XXX

Janus still wasn't quite sure what to do about what happened with Remy (or what happened with Roman, for that matter). After they left the building, Remy told him to wait while he dashed in and got his bag from Roman, who apparently had grabbed it, and then he'd gotten into Remy's car for some reason and the two of them drove over to a nearby park, which wasn't very busy at that time of day since most children were at school. Janus hadn't said much, but Remy seemed content enough to let him brood while he messed around on his phone and occasionally made some pointless comment.

It… wasn't as bad as he expected. Sure, he still felt shaky and gross and his arms stung and he was silently freaking out about the fact that someone saw his cuts, but at least he didn't hate Remy right then. Some small part of him maybe appreciated that Remy supposedly wasn't going to tell anyone.

He hadn't been sure whether he could believe him or not, but it seemed like Remy hadn't told anyone, at least not yet. If he had, Janus probably would have been called down to the guidance counselor's office by now, and he'd have to deal with that whole mess. So, Remy was tolerable.

Roman was still not-so tolerable.

After the 'incident' with Roman, the other boy had attempted to apologize, but Janus had more-or-less brushed it off and snapped at him because he really didn't want to talk about it, lest it trigger something again. But Roman had started getting all teary-eyed and guilty and Janus hated it. He felt bad, but Janus didn't even really care. It was just one in a long string of screaming matches he'd had with people- this one just ended a lot more explosively than usual- and the best apology would be simply not being reminded of it.

But Roman kept going and acting like 'he'd seen a new side of Janus' (practically paraphrased) and at that point, Janus had just completely tuned him out and ignored him. And then he'd continued ignoring him for the rest of class and went back to not helping with their assignment until Roman started yelling at him about it and they went back to their typical dynamic. Apparently, he'd said something to Patton, too, but whatever it was had clearly been an abridged version, because if Roman had told him the full story (especially if Remy had lied and told him), then Patton probably would have started crying too. And since he managed to avoid that ridiculous demonstration, he assumed that Roman probably just told him they'd had another fight, which was far from anything new.

Now, it had been about a week, and things were more-or-less back to normal, with the exception of Remy occasionally talking to him or (once or twice) convincing him to drive somewhere with him.

This particular day, Janus just really wanted to go home and pretend he was asleep, but the day was barely halfway over. He would skip again, but his parents had found out about the last time and chewed him out for it, and he'd been too tired to argue with them, so he'd just stood there while they yelled at him about his grades and being responsible yet again. And that had just been fantastic.

And on the topic of his grades, his math teacher had asked him to stay after class. Janus already knew it was because he was failing- he'd been failing this entire year so far, and even if he'd somehow forgotten, his parents had certainly reminded him a few days ago. So, he knew he was in for another lecture. And he even had lunch next, so he could have the absolute joy of spending the entire lunch period getting yelled at instead of actually eating. Because that's the healthy kind of thing schools want you to do.

So there he was, standing in front of his teachers desk as he waited for the man to finish wiping the whiteboard. He rolled his eyes at the teacher's back, wondering why exactly the whiteboard couldn't wait until after he got yelled at. Maybe he'd get some time to actually eat his lunch. But no, the whiteboard had to be pristine before his teacher could bother to acknowledge him, even though he was the one who was making him stand here.

Eventually, the man finished his task and turned around, sitting in his chair before looking at Janus.

"Hello, Janus," he spoke, sighing. "I'm sure you're aware of why I asked to speak with you."

Janus didn't respond, but it was obvious he knew.

"You're failing this class, and honestly, at this point in the semester, I don't think you'll be able to pass even if you start turning in your assignments," the man continued, his eyebrows pinched together. "You really need to start trying harder and actually turning things in, Janus, or you're going to fail the year again."

This time, Janus managed to resist the urge to roll his eyes, even if it was only barely. If he was already failing with no real hope of dragging his grades back up, what was the point?

Apparently, the teacher was about to tell him:

"But," he added. "I've spoken to your parents and the principal, and I've managed to get special permission to let you pass the semester if you start attending twice-weekly tutoring sessions, turn in your assignments and bring your grades up, and pass the midterm in January. You don't need to get an A on anything, but you have to actually turn in your homework, and I have to see you putting effort into your assignments, even if you aren't getting everything right. Do you understand?"

Internally, Janus groaned. He didn't want to go to tutoring, and he certainly didn't want to have to do all his homework, either. Really, he didn't even particularly care if he passed the class or not, which is exactly why he'd failed it last year and was retaking it now. But the teacher had already talked to his parents, and he assumed that they agreed to this, so it's not like Janus could just reject the offer and decide to just fail (as if anyone would actually let him pick that option). He was going to be forced to accept, and if he didn't go, his parents would know about it and he'd just keep getting more lectures about his grades.

He had to accept the offer, but he didn't want to, so he didn't say anything. After a while, though, the teacher's expression softened.

"This isn't meant to be a punishment, Janus," he told him. "Your parents told me that you've been having some difficulties lately, and I understand that your situation is difficult. So I'm just trying to help you succeed here, since I know you could if you actually tried. That's all."

And Janus hated it. He didn't want help, not when he didn't even see why it mattered whether he passed math or not.

But what choice did he have?

"Fine," Janus accepted, clenching his fingers around the notebook he was holding.

The teacher gave him a brief smile at that before dismissing him and handing him a paper with the tutoring information on it.

Already, he felt the dread crawling up his back.

XXX

Janus ended up having to go to tutoring the next day, making his way to the library after classes were over. Really, all he actually wanted to do was go home and crawl into his bed so he could sleep for a few hours, but unfortunately, that would have to be postponed until later.

When he entered, he could see that there were a handful of other students using the space. Some people were browsing the shelves or studying on their own, and a couple other people seemed to be getting tutored as well. Looking around, Janus realized he didn't even know who was supposed to be tutoring him, so he wasn't sure which of the solitary students was his tutor and which were just there of their own accord.

Until he heard a voice, that is.

"Janus?"

It came from behind him, so he turned around. And to his absolute disbelief, he knew exactly who he was looking at:

Logan.

As in, Patton's friend, Logan.

Fuck no.

"Good afternoon," the other boy greeted, voice monotone. "I was asked to help tutor you, and it's just about 3 pm, so should we get started?"

"Yeah, no," Janus denied, trying to turn back toward the door.

Unfortunately, however, Logan wasn't content to just let him leave.

"Ah, Janus, I don't know the exact state of your grades, but based on what Patton tells me, I really don't think it's in your best interest to skip tutoring," Logan called out. "Not to mention that you're already here, so you might as well do it."

Patton. Patton, again. Why did everything always have to involve Patton somehow? Of course, Patton was already told about him needing tutoring, but that didn't mean Janus wanted Patton to be told just how stupid he was. He didn't want his tutor coming over to his house and laughing about how dumb he was with his brother.

And that wasn't even considering the fact that Logan was in the year below him and had taken Algebra back in 8th grade and was some kind of genius or something. Was he seriously being tutored by someone younger than him?

Why couldn't he even fail math in peace?

"I wouldn't have come if I knew you would be tutoring me," Janus spat back, crossing his arms. "I think I'll just fail math. Not like that's anything new."

Logan frowned at him.

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't aware you had an issue with me? We've barely interacted."

Janus sighed.

"You're one Patton's friends. I don't need you talking to him about me. Roman already has that covered, apparently."

"Ah," Logan exclaimed in quiet understanding. "I can assure you I'm not going to talk to Patton about our sessions, if you'd prefer. This isn't about him, and I didn't decide to tutor you because I'm his friend."

"… Why did you?"

"Well, you need help in math, and I need volunteer hours for the Honor Society," Logan shrugged. "And your teacher asked me to."

Janus blinked, almost shocked by the blunt honesty of his answer, even though he kind of already knew that that was how Logan was. The teenager was honest, even if it was just because he rarely saw a point in lying. Perhaps that meant he would keep his promise about not telling Patton anything? And he really didn't want his parents to yell at him again today…

"Ugh, fine," he agreed begrudgingly.

Logan nodded.

"Okay," he said. "I set my bag over here, so let's get started."

XXX

Logan didn't exactly have high hopes for how the tutoring session would go, not with what he knew about Janus's track-record, but he hadn't expected it to be going quite this badly. Or, not so badly in the way it was. He was, at least, pleasantly surprised by the lack of yelling or aggression on Janus's part, but he'd really thought that Janus wouldn't be struggling as much as he was. After all, he'd already taken this class last year, as well as part of this year repeating that information, and he still seemed to not know any of it. He'd been under the impression that Janus failing was largely due to incomplete/missing assignments, but he was starting to wonder if those assignments were incomplete/missing because Janus really didn't know how to do them.

"Next, you have to take y squared and…," Logan started explaining the next step of the problem when he noticed that Janus had started looking out the window again.

This was probably the tenth time he'd done so in the half hour they'd been studying, and it wasn't even the only form of distraction during that time.

"Janus," Logan said firmly.

The other student blinked, as if he'd forgotten Logan was there, and returned his attention to Logan and his worksheet.

"Right, x squared."

"Y squared."

"Uh-huh."

Logan frowned but continued explaining the problem. Perhaps Janus didn't understand any of it because he hadn't been paying attention to any of it.

They were only working for a few more minutes, with Janus only half-solving the problem, before the boy began tapping his pencil for the eighth time, staring at the motion rather than his problem.

"Janus," Logan called out again. "I know you don't want to be here, but can you please pay attention? There's no point to me explaining this if you aren't even listening."

He was just a little annoyed. Sure, he was getting volunteer hours out of this, but it was still wasting his time if Janus wasn't even going to try to participate.

It seemed Janus was annoyed as well, though, as he shot Logan a glare.

"I'm trying," he spat.

"You keep looking out the window and playing with your pencil, and in half an hour, you haven't even gotten through the first problem," Logan pointed out.

That certainly didn't lessen Janus's anger, though.

"Oh, fuck off," he growled. "Why do you think I can't finish shit? It takes too long!"

"Hm," Logan hummed. "So you always have this much trouble focusing?"

Janus rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and leaning back into the chair.

"Yes."

"Oh," Logan nodded. "Well, maybe we can try to improve your focus a bit first, then."

"And how exactly do you think we're gonna do that?"

Logan began to search through the pockets of his backpack, searching for an item he sometimes used. Upon finding it, he took it out and handed it to Janus.

"Well, this might help?" he offered the fidget toy. "Since you keep playing with your pencil."

And at first, Logan thought that maybe it would help, since Janus managed to finish the first problem and start on the second before he got distracted again. Except this time, it was the fidget toy distracting him, as he started playing with it with both hands instead of working on the problems. After that, Logan tried to offer some other tips to help with focus to the older boy, but with each minute that passed, Janus seemed to be getting more and more frustrated. He finished the third problem but had gotten it wrong, and at that point, Janus gripped the paper so that it crumpled, and Logan was getting the sense that Janus was probably about to rip the assignment in half.

It hadn't been the full time they were supposed to spend on studying today, but at a certain point, continuing was probably doing more harm than good, and he was pretty sure that they'd reached that point.

"I think we should end here for today," Logan announced. "Try to work on those problems tonight, though, so you can turn it in tomorrow."

He doubted that Janus would.

"Okay," Janus breathed out, at least seeming relieved that they were done for the day.

"See you in a few days."

"… Yeah…"

XXX