eyebrow. “We are working on tracking him down,” she said. “We have done an analysis on the mask and found fibers dating to the 2010s and some DNA. Though it isn’t exactly a high priority.”

“We have no idea who he is or what he’s planning to do. Why is that not a high priority thing?”

“At the moment?” she asked. “Because we have reports of a time bomb being activated.”

“What?” Janus asked sitting up. “When?”

“New Years Eve going into the year 3,000 in Brazil,” she said. “Which you’d know about if you’d bothered to check your integration port this morning before storming into my office.”

“It’s my mission?” Janus asked.

“The incident investigation is over and your active again despite the dreaded yellow,” she said, clearly making fun of him a bit. “So, yes, and it’s a high priority mission, so I’ll be running it.”

“Who all is going?” he asked.

“Other than the two of us, Remus, Lena, and Fred,” she told him. “We leave in three hours, so, you might want to run off to Rhi before Fred gets to her and ties her up for an hour on details.”

Janus nodded and got to his feet. He turned back at the door. “I still don’t deserve the yellow,” he hissed.

She waved him off. “I’ll see you in a few hours, Picani.”

He ground his teeth a bit about the dismissal of his worries, but his resentment was slightly soothed by the fact that she’d assigned him to go on such a high priority mission and with only senior agents.

He took the advice and grabbed Remus from the office, noting Lena hadn’t been able to wrangle Fred yet as she was still at her desk, and they both headed off to see Rhi.

A few hours later, they were all in decontamination together, decked out in truly god-awful costumes. The turn of the third millennia had been a wild event, and the best way to fit in was to look like you’d grabbed something from every century in recorded human history, dyed it in neon paint, and rolled around in a vat of glitter.

Remus had opted to stick his head in a vat of glow in the dark green paint that costuming had offered them, and it wasn’t even going to be slightly disruptive to their covertness.

In fact, costuming had frowned when Janus had insisted he not get his hair dyed and instead wore a bowler hat. They had required him to have flowers made out of glitter on it.

There were five people waiting for them when they landed 6 hours before the turn of the millennia. Three were touchdown agents, including Remy, and two were on location tech support. Usually it would be overkill to have that many people there just for support even with five agents in the field, but today the TPI needed to be cautious because they were planning on instituting a time lock.

Time bombs were dangerous things that would ripple through time if not contained. Even if it did end up going off (killing everyone in its reach), the time lock would serve to prevent most damage outside of the city and, more importantly, the year it was planted.

Janus had only been in two time locks before, and he was one of the most senior agents in the TPI, outranked only by the founder: Lia Khalid. Time locks were designed to keep all time linear in a certain fixed time and geographical area as well as prevent any time travel in and out. Once it was engaged, all forms of time travel would not work for the duration, bar the pin device. Khalid was already switching out her regular timepiece with the slightly bigger one that was designed to support the time lock.

There was a failsafe back at the TPI that could be engaged in an emergency, which was why tech support was here, but other than that, the only thing that could break the time lock was that timepiece, and it would break the moment the time lock ended.

As soon as it was on Khalid’s wrist, she looked up at them all. “Our information says the time bomb was planted in the costume of one of the ‘Millennium Birds’ who are the organizers of the different events,” she said. Janus had seen a photo of the identical costumes in the mission details. They were all robe like garments with giant fans of feathers coming from the neck that coalesced in a peak a foot above their head to hold a fake bird egg. At least they’d be easy to find. “There are 25 of them throughout the city. We need to find each of them. So, we don’t double count, you’ll need to subtly,” her eyes touched on Remus, “scan each one you find for the bomb and tag them with a tracker if it’s not on them. You can view the already tagged ones, as well as the rest of us on your timepiece even once the time lock is engaged. When you find the bomb, call it in.”

They all nodded, and Khalid looked over at one of the techies. She nodded at her and then the techie flipped a couple of switches. “Three, two, one,” the techie said. There was a slight shift in the air that most people would disregard, but Janus as a seasoned time traveler could feel the change even before his wrist buzzed. He glanced at his timepiece to see it had a big red ‘X’ across its display. He tapped it and was still able to bring up the map of the city with 10 green dots on it all clustered together in their current location.

After that, he tested the scanner on his timepiece that he would use to search for the bomb, just to make sure the time lock hadn’t messed anything up with his equipment. He glanced up to see everyone else was doing the same.

“Keep in contact,” Khalid said before everyone split up. Janus and Remus started by going North while Fredrick and Darlene were to go South. Khalid was a floater who would tag any Birds she saw but was mostly there for backup and orders.

Janus and Remus stepped into the chaos of New Years Eve before the turn of the third millennia. The streets were already swamped with people and it would only be getting worse the later it go.

“Where should we start?” Remus asked.

“Let’s go all the way North to the games area,” Janus said. “We can work our way back here.”

“Okay!” Remus said. “I wonder if they have those fun little genetically modified goldfish as prizes. I’ve always wanted to eat one and see if I end up getting whatever design was on the fish on my body.”

Janus gave him a disgusted look.

“What?! People eat fish all the time!”

Janus shook his head. “We’re not playing the games anyway. We have work to do. Important work.”

“Boo,” Remus replied. Janus chose to ignore him as he spotted one of the Millenia Birds letting people into the gaming area.

They walked over towards the entrance. Janus got in range first and moved to subtly scan the Millenia Bird, Remus doing the same the next moment. After a second, Janus’s timepiece buzzed and lit up red, meaning the bomb was within range. “Well, that was easy,” he said. “It was on the first one we found.”

“Uh…” Remus said. “Jan.” When Janus looked, he was holding up his wrist to show his green lit time piece.

“What?” Janus asked. He quickly moved to rescan the Millenia Bird, and his timepiece came up green as well. Which, meant the bomb was not in range, even though the Millenia Bird had not moved. “But…” He and Remus’s eyes met, and they quickly both started turning in a circle to look at the crowd around him. No one looked like they’d just stolen a time bomb off the Millennial Bird, but then Janus’s eyes caught on a man. He blended in perfectly to his surroundings. He was wearing the disgusting garb of the times, a large light blue piece that bubbled near his hips, and had most of his skin covered in rainbow neon paints. Yet, something about him, the curl of his hair or the way he moved, drew Janus’s eyes to him. He recognized the man immediately even in a completely different dressing style. Yet, what cinched it was the moment Janus’s eyes met his and they seemed to sparkle slightly in the afternoon sun. The next moment, the person Janus knew as Pat, turned to disappear into the crowd.

Chapter 7

“Him,” was the only thing Janus said before taking off after the figure who had just disappeared into the game area.

“What?” Remus’s voice followed after him. “Janus! What?!”

“Who’s a tiny little squishy precious baby?” he was asking one of them, wiggling his pointer finger at it.

“You,” Janus growled stepping up to him.

He turned and tilted his head at Janus with a frown. “Um, me?” he asked, pointing to his chest, all sorts of innocent, but Janus could see a spot of hidden amusement in his eyes.

“Where is it?”

His eyebrows drew together, but it was an act. It was clearly an act! “Where is what?”

“The…” he glanced around them at the people surrounding them. “Thing you just took.”

“I didn’t take anything,” Pat said with a frown.

“Oh, no,” Janus said. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fooling me twice is not an option.”

“I’m sorry sir,” Pat said. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bull. Shit.”

Just then, Remus jogged into the tent. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s him,” Janus said pointing. “He took it. He has it.”

“I… don’t know what you’re talking about,” Patton said. He looked over to Remus with a confused frown.

Remus looked at Janus. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Janus said. “It’s him. It has to be him. He’s the mask guy.”

Remus squinted at Pat. “He is?”

“Whoever you think I am, I’m not. I haven’t worn a mask all night. I just did the face paint,” he pointed to his cheeks.

Remus raised his wrist and his timepiece lit up green. He looked at Janus.

“I lost sight of him for five seconds. He must have stashed it somewhere,” Janus said. He turned on Pat. “Where did you put it?”

“…Are you,” Pat asked, his eyes going back and forth between Janus and Remus, “… the police?”

“Oh,” Patton said, hesitant. Janus expected him to refuse outright, but then he said. “Uh, sure.”

“Thank you very much, Mr…”

“Jonas,” Pat told her earnestly. “Do I need to be handcuffed?”

“No,” Khalid said. Janus frowned at her, but she ignored him. “It’s just a talk for now.” She gestured to the tent entrance. “Come with us.”

“Remy, would you please take Mr. Jonas to go sit down?” she asked.

“Sure, boss,” Remy said, standing up. He led Pat away.

Khalid turned to Janus and Remus once they were out of earshot. “What is going on?”

“So, does he have it on him?”

“No. I lost sight of him, and he must have stored it somewhere, but I know he took it.”

10264

“He’s the man from 1923?” she asked.

“Yes! Remus, that’s him, right? You recognize him.”

“Okay, but I was with him for hours. I swear it’s him, and I swear he took it,” Janus just about shouted.

“We’ll question him,” Khalid placated, “and Fred and Lena will keep looking in the meantime.”

“He knows where it is,” Janus insisted. “I swear.”

“That’s just to placate me and you know it.”

“Observation’s over there,” she said pointing.

He got a thumbs up from Remus as he walked by, and Janus glared at his back before walking off to the indicated location.

He watched as Remus and Khalid entered the room, and Remy left it. Remy joined him in the observation room after leaving and leaned against the wall.

Pat was sitting at a table and watched Remus and Khalid with that same rubbish placid confusion that he had before. “So,” Khalid said, “Mr. Jonas.”

“You can call me Nick,” Pat interrupted.

“Lia,” Khalid replied. He smiled at her happily. “So, are you enjoying your day?” she asked.

“I am!” he replied. “It’s a big day. You only get to see the turn of a millennia once in your life.”

“Ah, yes,” Khalid said. “Doing anything special for it?”

“Um, not really,” he said. “Other than the party. I’m going to meet up with my roommates after dinner. Kevin doesn’t like this sort of thing, and Joe couldn’t come.”

“Your roommates,” Khalid said, considering him. “Do you live around here?”

“Uh huh,” Pat replied.

“Do you have any ID?”

“I do, want me to get it?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

Pat unzipped one of the bubbles on his waist and handed her a chip. “Remus, would you mind going out and getting the ID scanner?” she asked, even though her timepiece would be able to read it.

“Ah, shit,” Remy said. “Props. What do those things even look like?”

As Remy scrambled to find something that would pass for an ID reader so “Nick” didn’t get suspicious of Khalid using her timepiece, Janus watched the two alone in the room like a hawk.

“I see you’re wearing a dress inspired by the 2770s,” Khalid noted, as Remus came to stand next to him.

“Yeah!” Pat replied. “Joe made it for me. He’s really good at fashion design!”

“Can I see?” she asked.

“Yep!” he replied. “We’re practically like brothers.”

“Would you mind calling them?”

“Erm,” he titled his head like he was confused by the question. “Well, like I said, Joe is a bit busy, but I could definitely call Kevin.

“Here,” Khalid said, “use my phone.”

“I have my own,” he said with a frown.

“Humor me,” she requested.

“Uh, okay,” Pat agreed. He took the offered 2999 phone and dialed a number on it. Khalid reached over to put it on speaker.

“Hello?” a voice asked after a few seconds.

“Um, hey Kevin, it’s Nick.”

There was a sigh on the other end. “Hello Nick, is something wrong? Why are you calling me from someone else’s phone?”

“I’m fine, I think.” He looked up at Khalid. “Why am I calling him exactly?”

“Hello, I’m Officer Khalid,” Khalid said. “I just wanted to confirm that you are Nick Jonas’s roommate, and he does live in Manaus.”

“Yes, we live together with our other roommate,” the man replied flippantly. “Officer? Is something wrong?”

“I believe there was just a case of mistaken identity,” Khalid said.

“Bullshit there was!” Janus hissed, though she could not hear him.

“No need to worry,” Khalid continued.

“I’m good Kevin,” Pat said.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Kevin asked.

“Don’t be Paranoid, Kevin. I’ll see you Tonight for the New Years Celebration. You know I Live to Party.”

“I am hanging up now,” Kevin said.

“No! Comeback.” The line went dead. Pat handed the device back to Khalid.

“No, he’s lying,” Janus insisted, and got a dubious look in return. “I know he is! Remus!”

“The alibi is pretty solid…” Remus said, “and he doesn’t have the bomb on him.”

“Oh, come on,” Janus said. “You can’t say there is nothing fishy going on here.”

“I am not imagining this!” Janus said. “That’s him and he took it.”

“You only met him once while he was wearing a mask,” Khalid pointed out with a frown, “and you didn’t see him take the bomb, did you?”

“No, but he looked at me and I knew,” Janus argued. They both gave him a skeptical look. “Oh, come on!”

“You know that’s a little weak, Jan,” Remus said.

“Let me talk to him,” Janus requested. “Just give me five minutes to talk with him.”

Khalid raised one eyebrow. “Fine,” she agreed. “You have five minutes, but after that, you have to let it go. We can’t waste any more time.”

Chapter 8

Pat looked up as Janus stepped into the interrogation room. “Hi,” he said with an innocent smile that could cut steal.

“Nicholas Jonas,” he said. “Always has been.”

“Stop it,” Janus said.

“Stop what?”

“Cut the crap. I know.”

Pat leaned forward, mirroring Janus as he leaned closer, interlocking his fingers and laying his chin on top of his knuckles. “What did you say your name was again?” he asked, pleasantly.

“Janus,” Janus replied.

“No, I’m Jonas,” he said, pointing to his chest.

“Not Jonas,” Janus spat. “Janus.”

“Um,” Pat said, eyes alight with amusement. The bastard. “Those are the same words.”

“No, they’re not. It’s Janus. J-A-N-U.-S.”

“Well, that’s confusing,” Pat said with a frown, but his nose was crinkling. “It’s close to my name. You should go by a nickname instead.”

“What?” Janus said. “No.”

Pat hummed. “How about Love Bug?”

“What! No!” Janus sputtered, almost flipping the table, as Pat winked at him.

“BB Good?”

“What does that even mean?!”

“Mandy.”

“No!”

“Okay, okay, how about Macy Misa.”

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Janus stared at him for a moment. “Fine. Whatever. What was I even talking about?”

“Hmm. I Believe we were talking about my name and how you think it’s not my name.”

“Right,” Janus said. “So, Nick. That was your roommate, Kevin on the phone, right? He seemed a bit unhappy with you. Any reason?”

“Nah, we’re Cool” said Pat. “That’s Just the Way We Roll.”

“Not because you’re messing up a mission right now?”

Pat’s eyes crinkled together. “A mission?” he parroted. “I’m not messing up a mission.”

“Oh, really?” Janus growled. “Because you’ve been captured by the TPI, and I know who you are and what you’ve been doing.”

“I have no idea what the TPI is,” he claimed.

“Yes, you do!” Janus said, standing up. “You obviously do! Or you wouldn’t be playing this game!”

“Game?” Pat asked. “Macy I ask you what you’re talking about.”

“This is all just a game to you isn’t it!” Janus said, slamming his hands down on the table in front of them.

“Whoa,” Pat said, putting his hands up. “Calm down. Your face is getting all red. You must be Burnin’ Up.”

“I’m not sure what, but something about what you just said pisses me off.”

“And that is five minutes,” Khalid said, bursting into the room. He felt a tug on the back of his shirt and glared back at Remus who was putting his own body between Janus and Pat.

“There was no way that was five minutes,” Janus growled.

“It was five minutes,” Khalid gritted out. “Remus, get him out of here.”

“Come on Jay,” Remus said, dragging him back towards the door.

“Remus, I swear to god.”

“Just chill, Janus,” Remus said, slamming the door closed behind them.

Janus shrugged him off. “You chill!” he snapped. “He’s playing you all for the fool.”

“Wow, Macy,” Remy drawled like an asshole. “I’ve never seen you so fired up.”

“Oh, my gosh. No one is going to believe me, and he’s going to get away with this.”

“You’re not really helping your case, babe,” Remy said.

Remus grabbed him by the shoulders again. “Here, let’s go get some water.”

“I don’t want water,” he said even as he let Remus lead him to another room to get a glass of water.

“Look,” Remus said. “I know the Mask Guy thing really sucked, but you have to look at the facts.

“I am looking at the facts,” Janus insisted, “and the facts are, he’s fucking with me.”

“Did you even listen to our conversation?” Janus asked. “He was screwing with me the entire time!”

“Janus…” Remus said.

“What?” Janus said, narrowing his eyes at Remus’s tone.

“I know you recently had a bad experience, but not everyone who flirts with you is doing it out of evil.”

Janus’s mouth hung open for a few seconds. “That’s what you got out of our conversation?”

“He called you Love Bug.”

Janus felt his face heat a bit at the reminder. “That’s not… I. I’m stealing your cat and then never speaking to you again.”

Remus laughed. “Ah,” he said. “Young lust.”

Janus elbowed him roughly in the side. “No!”

“Yes!” he crooned, pleased.

“You are the worst partner,” Janus hissed. “When I’m right you owe me 10 loafs of your fresh bread.”

“Branching out from poptarts?” Remus asked.

Janus shook his head. He still wasn’t happy about the state of things, but he could feel himself cooling down a bit.

Khalid came out of the integration room after a few minutes, leaving Pat with Remy. “What was that?” she asked him.

“He got under my skin,” Janus said.

“We’ll talk about it later,” she said. “For now, we’re letting him go and then going back to looking for the bomb like we’re meant to be.”

“Fine,” Janus relented. “Just do me the favor of tagging him before he leaves. Just that. I beg of you.”

“Sure,” she agreed. “If it will calm you down.”

He nodded.

“So, I’m free to go?” Pat asked. His bemused expression edged far too much on the side of amused verses confused for Janus’s taste.

“You are,” Khalid said. “Have fun at the festivities.”

His hands went flapping about. “Oh, you too!” he said. “Well, I guess you’re working, but you can have fun anyway, I’m sure.”

“We’ll do our best,” she said.

Janus pressed his lips together.

Then, Pat turned and walked away.

“Well, now that we’re done with that,” Khalid said, turning to them. “We have only a few more hours before midnight and we really need to find the time bomb.

All three of them stared at the spot he’d been for a long moment.

Janus was the one to speak first. “I want. The yellow. To be erased. From my record.”

Chapter 9

Khalid immediately called everyone back to base.

“What happened?” asked Fred when he and Lena arrived. The tech people were already scrambling to get through to the TPI and get the time lock broken from the outside.

“Remus, Remy, and Khalid got played by Pat or whatever his name is. It certainly isn’t Nick. He was just setting up a joke,” Janus told him.

“Stop being smug,” Remy said. “It’s not a good look for you.”

“Pat is…?” Lena asked.

“It will be fine,” said Khalid, “because what he doesn’t know is that timepiece has a tracker on it. Wherever and whenever he went, we’ll have his coordinates.”

“What just happened?” Remy asked.

“He ticked us,” Janus said. “Again.”

“Probably with the time bomb,” Janus said.

“Probably with the time bomb,” she confirmed.

And everyone knew the only thing worse than a time bomb was a time bomb you didn’t know the location of.

The, they initiated a time travel lockdown for all nonessentials, not willing to let random history students get caught up in an explosion if Pat decided to set the thing off somewhere.

“You are the only tolerable one,” Janus told the cat who upon being let loose in the office by Remus, immediately jumped on Janus’s lap.

“I have literally done nothing to you,” Lena said, but then added. “Yet.”

“You exist. In my space.”

“Fuck your hot chocolate, Fred,” Janus growled, having been one of the three who had chipped in to buy it for him on his last birthday.

“Don’t go after Fred, jackass,” Lena spat.

“He’s just testy because his boyfriend escaped,” Remus contributed.

Janus’s lips turned down into a frown and he cupped Diesel Fuel’s face. “We agree we’re eating him first, right?” he asked her.

She purred her agreement.

“I’d have it no other way,” Remus replied.

“There is plenty of food,” Fred said, sounding stressed. “In fact, I was thinking we should all chip in on ordering take-out soon. “What does everyone like on pizza?”

“This is not a slumber party, Fred,” Janus pointed out.

“Shut it,” Lena snapped and turned to Fred. “I’m fine with almost everything, except…”

“Bananas and tuna salad!” Remus interrupted.

“…whatever Remus is about to say.”

Janus rolled his eyes as that started a debate about whether or not fruit and/or fish belonged on pizza. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, which was when there was a knock on the door.

Janus still dried to dodge anyway. “Uh,” he said. “We were actually about to order pizza.”

“Go ahead,” said Fred kindly. Janus wanted to strangle him. “We can order pizza with olives if you’re not here.”

“I…” said Janus. “Guess, I’ll be going with you.”

“Great!” Emile said. “Let’s go.”

“Oh,” Janus said. “Uh, now?”

“Now,” Emile said a bit of uncharacteristic steel to his tone.

Then, he followed Emile out of the office door. “What would you like to eat?” asked Emile.

“Uh,” Janus said. “I don’t know. You asked me to eat, don’t you have any ideas?”

“I don’t actually,” Emile replied. Right.

“…Noddle Bar?” Janus threw out the nearest restaurant he knew.

“I don’t know,” Janus said, only then pulling up the menu himself, but still not quite looking at it.

“What about the fortune noodles,” Emile suggested.

Janus shook his head. “I don’t like those,” he said.

“Well,” Emile said lightly, eyes on his menu. “That makes me even more worried for your mental health than I already was because of the almost three years of you avoiding talking to me.”

“No small talk, huh?” Janus asked.

“No,” said Janus quietly into the table.

Janus closed his eyes. “It’s not you.”

“Then you need help,” Emile concluded.

Janus shook his head.

“Yes,” Emile snapped. “Whatever this is has gone on far too long.”

“So, you’re just planning to go on being miserable then?” Emile asked, and Janus wasn’t sure if it was worse or better that he didn’t sound angry anymore.

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Janus slapped his hand down on the “To Go” button and his dinner was insta-wrapped by the table. “Yes,” he said.

“What exactly do you think you’re paying penance for, Janus?” Emile asked.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Janus said, paying for both of their meals with his fingerprint.

“That’s a cop out and you know it,” Emile said. “All you’d have to do is talk to me. Or even just talk to someone else. Please.”

“Just…” Janus said, grabbing his bag of food to avoid looking at him. “Just, leave me be.” He walked out of the noodle shop without another word.

Chapter 10

Janus flipped her off.

“Protein infused Poptarts and caffeinated orange juice for breakfast?” she asked. “Just eat an energy bar and have a cup of coffee like a normal person.”

He took another pointed bite of his Poptart.

“You’re a horrible roommate. This is why they gave us different partners.”

“Yeah, well you snore, asshole,” Janus said after finishing off his meal.

“I’d tell you to go eat shit, but you already did that once this morning.”

A pillow flew across the room and somehow managed to hit the both of them. “S’op fighting,” Fred mumbled. “It’s sleep time.”

“It’s morning Fred,” Lena said.

“No,” Fred mumbled.

Janus ignored them, turning back to his integration port to continue to keep plugging in phrases of interest, but he kept getting nothing.

“What are you doing?” Lena asked after a few moments of him huffing at his screen reader.

“Trying to do anything that may change our current living arrangements.”

She puffed out an amused breath. “Can I help?”

“Can you see any connection between these words and phrases?” he asked, pulling away his screen reader and tapping at the words he’d typed out.

“Paranoid, tonight, I live to party, comeback, love Bug, BB good, Mandy, Macy Misa, I believe, cool, that’s just the way we roll, burnin’ up,” she said. “What are these?”

“They’re things Pat said when we interrogated that struck me funny,” Janus explained. “I feel like he was saying something more than what he said.”

“Hmm,” she said. “PTI for the first three?”

“Maybe,” Janus agreed, “but what about the rest of it? I feel like I’m missing something.”

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“Millennia,” Janus contemplated. “A different turn of the millennia. Oh no.”

“What?” Lena asked.

Janus sighed, and rubbed his temple. “I know someone who studied the 1700-2200s.”

“Isn’t that good?”

“No,” Janus groaned, “because now I have to go talk to him.” He stood with a sigh and then paused. “How do I even get to Silver Mountains University without my timepiece?”

#study break stories #not writing

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snowdice · 4 years ago

Text

Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 17]

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

I have homework due Friday and it’s long so let’s go.