Monday night was boring, he had to do the homework he usually did on Saturday because he spent the day helping with Romance. He didn't mind, he loved Valentine's Day. And Sunday he was dealing with Remus. Trying to piece together what happened while Virgil was making sure Patton didn't do anything stupid because he felt the need to. He sat at the library without Virgil for once and he struggled to focus. Roman huffed and looked at his math work.

Crushes really sucked. He had been staring at the same problem for about a half hour when Patton came up and sat with him. Roman looked at him, Patton had work to do sure but he would much rather get information out of Roman.

And then Monday night wasn't as boring anymore.

"No one is sitting here, right?" He asked. Roman shook his head. Patton smiled and sat down. Roman went back to staring at the paper. He frowned and put his elbow on the table and rested his cheek on his palm.

Roman really hated math. Virgil helped with it all the time, and he liked it much better that way. Virgil never spoke but he would sit with Roman as he did the problem and nod or shake his head when Roman did the steps. Now he was on his own.

And now he was thinking about Virgil again rather than his work. So he stared at the paper and thought about Virgil. They had agreed to let the almost kiss change nothing between them right now and with the promise of a date after Virgil could talk again, Roman was as content as he could be in that situation but Virgil had promised that they would still be as touchy as normal. Sure it was awkward but Roman wouldn't have it any other way.

Roman was also thinking about Remus. He was not sure what was going on with him. Remus just leaving like that was not unheard of but that was after a one night stand. He wouldn't answer the phone either. Roman had to call the house to talk with the housekeeper to confirm that Remus was there. He then made Matt go over and spend the next few days with him just so Roman could be sure. Matt was now giving him hourly updates.

Matt had found Remus high off his ass in the corner of his room, giggling about how he left a snake at the school. Roman knew that Janus had a snake, Matt wasn't sure what that meant and was nervous because of it. Roman calmed his nerves and told him there was no snake loose in the school, it was an expression Remus had. Remus had a lot of expressions that no one talked about because they were weird. Remus texted and explained when he was sober what happened.

Roman could've really done without a sobbing Remus at six this morning.

"I am pretty sure if you stare at the paper any harder, it will go up in flames." Patton said with a chuckle. Roman snapped out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I must have gotten lost in thought." Roman responded. Patton smiled, Roman somehow didn't like the way he smiled. He knew it meant something else.

"Relax, nothing bad. What cha thinkin about?" He asked, abandoning his work.

"Just something, that's all." Janus had warned to not project his emotions around Patton because it could be bad for Patton or harmful to him if he had something to hide. Virgil had also mentioned that Patton knew how to get the information he needed. Roman wasn't sure how but he was a little afraid of Patton now. Roman did have something to hide, Remus needed to sort it out but he still knew about it. "It's nothing too important."

Patton shook his head. "No, it had to be something. You seemed very lost, are you sure you don't want to talk about anything," He raised his eyebrow. "Or someone?"

Roman knew that he wasn't going to get away with not talking about something. So he decided to flip the script a little. "I am getting that you have a question you want to ask, so please do ask it." Roman told him.

Patton leaned back and nodded. He looked at Roman through the tops of his round glasses. Something a parent would do to a misbehaving child. "Quite the intuitive one are we?" Patton asked. Roman wasn't sure what was happening now.

"It's a gift." He answered keeping his face neutral. Years of experience lead him to know when he was being interrogated and how to keep his cool. Nothing Patton could do was worse than trained professionals, which he had gone up against before. "So, your question."

"Was it always your idea to have your brother trick Janus? You two never liked each other, so why wouldn't you do something like this. You are a behavior problem. I know I looked at your file." Patton said. Roman sighed. Had they not gotten past this? He really thought they did, also that was kinda illegal what Patton did and straight up not cool. But he wasn't going to make it more difficult than it needed to be.

"It wasn't planned. If anything, I could blame Janus for the same thing. But I am not. Sure my brother left without as much as a goodbye and seemingly disappeared, but he's not malicious. He's nice, and if anything out of the two of us I am the more dangerous twin to you right now. He has done some fucked up shit but he would never do something like he did unless he had reason. I will tell you this because you know what it is like to be the older and protective one of the people you were raised with, but I will only say it once. Consider this a warning, I would kill for my brother. I would burn down cities if it made him smile. I would do the most fucked up shit for him because he is my brother and I love him. I would confess to a murder he had done so he could walk free.

"Unless you are willing to go to the ends of the earth for Janus and do that fucked up shit, do NOT invlove my brother in a dispute between me and him. Back off my brother. He made his choice and is suffering his consequences for it. Don't try to force this narrative all because you don't want Virgil to date someone who is very similar to Janus according to this school." Roman said with a deadly tone. Roman knew what was going to happen and he was prepared. He would do that for Remus because Remus deserved that, because Roman needed to protect his brother.

Patton rolled his eyes then said, "Listen, it's your brother who left and it's my cousin you are thinking about dating so I would be nice to you if I were you."

"It's also my brother you are implying I used as a pawn just for the simple fact of hurting someone I do not like. Especially after we agreed on a truce for your cousin because we both knew that in order for Virgil to be happy we had to be civil? And we hadn't gone at each other's throat in months? That could possibly be the worst thing I could do all because I dislike someone, Virgil would have my ass first of all. I assume Virgil didn't inform you of my favorite holiday?" Roman asked.

"Why would that matter? He left." Patton said seriously.

"My brother left because he was overwhelmed!" Roman yelled. Patton blinked and then seemed to just stare at Roman. "He's never been in a relationship, the very idea of him being in one freaks him out. So when Janus suggested he stayed the night without sleeping with him was already territory he wasn't ready for or expecting. So he reverted to his go mechanism for leaving. Disappearing before the morning. I am not saying it was right nor am I excusing it, but it's my brother and he had to do what he had to do in order to make himself comfortable. Even if it meant that he hurts some he likes a lot. He just doesn't know how to handle himself sometimes. That's why I do what I do surrounding him, so if you are going after him you will have to go through me."

Roman sighed. "I don't pretend to be the best brother, but I do know my brother well. So you listen to me good, he never did anything to intentionally hurt anyone. Anyone would be lucky to have him. Next time you want to come for me, do your homework on me. God knows, Logan probably did. And for the Virgil thing, you won't need to worry about me and him dating. We are just friends." Roman's phone started buzzing on the table. Remus. "Would you excuse me?"

Patton nodded. "Wait." Roman turned to him. "Why does your favorite holiday have to do with anything?"

"My favorite holiday is Valentine's Day. Even when I would not tap into my emotions, I would make sure nothing happened on Valentine's Day. I want romance to blossom, why would I do something so horrible to my brother and Janus?" Roman said.

Roman left him to think about what he had said. He felt a little bad because he did just flip out on Virgil's cousin. He looked at his phone and then called his brother back.

"Hello?" Remus asked.

"Hey, sorry I didn't answer. Something was going down and I had to deal with it. What can I do to help you?" Roman asked.

"I think Janus is still interested." Remus told him. Roman inwardly celebrated that Virgil had gotten through to Janus.

"That's good, what did you say back?" Roman asked.

"I haven't answered yet." Remus said, he sounded anxious. Roman knew he had to shut it down before Remus had a panic attack.

"Remus, take a deep breath and relax for a second. No one said you had to start dating after one date. I am sure he wants to get to know you, also there's this awesome thing in relationships. Do you know what it is?" Roman asked. He heard Remus sigh and could almost see the eyes roll.

"Do enlighten me Sire." Remus said sarcastically. Roman smiled.

"Thank you, Lord Remus. It's called communication, you need to be open about what you want. It's alright if you aren't ready for a relationship, we did kind of ambush you with the date thing. Are you ready for a relationship? A committed one?" Roman asked.

"Not right now, we are three hours away, plus he lives in Massachusetts when he isn't at schoo,l Roman. What can happen there?" Remus complained.

"No one said that Long distance couldn't work, you know me better than anyone. I will say anything to get out of a situation I didn't like to be in. I think that you could work. You just need some time. Try being friends first." Roman told him.

"You know, you are a hopeless romantic and I figured you would be pushing me to go after it and claim love for myself." Remus said the last part dramatically.

"I may be the hopeless romantic out of the two of us but I know you well enough that my usual antics won't work." Roman leaned on a bookcase.

"So you think I should respond." Remus clarified.

"I think you should." Remus sighed.

"What do I tell him?"

"The truth." Roman heard Patton come up behind him. "Hold on a second." He moved his attention to Patton. "Yes?"

"I am sorry, I just got protective and I had a promise to keep. I didn't mean to get you agitated." Patton said. Roman nodded and gave him a small smile.

"I get it, I am the same way with my brother." Patton nodded.

"I am sure he's really nice and I shouldn't have made assumptions." Patton was guilty and Roman knew he was.

"That's quite alright. I'll see you at dinner." Patton nodded and left. "I am back."

"So I responded."

"What did you say?"

"He asked if I was free to talk and I said ye-oh shit. Roman, he's calling me! What should I do?" Remus said.

"Pick it up!" Roman told him and the line went silent. This was a mess. And his brother was just as hopeless as he was when it came to love. They really were identical twins.

He was walking to Janus' room. Today he hadn't seen Roman and that was okay with him. They both needed some time apart before they could act normal and dinner tonight was going to be tense but it was going to be alright.

Virgil had a plan for today.

Did he follow it?

Kinda.

Was he doing the important parts of it?

Arguably yes. Sometimes friends came before school work. Virgil frowned at that thought. Socializing a lot more was changing him wasn't it? He wasn't sure how his introvert self could handle that.

Today he had on a black shirt and had a purple flannel tied around his waist. He had ripped jeans and combat boots on. On his wrist he had some plastic bracelets that he had charmed to help with confidence. He had dark makeup underneath his eyes like always but he had thrown on eyeliner. He was having a pretty good day.

He got to the door and knocked several times. He heard Janus grumble behind the door and he assumed that it was towards his roommate. When he opened the door, Janus was alone in the dorm.

Good.

"You know, you told me you had different knocks for everyone and I don't know how to keep track of them all." Virgil shrugs. Janus moved aside and Virgil walked in.

Janus always had this persona of being serious and put together, with Virgil he let that down. Virgil let his guard down too, that was their agreement. Silent but there. Janus had seen him cry more times than Patton or his parents had, and he had listened to Janus rant more times than he can count.

Right now, he wasn't caring about that. He was upset. Virgil understood why. He still read the room and Janus knew he was. Janus wore a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants. His hair wasn't combed and his bed was messily made. He was in bed all day, and had thrown this together to seem like he was a little okay.

"Would you stop that? I am fine." Janus mumbled and jumped on his bed. Virgil shrugged and responded.

"I sincerely doubt that but alright." His phone said.

Janus' head snapped up at the sound of the voice. "I am sorry, what?" He asked.

"I know you heard me, I doubt that. Now, let's talk about why. 'Kay?" Virgil sat on Janus' desk. He knew Janus was too distracted by the sound of the voice on his phone. He had switched it to a different person than the app on hand.

"Yeah, I heard you. That's the source of my confusion. I thought you only talked to Logan and Patton." Janus said clearly, a little freaked out. "I could be dreaming." He said quietly.

"Correction, I can talk to my cousin, his boyfriend, and a few adults. Mainly in a room alone or with the other few people but still. Progress. Also it's an app?" Virgil said while making finger guns. Why did he do that?

He shook his head and then put his hands down waiting for Janus' response. "Not gonna lie, I am a little freaked out. I figured you would talk to your boyfriend before you would even entertain the idea of speaking to me."

"He already knows. And he's not my boyfriend but speaking of that, have you texted the Duke yet? Also this isn't my voice, it's a random actor." Virgil swiftly moved into the subject of why he was there.

Janus shook his head. "One, Could've fooled me. Two, even though I have known you for a good amount of time I forget how smart and swift you are. And three, I don't think he wants to hear from me. He left without saying goodbye, remember?" Janus said.

"Oh, I do. Especially since it was Roman he came to find before he left because he had his clothes. Did you not think I wouldn't notice that?" Virgil said.

"I was hoping you wouldn't, or at least not tell me." Janus said.

"Have you looked at why he might have left? And not in a negative light?" Virgil asked.

"I don't think I understand what you are getting at. What other light would I see it in?" Janus laid on his bed. "I don't know what I am going to do, Virge."

"You could just grow a pair and text him? It's just a suggestion tho"

"You are impossible." Janus sat.

"Listen, I am going to give you some insider knowledge. Remus has never been in a relationship before. Sure he's had people he could call boyfriends but they mainly take him out just so they can get in his pants. When you didn't do that, it may have freaked him out a little. He's not used to that. Text him, I am sure he would love to hear from you."

"How can you be so sure?" Virgil sighed and took his phone out. He pressed a read along button on his phone and pressed the message that Remus had sent him.

"Hey virge, you are probably asleep right now but I know you are really close to Janus, is he mad at me? I want to text him but I kinda walked out and I feel that it would be better if he reached out first." Virgil switched back to the text to speed up the app.

"What was that?" Janus asked.

"That was a text at 11:30 last night. Here's another from 4:30 this morning:" He switched back over to the text and pressed another text. "'I can't sleep, I feel super guilty. He's really nice but my own insecurity got in the way. Do you think he still likes me?'" He switched back one last time. "See? He wants to hear from you." Virgil told him. He moved off the desk and held his hand out.

Janus' phone disconnected from the charger and flew into his hand. "Hey!"Janus said.

"Text. Him." Virgil said and put the phone in his lap. "Call him even, just send a text that says you are still there. You still like him right?" Virgil asked him. Janus looked horrified he would even ask.

"I do."

"Then get your man. He just might need some time to get to know you and trust you. But you won't have that chance if you don't fucking text him." Janus threw his hands up.

"Alright, fine, jeez."

Virgil moved over to the snake's cage. He opened the cage and tapped on the glass four times. The snake pooped his head out and Virgil put his hand in so the snake could climb up.

"Careful with him." Janus said.

"Calm down, your familiar likes me." The snake moved up Virgil's arm. Virgil smiled and booped the snake on the nose. Janus was still trying to figure out what to type.

"You are good with animals, why don't you have one yourself?" Janus asked, obviously trying to distract himself.

"I want a cat but Patton and Thomas are allergic." Virgil was good at typing with one hand and it was impressive to Janus. Janus nodded. Virgil went back to the desk and sat on it while he held the snake.

"So, if I just ask him if he's free to talk then that would be good right?" Janus asked. Virgil nodded. "Alright cool." Janus put his phone in front of him.

Virgil could see that the message was typed out but Janus was stalling.

"What if he's painting? He doesn't get reception in his studio." Janus told him.

"Yes he does, I have been in the studio. Shut up and send it." Virgil went back to playing with the snake.

Janus huffed and stared at the phone. Virgil tilted his head over to Janus and the snake seemed to get the message. He slipped off Virgil's arm and onto Janus' bed. He moved over to his owner and moved in between his arm and thigh.

"Hello Kaa." Janus said quietly. The snake nudged him a little but Janus didn't respond. So, being the good familiar he was, Kaa went towards Janus' phone. Janus didn't move to stop him because he figured that he wanted attention and Virgil was giving him that.

Virgil watched and hoped that the snake would do his job of helping to ease Janus' stress.

Instead, Kaa did something so much better.

He stopped at the phone and then pressed the send button with his nose to activate the touch screen. "Kaa! What the hell?" Janus shouted. Virgil started laughing hard. Kaa just simply trailed up Janus' arm and settled on his shoulder. "Now, you're just being cute so I am not mad at you."

"That was too good."