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Aaaah, I meant to have this chapter posted a few days ago, but due to various reasons, that did not end up happening. Here it is now, though!

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The next morning, Janus found himself at the kitchen table with both Logan and Patton, as they all ate toast smeared with their own favorite type of spread- with Logan and Janus eating toast with Jelly and Patton having toast covered in what was hopefully Nutella- and only Nutella.

"So, how'd you like movie night, Kiddo?" Patton asked Janus, sending him a grin wide enough that Janus wondered how his face didn't hurt.

"It was fine," he replied evenly.

And it was fine- actually, it was fun, loathe as he was to admit it, even to himself. Somehow, over the course of the night, he'd managed to almost completely forget his suspicions about what Virgil and Roman were up to, and he'd had a good time. They ate snacks and cracked jokes and chattered about silly little things while they watched a few movies, and Janus found it practically impossible to not get swept up in it. It was so close to the exact thing he wanted. To just be able to sit and have a good time with the others. The only things that were missing were Remus and Thomas. If the two of them had been there, it would have been perfect.

It was such a shame that he knew it couldn't have possibly been real.

"That's great!" Patton exclaimed. "You know, I was really surprised when Virgil said he wanted to have a movie night with you, but I'm glad it worked out!"

Janus nearly spat out his latest bite of toast.

"I'm sorry, what?!" he questioned after hastily swallowing it. "Virgil planned it?"

Patton tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah? Didn't he tell you?"

He most certainly hadn't.

"He told me it was your idea."

And, oh, this only confirmed what Janus thought. Virgil was up to something. Roman, too, probably. They were up to something, and that something involved him, and he did not like the idea of that.

Patton's eyebrows furrowed.

"Not this time," he replied. "Virgil said he wanted to try to fix his relationship with you, so he thought movie night would be a good start."

What.

"What?"

He turned to Logan, who nodded in agreement.

"Yes. We were surprised, but he seemed rather earnest," Logan supplied.

"... And you're… sure you didn't mishear him?" Janus asked.

"Pretty sure, Kiddo," Patton replied with a chuckle. "So, do you wanna join us for the next one?"

And Janus wasn't sure what he should do with that information. He wanted to be suspicious- he was still suspicious- but there was a part of him that couldn't help but remind himself of how awkward Virgil had been when he'd invited him. He hadn't seemed mad about it. Just awkward and unsure- and was this the reason why? Could it possibly be true that Virgil had really decided he wanted to settle the bad blood between them? And had he lied because he's plotting something, or was it because he was embarrassed?

Janus, despite being the Lord of the Lies, couldn't quite tell, and he couldn't quite decide how to feel about it. Hurt and hope were fighting themselves in his chest, and neither one seemed to be able to win the battle.

"...I'll consider it."

XXX

They had a problem- a huge problem.

Their plan was starting to fall apart.

Because- damn it- Virgil had forgotten how much he used to like hanging out with Janus. He hadn't even realized how much he'd missed the man's sarcastic quips, or his reaction to being teased, or how nice it was to just sit in companionable silence with him.

At first, Virgil and Roman had just been continuing on as they had planned. They found excuses to include Deceit in things, they were nice to him, and they tried to get him to lower his guard and extend some trust to them.

But that quickly went down the drain, at least on Virgil's end.

It didn't escape him that Janus was suspicious of them- he was, after all, keeping a close eye on how Janus reacted, so he could see just about every time the man's eyes narrowed at them- but his close scrutiny also gave him insight into the snake's other reactions. Sometimes, when they were nice to him, Janus's eyes widened in surprise instead, and sometimes- damn him- they lit up with warmth and happiness, too, and seeing that, for some god-forsaken reason, made Virgil's own chest feel light as well. He didn't miss it when Janus let his guard down as he laughed at one of Patton's better puns, or the way he started getting increasingly comfortable with having short debates with Logan- nor could he miss the passion with with Janus could argue his position, something which Logan seemed to appreciate as well. He couldn't miss the way that Janus seemed to be spending more time with all of them willingly, instead of being forced by Patton, and he couldn't stop thinking about how much more often he heard Janus laughing with Remus in his room when he would sneak by to try to spy on them.

Even worse, he couldn't help but notice when Janus did actually start to let his guard down around them, when he started to be nicer to them in return and, sometimes, Virgil forgot that this was part of a plan to figure out what the deceitful side was scheming. And when Virgil really saw how happy Janus was that they all seemed to have accepted him, the guilt stabbed into his heart so deeply that he couldn't have been prepared for it.

It all came to a head when he and Roman were talking to Janus in the living room, having a good time, and Janus somehow started talking about yarn, of all things- about all the different kinds and their purposes and what materials worked best for what, and the man was beaming- and then, as if he suddenly realized what he was saying, Janus quickly cut himself off and his expression fell. And then Janus quickly muttered something to them and left the room, and Virgil- Virgil somehow felt disappointed.

He and Roman sat there in silence for a minute before either of them decided to talk.

"... Hey, Princey…," Virgil spoke hesitantly. "I think I fucked up our plan."

Roman blinked at him, as if he was surprised, and Virgil began to explain himself before Roman could ask him what he meant.

"I'm sorry. I know that we were doing this for Thomas's sake, but…," Virgil told him. "God, I didn't realize how much I missed him. And I… I actually like spending time with him now. I haven't been pretending, not for a while now, at least… I'm sorry."

He was worried that Roman would get angry, that Roman would yell at him. But Roman only let out a deep sigh and dramatically fell back into the couch.

"No… No, I…," the man started. "Me too. It's been… nice to be friends with him instead of being enemies."

Roman ran a hand over his face.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

And wasn't that the question? Virgil mulled it over in his mind for a while before responding.

"I don't know, but…," he said. "Maybe… Maybe we were wrong? About all this?"

He fidgeted in his seat.

"I mean, we've been watching him this whole time, and we haven't really noticed him actually doing anything, and it's been so long at this point that, if he did have some kind of plan, he would have tried it by now, right?" Virgil justified. "Like, I hate to say it, but maybe we've just been acting like idiots this whole time?"

"He was hiding something, though…," Roman mused. "He still is, I think? But… it might not have been something to hurt Thomas after all."

Virgil ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah…," he agreed. "So, what? Should we call the plan off?"

Roman turned away, shrugging his shoulders in an uncharacteristic manner.

"I mean, I… I have been enjoying his company, but…," he explained. "I don't know if I completely trust him quite yet. He could just be playing the long game like we have. And he is hiding something…"

The prince sighed.

"So maybe we just… keep an eye out? Like, we can just make sure he isn't up to something, but we maybe don't have to go out of our way to try to catch him scheming?" he suggested.

Virgil found himself nodding.

"Yeah… Yeah, let's do that," he agreed. "For now, at least."

"For now."

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Tfw you're trying to gain someone's trust to spy on them but you accidentally have a good time.

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