Winding in and out of the crowded streets of Agrabah, it was very easy to steal a money bag or a piece of jewellery off of unsuspecting market stall owners. Easy, yes, but never fool-proof.

"What do you think you're doing?" A stall owner asked, twisting the thief's arm behind his back and taking back the bracelet he had stolen. The thief smirked.

"Only taking what's mine." He said, not struggling against the stall owner. Not yet, anyway.

"You think that this is yours, do you, Street Rat?" The market owner asked, breathing down the back of the thief's neck.

"No. I know that it's mine. Haven't you ever heard? Finders," the thief kicked the stall owner in the shin and lept onto a wall out of reach of the crowd below him, "keepers." He laughed before running off along the roofs of the poor houses of Agrabah.

The crowd soon disappeared after the thief's display. Not all of them, though. One man wearing a long green cape kept staring at the place where the thief had stood, triumphant with his prize. He intended to memorize every feature on the thief's face. The blue eyes, long hair and even every scar and mark on half of the thief's face.

"Hey, kid!" The same stall owner yelled, bringing the man out of his trance. "Your first time here?"

"Uh, yeah." The man said, tugging his green hood over his face a little more. The stall owner nodded in understanding.

"A word of warning stay away from Deceit. He's always looking for prizes and you don't want to be one of them."

Janus lept down into his hide-out and sat down on a broken wall, dangling his legs high over the streets of Agrabah. A little snake hissed at him before winding up his arm.

"Ah, you should've seen it, Medusa. I was like a bird, flying high." Janus explained, careful not to move his arms too much in case he frightened his pet. "And there was this one guy with a green cape. I couldn't see his face but the cape looked to be of good value. It was almost regal and the way he moved or stared at things in wonder..." Janus trailed off, looking towards the palace that was just visible on the sky-line. "They say the princes haven't been out in years. You don't suppose..." He trailed off again, looking at his snake as if it was going to answer. "No. It's stupid. No one of royal blood would ever come this far into the poor area of Agrabah."

Janus sighed before swinging his legs back into his hideout and pulling a make-shift curtain along the broken wall. He emptied out his pockets, his eyes shining as several pieces of gold, bracelets and necklaces clattered to the ground. This should provide him enough food for a while, Janus thought.

***

"No! I am not taking anything you stole, Dee." Virgil grumbled. "And that's final."

"Aw, come on Virge. They'll never trace it back to you."

Virgil slammed his hand on the table. "Three palace guards have already searched my shop. It isn't even Wednesday yet!" Virgil looked at the ring Janus was trying to sell him and sighed. "I'll take this and you can get... a loaf of bread for it. Only because this one is actually mine." He muttered, dropping the ring into a box and handing Janus his payment.

"Aw, come on Virge. It's worth at least a bag of dates as well." Janus pleaded. Virgil glared at Janus.

"Final offer, take it or leave it."

Janus sighed and stormed off.

Leaning against a wall, Janus felt a pull on his coat. Looking down, he saw a small boy with cracked glasses staring hungrily at his bread while what Janus assumed to be his brother was pulling on his coat.

"D'you want the bread?" He asked. Both boys nodded their heads violently. "Can you not talk?"

"I-I can b-but my brother can't." The older boy whispered to Janus. Janus nodded and handed him the loaf of bread.

"There you go. Share it fairly, now." He warned as the two boys ran off, grinning gratefully.

Hearing a scream, Janus wheeled around.

It was the boy he had noticed from the market place yesterday. The one wearing the green cape.

"So, you think you can just steal from my stall, eh?" A stall owner hissed at the man.

"No! You were ignoring the people in front of you who were clearly hungry so I only gave them what was theirs!" The man in green protested. The stall owner pulled out a dagger and held it to the man's throat.

"Well, if they get what's rightfully theirs, I'll get what's rightfully mine."

"Hey, woah. Calm down." Janus said, intervening. "I am so sorry about my brother, sir. He's forgotten to take his medication, I'm sure he wouldn't steal from you otherwise."

"What do you want, Deceit?"

"Simple, I want to take my brother to get his medication. That's all." Janus said, taking the man in green's arm. "Follow my lead." He hissed to the man before turning back to the stall owner. "If all he did was give some food to children, I don't honestly see why that's a problem. He's done much worse in the past."

Janus started pulling the man in the green cape away, praying he would follow him. He did and kept up the act by stopping and talking to a horse on the way. Janus laughed slightly and pulled him on before rounding a corner and pinning the man against the wall, furious.

"What the Hell were you thinking?" He hissed. The man flinched.

"They were hungry. I didn't know he would react like that."

Janus refrained from rolling his eyes. "Since you're obviously new, I'll spare you the details. You get caught stealing something, you get hurt. Some stalls are more ruthless than others. I got half of my face nearly burned off for stealing a single apple. You're lucky I got you out alive." He hissed. Checking the streets, he turned back to the man in the green cape. "Can you climb?"

***

"This is insane, this is insane, this is insane, this is insane." Remus kept thinking as he followed 'Deceit' across the rooftops. This guy was a thief. A thief who had just saved Remus' life. A very handsome thief that had just saved Remus' life. What the Hell was Remus thinking? He couldn't trust this guy, he barely knew him. But instinct, pure instinct, kept telling him to follow this thief. So, he did.

***

"Welcome to my very humble abode." Janus said, sweeping his arms in an upward ark. "You can stay here until you learn how to be a better thief."

"Wait, learn how to what?" Remus asked, following Janus to the broken wall and sitting down next to him. Janus didn't answer him, looking out towards the horizon. Towards the palace.

"What d'you think it would be like to live in a palace?" Janus asked wistfully.

Remus shrugged, wondering why this thief was suddenly so calm. Janus looked over to Remus and instinctively, Remus pulled his hood over his face.

"Sorry about the thing in the market place." Janus muttered. "I get anxious and when I get anxious, I get angry. And when I get angry... well, you saw what happened. So, sorry."

Remus nodded but didn't say anything. Something slithered along his hand and he looked down.

"Aw, cute snake. What're they called?" Remus asked as the snake wound his way up Janus' arm.

"Medusa. And it's a he." Janus looked over to Remus, slightly confused. "Why do you wear a cape all the time. Scratch that, why do you wear a hood all the time? What's so terrible about your face that you don't want people to see it?"

Remus laughed slightly. "It's not my face, it's the status that comes with it." Janus looked no less confused but Remus just sighed and said nothing. Janus shrugged and got up.

"Sorry that there's nothing to eat. Virge eventually stopped taking my stolen items." Janus said jokingly, setting up a little nest for Remus. "You got a name?"

"Er, Remus."

Janus laughed slightly, turning back to Remus. "Just like the prince." He took Remus' hand in his and kissed his knuckles. "Janus Dagger. More commonly known as Deceit, at your service."

Remus' face was bright pink as he snatched his hand out of Janus', the words from the stall owner coming back to him.

"Am I just a prize to you?" He asked suddenly. Janus looked confused, sitting down next to Remus.

"What? No. I don't tell just anyone my real name. You're - God, this is going to sound cheesy - different. Sorta..." Janus looked out towards the palace again. "Special, I guess." Hugging his knees, Remus looked over to Janus.

"You're special too." He mumbled. Janus touched his scars absently.

"Yeah. Special all right. Not special like you, special like a freak." He muttered bitterly. Remus shook his head.

"No. You're special as in you're beautiful in your own way. Those scars make you who you are." Janus smiled and blushed slightly before turning away.

Remus sighed and pulled his hood down, not really thinking about it. Janus laughed slightly, sitting back down next to him.

"You look like the prince." Janus paled. "Holy shit, you are the prince. Holy shit, I just told the prince off. Holy shit, I just flirted with the prince. Holy shit," his eyes sparkled with realisation, "the prince just called me special. Holy shit, I'm in for it now. I'm going to be killed."

"Janus, calm down." Remus said, putting his hand on Janus' shoulder to try and calm him down. "You also saved my life. I don't think that's a punishable offence. And I'm not the prince, that's my older brother. I'm a prince."

"You're still royalty." Janus' eyes widened as he looked out towards the palace and then back at his hideout. He laughed slightly, panicked. "I guess this place is a far cry from luxury."

Remus nodded. "And it's nice."

"What?"

"It's nice." Remus repeated. "At the palace, everything's so formal. You can't do anything without being caught. Here, you could kill someone and no one would notice."

Janus laughed slightly. "I hope you're joking. You can't kill anyone."

Remus turned back to Janus, grinning wickedly. "Who says?"

"Um, the law?"

Remus laughed slightly again, dangling a stolen necklace from his hand. "You don't seem to care about the law, do you?"

Janus made a grab at the necklace, turning away from Remus. "I only steal what I can't afford." He muttered.

"And that's what?"

"Everything. Life's difficult when you live on the streets."

Remus looked out towards the palace. "I guess I wouldn't know about that, would I?"

"What's it like?" Janus asked, putting the necklace back. "What's being a prince like?"

Remus laughed. "Glorified. Everyone thinks it's so great but you can't go anywhere or do anything because of etiquette. And etiquette is not my forte. My brother though," Remus nodded his head, "he'll make a great Sultan."

"You would too." Janus mumbled. Remus laughed again.

"I would not. I'd destroy the kingdom in two seconds. Besides, I don't want to rule. I never wanted to be a prince. I want... I guess I want to be like you. Free."

This time, it was Janus' turn to laugh. "I'm far from free, Remus. The only reason I'm walking about now is because I've got quick fingers, a silver tongue and I can run fast." Janus laughed again, looking out towards the palace. "I'm not free. I'm riff raff, a street rat."

"I don't buy that."

Janus turned to look at Remus, surprised. "What?"

"I said that I don't buy it. If people looked closer, they'd see what I see."

Janus decided to humour the prince. "And what do you see?"

Remus walked closer to Janus, staring into his face. "A diamond in the rough." He said finally, not moving away from Janus. "Diamond eyes are windows to a diamond soul."

Remus didn't move away from Janus after saying this, instead he started to lean in. Janus did too even though every part of his brain was screaming at him that this was wrong. Remus was a prince, he could never love a boy like Janus.

Suddenly, the make-shift door was thrown open and several palace guards entered.

"Shit. I need to go." Janus said, starting off towards the broken-in wall. Remus started after him but was held back by one of the guards.

"My prince, do not go after him." He said. Remus pulled his arm out of the guards grip.

"I am the prince and it is my choice. You can tell whoever sent you that I shall not stand for this." He yelled before tearing after Janus.

Janus looked back, Remus was running after him. Looking down, Janus got an idea. He stuck a hand out to Remus.

"Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Do you trust me? I need you to trust me."

Remus looked behind him at the advancing guards. "Yes, I trust you." He said, grabbing Janus' hand.

"Good. Jump!" Janus yelled, leaping off the edge of the wall, pulling Remus with him. They landed on a stall, smashing the stall but staying alive and unhurt. Remus started laughing.

"Again!" He yelled.

"No time. Now, I'll go that way, you go this way. If they find you first tell them I ran off, if they find me first..." Janus smiled slightly. "At least I'll die knowing that a prince called me special."

Remus grabbed his arm as Janus started to run off.

"Janus, wait. I..." Remus trailed off but Janus nodded, understanding. Then, he tore his arm out of Remus' grip and ran off. Remus sighed.

"I never got to say I love you."