XXX

He woke up to the sound of his alarm clock ringing, which he quickly turned off with the press of a button.

Then, Patton took a deep breath and sat up, stretching his arms high above his head. The morning sun was shining brightly through the window, telling him that the weather was likely to be pleasant.

"Alright. It's going to be a good day," he told himself.

And then he forced a smile to spread across his face before he stood up. It didn't take him long to make his bed and get dressed, and he soon found himself in the kitchen making breakfast, able to go through the routine practically on autopilot. Looking in the pantry, Patton decided to make some oatmeal with raisins. It was reasonably quick, and it was just the thing to give someone enough energy to start the day right!

Once the oatmeal was done, Patton returned upstairs and skipped over to his brother's door, trying to keep himself from being preemptively disappointed. He began knocking.

"Jan! It's time for school! You have to wake up!"

He received no response, and so he continued. Janus never really did wake up with the first knock. Perhaps he should get an alarm clock at some point, but that was a problem for later.

"Jan!"

It took a few more rounds of knocking, but eventually, he heard his brother's tired voice call back to him.

"I get it, Patton! I'm up!"

Patton stilled his hand, glad that he actually managed to wake Janus up today. He only could about half the time, and Janus would usually stumble out of his bedroom at the last minute and end up cutting it close with the late bell. But once Janus was awake, Patton was reasonably certain that he would stay awake.

"Okay! I made breakfast, so make sure to eat before you go!" Patton told him.

He hoped that Janus would eat the offered breakfast. Janus never ate breakfast on the mornings he ran late, but even when he wasn't late, he usually skipped the meal anyway. On the mornings he did eat breakfast, it was usually something like a cookie. Patton had been trying to get him to eat a good breakfast more by making the food for him, but it seemed like the more Patton tried to get his brother to eat, the more Janus avoided the kitchen. At first, Patton thought that Janus just didn't like what he made, but asking Janus what he would prefer instead just led to his brother snapping at him to leave him alone. Regardless of their track record, though, Patton maintained hope that Janus would eat the oatmeal this time. He always hoped.

That hope was dashed when he heard the front door slam shut.

Janus left.

Patton's shoulders slumped for a moment at the sound, and he sighed. After he was done eating his own breakfast, he just sadly scraped the remaining oatmeal into a Tupperware and put it in his backpack. Sometimes, Janus would eat the ignored breakfast after school, but the oatmeal would get gross if he left it.

A few minutes later, Patton left for school as well.

XXX

Once Patton made his way to school, it didn't take him long to find Virgil, one of his friends. Virgil used to be friends with Janus, too, but after a fight, the two of them stopped talking to each other, and Patton, despite his best efforts, still hadn't been able to help them repair the relationship.

"Hey, Pat," Virgil greeted when he saw him.

"Oh, hey, Virge," Patton replied, though his smile wasn't quite as bright as he wanted it to be.

Virgil, of course, noticed this immediately.

"You doin' okay, Popstar?" the teen asked, putting a hand on Patton's shoulder.

Patton shrugged.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he reassured him.

Virgil just gave him a pointed look, unconvinced.

"You sure? Remember, you're allowed to not feel okay, Patton."

"I know," he replied. "But, really, I'm fine. It's just… well, Janus didn't eat his breakfast again today. Oh! Did you eat breakfast? I brought it in a Tupperware in case you wanted it."

And then Patton removed the container of oatmeal from his bag, handing it over with such enthusiasm that Virgil couldn't help but semi-reluctantly accept the cooling (congealing) oatmeal.

"Um. Sure. Thanks Pat," said Virgil. "But I don't know why you bother making him breakfast every morning when he never eats it."

Patton let his smile fall for a moment before a smaller, sadder one took its place.

"I'm just worried about him, you know?" Patton told him. "He doesn't eat enough, and, well…"

At this, Virgil sighed, running a hand through his already-messy hair.

"I know, Pat. Just. Make sure to take care of yourself, too, okay?"

"Yeah, I know," Patton replied with a nod.

And that was when the bell rang.

"Oh, we better get to class! See you at lunch Virgil!"

Virgil waved, and with that, Patton scampered off to homeroom.

XXX

So far, Patton's day hadn't been particularly eventful, aside from a pop quiz in calculus, but that was fine. It had been a pleasant enough day, he supposed- as pleasant as it was likely to be, anyway.

Now, it was time for lunch, and Patton made his way to the courtyard, spotting his friends easily enough, as they were sitting in their usual spot beneath one of the trees. He bounded on over and plopped onto the earth with newfound energy. He loved to spend time with his friends, and he wasn't afraid to show it.

"Hey, guys!" he chirped out in greeting.

And as they all returned the greeting before returning to the conversation, Patton began to listen in to figure out what they were all talking about.

Patton was friendly with most of the people he knew, but he was particularly close with these three friends he sat with. Really, they were his actual friends rather than acquaintances, and they'd known each other ever since Patton's family had moved to the district during middle school.

First, he'd befriended Roman Prince when they'd both signed up for the school play. Roman, of course, had been cast in one of the lead roles, and Patton had chosen to sign up for the stage crew. He'd tried to get Janus to join the makeup crew, but, well. That hadn't exactly worked out. Patton hadn't signed up for the school play since then, either, but he and Roman continued to stay in touch, even when Roman went to a high school, a year before him. He'd really helped make Patton's own transition into high school much more pleasant than it would have been otherwise, as Patton had been a bit more shy back then.

Then, there was Logan Berry, who was actually in the year below Patton. Despite being a sophomore, Logan was probably one of the smartest people in the school, and he was already taking classes intended for seniors. At first, Logan seemed a bit uncaring, but it hadn't taken long for Patton to realize that the other boy just didn't express his emotions as easily as he did, and by now, Patton knew how to read him pretty well.

Finally, there was Virgil Storm. He'd been Janus's friend first, which was technically how they met, but they hadn't actually gotten to know each other until they had the same English class and got seated next to each other. Virgil could be irritable at times, but he was incredibly protective over those he cared about, too. That applied to Patton now (as well as Roman and Logan), and he knew that, somewhere in his heart, it still applied to Janus, even if Virgil wasn't so keen on admitting to that anymore.

Together, the four of them were best friends. And together, the four of them were apparently talking about jam.

"I'm just saying that I prefer strawberry, Specs," Roman sighed dramatically. "I didn't say that I thought the other flavors were bad."

"But how can you possibly limit yourself to only one favorite flavor?" Logan questioned. "I myself can barely limit myself to five favorites."

"Because you eat it every day!"

"Okay, but like, what about Nutella, though?" Virgil chimed in.

"Oooooh, I love Nutella!" added Patton.

Logan shook his head.

"That's like eating a chocolate bar for breakfast," he stated. "Just think of all the sugar."

"... Do you have any idea of how much sugar is in jam, Logan?"

"CROFTER'S HAS LESS SUGAR THAN MOST OTHER JAMS/JELLIES. THEY EVEN HAVE A WHOLE LINE OF JAMS WITH NO ADDED SUGAR."

"There's still sugar in it, though-"

"HOW DARE YOU?"

"Oh, you really messed up now, Virgil. You can't just insult Crofter's in front of Logan."

"But he can insult Nutella in front of me, Princey?"

"It's not the same thing, and you know it-"

"I WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH SLANDER OF THE CROFTER'S NAME!"

"Oh my god, he brought out the Secret Jam Stash."

"Logan, I am not eating a whole spoonful of plain jelly."

"IT'S JAM!"

"I think you better just do it, Virge."

"Yeah, do it, you emo nightmare!"

"Oh my god, I hate all of you..."

And though everyone laughed as Virgil took the spoon and shoved the entirety of its contents into his mouth, they knew that Virgil didn't actually dislike doing so as much as the conversation might lead a bystander to believe. All four of them had a particular soft-spot for the jam, after all.

Even if eating plain blobs of condiments on a spoon was a little gross.

It was then that Roman got a notification on his phone, and as he checked it, he let out an exaggerated groan.

"Holy five abs and one pec, I think my brother robbed a pet store."

"Wait, what?!" Patton gasped.

Roman turned his phone around to show them, and sure enough, Remus had sent a photo of himself holding approximately six cats, with a visibly disgruntled pet store worker yelling at him in the background.

"Aaaaawe, look at their little paws!" Patton immediately squealed.

"Oh my. That looks rather illegal."

"Yeah, I know, Nerd," Roman sighed as he began to quickly text his brother back, likely telling him to give the cats back.

As Roman did so, Patton looked toward Virgil, and suddenly, most of his cat-related elation was gone. Virgil was tense and clearly uncomfortable, and Patton had a good guess that it was because they started talking about Remus. Virgil had been friends with Remus, too, and they'd had a fight over his fight with Janus and had barely talked since then. Patton knew that the other teen got uncomfortable whenever Roman mentioned his brother, so he reached out and held Virgil's hand, hoping to provide comfort.

"HE ALSO STOLE THE LIZARDS?!" Roman exclaimed suddenly. "Oh my gooooood… Sorry, guys, I think I need to call my dad."

"That's fine, Ro."

And with that, Roman stood and stalked off, muttering something about his brother and the seeming impossibility of keeping him out of trouble.

XXX

Patton returned home from school that day to what seemed like an empty house, but he knew better. Janus's shoes were set by the door, even though Janus was nowhere to be seen. Patton knew his brother would be holed up in his room by now.

With a sigh, Patton went to sit in the living room to get a start on tonight's homework.

XXX