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It had been a long day, working in the hot sun for so long. Janus had worked on one of the few buildings his company was hired to build. Mostly houses, but there were a few businesses as well. A new vet clinic for farm animals, a new group home, and a new kids center which should be up and running by the time Virgil is about three.
He stopped at his front door, toeing off his work books and going inside. A soft, deep ‘woof’ was heard from Sassy, who came over to greet her human. The Saint Benard Janus set his shoes on the top rack, noticing that Virgil’s tiny converses were dirty, and Patton’s favorite white shoes were covered in grass stains.
“Patton?” he called, setting down his cooler.
“In the kitchen!” Patton called, followed by the sound of a tiny tot shrieking, something hitting the ground, and a soft: “Oh dear.”
“You didn’t drop the baby did you?” Janus asked, humor coating his tone. When he got into the kitchen, he saw a purple cup on the ground and a few of Virgil’s puff treats had joined the cup.
“Virgil decided he no longer wants his food.” Patton laughed softly.
The said toddler was sniffling, hiding his face in his dad’s shoulder. He looked up, seeing his papa was home. Suddenly, the tiny boy started bawling, reaching out for the man. “Papa!” he wailed, his chubby face turning red.
“Oh, what a drama queen,” Patton cooed, handing Virgil over to his husband. “He must have really missed you.”
Like an octopus, Virgil wrapped his little arms around his Papa’s neck, bawling his eyes out. Janus hummed, rubbing up and down his back. Virgil was half dressed, only wearing a pair of pants and a diaper. Looking around, Janus noticed the kitty shirt that Patton had put on him that morning on the table.
“Did someone have a fun day, huh?” Janus asked softly, going over to the table to clean it off.
“Yes,” a soft reply came.
“Daddy gave you spaghetti, huh?” Janus laughed softly, another quiet ‘yes’ from Virgil coming after that.
Janus headed out to the laundry, Virgil crying out in dismay when he noticed that his favorite blanket was sitting in the hamper.
“You want your blanket, huh?”
“Yes,” he whined, reaching for it.
Janus tossed the shirt into the purple hamper, pulling out the blanket. There was a big mud stain on it, so Janus put it back. “Dirty.”
Virgil whimpered, but didn’t say anything in retaliation. Janus went to leave when he noticed that the yellow and baby blue Hamper were getting full. “Papa has to do laundry this weekend,” He sighed softly.
He headed back into the kitchen, setting Virgil down. He headed over to Patton, who was stirring what he was cooking.
“What’s for dinner?” He asked softly.
“Chicken Alfredo,” Patton was smiling, turning to Janus.
Janus gave a knowing smile. “Oh? What’s the occasion?” He teased.
Patton wrapped his arms around Janus’ neck, his grin getting wider. “I dunno, I heard it was some special day.”
Janus hummed. “Strange,” he mumbled, giving Patton a peck on the lips. “I’m going to take Sassy out for a run in a few minutes.”
“Make sure to change afterwards,” Patton laughed. For a minute, he looked like he was thinking. “You think we should get more hampers?”
Janus grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. ”What for?”
“Like, to be more organized?” Patton wondered out loud. “We could get a lot of hampers for like- Maybe like...” Patton grumbled, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. “Maybe not… It seems a little silly to think about it.”
“Well, why don’t you explain it to me anyways?” Janus noticed that Virgil was snuggling up to Sassy. “Then I can decide if it’s really silly or not.”
“Well, I was thinking… you know how we have different colored hampers for each of us?” Janus made a noise of acknowledgment, wrapping his arms around Patton’s waist. “Well, what if we had them like… on the wall, with more hampers? With white, black, and then another color. So we can have colored in the colored ones, whites in the white, blacks in the black-” he took a moment. “That sounded bad.”
Janus laughed. “I understand what you’re trying to say. But why another color under the other three?”
“Well, what if I come home from work one day and I have pants on it? Or you come home with oil all over yourself? Or if we adopt an afab kid-”
“We’re not adopting for a few years.” Janus reminded him.
“I know- I know, I just…” He drawled off.
“Well, why don’t you write the idea down and we’ll get back to it later?” Janus suggested softly. “We don’t need to say a total yes or a total no.”
Patton nodded, then he perked up. “We should get a Mastiff!”
“We’re not getting another big dog,” Janus said sternly.
“Rats,” Patton huffed. “Worth a shot.” Patton smiled softly.
“It certainly was,” He laughed. “Think you'll be alright with being alone with Virgil for a little bit more?”
“I’ll be fine,” Patton smiled. “Thank you though, Jay.”
Janus kissed his head, going to the Foyer. “Sassy!” He called.
Right away, the sound of a toddler going ‘oomph’ and dog nails clicking on the floor. Turning the corner was the big dog herself, happily waiting for her pink harness to be strapped on. Janus slipped on his tennis shoes, quickly tying them so they were tight.
“Alright,” he said, grabbing the harness. “You’re probably pent up from staying in the house for so long.”
After a few minutes, he finally got the harness properly on. Sassy was a very happy pup, running around in the Foyer but never going out. The harness was multi-purpose, and wasn’t just some straps. On the sides, there were pockets where he could store what he needed in them. He usually put poop bags, a collapsible bowl, a small bag of dog food, a small bag of treats, and a water bottle.
“Come!” Janus said sternly. Sassy came over and sat at his feet. He clipped on the leash, and Sassy was eagerly shuffling around. “We’re heading out!” he called out
“Stay safe!” Patton called back.
Janus headed out, closing the door. “How long do you want to go?”
Sassy was sitting by his feet, looking from him, to the road, and back to him. She was waiting for him to give the okay.
“Ten minutes?” He suggested. “Sounds good.”
He started jogging at first, but he sped up easily to a sprint, a tight grip on Sassy’s leash.
The world seemed to disappear, all there was in the world was Janus and his dog, who seemed happy to just be existing alongside him. A lot of people say running away from your problems doesn’t solve them, but Janus had to disagree; actively running was very therapeutic, at least for him. Even after eight hours of manual labor, hours of working in the sun, he still needed this run.
Where Janus had built the house was in the middle of basically nowhere, surrounded by fields of nothing. Their nearest neighbors were about a mile away, which had him kind of skeptical that they should stay in that place, but Patton reassured him that he could run a mile if something happened. It was surprisingly green, but that’s not really why Janus chose the place.
After about five minutes of running, Janus slowed down and eventually stopped, Sassy next to him panting.
“Let’s get you some water,” He breathed out, opening up her pouches. He got out the water bottle and her bowl, expanding it. He poured out half the bottle in the bowl, and the Saint Bernard drank it up.
He sat down next to her,taking a few sips of water himself. A few minutes of peace, where all there was to hear were birds chirping and Sassy lapping up her water.
A few minutes later, Sassy was ready to go ahead. Janus got up, put everything away, and started home, repeating what he did but towards home. By the time he got home, which was about fifteen minutes later, the big girl looked tired and Janus felt it himself.
He went in and called out to Patton: “I’m back!”
“Papa!” A little voice screamed, and Virgil came running to him.
Janus easily picked him up, smiling. “Virgil!” He gasped back.
The tot made a face. “Smelly,” he scolded, nose wrinkled in disgust. Janus laughed, setting him down so the toddler could go toddle off.
“Janus, can you move the high chair to the dining room?” Patton called.
“The dining room?” Janus asked, coming into the kitchen. “We never use the dining room; just usually just use the nook.”
“I know,” Patton looked up from where he was putting the food into serving dishes, “but I want to eat there tonight.” He smiled at his husband.
“Alright,” Janus relented, kissing his head before getting the high chair.
After setting up the chair, Janus went upstairs to his and Patton’s room. He got out the clothes he wanted; a dress shirt and some nice dress pants. He picked out a yellow bow tie and a pair of socks. He found a pair of shoes- a pair that he’s only worn a few handful of times.
He hopped into the shower, not taking too long. He was in and out in five minutes. Instead, he focused more on his appearance. He combed back his hair, and considered shaving the five o’clock shadow. Then he remembered how Virgil liked the feeling when they were playing and he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He finished getting ready, looking at himself in the mirror. After a minute of considering, he got his blazer, one he hadn’t worn since law school.
“Hello old friend,” he laughed softly, putting it on.
He went downstairs, dirty clothes in hand. He tossed them into his hamper, his mind traveling to the idea Patton had earlier.
noticing that Patton himself had cleaned up a bit. Instead of his normal T-shirt, he was also wearing a dress shirt and tie. The dress shirt was wrinkled and already had a stain, but the fact that he even put on a tie meant that Patton wanted to look nice.
“My handsome husband,” he purred softly, kissing his cheek from behind.
Patton laughed softly. “Help me get Virgil into his chair?”
It didn’t take too long to do that. When Virgil saw there would be pasta, he happily let his fathers buckle him in.
“Ready for dinner?” Patton asked his husband
Janus nodded, sitting down. Patton put a scoop of Pasta into a small bowl for Virgil, along with some broccoli and cheese on the side. Janus served up his and Patton’s plates, making sure to get as much healthy foods as possible.
“Oh!” Patton turned to Janus. “Remember that bottle of Champagne your gay aunt gifted us two years ago?”
“Aunt Kathy, yes.” Janus nodded to the thought. “What do you ask?”
“We should get it!”
“It’s been sitting in the fridge since we got it.”
“Then it’s cold enough!” Patton looked excited, so Janus gave him a sigh and went to get it.
He first went to their regular fridge to see if he had left the champagne in there since it was gifted to them before Virgil had come into their life. When it wasn’t there, he went to their second fridge, which is where they kept alcohol or their bulk drinks- like their Gatorade or bigger bulks of water. He found it sitting in the door of the fridge, next to other unopened bottles of wine.
Janus grabbed the bottle and went back to the dining room.
Virgil looked up from where he was eating his food. “Yum!” He yelled.
“That’s good stuff, huh?” Janus asked
“Yes!” Virgil yelled back.
“How do you always get him to reply?” Patton huffed.
“Ask him that.”
Patton rolled his eyes, getting up and going into the butler’s pantry to get out the hardly used Champagne flutes. “You want to open the bottle?”
Janus hummed his confirmation, which Patton accepted as a yes. Janus took off the wrapping around the neck of the bottle, putting his thumb over the cage and holding the bottle. He loosened up the cage, looking up to his family.
“Cover his ears,” he said to Patton, who did as told. Janus held the bottle at the appropriate angle and pressed it to his body. He carefully twisted the bottle, letting the gasp escape until-
POP!
Janus pulled the cork away, holding up the bottle up with a look of victory. Patton cheered, clapping. Virgil was staring at the bottle in amazement, reaching out for it.
“Not for little boys,” Patton scolded, handing Virgil his half-water half-apple-juice.
The rest of dinner passed by, Virgil getting sleepier until he was half asleep in his chair. Patton and Janus only had one glass of champagne, so they weren’t stumbling around and acting like idiots.
“I’ll put him to sleep,” Patton said softly, “Why don’t you set up for tonight’s actual celebration?”
Janus smiled, leaning over and kissing Patton softly. “That sounds amazing,” he whispered softly, making Patton smile softly.
Janus got up, collecting the empty dishes and taking them to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Patton got Virgil cleaned up and took him upstairs. Sassy was right behind them, knowing that it was the kid’s bedtime.
With the food put away, dishes in the sink to be washed tomorrow after breakfast, and a full stomach, Janus went out to the back porch, sitting down on one of the love benches that Patton was insistent that they needed.
He took off his blazer, putting it on the back of the bench. He loosened up his
He was only there for a few seconds before one of the doors opened and he turned around to see Patton coming out.
“Sassy and Virgil are out like a light,” he sighed, sitting down next to him.
Janus pulled him close, kissing his head. “You happy to have some quiet time?” He asked into his ear. A hum was the only reply that was given, and he didn’t push for more.
Sitting there, in the quiet, was what they needed. After a day of work and a day of chasing around a toddler, they finally had the peace and quiet they wanted.
The silence was temporarily interrupted.
“Happy five years, Janus,” Patton said quietly.
It was a welcomed interruption
“Happy anniversary, my love.”