"I'm worried," Patton blurts out, pacing Logan's office as the other tied red strings around thumbtacks that are pelted into a board filled with pictures of popular supervillains—Jealously, Lust, Insanity, Manipulation, etc—along with small notes about their possible weaknesses inversed over the years.

"I know you are."

"He's been in headspace for a few days now, is that normal?" Patton asks frantically.

"Completely," Logan reassures for the fiftieth time, not bothering to glance at the other.

"Are you sure? I don't think-"

"Patton," Logan interrupts with a sigh. "Janus obviously has past trauma as do most villains. Only a small percent are seemingly born evil. It's great that he's regressing, it'll give him a break from his head for a few days. Once he's big again, we can have a proper discussion about it."

Patton stopped his pacing, sucking in a few deep breaths. "Right," He murmurs. "Anything new...?" He asks, attempting to distract himself.

Humming at the obvious attempt to change the subject, Logan shakes his head. "Afraid not, they've pretty much gone into hiding since we've taken Janus. I'm worried they're planning something."

"Well, as long as they don't know where the base is right?" Patton chirps, offering a smile. "Even then, it's not like anyone can just walk in."

Pursing his lips, Logan nods, staring at the masks of the villains. "Right..."

"I should check on Janus," Patton insists, heading towards the door, whining as he was lifted into thin air and forced back onto Logan's bed.

"Logie!"

"You need to rest, when was the last time you slept?"

Patton looked down guiltily, twiddling with his fingers. Glancing over, Logan sighed heavily. "Virgil can watch him, he has the twins to assist," He explains, rolling his eyes at the last bit. "Well, to entertain rather than assist."

"Roman didn't mean it, Lo," Patton defends the other.

"He should have gone with him, it was incredibly irresponsible." Logan snips, crossing his arms.

"He apologized for it," Patton scolds. "It's not like we have kids-"

"I did!" Logan snapped, interrupting him, twirling on his heel, hands clenched into tight fists.

Patton froze, frowning as he stared at Logan. "...You did?"

Logan swallowed, he hadn't meant to reveal something like that, but with the memory of his face flashing, it spilled out before he could grasp that it had. "Yes," He murmurs, attempting to straighten himself. "I did," He confirms, voice wavering ever so slightly.

"C-Can I," Patton begins, at a loss at words. "Can I asked what happened?"

Logan sucked in a deep breath, clenching his jaw. "We were at the park. We were throwing a frisbee," He explains, digging his nails into his arm. "It went behind a bush and he went to get it," He continues, clearing his throat as it cracked. "He never came back."

"Oh Lo," Patton gasped, immediately springing to his feet, staggering towards him, hugging him close. Logan pursed his lips, tensing at the contact, but reluctantly accepted his comfort, wrapping his arms around his waist. His breathing came out u even, but he mentally reminded him of the 4-7-8 breathing method and began to mimic the directions.

"It's okay," He whispers. "I overreacted, I apologize. Just," He stammers, unconsciously squeezing Patton closer to his body. "I shouldn't have let him go by himself."

"Logan, that wasn't your fault," Patton whispers, his eyes brimming with tears as Logan's shoulders fell. "It was an accident."

"If I had just been more responsible-"

"Now that's enough," Patton scolds, pulling away. "Logan, it wasn't your fault, you didn't know."

Logan pursed his lips and glanced away, blinking back the moisture welling up behind his glasses.

With a weak smile, Patton lead Logan towards his bed and slid on it, resting his head against the pillow before patting the space next to him. "I think we could both use a nap."

Sighing, Logan ran a hand through his hair. "Patton I have so much work-"

"Logan Berry," Patton says firmly. "You lay next to me right now mister."

With a louder sigh, Logan begrudgingly tosses his glasses onto his side table and strips off his tie before climbing on his bed. Smiling, Patton scoots closer. "Do you wanna be the little spoon or big spoon?"

Sputtering, Logan flushes and glares at Patton-whose smile only grew. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Big or little spoon?"

"Neither!" He snips, turning his back to Patton to hide his warming face. However, as he felt him wrap his arms around him, he tensed and craned his neck back to scold him when he noticed his eyes closing. Patton pressed his face against his back and snuggled close to Logan. One hand clenched at the back of his shirt while the other is loosely tossed over his hip.

Pausing, Logan huffed through his nose and turned over, deciding to give in.

It wasn't even ten minutes later when they were both asleep.

---

Janus glared at Virgil.

He glared back.

"I want chips."

"No."

"I want chips!"

"I said no."

"Remus!" Whines Janus, turning to the man who was shoving his face full of M&M's. He glanced up from his laptop that was playing his favorite YouTube Channel, Dead meat. He goes over horror movies and counts the kills each one in a series called the kill count. It's an amazing series.

"Huh?"

"Can I have Chips?" Janus asks with a small smile, ignoring the way Virgil huffs and rubs at his temples.

"Janus, I said no," Virgil growls out firmly, causing the little shit to smile smugly at him.

"Yeah, that's why m'asking Remus dummy."

"Janus I swear I will-"

"Remus! Can I have Chips?" He repeats, successfully hopping away from Virgil's reach, sliding onto the couch, giving Remus the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.

Remus looked quizzically over at Virgil and chewed his food before speaking-to which Virgil was very grateful. "Why can't he have Chips?"

"Because, Patton said no unhealthy snacks before dinner, I already offered apples-"

"No!" Janus whines, slumping against the couch.

"-but that happened."

Remus pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "Er, what about blueberries? You can pretend they're your enemy's heads and squish them."

Janus stared at Remus for a moment, considering it.

"Intwiguing but no, I want chips!"

"Well, you aren't getting any," Virgil says simply. "If you don't want to abide by our options then you can starve until dinner."

"That's not fair!" Janus screeched so loud it caused both mentally aged adults in the rooms to flinch and wince.

"What about cherries? You can pretend they're bleeding heads-"

"No! No! No! No! No!" Janus screeches, causing Remus to huff. If Remus couldn't convince him there wasn't a chance in hell anything remotely healthy was going to help.

Patton had made it clear that he wasn't allowed anything unhealthy before dinner because of a fit he had thrown earlier, besides, he had been allowed gummies after lunch, mostly because Patton is a sucker for puppy dog eyes.

Well, now Janus is having a fit over the punishment he received because of a fit he had earlier. Clearly, the lesson wasn't learned.

"Yeah, okay, Patton may put up with this but I'm not, I get you're upset but screaming like a banshee isn't going to get you your way, you're going in the corner," Virgil bluntly says, beginning to stalk towards Janus. Upon seeing the man, he did what any toddler would do.

He ran.

Remus would have helped, but watching Virgil groan in utter frustration before giving chase to the other was too good to miss.

"Janus!" Virgil screeched after the man, watching helplessly as he booked it down the hall after many circles around the living room.

Virgil was praying for someone to walk out and catch the man, and for once, his prayers were answered.

Roman, who had grown tired of all the noise and commotion, walked out from his red, sparkling door and promptly caught Janus in the act. Well, it was better described as Janus running into him and Roman wrapping his arms around him on instinct.

"What on earth is going on?" Roman asks, frowning as he tightened his hold as Janus screamed and kicked in his hold.

Virgil jogged down the hall, scowling grumpily. "This little shit is getting on my nerves, that's what," He grumbles.

Roman cocked an eyebrow and yelped as Janus stepped on his foot. "Ow! Listen Mr. Facilier, I don't know what crawled up you and your friends on the other side's butts today but this is ungodly behavior," He surprisingly finds himself lecturing. Roman never thought he would be lecturing someone else. Usually, it's someone else lecturing him.

"Whatever it is, he can tell us once he's calmed down, for now, he's going into the corner," Virgil insists, his patience running thin. It's not a secret that he's impatient, and that's not going to change for Janus who apparently is feeling cranky at the moment.

"Maybe that's best," Roman agrees, attempting to pass Janus off-who is now wailing along with his screaming and stomping.

"No! No! No! Mean! Mean!" He shrieks, whining as Virgil takes his wrist. He goes to hit his chest, but squeaks as Virgil grabs his arm firmly and gives him a terrifying stare that makes him fall still.

"That's. Enough." He slowly and sternly says, emphasizing each word. "There is no hitting, you can be angry all you want kid but if you hit me you are not going to be a happy camper. Do I make myself fucking clear?"

It's a miracle Janus didn't piss himself.

Janus flinches, shrinking and whimpering at his words, and Roman has pity. "Vee, don't scare him," Roman insists. "He's just a kid."

"Well, he's gotta learn that he cant hit people just because he's upset then," Virgil snips, softening a bit as Janus sniffles, tears continuing to spill down his cheeks, his hands beginning to tremble in his. Sighing, he lifted the man and rubbed his back, carrying him back towards the living room with Roman hot on his tail. Virgil said nothing as Janus hiccupped and buried his face into his shoulder, clenching at his hoodie tightly, releasing the occasional whimper or two.

If someone told him he would be carrying a crying, whimpering Janus Black ten years ago, he would have laughed in their face.

Weird thing is, he didn't mind it. It reminded him of old times. Ironically and embarrassedly enough, it was usually the other way around with Janus comforting Virgil.

"Okay, that was a bit harsh, I'm sorry," He apologizes finally after a few moments of silence, bouncing him a bit as Janus clings to him, taking in the scent of his hoodie that he has his face buried in.

Pine. It smells like Pine. Why does he always smell like pine? He's so pale, there's no way he goes outside.

"Is otay," Janus murmurs. Admittedly, it had scared him when he spoke so firm and such, and he was expecting him to backhand him right there and then.

But he didn't.

Remus glanced up as they entered and frowned, staring at Janus. "Is he good?"

"Toddlers," Virgil says with a playful eye roll. "So many big emotions."

"Over the littlest of things too," Roman adds, snickering as Janus whined weakly and lightly knocked his hand against Virgil's shoulder, earning a small snort from him.

Remus grinned at the two and moved his laptop. "Gimme my snake noodle you bullies."

"Remus, you bullied me all the time in high school-" Roman began to protest.

Remus waved his hand and stuck out his tongue. "It was brotherly love, don't be a baby," He teases, his smile growing as Virgil reluctantly handed a sniffling Janus off to Remus, who of course wrapped his arms around hus waist, giving a light squeeze, laughing as Janus squeaked and wiggled. He nudged his head against his neck and nuzzled his face against his skin, earning a loud squeal and line of giggles as Remus' facial hair tickled his skin.

"N-Noooo!" He squeals, squirming in his hold. "Ree-Ree! Supposed to be on my side!"

Remus laughed and Janus pushed against him, rubbing at his skin as Remus finally pulled away. He glared weakly, the effect he wanted, unfortunately, was saturated by his wet, puffy eyes and pouty lip.

"Sorry," Remus says, the apology lacking any ounce of truth. Even without his magical ability to taste lies, he had spent years mastering the art of human behavior and deception. Even with such knowledge, he didn't need it to know that Remus hadn't meant it. "You're just far cuter when you smile Double Dee."

Janus blushed, looked down at his hands, fiddling with them. "M'not cute."

"Yes, you are," Snorted Remus. "Like a slimy newborn baby-"

"Nope," Roman rudely interrupts, shaking his head. "Don't want that image in my head," He huffs.

Virgil rolled his eyes and genuinely smiled, though it was small. He wasn't thrilled to have Janus back in his life-yes, he had been fighting him before but that was Deceit, not Janus. Despite his lack of enthusiasm initially, he hated to admit that little, only little Janus was growing on him.

Only a little bit.

Just a tiny bit.

---

Yep, so Janny had a bit of a tantrum but like they said, toddlers and those big emotions.

I had a lot of fun writing this, I know it seems like Virgil was being mean but you guys have to understand that they have like zero experience with children, aside from Patton and Logan. And caregivers make mistakes as well, and that's okay. They're learning together.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :)