"This is stupid," Janus complains, pushing the toys away while Patton folded laundry skillfully. Janus would rather watch him twist and turn his hands that somehow always created a perfect shape than play with these childish toys.

"Stupid isn't a nice word Janus," Patton scolds.

"That's why I used it."

With his firm glance, Janus merely replied with a cheeky grin.

"Then why don't you find Logan and play with him?"

"I don't want to play, I'm not a baby!" Janus huffs out, crossing his arms, ignoring the stuffed animal he has pressed to his chest. Embarrassingly enough, he has grown quite attached to the plush snake, not that he'll ever admit it.

Glancing at Janus briefly, Patton smiled gently. "Oh yes, you're not a baby, but just because you're a big boy doesn't mean you can't play."

Flushing, Janus glared at his sickeningly sweet tone and rolled his eyes. "I don't want to."

"Then what do you want to do?" Patton asks, beginning to separate the clothing into piles; each one is for each hero-and Janus.

"I want to watch TV."

"You've watched enough TV, for now, you can do something else," Patton insists softly. "Why don't you color a picture?"

"No."

"Why don't you-"

"I wanna watch TV!"

Sighing, Patton sets the piles back into the basket, taking out the stuffed toys that had been washed as well. Janus tends to throw his stuffed animals, and with them spending the majority of their stuffed lives on the ground, Patton just wants to make sure Janus doesn't get any germs on him-just in case he does want to play with them.

"Why don't you help me then?" Patton suggests, smiling softly. Eyeing the man suspiciously, Janus reluctantly stands, setting his snake on the couch before crossing his arms.

"Help you how?"

"You can hold these little guys for me!" Patton chirps, holding out the stuffed toys, much to Janus' dismay.

"You're trying to trick me into playing with them," Janus accuses.

With a pout, Patton shakes his head. "I am not! Just hold them for me okay?" He insists. "They need your protection!"

Janus glares, starting at the stuffed toys with pure hatred. "I'm a villain, I don't protect people, I hurt people."

Pausing once more, Patton purses his lips before smiling. "Well, then they can protect you!"

Janus blinked, staring down at the stuffed animal as they were forcefully pushed into his arms.

"Protect me?" He mumbles, barely noticing Patton's proud smile.

"Yeah! They'll protect you from monsters and other ghouls! They're the ghost-stuffers!"

Patton rambles on, continuing to pack the piles into the laundry basket to carry them off to the other room.

"...they'll protect me?" Janus mumbles absentmindedly.

"You can't trust anyone in this world Janus, but don't worry, I'll protect you."

Janus ripped the head off the stuffed animal, watching as it fell to the ground, barely registering his actions or Patton's startled gasp. Stuffing scattered across the floor and Patton set the laundry basket down.

"Janus! Why did you-" Patton cut himself off, furrowing his eyebrows together in concern as he felt a spike of anxiety from the man, while yes, Virgil can feel anxiety spikes as well, Patton can regulate all emotions. "Jan?" He asks, softening his tone.

"Jan?"

Janus glanced over his shoulder numbly, watching as the man dressed himself, barely bothered by the broken figure he had left behind. His body refused to move, it fell still, weak.

"You know I did this for you right? It'll make you stronger. If you want to be like us, live among us, you have to be strong. There is no room for weakness."

Janus blinked, barely having the energy to nod.

The man smirked, his eyes dull and lacked empathy. "Good, you'll make an excellent addition to our team, Janus."

"Janus!"

Janus' head snapped up, his throat felt clogged, and his vision was unusually foggy. He didn't know what was happening, his chest burned, and god he couldn't fucking breathe.

"Janus baby," He heard Patton coo. He couldn't bring himself to glance up and meet his eyes, his body is frozen, lacking the ability to move or process his surroundings. He flinched as warm hands cupped his cheeks. He tried to jerk from their touch, but as their hands tilted his head up, and his heterochromatic eyes met bright baby blue eyes, he relaxed in the touch, breathing heavy and erratic. "It's okay darling, breathe for me."

As if under a spell, Janus followed his directions, taking in a shaky breath, releasing it slowly. Patton smiled encouragingly, rubbing the stray tears away. Janus could barely register he was breathing, let alone crying.

"You're doing so well," Patton whispers, leading Janus towards thr couch-to which he was grateful for, his legs felt as if they would give out at any second-and sitting with him.

"Just keep breathing for me, okay?"

Janus followed his directions, the slight glow in his eyes was warm and comforting, everything about the other had Janus melting into putty, and soon, his head was rested against his chest as Patton lightly ran his hands through his hair.

"There we go," Whispers Patton. "Just like that baby, keep breathing for Pat," He murmurs, not at all bothered as Janus practically melted against him, clenching at his shirt, desperately seeking the comfort he was never given.

Janus didn't even know when, but his eyes fell close and he lost consciousness, for once, he didn't mind sleep, he would sleep forever if he could be surrounded by such warmth the whole time.

--

"I'm not sure what happened," Patton admits, cradling Janus who slept peacefully on his lap, stuffed snake glued to his chest. If it was a living creature, it would be dead by now from how harshly it's being squeezed. "He just began hyperventilating and he was crying so I must admit, I used my magic on him. I didn't want him getting sick or passing out."

Logan nods, seeming deep in thought as he scanned over Janus. Roman-who had repaired the stuffed toys for Janus-sat off to the side, tilting his head. "Maybe he had a flashback."

"To what?" Remus asks, however, it came out muffled due to the fact that he's stuffing his face with sour cream and onion flavored chips.

"Obviously, we don't know what," Virgil comments, rolling his eyes before narrowing them. "Are those my sour cream and onion chips?" He asks, his voice dropping a few octaves.

Stopping mid-chew, Remus carefully glances down and notices the permanent marker spread out on the bag.

VIRGIL'S CHIPS. TOUCH THEM AND YOU'RE DEAD.

Slowly, Remus swallowed his mouth full of chips and moved the bah behind his back, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Nooooo..."

Virgil's eye twitched in annoyance, however, he smirked. "That's okay, I'll get my revenge."

Remus paled.

"Please," Logan says, catching their attention. "Can we not focus on chips for a moment?"

"Yeah, yeah, so what do we do?"

Patton sighs, shaking his head, lightly cradling the man, glancing at Roman. "Can you summon a pacifier?"

With a nod, Roman summons a pacifier. It's Slytherin themed this time and it's attached to a pacifier clip-this way, Janus can't lose it. Handing the pacifier over to Patton, he slips it in between his lips. After a few moments, it begins bobbing lightly, to which Roman snorted.

"For someone who insists he's an adult, he doesn't look like it."

"You're one to talk," Virgil mocks playfully, snickering as he receives an offended squawk.

Logan clears his throat. "Now that I think about it, maybe this was a good thing."

Four pairs of eyes landed on him in unison.

"...how the fuck is having a panic attack a good thing?" Virgil demands.

Shaking his head, Logan adjusts his tie. "That isn't what I meant," He insists. "However, with the panic attack might come with the opportunity to have him regress if he hasn't already done so. His body and mind are exhausted and vulnerable, it'll be the perfect time to at least attempt to have him slip," Logan explains.

Exchanging glances, they nod. "That makes sense," Roman admits.

"Bet! We're going to make slime!" Cheers Remus.

"I don't know Ree," Patton says, frowning. "Slimes messy, besides, we don't know his head space age yet, who knows, he could have a teen space."

"A teen space?" Roman asks curiously.

"It's a type of little space, in the beginning, I explained that regression can take the said person to a mental space of an infant, toddler, child, or teen. The most common are toddlers because Janus has never regressed before, there's a possibility he can regress to newborn levels or as old as possibility sixteen, we won't know until he awakens."

"I hope we don't have another edgy teen on our hands, we already have Virgil-ow!"

"Virgil," Patton scolds. "No hitting."

"He started it."

"I did not!" Whines Roman, rubbing at his head.

"You all are children." Logan insists with a head shake.

Giggling, Patton nods. "I guess we're the parents then!" He chirps to Logan, who flushes bright pink at the claims. Clearing his throat he glances away.

"I-I suppose so-"

"Pfttt! The nerds blushing!" Remus teases, the other two laughing as well.

Glaring, Logan huffs. "I will ground you all."

"Mama Lo! Don't be so mean!"

"Don't call me that! I am no one's mother!"