Chapter Text
Roman was angry.
“It’s not bearing any thought,”
"I beg to differ!"
"It's too risky,"
Roman huffed and spread his hands out in frustration. "Like we didn't ditch a callback!"
"I did not make that decision," Janus hissed. " You did," He reminded him. "What if Thomas gets hurt, huh? What if he thinks we're rushing into things? What happens after, Roman? Alone. No callback. No future. And no Nico. "
"But what if he doesn't?" Roman pressed, his exasperation and passion leaking out. "What if he says yes? What if we're happier than before?"
Janus inhaled deeply. "No," He said. "No! Absolutely not. You're taking this too far. He hasn't even shown that much of reciprocation to being with us seriously,"
"What do you call our last two dates?" Roman deadpanned.
"You're reading into things!" Janus dismissed with a wave of his hand.
"I don't even–" Roman exhaled, then laughed. "I don't even know why I consulted you! I don't need you!"
"Well, good, then this discussion is over. And I can go back to more important things." Janus said, turning his back to Roman–
"I just need all the other sides to agree with me, and I win!"
–he stopped.
There was a small moment of silence, a tension hung in the air as Roman watched Janus tense. He felt satisfaction at knowing he had caught him and watched as Janus turned back towards him.
"All the…other sides, you say?" Janus repeated with a smug tone.
"That's right." Roman affirmed.
Janus smiled. "They're not going to side with you, Roman, why would they?"
"Why wouldn't they?" Roman countered, feeling defensive. They’d take his side, they loved him, didn’t they?
Janus gave him a sympathetic look; a condescending one. "Oh, Roman," He said with pity. "You're the dreamer. You're the one who always takes risks, who tries to succeed, who exaggerates and plays prince." Janus told him with that smooth voice that used to sound like one who believed in him, but was now one who looked down on him.
"At the end of the day, Roman, they're just going to see this as some little fantasy." Janus told him, his eyes boring into him and his words sinking into his skull. He lifted his chin and regarded him with a steel eye. "Just listen to me when I tell you to wait,"
Janus turned his back to him, his eyes softening as his eyes looked back at him one final time for tonight. "For what it's worth, I really did see you as a hero. I didn't know I would hurt you this much." He said softly.
Roman felt something in him spark with anger. "Yeah, because I'm just a little pawn you can use as bait and knock around the chess board, right?" Roman hardened his gaze and watched as Janus turned away from him.
"I…" Janus started. "I'm sorry,"
"I don't care," Roman gritted out. His eyes met the ground, his form slumped, and all that was left was somebody who was tired. "Just…go bother someone else with your lies, alright? I don't want to hear any more of them."
Janus nodded and walked away. Leaving Roman alone in the living room, again.
Roman sighed and walked over to the couch. He threw himself into the cushions and curled up into a ball.
Roman clenched his fists and blinked back tears. He desperately tried to convince himself it didn’t matter, it wouldn’t matter. Not to the other sides anyway. Before, Roman could take the rejection. Before, Roman could take the heartbreak. He would do it all for Thomas. But now all that rejection left Roman feeling lonely. Isolated in his little chamber, where his ideas were rejected.
Some part of Roman knew that Janus was right. There would always be a part of the sides that considered him as a bimbo. As this dork who knew nothing but Disneyland and dreams and spent all day off fighting gallant fiends.
The truth was, Roman was getting left behind. He saw it in their eyes as they all sat together, the happiness behind them that would light up when they all talked, Roman silent. The other sides didn’t need him, well, at least not as much as before.
The thought terrified Roman, he couldn’t imagine living alone, watching as everyone he ever loved got along so well without him. It bruised his pride as much as his heart. So, he did whatever he needed to do. He tried to be quiet, he tried to bear Janus as much as he could, because the thought of them abandoning him twinged and twisted Roman’s heart so much he might’ve thought he was having a heart attack.
Roman had limits, because he knew if he didn’t try easing himself into this new routine he’d burst. So he didn’t sit beside Janus at all, he let a few jabs at him slip his tongue, he let his distaste show every now and then, but otherwise he tried to keep the peace. It irked Roman, alarm bells flew through his head whenever he looked at Janus, because he couldn’t ever see him as something other than somebody who had betrayed him.
His eyes would stare into Roman’s sometimes, and he just wanted to look away. But sometimes, the sides would notice his dislike.
He could see it in their faces every time he was hesitant to sit near Janus or be alone with him. They were judging him.
And Roman was fine with that, really, he was. He could ignore it for the sake of his pride, the wary glances, the disappointed expressions. It was fine, nobody acknowledged it anyway, so it was practically non-existent. His own fears, his own thoughts, he could keep it to himself and try to be the noble prince he claimed he was.
The idea with Nico came, and the best person to talk to about that decision was Janus. If his whole shtick was about protecting Thomas, then he'd have to know. Otherwise, it'd throw a wrench in the plans, and Thomas might just bail when the time comes.
He really thought maybe if he tried to be civil and nice, Janus would understand, and they could make amends.
"I have a proposal," Roman said.
It wasn't supposed to escalate.
"A proposal? Oh, do go on," Janus said.
Roman inhaled and stopped the foot on the floor from tapping so violently. "I think, maybe, perhaps, um, now's the time to tell Nico to be our boyfriend?"
It wasn't supposed to get so heated.
Janus blinked. "Now?"
Roman nodded apprehensively. "Yeah! Things are going well, and we’ve been getting along really well. I think now is a great time."
He really did try.
Janus laughed disbelievingly. "Now would be too reckless, we should wait."
Roman let out a small, nervous chuckle. "For what? Another guy to steal him away? Nico is coming back to town after his business thing, I think it would be a good time!"
"No," Janus said definitively. "It's not a good idea."
Roman averted his gaze.
Janus furrowed his brows. "Look, I'm–"
Roman stood. "No, I get it," He said. "It–it wasn’t something to waste your time with. You may go now,"
Janus shot him down.
Janus stood up with him. "All I'm saying is it would be safer if we just waited,"
Roman nodded. "Uh huh, and I am listening. Thank you for the feedback. You can go."
He was just–
Janus scoffed. "If you're going to be moody about it, fine, be like that,"
Roman shot him a glare. "We haven't exactly been all buddy–buddy these past few months, I'm trying my best to be civil."
"This is your idea of civil?" Janus simpered.
Roman felt anger burst inside of him.
–hurt.
"Thomas deserves somebody who makes him happy, okay?" Roman said, raising his voice.
"He has that someone. I'm just asking you to wait!"
"Why can't we take any more risks? Not once in our life?" Roman asked.
Janus laughed bitterly. "May I remind you of the callback–"
"We love our friends!"
"We should love ourselves too!" Janus screamed.
"We do!" Roman insisted.
Janus narrowed his eyes and lifted his chin. "Oh, really? How's your ego doing, Roman?"
"Doing much better without your lies," Roman murmured.
"Really? Last time I checked, it was thriving with them," Janus retorted.
"I don't need you," Roman hissed.
"Well, you've shown that. Clearly!" Janus said sarcastically. "I mean, you've all been doing great, have you? Love all the bitterness, anger, and resentment in your home. Really brings out the worst in you,"
"Shut up!" Roman snapped.
"How mature," Janus said. "And here I thought this was about Thomas and Nico. Is it actually about you?"
Roman clenched his fists–
"Roman?"
Roman stiffened. He felt a hand rest easy on his back.
"Hey, relax, it's just me," Virgil said soothingly.
Roman relaxed. "I know," He responded quietly.
"You okay?" He asked gently, his thumb swiping Roman's back as he asked.
Roman sighed. "I'm fine,"
"Fine as in 'not fine' or fine as in 'actually fine'?"
"Do I have to answer?" Roman asked wearily.
"No, not really," Roman could almost feel Virgil's smile as he said those words. His hand vanished from his back, and Roman felt Virgil's back hit the front of the couch and his hair brushing his back. He was sitting on the floor.
"How many of that did you hear?" Roman asked with a looming dread.
Virgil winced, and he heard him inhale sharply. "Most of it, enough to get the gist of what you were talking about,"
Roman felt a little like throwing himself off a bridge. "That's embarrassing," He said casually, enough to play it off as a joke. "Time to write the will,"
"Hey, it's not that bad," Virgil reassured. "Everyone knows you both hate each other anyway, so you getting into a fight wasn't really a surprise!" He said with enthusiasm that wasn't necessary.
Roman sunk further into his pillow. "Everyone heard?"
Virgil winced. "My pet spider didn't hear you, so maybe not everyone?"
Roman sighed. He shifted so that he wasn't facing the couch anymore, but to the living room where he could see everything. Virgil turned his head towards him.
"This is awful, I'm awful. This whole idea was ridiculous anyway." Roman said with a solemn tone.
"Tone down the melodrama, Princey," Virgil said, inching towards him. "You can always ask again, or pitch the idea to Thomas and let him decide. At the end of the day, he calls the shots, not us."
Roman sighed. "You're right. I just," Roman groaned, hiding his hands in his face. He sighed deeply. "Janus was right anyways,"
"Right?" Virgil's tone turned serious. "About what?"
"Nothing, don't even worry about it," Roman dismissed. He brought his hands away from his face and smiled at Virgil. "Thanks for checking on me, Nightmare Before Christmas,"
Virgil's face lit up. He rested a hand on the couch and leaned on his side. "Anytime, Princey,"
"Hey, Logan," Virgil murmured, eyeing Roman, who was on the other side of the room in a very passionate discussion with Patton about 101 Dalmatians.
"Hm?" Logan said, focused on his puzzle.
"You know that fight Roman and Janus had last night?"
"What about it?" Logan questioned, fitting a piece with another. He smiled triumphantly.
"I think we should try to reconcile them," Virgil proposed.
"Don't you think that's a bad idea?" Logan wondered as he effortlessly put multiple puzzle pieces together. "They already dislike each other as is–well, Roman does, Janus merely is his sarcastic self–why push them together? It'd cause more of a stir,"
Virgil hummed. "You're right. Okay, how about we try and interrogate Janus until we find out why he made Roman so sad?"
Logan paused, he straightened. "Roman is…sad?"
Virgil nodded. "Yeah. Why?"
"I guess I just never noticed, huh, this is not making me feel very happy," Logan said with a disgruntled look on his face.
"It's alright, Logan, Roman's an actor, he hides it well," Virgil reassured. "Now, Roman and Janus had an argument, and Roman listened to Janus' argument. But we know they're still mad at each other. Now, bottling up your emotions has never been good for anyone–"
"It hasn't?" Logan asked quizzically.
"--if we make them talk about it, maybe we can prevent them from having another big fight." Virgil explained. He leaned in conspiratorially. "All we have to do is convince Roman why he should talk to Janus,"
"I see, good plan," Logan nodded. "One point to you," Logan told him, bringing out a paper that said: Virgil: 2; Logan: 9; Roman: 5; Patton: 7; Janus: 3; Remus: 1;
Logan then erased the 2 on Virgil's score and replaced it with a 3.
Virgil quirked his brow. "What's that for?"
"All the good plans that every side has every proposed in Thomas' adult life," Logan told him, folding the paper neatly and pocketing it. "I am winning."
"Why not count his teen years?" Virgil wondered.
Logan tilted his head as he explained. "Well, I split it into three factions, as Thomas grows into a different person as he grows, you see. Although, if I were to show you the teen years, you should know that you won in that department,"
Virgil nodded sagely. "All those My Chemical binges," He sighed, then blinked out of his stupor. "Anyway, one hiccup, we have to get–" Virgil paused, looking around before lowering his voice. "--we have to get Remus into the plan,"
"And why is this necessary?"
"Remus is much more likely to convince Janus to be nice and respectful to Roman when they go talk," Virgil said. "Trust me, he may drive Janus to exhaustion, but he knows him better than anyone. He'll listen to him."
Logan sighed. "Fine, but what about Patton? When will we tell him?"
"Oh, don't you worry, I'll handle it." Virgil said, leaning back into his chair with a smug face.
Patton opened the fridge door to grab some cookies, and he shut the fridge door.
"Patton," Virgil said with a dark voice, holding his pet spider in his hand.
Patton shrieked and nearly dropped his cookie. " SPI–"
"Patton!" Logan called before Patton could shriek and alert Roman. "Before you do that, we have something to say," Logan looked at Virgil with a pointed look. "Put the spider away,"
Virgil gave the little guy a small pat. "They just weren't ready for you yet," He placed his hand on the countertop and watched as the spider crawled away.
"I thought you said you could handle it," Logan said sternly with crossed arms.
"I was!" Virgil insisted.
"It's running around the house, oh my gosh. It's running around the house now," Patton chanted, his hands fanning his face. "Okay, wow, okay, this is fine. I'll get my torch, tell the three sides there's been an emergency and we need to evacuate–"
Logan grabbed Patton's shoulders. "Patton, calm down, it's okay," He reassured, giving Virgil a glare. Virgil raised his hands in surrender, secretly, he enjoyed scaring Patton. "Virgil actually told me his spider is going to crawl back to his room, safe and sound, no need to go to drastic measures now," He said calmly.
"Are you sure?" Patton asked with a nervous laugh. "Because I can always call Roman and get him to–"
"No Roman," Virgil blurted with hands out. "He's not feeling too great," He told him, retracting his hands and stuffing them back in his pockets.
"I know! Which is why dealing with a spider might make him feel big and tough again," Patton explained, looking chipper at the thought. "Roman loves feeling like a hero!"
Virgil hummed. "That's true…" He waved his hands dismissively. "Nah, it won't solve our problem,"
"What is the problem?" Patton inquired.
Logan and Virgil exchanged glances. "Well," He started. "You recall that big fight Janus and Roman had a day ago, right?"
"Is that why Roman's been all on the downlow?"
"Precisely," Logan said, pointing a finger towards him. His pointer fingers came to rest on the bottom of his chin, and it reminded Virgil vaguely like Sherlock Holmes. "We thought, perhaps, if we tried to get Janus and Roman to talk, it might resolve their…issues,"
"You can't force people who are mad at each other to talk," Patton said.
Logan and Virgil blinked and Patton's sudden comment. Usually, he'd be all on board with talking your feelings out. Virgil tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at Patton.
Patton seemed to notice their bewildered expressions. "Look, look, I'm all for it if you kiddos want to help Roman and Janus air out their problems, but Roman said something to me last night that made me think maybe we should let them sort it all out." Patton shrugged, giving them a nervous look. "Let them talk about it like adults, you know?"
Virgil considered it. "You're…" He blinked, looked at Patton. "Roman's been talking to you?"
Patton brightened. "Yeah!" He confirmed happily. "Well, not really, we were just talking about the other sides, and it somehow got to Janus, he told me some stuff, and I understood he needed his space to figure out how he was feeling."
Logan nodded, looking thoughtful. "Hm, interesting, yes…how…" He trailed off for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, his head snapped up to Patton. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "Excellent point to you, Patton," He told him, bringing out that pointer system card he had shown Virgil earlier.
He erased Patton's 6 and replaced it with a 7.
"Careful, Patton," Logan warned playfully. "We might tie,"
Patton laughed along with him. "You better watch out, Logan!"
Logan's smile turned strained. "Yes, haha. I better do,"
Virgil watched this exchange and cleared his throat. "Hello???"
They both turned their heads to him.
Virgil shook his head in disbelief. "So we just wait?"
"It's the logical thing to do," Logan said. "and I certainly enjoy logic."
Virgil paced in his room, every so often, he'd pause so his pet spider, Marcus, could skitter along the floor menacingly without being squashed.
Virgil stopped as the door opened.
"You called?" Janus asked.
Virgil crossed his arms and regarded Janus with a dark look. "I know you get mean when you get into a fight. What did you say to Roman?"
Janus checked his nails. He paused to lock eyes with Virgil. "I take it that Roman didn't send you?"
"No, I called you down here myself," Virgil told him.
"Trying to defend your boytoy, Virgil?" Remus asked him, suddenly very near his ear.
Virgil did not flinch. He simply whirled his face to Remus, who hung upside down from the ceiling. Virgil frowned. "Why are you here?"
Remus smiled brightly. "Janus invited me!" He declared, falling off his ceiling and landing with a big splat! On the floor. His guts thankfully did not stain his Nightmare Before Christmas poster.
Virgil looked at Janus. "Invited, huh?"
Janus sighed. He had the audacity to look sheepish. "He wanted to visit, it's been a while since he's seen the spiders," He told him, his eyes widening as he took a step forward, a hand raised out. "Remus! Remus! Do not eat the webs!"
Virgil whirled around to find Remus with his mouth open above the webs, frozen. Marcus crawled around Remus' head. He grinned at Virgil.
Virgil pointed to a nearby trash can. "I have some broken batteries you can have, they're in a box near the trash."
Remus lit up and dashed towards his kitchen. "Thank you, Virgil!" He hollered.
Janus clasped his hands together. "I do have to thank you for indulging in him, I was almost running out of cat food for him. I mean, without cat food, what would he have for dinner?"
"Anyways," Janus continued, brushing off the invisible dirt on his shoal. He straightened. "What do you want--eh,um–what do you need?" He corrected. "Because if you just came here to play mother hen and try to be the Knight in shining armour to your Prince, I'm afraid there's no need."
Janus' face moved back into his default smile. "We had a fight, we moved on, that's it. Stop trying to protect him when there's nothing to protect him from," He told him. "I'd know,"
"But you didn't move on," He countered. Virgil crossed his arms together and sunk into his couch. "Thomas' ego might seem like it's doing well but Roman keeps having these…moments, he shrinks in on himself when we all gather, he shuts himself off sometimes when he can't think of anything or when all the sides gather."
"He also thinks we all hate him for not liking you," Virgil said, watching as Janus' brows furrowed. "You used Roman,"
"He was the only one who believed in me at the time, it was the only way to get you to listen to me," Janus said smoothly. "Think of how you started out," Janus pointed out, catching Virgil off guard. "We all have to fight to get Thomas' attention,"
"You could have–" Virgil started.
"He could have been more willing to share the spotlight, no?" Janus insisted, shifting back to his original position. "It's not all my fault,"
"Maybe not," Virgil amended. "But we've all changed now, and Thomas is adjusting, so whatever history you've had before it's better to resolve it before it becomes too big and affects Thomas," Virgil eyed Janus with a determined glare. "And we all want what's best for Thomas,"
Janus held his stare for a few moments before he looked at Remus. "Remus, I'm going back," He looked at Virgil. "I totally won't think about it–but you don't mind me leaving him here for a bit, do you? He gets cranky when he's hungry, and I need to look for more kibble,"
Virgil waved his hand. "Go ahead, he keeps Marcus entertained anyway,"
Janus massaged his head. "Good," He said and spared one last glance at Remus. "Be good, darling!" He called to Remus before closing the door.
Virgil sighed and turned towards Remus, who had swallowed another battery. "Delicious, my compliments to the chef!" Remus chirped.
Virgil raised a brow as Remus continued to scavenge the trash can. "Do you still like to play, ‘kiss, marry, kill?’ " He asked warily.
Remus' eyes got a crazed glint. "Do I!?"
Patton gazed at Roman as he doodled on his notebook. "Hey, kiddo, feeling better?" He asked gently.
Roman startled at Patton’s question, he scoffed. "Why wouldn't I?" He asked valiantly.
Patton shrugged. "It's just, well," He started awkwardly. "Virgil told me you were feeling a little down,"
"Yes," Logan said, startling Roman and Patton. Patton nearly shrieked. "He told both of us, actually,"
"Virgil?" Roman asked with shock. "That's funny. He's usually so…so…"
"Passive?" Logan offered with a raised brow.
"Yeah, that." Roman said, snapping his fingers after Logan said it.
"He's worried, a lot," Patton said with a sheepish shrug. "Poor kiddo got himself too worked up, he almost went to fight Janus himself,"
"And why he still has the second to lowest score," Logan murmured.
Roman looked down and frowned. "It's my fault, I'm always the one arguing with Janus, I instigate it. I can't control my emotions and it's stressing Virgil out,"
Patton put a hand on Roman's shoulder. "You were stressed, you were hurt, but you can still fix it," He smiled at Roman encouragingly. "How about, next time we get together, you and Janus can have a little heart-to-heart?" He suggested.
You can fix it. As if Roman had any blame on the matter. As if it was his fault for making everyone worry.
( Well it was , Roman thought. But the irritation coursed through his veins anyway.)
"Yes," Logan agreed, sitting ramrod straight. "And we'll just be backup. In case Virgil loses his cool and attacks Janus,"
Roman laughed softly. "Okay, I'll think about it." He put his arms around both of them. "Thanks, guys," He said softly.
"Of course," Logan said, nodding. "We'll always be there for you, Roman," (Will you? Thought Roman.)
"Like how Poncho was there for his little puppers," Patton added with a smile. Roman nudged him a little brightening at the reference.
"Right, like that," Roman said, smiling.
"Thank you," Janus said with Remus right beside him.
"It's not that big of a deal, we actually had some fun," Virgil dismissed, his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"I murdered Lin–Manuel!" Remus said gleefully.
Janus smiled at Remus. "Well, glad to see you two had fun," He tilted his head at Virgil. "You…also had fun. Right?"
Virgil shrugged, looking down. "Sure," He said. "It was pretty fun, hanging out one-on-one with him again,"
Janus smiled softly. "Well," He began fondly. "I guess we better get going,"
"Goodnight, Virgil!!" Remus said, ruffling his hair. "I think I left some batteries in the bathtub! Don't touch them," He advised, then paused to think about it. "Or do!!" He added, just as enthusiastic.
"But best not," Cut in Janus, looking unfazed by Remus' suggestion.
Virgil nodded, brushing his hair properly back into place. "Gotcha' "
Janus gave him a little wave as they turned. "Goodnight," He called, his voice carrying like a melody. "Don't let the bedbugs bite,"
Virgil let out a soft huff, watching them leave. Feeling a sense of deja vu.