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Things have been tense since their discussion after the wedding, Patton was still the only one who fully accepted Janus. Logan would begrudgingly admit it, only because it was beneficial for Thomas’s health; he was still mad at him for pretending to be him. Virgil wouldn’t speak to anyone about it, only growling in frustration before deciding on the silent treatment. All that left was the twins, Remus did not seem to care. Just joyful to tease Janus about being a light side, but Roman, on the other hand, still hated Janus and took every opportunity to shut him down. Even after Janus apologized for calling Roman evil.
During these tense times, spring and summer seemed to drag on and yet it was over already. Fall had begun and soon the winter months would begin, Janus would be lying if he said he was prepared for winter. It wasn’t like his snake features weren’t literal, noooo, that would just be too cruel. It wasn’t like he actually sheds, or needs constant heat, or barely eats, or actually shuts down when it's too cold outside.
And yet, winter came and it was the coldest Florida has ever been. Janus hated every minute of it, he hated being outside of his room. In his room he had heated blankets, a heating lamp, and an insulated room to keep heat inside. When he had to leave his room, he would wear extra layers of clothing and thicker gloves for his hands.
They’ve turned blue once from lack of heat, Janus suspects the same would happen to his entire body if he lets it. Which of course he would never allow; he has all the heating and warmth he’ll ever need inside his room.
Now, if only the twins didn’t join forces to prank him, that would be wonderful. You see, Remus and Roman decided to reverse every single heating blanket, heater, and lamp. Instead of heat, he’ll get cold. And of course the universe just loves to mess with him, so on the coldest day of winter in Florida, he decides to use everything at once.
Twenty minutes into it, he could barely move.
Thirty minutes, he couldn’t speak.
One hour, he blacked out. The cold still being blasted on him, his once warm heaven is now an ice box. Janus knew he couldn’t die, but he could be temporarily taken out of the picture if something did happen to him. If he “died”, it would just take about a week to regenerate, but if he froze? He didn’t know if he would die or just be trapped in an eternal icy cage of darkness. He didn’t know how long he had been out, he just knew that he could hear voices. They sounded distant.
“You could’ve killed him!”
“We can’t die, Patton.”
“Well, he certainly doesn’t look alive.”
“We didn’t mean-” The voices were drowned out as he focused all his concentration on opening his eyes. He was able to blink a few times before looking into a bright light, everything was blurry. Just barely focusing on one shadow that looked suspiciously like Virgil, it seemed to be talking to him.
“Hey, can you hear me?” Can he hear him? He felt his eyes close again and darkness consumed him, the cold still piercing his skin. It was like a magnet, forever holding onto him until suddenly it just let go. He didn’t feel cold, but felt warmth. It replaced the bitter chill he’s grown used to, and to replace it was a burning sting.
It was hot.
It was painful. It was burning him; he was on fire; make it stop .
Make it stop.
Make it stop.
Make it stop .
He tried to thrash and scream, whether he was succeeding he didn’t know. He would feel the heat submerge him all around, like he was in water. Boiling hot water, like it was trying to cook him alive.
Janus tried to scream again.
He opened his eyes to see Patton and Logan holding him in the water. Burning him, boiling him. They were talking, but he was screaming; he thrashed around more until he could feel hot burning tears stream down his face. It was like they were searing into his skin, even past his scales. Before he blacked out again, from pain this time, he got a good look at his arms.
A bluish purple tinged, dyed black at his hands.
He fell into a deep sleep, nightmares of burning alive, surrounded by fire. His skin peeling off, practically melting off his flesh and bone. Then it would change to being drastically cold, his arms turning as black as the ash from the fire. It was crawling up his skin, his scales turned into a deep blue that looked like cracks in his blackened arms. For what seemed like eternity did this nightmare continue, he would scream, cry, beg for anything. For it to all be over, sometimes Janus would think he would hear whispers of comfort being lost in the icy winds. Or coos of endearment in the flames that seemed to have risen from hell.
“Janus?” He could hear a soft voice call to him, his mind went to darkness. When he opened his eyes, he was met with bright painful light. He flinched back and soon only a soft glowing light from the fireplace was illuminating the room he was in. He slowly looked around the room, he was in the living room of the mindscape. There was a roaring warm fire. It was nice, but not enough to keep the chill he had off. He looked over in front of him was a purple shadow who was cupping his face with very warm hands. He sighed and leaned into them.
“Snakey, can you hear me?” The soft voice called to him, his vision focused on the purple blur for it to come into focus as Virgil .
“Vir-gil?” Janus whispered as a sharp chill went through his entire body. He shifted slightly, groaning as he felt the constrictions of the heavy warm blankets that were placed on him. He tried to sit up, only for Virgil to push him back down.
“Ssshh, it’s ok Janus. Just rest for now, Logan’s making you some nice warm tea.” Virgil whispered, brushing the hair out of Janus’s face.
“C-c-cold.” Janus shivered again, Virgil’s hands were so warm. When Virgil started to pull away, Janus subconsciously followed the warmth of his hands.
“Here, let me just-” Virgil started shifting the blankets around Janus and was able to sit him up as Logan came into the living room with what seemed to be a hot cup of tea. Janus took his arms out of the blankets slowly, he noticed how much he was shaking. From cold or stress he wasn’t sure, but he did make a small crying noise when he looked at his arms. Blacker than ash with an icy cold blue color between his scales. Logan held his arms as he gently placed the cup in Janus’s black hands.
“It’s really hot, so take little sips to warm up your core.” Janus nodded his head as another shiver ran up and down his spine, attacking all of his nerves and making him shiver. The worst part of being half snake during the cold weather is that he wishes he could just sleep it off like other reptiles, but nooooo.
He was also half human, and humans or warm-blooded creatures shivered (or vibrate as Remus once said) to stay warm. So here Janus was, exhausted and very cold, with no control over his ‘vibrations’. As it turns out, having Janus hold the hot mug of tea wasn’t a good idea, his hands were shaking so badly that the hot liquid would spill on his hands. Logan ended up taking the mug away from him as he continued to shake and shiver; he was also starting to nod off.
“Janus.” Logan’s voice was surprisingly soft for someone who claims to be “emotionless”. “Would it be beneficial if Virgil and I, cuddle you?” He was hesitant but Janus didn’t care, he would cuddle the fire right now if he could.
“Y-yes, ple-ease.” Virgil carefully unwrapped the heavy blankets from around Janus as Logan and Virgil leaned into Janus and re-wrapped the blankets around them. Janus nearly cried at the warmth, he finally stopped his consistent shivering. Logan who could still reach the mug of tea brought it up to Janus’s lips.
“Drink slowly, it’ll help you.” Janus took slow small sips, savoring the flavor and warmth. He could feel the warm liquid going down his throat and into his stomach immediately warming his core slightly. It was helped when Virgil wrapped a single arm around his waist. Logan still needed one arm to let Janus drink, and Virgil brought up his other arm from underneath the blankets to pet his hair and scales. The more they stayed like this, between the two sides and the little sips of tea, he started to doze off.
“Sleep well little snake,” He heard one of them whisper, whether it was Logan or Virgil he didn’t know, before he felt a kiss on top of his head and slipping off into a more comforting darkness. This time, instead of torturous dreams of intense heat and cold, he dreamed of a sunflower field, a sunning rock, and a beautiful sunny day.
It was perfect.
When he woke up again, he felt a lot warmer. He looked around and found Logan and Virgil still curled into him, the mug of tea all gone; on his lap was a sleeping Patton without his glasses. And on the floor were two sleeping twins; he chuckled at them as they were cuddling each other. He then remembered he was supposed to be mad at them, after all, it was their fault he turned into a popsicle. He shifted slightly, inadvertently waking Virgil and Logan up. They both looked up at him and smiled.
“Morning.” Logan yawned as he leaned over and kissed Janus’s cheek, Virgil also yawned and kissed the top of his head. Janus turned bright red and shifted some more, which ended up waking the sleeping Patton.
“Oh, Janus! You’re awake!” The excitable heart leaned forward and lightly pecked Janus’s lips. “Good morning!” Janus was absolutely flabbergasted at the sudden signs of affection and love, but his attention was quickly averted as he heard the clicks of a phone. He turned his head to see Virgil taking pics of the twins cuddling. Janus chuckled slightly; Virgil put his phone away and wrapped his arms around Janus’s waist and pulled him close.
Janus melted in the warmth and his tongue stuck out, Patton cooed and Logan made a noise of approval. They stayed like this a little while longer until they heard shuffling on the floor and looked over to the twins. They were starting to wake up slowly, Remus seemed to wake up to Roman hugging his waist. Roman then woke up to Remus’s arms wrapped around his shoulders. They both screamed and pushed each other away, everyone else laughed at them.
“Well, I’m going to go make some breakfast.” Patton announced as he got up and stretched his legs.
“Allow me to assist you.” Logan soon followed Patton, letting the cold air in, and Janus shivered. Virgil held onto him tighter, wrapping the blanket around themselves. The twins soon got up and rushed towards Janus.
“Janus, are you ok? We are so sorry.” Roman began, looking frantically at the snake-ish side. As if he would disappear.
“Jannie I’m so sorry I forgot how much of a snake you were.” Remus cried, both twins enwrapped Janus and Virgil into a group hug, giving Janus even more warmth. Janus sighed into the warmth, almost all of the chills were gone.
“Thank you, your apologies mean a lot.” Janus whispered. The twins shifted around the blanket burrito that was Virgil and Janus.
“Oh, but of course! I was still angry at you for everything that happened after the wedding. I just wanted to pull a small prank but-” Roman looked into Janus’s eyes, he brought a hand up and caressed his cheek. “I could have hurt you badly.” Remus made a noise of indifference as he held up one of Janus’s arms.
“Looks like we already did Ro.” Remus muttered staring at the black arms, it was a very different contrast to his veins and scales. They were a bright light blur that practically glowed, Janus honestly didn’t know if his arms would be fixed but at least he could still move his fingers.
“Mistakes were made, but I need my stuff to get fixed.” Janus said softly, pulling his arm away from Remus to snuggle deeper into the warmth that Virgil was providing.
“Already fixed, we’re just heating up your room now for you.” Roman said gently petting Janus’s face, he then suddenly leaned down and kissed his lips. Remus made a noise of offense.
“No fair! You got to kiss him first!” Remus then lunged forward to Janus and smashed their lips together, Janus made an undignified squeak and buried himself in the blankets when they pulled apart. Virgil gave a small laugh and held onto Janus tighter while whispering to the twins.
Janus definitely felt warm right now, especially in his face. He didn’t understand the affection, the softness, the kisses. Once the twins left, Virgil was able to coat Janus out of the blankets long enough to see Logan and Patton bustling around the kitchen preparing breakfast. He leaned farther back into Virgil, his face cooled down a bit but reheated when Virgil started combing his hand through Janus’s hair. If anyone asked, he didn’t make a whiny noise when Virgil scratched at his scalp gently.
“So cute.” Virgil whispered, snuggling his head into Janus’s neck, his warm breath tickling the snake's neck.
“M’not cute.” Janus whispered as he tried to hide underneath the blankets again. Virgil stopped him and cradled his head to his chest. Janus inwardly cursed for Virgil being taller than him, but he was so warm. Janus allowed Virgil to cradle and pet him until the twins came back with more fluffy warm blankets.
“There you are Janus,” Roman declared as he plopped the blankets on top of him and Virgil. “And Remus should be back soon with almost as many pillows, if not more.” Once Janus and Virgil were able to see over the giant mound of fluff he blepped at Roman who promptly “fainted” at the sight. Not a second sooner, Remus came down with armfuls of pillows of all sorts of sizes. Instead of throwing them on Janus and Virgil, like how Janus expected he threw them all on Roman.
Then Remus fell on Roman. After watching the twins roughhouse and wrestle for a few minutes, Patton called everyone to breakfast. Once Virgil and Janus were able to get most of the blankets off themselves, Janus tried to stand up but was promptly picked up by Virgil.
“Put me down! I can walk!” Virgil hummed a bit before nodding, no sooner did Janus put one step forward he was then picked up by Roman.
“Aha! Now I have the snake!” Despite his best efforts, Roman refused to put him down, instead he would pawn him off to Remus.
“Remus can you help me in the kitchen?” Patton asked him, Janus finally thought he was gonna be set down, but nope he was handed back to Virgil.
“Please put me down?” Janus asked, this time Virgil only smiled and shook his head.
“Nope, sorry noodle you won’t be back on the ground for a while.” It was like this all morning, nobody would put him down. Even when they all sat down to eat, Janus didn’t even get to sit in a chair.
He sat in Logan’s lap instead, and if Logan had to get up he was placed in Patton’s lap. The strangest of it all was that everyone was acting like this was completely normal, when just yesterday they all hated him. He was so lost in thought he didn’t eat much, he was still in Pattons’ lap and he definitely noticed.
“Janus what’s wrong? You’ve barely eaten.” Janus shook his head lightly.
“I am merely confused, Patton. I do not understand where all this affection is coming from?” The room was silent, Janus thought he did something wrong again.
“Well you see kiddo, when we found you you were-”
“A frozen snake-cicle!” Remus interjected.
“Yes, I know I was freezing in my room.” This time Logan cut him off.
“Janus, you were literally frozen. Ice solid, it took us nearly three weeks to-”
“THREE WEEKS?” Janus yelled nearly jumping out of Patton’s lap, if Patton wasn’t holding him down so securely. Once he calmed down a little bit and tried to ignore his panic Logan continued. Virgil got up to be near the panicked snake man, to help him calm down a bit.
“Yes, three weeks. Once most of your body has thawed, it was only the matter of keeping your body warm, getting fluids into your body, and periodically checking up on you. This entire experience has been terrifying. You weren’t dead, but you couldn’t use your function properly.” Once Logan finished Janus was trying not to let his panic be known, but the way Virgil was rubbing circles in his back and Patton running his fingers through Janus’s hair told him that they knew he was panicking.
“How long was I out?” Janus whispered, three weeks without self-preservation? How long until they found his body frozen? He somehow was able to steady his breathing as Virgil and Patton leaned him onto Patton’s chest.
“We think maybe five weeks altogether, four at best.” Roman said softly. “We didn’t realize where you went for the first week, the second week it took us forever to find you and to get into your room. After that it became a matter of thawing you out and keeping you healthy.” Roman finished slumping in his seat.
“All because of a stupid prank.” Remus muttered, stabbing his food, Janus stared at the table. Five weeks without him, over an entire month without him. He vaguely saw Virgil sit back down next to Patton, he finally acknowledged him when Virgil held his hand.
“That doesn’t explain the sudden interest of affection from all of you.” Janus stammered looking at his gloveless hand that was being held .
“We were so scared you wouldn’t return to us.” Virgil started, rubbing his thumb over Janus’s hand gently.
“We all became vulnerable with each other.” Patton continued, pulling Janus closer to hug him.
“We soon realized we had mutual feelings for each other, and that extended to you.” Logan explained softly, warmth filled his eyes.
“Roman and I decided that we could share you all between the two of us. Get the best of both worlds, ya know?” Remus grinned lopsided, making Janus chuckled softly.
“Our dear Jeykll and Lied, we don’t want to lose you. And if your willing, we, as a group, would love to have you as our partner.” Roman spoke honestly, the truth rolling off of him as Janus could sense it.
“I would love to join you guys.” Finally through ice cold hell and high water Janus finally felt safe. He felt at home.
He felt warm.