Welp, I was just gonna leave this as a one-shot, but apparently I have more ideas, so here we go again?

XXX

Janus appeared in his room and immediately flopped onto his bed with a deep, frustrated sigh. He had spoken far too many truths in the past few minutes, and most of the lies he did tell were more sarcasm than actual lies. He'd gone out on a limb and given the truth a shot, despite how difficult it was, but it hadn't really seemed to help. The other sides just wouldn't listen to him. Which, yes, he expected that from the Light Sides because they never wanted to listen to anyone but themselves, but he really had thought that Virgil would understand why he was so frustrated. Until recently, no one had ever listened to Virgil, either. How many times had Janus listened to the other side rant about exactly that, only for Virgil to conveniently forget what it was like as soon as he didn't have to experience it anymore? Janus really was just trying to do what was best for Thomas- they all were- and he hated that his input was almost never considered. Hell, Thomas didn't even want to know he existed until recently.

Ugh, he loathed the truth.

"The sky is green. I have blue eyes. Cats are fish. Pollution is good for the Earth. I love the cold," Janus lied to the room.

Along with the blatant lies came relief. Sure, they weren't serious lies, and just about anyone listening, if there was anyone to listen, would have known they weren't true, but something about how blatantly false they were felt good. Sure, half-truths were fun because people had a hard time disentangling true from false, but they didn't scratch the itch in the back of his head like true lies did.

Did the others even realize how much he had been speaking the truth in that conversation? Or did they just assume he was still lying? Is that why they weren't listening to him?

Wasn't it obvious when he was telling the truth? Surely, they couldn't think that he'd been lying when he said he was trying to help Thomas get what he wants, could they? They knew he didn't have to lie all the time, that he could tell the truth with some effort. Was his effort really not noticeable? To him, every truthful sentence had felt like he was speaking around a mouth full of marshmallows. How could they not see how hard saying all that was for him?

Well, the others were dense, but Virgil should know better. Virgil knew him, knew how to tell when he was lying and when he wasn't, and he must have known that he was mostly telling the truth back there.

Had Virgil known and still not cared?

Janus froze at that thought. Did Virgil really not care?

Of course, he knew that they had that falling out a while ago, but he had thought (hoped) that they would get past that eventually. But maybe Virgil wasn't just mad.

Maybe Virgil hated him now.

Maybe, now that Virgil was with the 'good guys', he didn't want Janus anymore- didn't need him anymore, and he would never need him again. Maybe he was fine with his new friends, and there was no point in making up with a 'lying snake' like him.

But where did that leave him?

It was all well and good for Virgil to run off and make new friends, but what was he supposed to do? They were friends, but there was only so much of Remus he could handle, and even when they spent time together, the other side had almost no interest in having any real kind of conversation. He would just spout off whatever inappropriate nonsense popped into his head, and the few times Janus had tried to have a serious discussion with him, he'd just turned it into a huge joke. And maybe Janus was lying to himself when he said that didn't sting a bit.

Well, it wasn't entirely Remus's fault. He was Dark Creativity, Intrusive Thoughts, after all, just as Janus was Deceit. He couldn't help being random and disturbing any more than Janus could help lying. Which meant that, while not impossible, it was tiring to do, and Remus had little motivation to rein himself in.

Really, what was he supposed to do now? Part of him had always assumed that Virgil would come back to this part of the house eventually, come back to him eventually. Now, he wasn't so sure. But Janus had been holding onto that idea ever since Virgil left. The loneliness was bearable because he thought there was an end in sight, an ending to feeling like this, to being alone. Surely, he'd thought, that Virgil would come back any day now. He would be back, and everything could go back to the way it used to be.

Funny how Janus really had been lying to himself and he hadn't even noticed.

"Thomas was wearing a red shirt today. Roman hates theatre. Logan hates reading," Janus continued lying. "Patton hates hugs. Virgil… Virgil hates... music…"

As Janus stared up at the ceiling reciting his lies, his pet snake slithered beside him, appearing from who knows where. Its smooth, scaly skin brushed against his face as it slithered on top of him, eventually curling up on his chest. He brushed a gloved hand down its long back and finally looked away from the ceiling to refocus his gaze on his pet.

"Well, at least I never have you," Janus told the reptile.

The snake turned its head to look back at him, flickering its tongue out with a blank expression.

Things had been easier when Thomas and the sides were all young children. The other sides hadn't minded his dishonesty much back then, especially before Patton really started getting an idea of social norms. Back then, the others were happy, even, when one of his lies would earn Thomas an extra cookie or something (really, what was the big deal if he already had one? It was only one more). But it hadn't taken long for Patton, and therefore Thomas, to learn that 'lying is wrong', and from there, Creativity had declared him to be a villain and the others followed suit. Remus had been rejected almost immediately after the split. It had taken a bit longer for Virgil to be rejected- after all, before Thomas really knew of the world's dangers, Virgil had little to fear or protect him from- but he was eventually excluded as well. Then it was just the three of them. And that was just how it was, how it was supposed to be.

He'd once thought that the Light Sides were just unforgiving, inflexible jerks, but they accepted Virgil back after all this time. What was so wrong with him that they wouldn't even let him join in their discussions without throwing a fit?

The corners of his eyes began to feel wet, but he wouldn't let himself cry. He wasn't going to cry over this, over them. What good would his tears do other than make his face all red and puffy? It's not like it would change anything.

His snake moved its head forward, lightly hitting his cheek with its nose. He sighed, giving the animal a weak smile.

"I hate you so much, my serpentine enemy."

And even though I had intended for this to be a one-shot, I'm apparently going to write another chapter after this one too. Maybe a few more chapters.

I cannot help it; I just really like this slimy boi.

And btw, I'm not gonna include any 'Orange Side' OC or Remy in this or anything. I just don't really want to. So, yeah, the gang's all here. I'm also not sure how much Remus is going to be in this 'Cuz he's pretty new, so…

(DECEMBER 17th EDIT: I slightly edited this part to match up with a later chapter)