Okay, so, they mostly just hint at it, but this chapter does deal with what happened in 'Gloves' a bit more than the last chapter. So, if you didn't read that part, the conversation in this chapter probably won't make much sense.

If you don't want to read the last part, though, the gist of it is that Janus picks his skin and the others find out about it.

Also, not to keep venting in my author's notes, but I'm like? Really mad? Sometimes, I'm unable to talk, which is something I'm working on with my therapist, but in my last session, instead of waiting for me to be able to speak, she turned off her camera? And then she sent me a message saying that it seemed like I didn't feel like doing our session today, so she was going to do paperwork and I should say something if I 'change my mind'. So, I ended up being unable to speak and barely able to move for the entire hour (even though I was trying to really hard), and once our time was over, she just, like, ended the zoom without even saying goodbye? And like, she knows I'm having a really hard time right now and that I literally CAN'T talk sometimes. So I'm just. Mad.

Anyway, back to your semi-regularly-scheduled programming:

XXX

Dinner had been tense, though Janus supposed it could have gone a lot worse. Roman was snippy the entire time, seemingly only seconds from fighting Remus at any given moment. Patton and Virgil tried to keep the peace in their own ways, though Patton was too disturbed by most of what Remus said to even try to defend him, and even Virgil reached his limit with the other side eventually. He was surprised to find that Logan seemed to tolerate Remus's dark thoughts the best other than himself. The logical side remained mostly unperturbed and would simply correct factually incorrect information as it came up, without trying to stop Remus from actually talking.

That was something, at least.

Nonetheless, Remus had to leave after dinner to go take care of something on his side of the imagination (probably a monster he wanted to fight), and he saw the way the other sides relaxed almost immediately after Remus left. The sight made him uncomfortable, both because he felt bad for Remus and because he couldn't help but wonder if the others would relax even more when he left as well.

And at that thought, Janus decided that he should probably leave as soon as he could. He was helping Patton with the dishes, though, so he would leave right after. He was glad that Patton had put him on drying duty because, as much as his gloves looked like the ones for washing dishes, they very much were not, and he didn't want to have to take them off.

But that left him and Patton in awkward silence that he certainly wasn't willing to break at the moment. And, surprisingly enough, it seemed like Patton wasn't willing to, either.

So, once the dishes were all clean and put away, Janus bade Patton goodnight and went to leave. He, however, found himself stopped by Virgil, who he hadn't even noticed was still in the kitchen.

"Hey, uh, I was wondering if we could talk real quick?" he asked.

"... Definitely not," Janus replied, sighing as he led Virgil down the hall to his room.

Janus had a feeling that this was a conversation he'd rather have privately. He was suddenly sure that Virgil was going to scold him for inviting Remus. Sure, he'd been fine with Remus just being in the living room to play games, but maybe inviting him to dinner was too far? It was, admittedly, hard to eat around the man sometimes, though he was used to it by now. And it wasn't like he'd even really asked- it just didn't seem right to send Remus off to eat alone when he was right there. Plus, Virgil had started getting annoyed eventually, and maybe he regretted letting Janus's attempt at including Remus slide.

It was when they reached Janus's door that Virgil started speaking.

"Dude, I don't know why you're freaking out, but I'm not, like, mad or anything," Virgil reassured him. "This isn't about Remus. Or, well, I do kinda want to talk about that, but I wanted to talk to you before I even knew he was around. Okay?"

Janus just shrugged and opened his door, gesturing for Virgil to enter.

"What didn't you want to talk about then?" Janus asked as he closed the door behind himself.

"Just, well…," Virgil stumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I wanted to check in with how you're doing? And, uh… I kinda wanted to apologize?"

"... For what?"

Virgil shuffled his feet awkwardly.

"I was just… reminded when you were helping Pat with the dishes… about the comment I made… about your gloves…," Virgil explained, sighing. "Look, I didn't know why you wore them when I said that, and I'm sorry."

"Oh, that," Janus replied, acting like it wasn't of any importance. "It's fine; it didn't bother me."

Virgil raised an eyebrow at him. Ah. He knew was lying.

"Alright, fine," he sighed. "It bothered me a bit, but I knew you didn't know about it. And really, I can handle a joke about my clothing. Plus, I insulted you right back."

"Okay," Virgil accepted, knowing he was forgiven. "But how are you doing? I know it's been a few days since, you know…"

Janus crossed his arms over his chest.

"Not much different than before," Janus responded. "Logan wants to start teaching me coping methods tomorrow, and I'm sure that will be splendid."

"Yeah, it probably won't be fun…," Virgil agreed. "But I think it'll help in the end."

He sighed.

"We'll see. Stopping certainly worked out the last time I tried it."

"Well, maybe it won't work. But maybe it will," Virgil countered. "Best to keep an open mind."

"I suppose…"

And with that, the two of them paused before Virgil continued.

"So, I'm really not here because of it, but do you mind talking about Remus?" asked the other side. "You seemed really nervous earlier."

"Can't I just play some games with a friend?" Janus retorted huffily.

Of course, part of him knew that Virgil wasn't angry about Remus- that he had reassured him already earlier, albeit silently. But another part of him still worried that he was angry with him, that Virgil had changed his mind. And that part of him made him want to hiss in defense.

But Virgil remained calm.

"Yeah. You can," he told him. "That's my point. But I know that the others weren't too happy about it, especially Roman."

"..."

"I'm saying you don't have to worry about it. Logan and Patton are trying, at least. Though you of all sides know that Remus can be difficult sometimes," Virgil continued. "But they won't be mad at you for it or hate you or anything else you've come up with in that head of yours. Overthinking is my job, okay? If you want to hang out with Remus, hang out with Remus. Gaining new friends doesn't mean you have to lose old ones."

Janus couldn't help the hurt expression that crossed his face for a moment. Virgil's words were meant to be comforting, but he'd accidentally stumbled onto the land mine that was the past- when they fought, and Virgil left, and Virgil most definitely stopped being his friend in favor of his new ones. But Janus couldn't really blame him.

"Shit- that's…," Virgil cursed, seeing the expression on his face. "Jan, we've been over this. I was mad, you were mad, and things were a mess. But we're still friends, okay? Sometimes friends fight and say stupid shit and kinda stop being friends for a while I guess? And, ugh, I'm bad at this."

Virgil covered his face, eventually moving his hands back to comb through his own hair.

"I understand, Virgil," Janus cut him off before he could go down a spiral of thoughts.

"Look, I didn't…," Virgil huffed. "Fuck, I come here to see how you're doing and apologize, and I end up upsetting you. Great."

Janus put his hands on Virgil's shoulders.

"It's not fine, Virgil," he lied. "I really don't get it. It wasn't like we fought all the time or anything…"

Janus took a deep breath in.

"Virgil, I don't blame you for leaving, not anymore," he switched to the truth, looking into Virgil's eyes. "And that's the truth. I… didn't like the fighting, either… Nor did Remus, I think…"

At that, Virgil shuffled again and shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie.

"How's Remus doing, anyway?" Virgil asked, changing the topic.

"Same as ever, as far as I know," Janus replied. "Though, I've been a bit… more distant lately, I suppose."

"You mean you've been staying in your room all the time," Virgil snorted. "You know, moping in your room is also my thing."

"Oh, please," Janus returned, cracking a smile. "I'll have you know I was the hermit long before you were."

Virgil lightly punched his shoulder.

"Christ, dude, you're really taking over my emo thing here," Virgil joked before his expression became serious again. "So, are we good? For now, at least?"

Janus nodded.

"Cool. So, do you wanna watch a movie or something?"

"Absolutely not."

XXX