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"Stop ignoring me!"
Remus smiles a shark's smile when Logan's eyes glow orange. He is supposed to be pleased at this point, he thinks. Instead, he just feels vaguely sick to his stomach, like someone's taken his internal organs and given them a good shake, right into a blender.
"Oooh, Logan, now you're speaking my language," Remus purrs, but it feels like every syllable is full of needles, sharp and pointed, slicing his throat to ribbons as someone rips them free of his lungs. "But who do you really want to scream that at?" He sinks down, and promptly bursts into tears, curled up in the center of Janus's bed, breathing in the spicy cinnamon and chai scent of his boyfriend.
"Remus?" Janus asks in concern, from the doorway. "Remus, what's wrong?"
"Everything," Remus hiccups. His face is blotchy red and his nose can't stop streaming snot into his mustache. Anyone else would probably be grossed out. Remus can't bring himself to care. His eyes are puffy and red-rimmed and they burn, like someone's poured a few drops of battery acid into his tear ducts. "I- I said- Logan-" He wails again, loud and sharp. Janus's arms come around him, pulling him close, uncaring of the tears spurting everywhere and the snot clotting his mustache.
"What about Logan?" Janus asks softly.
"Orange spoke through me," Logan says from the doorway, his voice calm and collected. Too calm. He sounds like he does when he talks to Roman and Patton sometimes, when they've spoken over him for the millionth time, and he's too tired to care anymore. Remus's stomach sinks to the tips of his shoes. He's fucked up. He's fucked up so badly, and he doesn't even understand why. This was supposed to be a simple day. Logan had scheduled everything perfectly.
And then Remus came around to fuck it all up. His intrusive thoughts just kept bulging out of his head like the skin was about to split open and birth a thousand squirming, wriggling maggots, blood, and brain matter into the world, and he just-
He fucked up.
"I'm sorry!" Remus blurts out, as Janus rubs soothing circles into his back, comfort he doesn't deserve, not truly. It belongs to Logan, not him. He's not the one who became Orange's puppet today. He's not the one crammed full of orange juice energy, squished into every crack and crevice of his being.
"Apology accepted," Logan says, and he doesn't sound cold anymore, he just sounds...tired. Remus could weep in relief and he does, as Logan joins them on the bed, wrapping his arms around Remus and Janus both.
"Are you all right?" Logan asks. "Your intrusive thoughts..."
"Peachy!" Remus says, his voice cracking on the word. Logan frowns, then pulls him closer.
"We'll figure it out," Janus says softly, his tone warm and soothing. It's enough to make Remus's eyelids start to droop, worn out after the near panic attack and fit of crying. Janus summons a clean handkerchief and gently wipes off his face, banishing the cloth into nothing when he's finished. Normally, Remus might protest at the removal of another layer of grime, but he just sighs in relief this time, glad to have the mucus and residue of tears wiped free.
"So Nico, huh?" Remus asks in a watery voice, attempting an eyebrow waggle. Logan smiles at it, and Janus even laughs, a short, soft burst that makes Remus's chest warm and fuzzy, like a baby caterpillar.
"Nico," Logan agrees. He sounds a little too worn out for Remus's liking and his arm tightens around Logan's back, yanking him closer.
"Your schedule was a great idea, Lo Lo," Remus says loyally. "If Thomas doesn't listen next time, I'll nail his fingers to a chalk board."
"I don't think that would help, cephy," Logan says. "But thank you."
The waves of intrusive thoughts that usually batter his brain recede, at least for now, and Remus leans against his boyfriends, soft and safe and warm.