I'll Find You... I Promise

Chapter 5

Janus was rewarded with a foam smack in the chest, "Shush you evil tyrant. For the crimes of kidnapping a prince and taking away my best friend, I sentence you to death."

"Oh, but it is not me who it as at fault, but the cruel world that shaped me," Janus said, fully aware that this 'cruel world' he spoke of was just the combined brain cells and imagination of three children, "Such a cruel world will continue to create monsters like me until the system is changed and bettered in a way where there is no evil for monsters like me to be created from."

"Wrong! Cause evil always loses to good and I am good." Roman declared before 'stabbing' Janus with the sword square in the chest.

Janus gasped as his dramatic death scene began (because if he was going to die, he was going to die with style goddammit), saying things like 'oh the agony' and 'Is that a light I see at the end of the tunnel' etc, etc, until all three younger boys were giggling then, and only then, did Janus fall limp to the ground, but not before gathering all three of them in his arms and bringing them down with him, even going as far as pinning them underneath. The laughter continued as the boys put minimal effort into trying to escape, Janus smiling smugly the whole time.

He looked up at the door only to freeze when he caught side of Patton standing at the entrance with wide eyes and a hand to his heart. Janus was quick to scramble off everyone, though still careful not to injure them, "No one was hurt I swear," he raced to say when Patton realized he had been caught, "It was all pretend."

Patton looked around the room and gave a shrug, "Okay, you kiddo's ready for dinner? Papa made chicken Alfredo."

The twins cheared and Virgil, caught up in all the excitement, jumped up and down along with them before following the twins as they all made a dash to the dining room leaving Janus alone with Patton. Janus was slightly stiff as he made his way out of the twin's bedroom.

"You looked like you were having fun," Patton commented on their way.

"Uh, yeah..." He mumbled, there was a pause in conversation that lasted barely five seconds before Janus spoke up again, "You're not mad?"

"That you were playing with your brother and the twins? Of course not."

"But... I'm sixteen, I'm too old for pretend and I'm a lot bigger than them."

Patton gave a shrug of indifference, "When the twins learn to trust us, Lo and I were constantly getting roped into games of pretend. I think I've been forced to play the princess at least a hundred times by now. And I'm sure you're aware of your strength, no one got hurt, like you said."

"But-"

"It's good to indulge your inner child every once in a while Janus," Patton told him with a smile as they were about to reach the dining room, "Especially with a life such as yours, where you've had to grow up so fast. You're more than welcome to hang out with your brother or the twins whenever you want as long as they don't mind including you."

Janus stopped in his tracks, "Really?"

"Of course," Patton said, turning back to face him, "Why wouldn't you be?"

The teenager gave what must have seemed like a pathetic shrug, "Just, I don't know. Ryan said that I'd be allowed to visit Virgil if he got adopted but then a month passed and it still hadn't happened and no one was telling me anything. I had kinda just assumed you guys weren't gonna let me because you wanted Virgil all to yourselves or wanted to erase me from his memory or something."

Patton looked heartbroken at Janus's honesty, "Kiddo of course we wouldn't do that! We would never! Logan and I didn't even know Virgil had a brother until today."

"Yeah, I-I know that now," Janus said as he rubbed at his arm, "Sorry?"

"You have no reason to be sorry Janus," Patton assured him, "Look, Kiddo, I know this doesn't mean much right now, and I know that it might take us a while to prove it to you, but Logan and I would never, and I mean never separate you and Virgil from each other. Okay? And we're going to make absolutely sure that you two stay together. Alright? Sound good?"

They weren't going to separate them? But, did that mean they were getting rid of Virgil? Of course it did, Ryan already told him they were only looking for one kid. Not only that, but they were looking for a kid younger than fourteen. And Janus hadn't exactly made the best first impression, had he? Not to mention every single other reason people had decided not to adopt the two of them, Virgil's brain, Janus's scars, too much for most people to handle. So of course that's what it meant.

Janus sighed, great. As happy as he was that he and Virgil were going to be kept together he did feel slightly guilty for causing Virgil to lose this. He could tell his brother was happy here, even if Logan and Patton had said he hadn't said anything until Janus came for him. Somehow, despite his lack of talking, he still got along with those twins splendidly. Roman and Remus actively included Virgil too, they slowed things down when he needed it and went at his pace. Not many people had ever done that for his brother. Logan was able to explain things to Virgil, able to make things click in his brain so he not only knew how to do something but understood it. Janus had been helping Virgil with homework since he first started and Virgil was never able to understand. Patton was so sweet and kind to the little gremlin, he didn't bat an eye at Virgil's weird quirks or get mad when Virgil made a mistake. And they all knew how to take care of him, of his anxiety, of his brain. They got him things to help him, they were really good people. Was Janus really willing to take that all away from him? Was he really that selfish?

"Janus?" Patton asked after getting no response, "Okay?"

Janus nodded, "Okay," he mumbled, forcing a smile on his face to match Patton's, "Thank you."

The Sander's had already made their decision to get rid of Virgil. He just had to accept that he was wrong, that Virgil had it good here and hadn't needed him after all, and that he had just made another catastrophic mistake.

Word Count: 2457