WARNING: Self-harm

Patton heard a thud. He looked down from the rigging.

Thud.

There it was again. Faint but definitely a thud.

Thud. Thud.

Patton rubbed his arm; hesitant to investigate. Despite being a pirate for a good part of his life, he still really hated anything even remotely scary or threatening.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

But this sounded bad.

"C'mon Patton." Patton mumbled to himself, slowly inching down the rigging. "Are you a pirate or a galley rat?"

Thud. Thud. Thud.

"I'm a galley rat." He thought. "And galley rats are brave. Brave enough to sneak onto pirate ships. So come on."

Thud. Thud.

Now, as he inched closer, Patton could hear muffled mumbles.

"Get out of my head! Get out!" It sounded like.

Patton found the source of the sound and opened the door slowly.

"Get out of my head!" Janus growled, hitting himself in the head with the heel of his hand. "Get out!" He hit his head against the side of the cabin.

"Hey, woah, Jan!" Patton ran over to Janus and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, hey. Stop, stop."

Janus looked up at Patton and for a second the flashing eyes in his head weren't his. They belonged to some vicious, insane animal. Then he blinked and recognised Patton.

"Pat, what are you-" He backed away from Patton a bit. "I thought you were on land."

"I stayed behind. Lookout, you know? Janus, what's wrong?"

"Wrong?" Janus asked, his voice abnormally high. "Wrong?! Nothing, nothing's... wrong."

"Something's definitely wrong." Patton insisted. He reached out for Janus' hand but Janus flinched away. "You don't have to tell me anything, okay? Not if you don't want to. But come sit with me on deck. There's an amazing view of the sea right now."

"But, but," Janus said, panting a little, like he couldn't catch his breath. "But Logan and, and Remus and-"

"Logan's fallen asleep and Remus very well can't do anything locked away in a separate cell, can he?" Patton reached out for Janus' hand again and, when Janus didn't flinch away, took it gently. "Come on, you need the fresh air more than I do."

Janus let out a weak laugh, which was the reaction Patton had wanted. "Mhm, like I need fresh air on a pirate ship." Still, he didn't oppose Patton leading him out onto deck and sitting him down looking out to the ocean.

"See?" Patton asked, plopping down beside him. "See how beautiful it all is?"

"Uh, um, yeah." Janus said, letting out what felt like his first deep breath for a while. "Woah. I never realised... you just get so used to it when... just wow." He stared out at the shimmering, great expanse of blue water meeting on the horizon with the equally deep blue sky. "You get so used to it, don't you? And then you just see it and... wow."

"Mhm." Patton smiled, content to just sit in the quiet with his crewmate for a while.

"Janus?" He asked eventually. "What was that?"

Janus' small smile disappeared from his face and eyes. "It was nothing." He said quietly.

"It wasn't. It was you. Hurting yourself. And I don't want that to happen. Janus, look at me." Janus didn't and Patton grabbed his face gently and turned it towards him. "Janus, what's wrong? I want to help you but I can't do that if you don't tell me what's wrong."

Janus looked down and turned away. "It's nothing Patton." He stood up. "Believe me, I'm fine. I've got this."

I am queer-coding these already very gay characters' friendship and I don't know why.
Bye,
Blaize