WARNING: Domestic abuse and homophobia

"Well I'm sorry, Roman, I was being harassed."

This argument had been going on for five minutes. Janus looked at Remus and sighed, standing up.

"Guys!" He yelled. "We're stuck here for as long as it takes someone to work out that Virgil's missing so can we please stop arguing? It's giving me a headache."

Virgil glared at Roman one last time before turning to Janus. "Fine."

"Okay, now that's finally over," Remus said, standing up, "can we go somewhere? Being this close to the barrier's getting us weird looks."

"And the fact that you two have been arguing over a button for the last five minutes." Janus added. Roman sighed.

"Fine. Uh... what about mother's?"

"We're not going there." Remus said quickly and harshly.

"Do you have any other options?"

Remus opened and closed his mouth a few times like a goldfish before admitting defeat and going silent.

"We're going to the Evil Queen's house?" Virgil said, his voice sounding a lot more afraid than it had a couple of seconds ago. Despite still being mad at him, Roman felt the urge to comfort the small boy.

"We don't have any other choice, Princey. Unless you have a magic way to break the barrier."

"Like I said before, it's-"

"Oh my Gods, please don't start again!"

"This is the Evil Queen's lair?" Virgil asked sceptically. Roman shrugged.

"Well... it's not what it was."

"Or ever has been." Remus muttered.

The 'lair' in question was one small house with several different towers added. The original house was black and had a red door but all the towers added on were grey. One of them had a pointed roof dutifully painted red and another tower was half green but the rest of the roof was brown, as if the painter had given up half-way through. You didn't need the colours to tell which tower belonged to which twin. There was a third tower, painted white and purple.

"We'll need to share rooms." Remus said. "And Blondie's staying with me."

"Let's try talking to mother first." Roman said. Virgil pulled his hood up further over his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. Roman shot a glance at Remus who sighed and took his arm off of Janus' shoulders. "No contact, Re, you know the rules."

"But it could be-"

"No. Mother's a suspicious little bitch, she'll know. Now come on." Roman took a breath and knocked on the blood red door. "Mother? Are you there? It's me and Remus!"

"So you've finally decided to come back, have you?"

Roman took that as a 'come in' and opened the door.

"Brought friends have you?" The Evil Queen asked, looking up for a shard of mirror she was holding in her hand. "What has happened to you two?"

"We pitied them." Roman said quickly. "This one's a mute," he pointed at Virgil, "and the other's stupid. They would've died."

"Then let them die, Roman, you know this." The Evil Queen said, absorbed again in her own refection. "If they cannot communicate or put two and two together, they are not worthy of the gift of life. Remus, why didn't you put an end to them? I know you like that stuff."

Remus' eyes widened as he tried to think up a lie quickly. "I stopped him." Roman said quickly. "Although this one's a mute, he fights dirty. He would've killed Remus."

The Evil Queen sighed. "Very well. If you insist on them living here, fine. But if they mess up, I'll be holding you accountable, Roman."

Roman nodded. "Yes mother." He said in a tone that suggested he'd received this threat several times. He grabbed Virgil's upper arm harshly. "This one's less dangerous when I'm around. He'll room with me."

"I don't care, Roman, do what you think is right. Oh and Remus?" The Evil Queen asked as Remus tried to sneak away.

"Yes mother?"

The Evil Queen looked back at her mirror shard, now squeezing it hard, drawing blood. "I've heard reports of you... fraternising with boys. Stay behind would you?"

Remus gulped. "Y-Yes mother."

"Well go on." Roman nodded slightly and grabbed Janus' arm too.

"But Rem-" Janus hissed.

"He'll be fine. It's not your business." Roman hissed back, walking them both out of the room.

"Hey, you're back." Roman said, jumping up as Remus stumbled into the room, holding his left hand close to his chest. His shirt had a spreading flower of red on it that wasn't there before. Janus beat Roman to Remus and carefully took his hand away from his chest. It was bleeding badly and the palm had three sharp slashes along it.

"She did that to you?" Janus asked. Remus nodded dumbly. "Bitch." Janus hissed before turning to Roman. "D'you have any bandages or anything?"

Roman was apparently unphased by this whole ordeal. "Yeah. They should be under Re's bed."

Janus nodded, smiling his thanks before turning back to Remus and coaxing him to show Janus where his room was. Virgil ran a hand through his hair.

"Jesus Christ." He muttered. "Does she do that often?"

"Keep your voice down." Roman hissed. He sat down. "And yes. But she hasn't done it in a while."

"How long?"

"Last time she did that to Re was a year ago. Last time she did it to me was three years ago."

"What did you do?"

Roman side-eyed Virgil. "I kissed Charles Hearts. Queen of Hearts son." He explained. "The Queen told mother and my hand took about two month to heal."

"I..." Virgil trailed off, looking down at his shoes. "I'm so sorry."

"Whatever." Roman muttered, bouncing his foot and knotting his hands together. "D'you suppose Re will be okay? He's never done his own bandages, I've always had to-"

"He'll be okay, Roman." Virgil said, hesitating before putting his hand on Roman's shoulder. Roman jumped at the contact but his leg stopped bouncing and his posture relaxed slightly. "Jan's with him and Jan could basically be a doctor. He's going to be okay, okay?"

Roman nodded slightly, still worried.

Remus sat cross-legged on his bed with his hand held out in front of him. Janus was carefully wrapping bandages around the three cuts on his palm.

"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine." Janus sang softly. "Make the clock reverse. Bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt. Change the fate's design. Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine. What once was mine."

"Does that actually work?" Remus asked and his voice came out as a cracked whisper. Janus looked up at Remus' face and wiped a tear away from the corner of Remus' eye.

"It works if you believe." He said quietly, dropping his eyes to the bandages, tying a knot carefully. "There. It's all done." He brought Remus' hand to his face and kissed the bandages gently. "You'll be okay."

Remus shook his head. "No. No I won't."

"You will be." Janus said, cupping Remus' face with his hands. "You know why?" Janus kissed Remus. "Because I'll be here for you. Always?"

"Always?" Remus asked, daring to look into Janus eyes. Janus smiled softly.

"Always."

This is a prime example of Queenie fluff. AND I'M GETTING TO THE PRINXIETY SOON, OKAY?! I just... Demus and stalling.
Bye,
Queenie