#If you expected logical moral arguments you were sorely mistaken | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

becca-becky · 4 years

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when one door closes, fortune will open another

Relationships: Anxceit, Loceit, Moceit, Roceit, Demus. Can be seen as platonic or romantic for literally any of them if ya want, go nuts (although Roceit is probably the most romantic coded, tbh)

Summary: i.e. four times a side knocked on Deceit's door to ask him something and the one time Deceit knocked on the door of another to apologize.

Warnings/Notes: There’s a bit of crying, this fic mostly revolves around the aftermath of SvS Redux, Remus talks about a unicorn bleeding to death like, once and I think that’s primarily what you need to know? (lemme know if there’s anything else)

Also on Ao3!

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Loud, erratic knocking on his door startled Janus out of his reading. It was only a few hours since he had dealt with the aftermath of the wedding, what now? Cautiously, he put his book down on his couch and strolled to his door. Opening it, he was confronted by Virgil at his doorstep.

Virgil erupted with outrage at the sight of him, "Janus, I'm going to ask you this once and only once: what the fuck did you do to Roman?!"

Janus hummed non-commitantly, tightening the grip on his door handle, wishing he could just retreat back into his room and stop this already ruined discussion without the risk of Virgil breaking down his door and continuing it.

But Virgil persisted, "No, seriously. What the hell did you say to him to the point where he's fucking crying in his room and won't even talk to Patton?"

Janus raised an eyebrow at that, "I mean, it makes sense, since Patton sided with me on the issue and Roman... well, didn't,"

Virgil's face twisted into a scowl, his hands clenched into fists and quivering at the tension, "And are you going to tell me what that issue is?"

The look of genuine surprise that took over Janus's face visibly confused Virgil, but once again, he continued.

"Like, not even Logan's telling me what's happening. He's holed up in his room and I don't even know where Remus is because at least Remus tells me what's going on, even if he acts like an ass when he does-"

A single, gloved finger to Virgil's face cut him off.

Virgil stared at him impatiently as Janus collected his thoughts at the... implications of what he's been informed of. "To summarize the whole ordeal would take far too much time for my taste, but I'll give you the backbone of it. Patton was acting... a bit out of his depth with how Thomas reacted to the wedding, there was a discussion of ethics and selfishness and whether it's a good idea to do things for yourself, and somewhere in the mix, while I was advocating for my side of the argument, Roman... insulted me, I said some things that I regret as well and now we're all caught up,"

Virgil snorted, "Wh-what, did Roman make fun of your coat or something-?"

Janus took a breath, "Roman made fun of my name when I gave it to them in a show of honesty." Janus confessed, squeezing his clasped hands that were behind his back.

Virgil stayed silent, staring at the floor, "And what did you say?" He said with an almost soft tone, looking at him for an answer.

Janus cleared his throat and muttered, "'If it wasn't for the mustache, Roman, I wouldn't know who was the evil one,' or something akin to that,'" Janus pointedly looked at Virgil's forehead as Virgil gazed at him.

A silence stretched after the words were spoken. Janus, sighing, turned to close the door to his room and finally get out of this conversation, but Virgil put his hand on the door and pushed it back.

"I-" Virgil started, "I'm sorry,"

Janus chuckled to himself tonelessly, moving the door back so then Virgil didn't break it by accident, "You didn't say it, Virgilius, you have no reason to apologize,"

Virgil's nose scrunched at the use of his full name, "But-"

"No, Virgil, if someone would like to apologize to me, it would have to be from the man who called me a middle-aged librarian,"

Virgil's eyes widened with confusion, "That's the insult he said?"

"Yes," Janus affirmed, pulling at the rim of his glove. "Well, part of it," He added after a beat.

Virgil frowned. "Oh,"

Janus hummed again before responding, "Now, Virgil, if you expect me to stay out here and chat all night long, you would be sorely mistaken. I trust that you'll be going now?" He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

Virgil rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, see ya later, Jan,"

Janus huffed at his long hated nickname and closed his door, assured with the padding of feet moving away from his room, he wouldn't have to push Virgil back to his room (it would be a first, Virgil didn't like to visit often if he could help it)

Picking up his book, Janus settled back on his couch, safe in the fact that Roman would probably be fine.

II.

But, when the knocking came again early in the morning when Janus was asleep , he had a feeling that this might become a common occurrence. It couldn't have been Virgil, however, the knocking itself was too soft for him, like the person on the other side of the door wasn't accustomed to going to the 'Dark Side' of Thomas's mind, especially at this hour.

Struggling to get himself out of his warm, comfortable bed, he flicked on the lights and made his way down to the door.

Hesitantly, he opened it.

"Logan?" Janus asked incredulously, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing anything. Still, ever persistently, Logan stood at his door, looking barely put together.

Logan nodded his head stiffly, "May I come in?"

"Of- of course," Janus leaned away so Logan could enter, closing the door behind him.

Logan took in his room, looking around him. Janus tried to see his room from Logan's perspective. There was a bookshelf stuffed with books on a wide variety of topics in the corner, just next to his couch. His couch had a few fluffy pillows on it and a blanket that Janus thinks Creativity made him way back when carelessly tossed on it. A hat stand was by the windows with a small tree next to it on a little stand by the only window with the shades down, revealing the inky dark sky. There was a mirror behind the TV. The TV and the staircase had a desk in between them, a variety of pens and stationary decorating it with his laptop front and center. With the dim, warm lighting and ignoring the heat lamps, it was rather nice.

Logan moved to sit silently on the couch, trying not to take up too much space. His shoulders were tense but he looked at Janus steadily. Janus hummed, sitting next to him.

"Janus, I'd like to ask you a question," Logan said as soon as he sat.

"Go right ahead, Lo-"

"How did you get the others to listen to you?" Logan asked, simply but effectively cutting him off. "I've... I've tried over and over again to make them hear my side of the arguments we’ve had but I fail on every occasion. So, how did you do it?"

Janus stiffened at the inquiry. He didn't know. He honestly didn't. He just said what needed to be said, advocated for his side, the others realized he was right and that was it.

"I- um, don't know exactly, if I am to be completely honest," Janus smiled awkwardly at the unintentional joke, "I just said what I thought needed to be said,"

Logan's face fell, "Oh..."

"But, I suppose one step for you would be to stop acting like you don't have feelings," Janus amended.

Logan opened his mouth, ready to defend himself with a lie that Janus could sense from a mile away, and so could his room. Lies were basically impossible to be said here. Logan tried to speak, but only mouthed the movements. He shut his mouth when Janus sent a knowing glance his way.

"Everyone loves a sympathetic character, Logan. Act like yourself and the others may begin to realize how wrong they were about you. No one likes a liar, trust me on that," Janus joked.

Logan's eyes shifted over his face, "But what if that doesn't remedy the situation? What if it makes it worse?"

Janus winced at the sincerity in his tone, "Well, then, there's nothing you can do if it comes to that, really,"

Logan's eyes watered at the statement. Janus inhaled sharply. He held Logan's hands in his own, his hands laid bare without his gloves. Logan stared at the scales on his left hand and Janus felt his human side flush.

"Logan," Logan's gaze snapped to him, a few tears breaking over his skin, "If it comes to that, I'll be here to help you,"

"Wh-why?" Logan stuttered out.

Janus shrugged, "You're Thomas's logic, you want what's good for him as well. We all do," He lifted his left hand to Logan's cheek and wiped away his tears.

Logan nodded squarely, almost leaning into Janus's touch, and abruptly stood up, "Thank you for helping me, Janus," He said, his tone stiff but his eyes expressing an overwhelming gratitude that Logan couldn't have possibly expressed in words.

Janus smiled at him slightly, "No problem, Logan," and Logan sank down and out of his room.

III.

Rhythmic knocking alerted Janus of someone at his door. He was just feeding his snake, Angie, in his bedroom and became a bit preoccupied with petting her scales. Apologetically, Janus closed the opening to her cage and went downstairs get the door.

This time, however, the person at his doorstep was Patton. He held a notebook close to his chest and smiled when he saw Janus's face behind the door. "Hi, Janus! Can I come in?"

Janus opened the door wide as an invitation and let him in, closing the door behind him.

Patton beelined to his couch and sat eagerly, right by the fluffy pillows, "Nice place you got there, J," Patton complimented, scanning the decor.

"Thank you, Patton," Janus said haltingly before asking, "Not that I'm not enjoying your company, but what exactly are you doing here?"

Patton stared at him with wide eyes for a bit until he found the words to explain himself, "I've been thinking about this for the past few days, ever since the- um, incident. I wanted to know if you could teach me about ethics and morals? If you're up for it, of course, I wouldn't wanna pressure you to do something you wouldn't wanna-"

Janus cut him off before he went on an anxious rambling session, "Patton,"

Patton perked up.

"I'll tutor you on ethics and morals," He said.

Patton's face lit up as his smile grew wide. "Oh, really? Aw, thank you, kiddo!"

"No problem, you want to become better at your job and for Thomas's sake, we need to be the best that we can be," Janus ignored his resurging memories on Roman's outburst. "Of course, I'll need to come up with a lesson plan, see how well you know the topic, and then I need to research how to properly explain those unknown concepts to you in a way where we both know what I’m talking about, but it should be doable in the next week or so,"

Patton leaped up from his seat, dropping his notebook, and hugged Janus, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," He squealed right into his ear. Janus's face screwed up at the loudness of it but hesitantly returned the hug.

After a while, Patton broke away and held Janus's arms like a vice grip. "Thank you, Janus!" He then let go, picked up his notebook, and walked out of the room, a bounce in his steps.

Janus smiled at it. He did that.

IV.

Soft bangs on his door disturbed Janus's focus on his computer. Apparently, Patton only has incredibly basic -and rather shaky- knowledge on ethics and different philosophical ideologies (not exactly a surprise). So, Janus has been spending most of his free time researching teaching methods on intros-to-philosophy. He looked at the bottom right-hand side of his screen and muttered a few choice words. It's 12 AM, he'd gotten absorbed in his work again.

Getting up from his chair, he closed his laptop and walked to his door, rubbing his dry, irritated eyes. He should've asked Logan for help, he'd probably jump at the chance to get Patton to learn that a black and white viewpoint isn't the best thing that the figment of morality should have. Janus sighed tiredly. At least he was wearing somewhat comfortable clothes. Maybe he'll just go to sleep in those.

He yawned as he opened the door, "Hello..?"

Arms wrapped around his waist, and a head nestled itself on the junction of his shoulder and neck.

Hesitantly, he returned the hug. He's getting used to physical affection, with Patton hugging him almost every day with a thank you on his tongue for literally anything Janus did for him. It was odd, but becoming common.

He looked down at the red sash and white prince outfit in his peripherals. "Roman..?" He mumbled, idly rubbing his back up and down.

"I'm sorry," Roman said softly on his pulse, his words ingraining themselves on his skin. "I'm sorry about what I said about your name,"

Janus felt blood rise to his cheek but returned the words with the same sincerity. "And I'm sorry for what I said about you being evil," He regretted saying the insult as soon as Roman left Thomas's living room. But if Roman didn't return the feeling, why should he have to confess it to him?

Roman chuckled, thin and watery, "Thank you, but you might want to save that for Remus," He let go of the embrace and looked Janus in the eye, "I'm sorry it took so long for me to come and apologize for my rudeness. I was- caught up in something for a while,"

"Let me guess, you went to Patton to ask about apologizing to me," Janus said good-naturedly.

Roman's face turned red and he nervously ran a hand through his hair, "I- um, you could say that?"

Janus felt his lips curve into a small smile, "That explains the hug,"

Roman held up his hands, waving them around unthinkingly, "I- I panicked! I just did the first thing I thought of, which was Patton's advice on giving you a hug with some flowers as a peace offering," He said it with a strained voice like he was embarrassed by going with his instincts. “I should’ve given you the flowers, hold on-”

Janus put his hand on Roman's shoulder, trying to suppress the small shiver that came out of him. It was April, yet it was still a bit chilly in the 'Dark Side' of Thomas's mind and Janus's reptilian side didn't like that at all.

"Fight-or-flight has always been Virgil's thing, Roman," Janus said idly, gazing at Roman with a welcoming warmth. "And no, I’d rather you don’t give me flowers, I’m not your prom date. Although I do hope you won't jump a hug on the wrong person, Logan and Virgil would definitely be a no-no,"

Roman huffed before nodding diligently, smiling a bit as he did, "Yes, yes, mother,"

Janus snorted, "'Mother'?"

"Padre's the dad side, and you're the mom side," Roman said, his eyes squinting in thought, "You just seem like the type of side who anyone could go to for advice," He said finally, snapping his fingers as he did.

Janus hummed, thinking back to the past two weeks ever since the wedding, "That's not too far off, Roman,"

Roman's smile widened, before hesitantly taking off Janus's hand from his shoulder and clasping it in his own. His hands were warm and calloused, light indentations in his fingertips from an instrument, probably a ukulele since Thomas picked it up a while ago, and a sword based on the overall toughness of his palm- and Janus paused his thoughts on that. Why was he thinking about Roman's hands?

"I am afraid I'm going to have to leave, Lady Juno." Roman said sheepishly, "I've got to look over the monologue book Thomas got with him in the morning to see if there are any monologues he could use for auditions,"

"Okay then, well- wait, what?" Janus's brain caught up to the nickname Roman gave him, "'Lady Juno?'"

Roman winced, "You know because Juno and Janus are pretty connected in Roman mythology and I know I normally use pagan gods because -well, duh- but I never Roman mythology for some reason so I thought I could try it out with your name and all and-" Roman cut himself off, opting to look at Janus nervously, "I- I know it's not my best," He added on hastily.

Janus hummed, "I've heard worse,"

Roman's eyes lit up like a flame to dry logs, "Then I'll come up with something better, Jan!"

Janus's face soured at the nickname, "Just not that one,"

Roman laughed boisterously before tapping Janus on the nose with his pinkie, bidding him farewell, and prancing off to his room.

Janus still stood at his door, a question mark practically sitting on his head. His face burned as he stared blankly at the floor. What just happened?

All at once, Janus slammed the door closed and actually began thinking again. He leaned against the door, crossing his arms. He was hung up on one thing (well, more than one thing, but at the moment he was stuck on that one) Roman said to him during that interaction.

Roman said '-you might want to save that for Remus,'

Janus stared at the floor, racking his brain for any sort of insult that involved Roman and Remus. The one-liner he told Roman popped up in his head, the very thing he apologized to Roman for, 'Oh, Roman, thank god you don't have a mustache, otherwise between you and Remus-'

Oh.

Remus.

Janus stared up at the scratched-up door of Remus's room. The bright green paint on it was peeled, and blood, juice, and a white fluid were splattered on it. Janus never wanted to know how the white fluid got on there, or what it was, for that matter.

Hiking up his gloves, he knocked sharply on the door twice. Muffled shuffling was heard until it was paused with the opening of the door. Remus peeked over the door, his chipped nails bloodied and rough.

"Hello, Remus, may I come in?" Janus asked softly.

Remus shook his head and made a sound that was half-way between a huff and a whine, simply saying, "A unicorn's bleeding to death in here," despite the fact that Janus heard no sounds of any nature coming from his room, and also because he felt the lie Remus told, tingles and prickles being sent up his left side as he said it.

"Oh... would you mind if I just apologized out here, then?"

Remus's bloodshot eyes widened before nodding hesitantly.

Janus took a breath, "Remus, I'm sorry for what I said about you being... evil," He echoed his apology to Roman, because in a way, he insulted the two of them in the same sentence, yet in completely different ways, "I didn't mean to intend any harm, it was merely to... spite Roman because he doesn't like being compared to you, simply based on how different the two of you are. I'm so sorry," Janus almost winced at his apology. Jesus, he sounds so insincere, he can’t even find it in himself to blame Remus for not believing or not accepting his apology if he does.

Remus opened the door a bit wider and left the comforts of his room to stand in front of him, silently shutting the door behind him.

He looked down at the floor as soon as he did, his body shaking.

"Remus," Janus's voice sounded sensitive, vulnerable, even, "Please... please look at me,"

Remus looked up and made a choked up wail, pulling Janus towards him and latching onto him like an octopus.

Remus sniffled into his chest, burrowing himself into his cloak. Janus smiled sadly and returned the gesture, tucking Remus's head under his chin.

"I'm sorry, Remus, I truly am," He quietly uttered to him, Remus just gripping him tighter and wetting his shirt as a result.

Janus held Remus close as Remus cried on him, humming a simple made-up melody under his breath to try and ease him.

After a long moment of this, Remus looked up at him, snot stuck on his cheeks and tears still falling, and said, "Thank you,"

Janus chuckled, a confused smile teasing his face, "For what, Rem?"

Remus said it as though it was obvious, "For apologizing,"

Janus took a silent, sharp breath and leaned his forehead on Remus's. "No reason to say thank you for something that should have been done before, Remus," He said softly, a small smile on his face.

Remus giggled, his voice cracking.

They were going to be fine.

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what can i say, i love some hurt/comfort

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