Okay, this next part is very much intentional angst. This part of the story centers around skin picking, and self harm will be mentioned. If this kind of thing isn't your cup of tea, you don't have to read it.

XXX

Once again, Janus found himself having been dragged out of his room. This time, it was to eat breakfast with the others, even though he was perfectly content with having breakfast on his own. Well, at least Virgil looked like he very much wanted to go back to sleep, if the way he looked like a zombie was anything to go by, so he wasn't alone in his early-morning misery.

Patton was making French toast while Roman set the table. Logan was cutting some fruit, as Patton had requested of him, and Janus had, despite having been dragged into this, brewed the coffee. Well, he made himself hot chocolate because he actually kind of hated coffee. For whatever reason, it made him nauseous, and he wasn't addicted to caffeine enough to justify torturing himself by drinking it. Virgil didn't have a task because of his half-dead appearance and the fact that he was quite possibly not even conscious at the moment, with his head resting on the table. Roman had to set Virgil's plate off to the side because his face was currently occupying the spot the plate was supposed to go.

Soon enough, the French toast was ready, Virgil was woken up, and they began to eat.

"So, does everyone have plans for the day?" Patton asked.

"I have to work on Thomas's schedule for a while, and then I was going to watch a documentary," Logan replied first.

"Oooh, what's the documentary about?"

"The history of toothpicks."

"Wow, way to live on the edge."

"Well, what are your plans for the day then, Roman, if mine are too boring?"

"I'm going to fight the dragon-witch!"

"... Again?"

"How many times have you fought them at this point?"

"Unimportant! There's a million battles I haven't won! Just you wait!"

"..."

"Well, what about you, Virgil?"

"I have to ruminate about stuff Thomas did when he was in middle school, but other than that, I'm free."

"... Do you really have to do that first part?"

"Kinda, yeah."

"... Alrighty, then," said Patton. "Janus?"

Janus had really been hoping that Patton would forget to ask him. Because he really didn't have anything to do, and he kind of hated that. Before he had to spend so much time with the other sides, Janus hadn't really noticed just how little he actually had to do. Thomas still didn't lie very much, and on most days, he did well enough on his own with the self-interest thing and didn't really need Janus's direct help. It was enough for him to just exist within the mindscape most of the time. But because of that, there wasn't much for Janus to do on days they weren't filming videos or when he wasn't in that day's video. He couldn't even scheme or try to come up with ways to make Thomas listen to him because, well… that would be rather pointless at this point, wouldn't it? Thomas may have accepted him and realized that he needed Janus sometimes, but that didn't mean that he needed him all the time. Or most of the time, even.

It was strange, but he felt like he did even less since Thomas accepted him than before. But by now, he'd come to the realization that he never actually had a lot to do in the first place. Looking back, he'd spent most of his time reading alone in his room, but he didn't really have to do that. It wasn't part of his job; it was just a way for him to kill time because he was, in reality, pretty irrelevant for the most part. It had just taken hearing about the busier schedules of the other sides for him to realize that.

Oh, and that had just been the most delightful realization to have. He'd thrown a fit over nobody listening to him, but he barely even said or did anything to listen to. He was surprised that the other sides had ever even attempted to include him, considering how little his input actually did matter. He felt like he had deceived them, which made sense because he was Deceit, but he hadn't been trying to. He really did think he was important for keeping Thomas happy. But it wasn't Janus who was needed to help Thomas.

And he had spent too much time lost in thought, apparently, because Roman was waving a hand in his face.

"You there, Worst Lies in London?"

Janus blinked, shaking himself out of his thoughts. Right. He was supposed to answer Patton.

"I don't have anything to do," Janus answered finally. "And the sky is blue."

Patton smiled.

"Would you want to help me bake cookies this afternoon, then?" he asked. "The rest of you can join if you want to, by the way."

"Um…," Janus stalled.

He kind of didn't want to bake cookies with Patton? But he kind of did? Well, whether he did or not, he could at least pretend he was doing something slightly productive today. Oh, what fun, ineffectively lying to himself.

"No, Patton, I won't bake with you this afternoon," he decided to say.

"Great!" Patton exclaimed. "Does anyone else want to join? Virgil?"

Virgil shrugged.

"Sure."

"Sorry, Padre, but I'll have to pass today."

"I'm afraid I'll have to pass as well."

"Well, alright. The three of us will just have to have fun without you two," Patton told them. "Is around 2 pm good for you guys?"

"Sure," answered Virgil.

Janus nodded.

It wasn't long after that everyone finished eating and got up to go their separate ways, at least for the time being.

XXX