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As Mr. D looked himself in the mirror he couldn’t help but sigh. Today was one of those days that just didn’t seem to have anything good in store for him. His makeup wouldn’t cooperate, his papers had been scattered by the open window, his phone hadn’t been plugged in properly so it hadn’t charged, and, to top it all off, he had forgotten to do laundry so he didn’t have any clean socks. He felt horribly unprepared for the day and, honestly, he wasn’t surprised when he walked out the door and the handle of his briefcase broke, dropping the important item into the puddle that had formed thanks to the steady stream of rain that had been coming down for days. He stared at the case as Remus pulled up. With another sigh, he bent and picked up the leather case, watching the water slid off. He shook it gently before turning and making his way towards the waiting limo. As he got closer, Remus jumped out, splashing through several other puddles to open the door on the opposite side Mr. D would’ve gotten into. The agent looked at him feeling the bags under his eyes get simultaneously bigger and darker. He was sure that if he bothered to look in a mirror at this point, he would look like Virgil’s newest eyeshadow obsessed look. Remus smiled as he slid into the driver’s seat and looked back at his employer,
“Wanna see me do a magic trick?!” He hissed. Janus sighed again and hid his face in one hand,
“Not today, Remus, please. Just…let’s go to the office, yes?” He didn’t uncover his face in time to see Remus’ features fall slightly and shifting to the closest thing to concern that Remus could express.
The ride to the office was quiet, giving Mr. D’s mind ample time to wander. His phone buzzed lazily a few times and he glanced at the contact briefly before mentally groaning. He answered the phone quickly, turning his body away from Remus. The driver glanced at him, noting how Janus drew his shoulders up and his voice dropped low, trying to keep himself from being heard. He would’ve succeeded if Remus didn’t have above average hearing.
“Father, what do you want?” The agent breathed angrily, “No, I told you…yes, I know…no, I’m not going. You can plead all you want…I don’t care.” Here, Janus gave up on keeping his voice down and snapped into the phone, “No, I am not! I gave you my answer and if you want me to call her up myself and explain- in detail, I might add- I most certainly will. I have to go and do my actually job now, you know, things more useful than anything THEY would ever do.” He hung up the phone and tossed it aside, ignoring when it started buzzing again. When they pulled up to the office building, Mr. D exited the vehicle immediately, not even glancing at Remus as he disappeared inside.
Remus pulled away from the building and stared ahead as he drove, swerving casually back and forth. He had planned on starting his daily game of ‘how many police officers are actually paying attention’ but maybe he would put that on hold for a bit. He turned and shot a look over his shoulder before making an illegal U-turn and speeding down a familiar route.
Time dragged for Mr. D. He couldn’t seem to focus on anything and spent his time jumping from task to task without completing anything. By the end of his lunch, he’d somehow created more work than what he’d started out with that morning. It was with another long heavy sigh that Mr. D finally abandoned his attempts and stepped outside for a walk. The bustle of the busy street and the chaos of the populous added to the hubbub of his overactive mind. Family issues. How Janus wished he could just leave them all behind him. However, after years of showing no interest in each other, a family reunion was proposed and planned without taking anyone’s personal interests or schedules into account. The same family that had shunned his mother and pushed her to illness. That illness that had been kinder to her than anyone else, taking her away from the cruel life that fate had given her. How long he’d wished for that same fate to steal him away too. But no, life had deemed to give him a family worth caring for. He pulled out his phone to scroll through the various pictures that he’d taken in secret. Ones of Logan and Remus staring at insect specimens in fascination, ones of Virgil chilling with his oversized hoodie and headphones that looked ready to slip off at any moment, ones of Roman in the middle of performing for some imaginary audience, and ones of Patton in the middle of telling someone good morning. He found himself smiling before he sighed and turned back to wander towards his office once more. When he arrived, there was Remus and the limo out front. Worry creased Janus’ brow as he stepped forward quickly,
“Remus? What’s wrong?” The man looked up from where he was resting his neck on the edge of the window and rolling it up in jerky increments.
“Hello!” He grinned, “What’s wrong? Why, haven’t you heard??? The stock market denied my proposal to put people in actual stocks! Can you believe it?” Janus shook his head, feeling urgency fade and the melancholy returning,
“Shocking.” He turned and headed towards the door once more,
“Also, Roman wants to see you.” Janus stopped and turned back,
“Now?” He asked. Remus nodded, fishing around behind him and retrieving a large pair of tongs and using them to pull Mr. D’s door open. The agent blinked slowly a few times, prayed for patience, and dragged his feet to the waiting vehicle.
Mr. D watched with lifeless eyes as the world slid by the window. The AC blasted much colder than was necessary and he shivered slightly but didn’t bother to say anything. Best case scenario, Remus was trying to freeze him, worst case scenario, Remus had broken the car again, but Mr. D didn’t feel like uncovering the answer at the moment. On this thought, the limo came to a stop in front of the large fountain that Remus swore one day to overturn. As he dragged his feet out of the vehicle, he almost fell over when Remus raced around the car and wrapped his arms around him and squeezed. The hug, Janus could only assume it was a hug, had taken him completely off guard. Indeed, the agent would’ve fallen over if not for the grip that Remus had on him.
“Uhhhhh…” He glanced at Remus who was grinning at him with his eyes blown wide open. He wiggled his ears and let his tongue hover centimeters away from Mr. D’s face.
“Deh yeh feea leved nah?” He asked. Janus, if he had been fluent in Remus’ tongue out language would’ve known that he’d said ‘do you feel loved now’ but, since that wasn’t the case, he merely leaned away from the dripping tongue and squirmed uncomfortably.
“I’m not sure what I did to deserve this but if you could let me go, I would greatly appreciate it.” Remus released him, watching without remorse as Janus fell to the concrete with a thud. The agent groaned and pulled himself once more to he feet, not bothering to dust his clothes off or straighten his crooked bowler cap.
As he entered the Prince/Storm/Sanders threshold, he was again caught by surprise when Roman came almost sprinting into the room. The actor slid to a stop before throwing both arms around the agent and literally sweeping him off his feet. Mr. D grunted in surprise as his hat fled from his head and his briefcase fell open, sending papers everywhere. He tried not to scream in irritation when Remus immediately began to roll around on his important documents. Roman set him down, smiling that famous smile of his and looking for all things like a proud golden retriever puppy.
“Janus!” He greeted him happily, “I’m so glad you could make it! Patton is making banana pudding for dessert!” The news, it seemed, was supposed to mean something significant to Janus who really just wanted to be put down and to have whatever meeting Roman needed him for and then to go home and take a nice long hot bubble bath. Yes. He took bubble baths. Long ones with fancy soaps and ointments that made his skin feel all sorts of smooth and soft and wonderful. What he did in his downtime wasn’t anyone else’s business or concern.
“That’s wonderful, Roman.” He said dryly now that his feet had been returned to the ground. “What did you want to talk to me about?” Before Roman could get an answer out, though, another person entered the room.
Virgil had just turned 19 and was taking a year off school to consider his future and was working odd jobs here and there. The teen was still as angsty and awkward as ever and still had his skateboard tucked under his arm wherever he went. As he entered the room, his eyes were trained on his phone, scrolling through some website that was primarily black and gray in its color scheme. However, as he glanced up, he froze. His eyes widened and they darted around the room as if looking for a way out. They instead landed on Roman who looked expectantly at the boy. Virgil worried the ring in his lip, seeming to be asking for an excuse from the situation. Roman, it seemed, wasn’t having it as he raised his eyebrows at the teen. Virgil pursed his lips and stuffed his phone into his pocket and glanced up at Remus. Then, with a deep breath, Virgil moved forward stiffly and gave Mr. D the most awkwardly unsocial hug the man had ever received. No one was surprised when it lasted less than two seconds.
“Cool. That’s done. Bye.” Virgil darted away, keeping his head down but failing to hide the brilliant blush that burned his face. Janus stared after him.
“Okay. What the actual-”
“Janus!” Patton’s happy chirp interrupted whatever Janus was going to say and he was caught into another hug.
This time, it was more in character, but it was somehow still unexpected. Patton’s hugs were warm and welcoming, and Janus had been a happy recipient of them many a time but today seemed to be some sort of ‘Janus Hug Day’ which he neither expected nor particularly wanted. His confused stare must’ve gone completely unnoticed, however, because Patton carried on without a care,
“I’m so happy you could make it for dinner. Roman told me he’d invited you and it’s been so long since you came!” Janus squinted at the other man,
“I was here two days ago.” He tried to remind him. Patton, it seemed, was far too caught up in the happy prospect of having his little family all together again to pay any attention. He continued to ramble on about how wonderful it was and how nice it was of Roman and some other stuff that Janus didn’t bother listening too.
In fact, he tuned out most of the evening following that hug. He came back to the present sometime right before dinner and found that he had a cup of steaming tea in his hands and an open basket of kittens on his lap. He wasn’t even sure how he got there or where the kittens were from. They sprawled about, meowing in their little pitiful voices. He poked one with a gloved finger and wrinkled his nose. Patton came in with three bottles of milk and whisked the small creatures away after taking at least twenty pictures of the weary man with the little bundles of joy in his lap.
“Foster kittens, I’m allergic!” Patton and exclaimed, as if that cleared up anything and hurried off. Janus was left alone again and rose stiffly, making his way to the window where the loud droning of the cicadas was almost enough to drown out his thoughts. He didn’t move and he didn’t know how long he didn’t move for but the sound of someone struggling to open the door caused him to turn.
Logan, under the weight of several large encyclopedias, came stumbling into the room. His glasses were slipping down his nose and his face was screwed up in determined concentration. He huffed before glancing up and seeing the other person there. He blinked a few times before seeming to get lost in thought. He ran his tongue over his lips as he tried to remember. Then his eyebrows shot up,
“Oh, that’s right!” He waddled over to Janus and set the books down on his previously abandoned chair, “We’re doing the hug thing today.” He wrapped his arms around the man’s waist and rested his head on his chest.
Logan was almost tall enough to put his head on Janus’ shoulder. It was a sweet moment, Logan’s hugs were careful but trusting and Janus, for the first time that day, allowed himself to lean into the touch just a little and to pull the boy against him when his phone buzzed again.
“Oh for the love of-!” Janus drew back and ripped the phone from his pocket, took one glance at the contact, and marched to the window. He threw the glass panes open and hurled his phone out with enough force to shatter the device. Logan stared with huge eyes and gaping mouth.
“Uncle Janus…?” He asked carefully, causing the man to turn and look at him.
Janus looked insanely tired, Logan noted. His hair was a mess, his face was haggard, and his clothes were rumpled. Logan took all this in, noting how the man’s chest rose and fell and how he was blinking hard to keep his innermost feeling hidden. Neither said anything for a few seconds. Logan, innocent as ever, suddenly let out a huge yawn.
“Excuse me,” he said, rubbing at one eye, “I’m suddenly very tired.” Janus stared at him with a blank expression. Logan hesitated before sighing and coming forward.
He grabbed Janus’ hand and began to pull him towards the living room. It wasn’t difficult to manhandle him onto the sofa nor did Logan have an issue curling up against him, effectively trapping the man. Mr. D, for his part, automatically fell into the role of caregiver. His hand ran soothingly through Logan’s hair while his eyelids began to droop. It was less than three minutes before the man passed out altogether. Logan smiled up at him, noting how much more peaceful he looked. Remus came in a few moments later, holding a fishing pole and a ball of spaghetti but stopped to stare at the two one the sofa. Logan held a finger to his lips, begging his crazy uncle to be quiet for the sake of the slumbering mom-friend. It was with a shrug that Remus wandered back out and to the kitchen, telling Patton not to call the two to dinner.
When Mr. D awoke much later, it was to a heavy but not oppressive weight on all sides of him. He looked around to see the faces of those whom he cared about around him. Roman and Patton were on his right, Logan on his left, Virgil behind Logan with a protective hand resting on his brother’s waist, and Remus was resting on his legs, offering a grounding weight beneath him and all of them were sleeping peacefully. Tears that were long overdue began to spill from the man’s eyes. He tried to stifle his sobs with one hand, squeezing his eyes closed and trying to stay in control when a hand cupped his cheek, coaxing him to look up. Remus was staring at him with a soft smile on his face before he leaned forward and pressed a quick soft kiss to Janus’ forehead.
“We see you.” He whispered and let Janus burry his face into his chest as the tears overtook him.