There were a few scientific theories behind when someone would receive their soulname, a name written on the inside of their wrist that would tell them who their soulmate was. Scientists had studied this phenomenon for centuries but each new advancements in technology always brought new theories. That, however, was not Janus' concern. Janus was much more interested in the cultural aspects. It shaped the world and many people believed that your soulname would only appear when 'fate' had decided you needed it most. It was a cute theory, but a naive one. There was no point in waiting around for a 'perfect person' to fix your life. You had to take charge, do what was important for you. People had to learn to stand on their own two feet.

Thankfully, for the first part of his life, Janus didn't believe this would be an issue. They were figments of someone's imagination, there was no reason for them to receive a soulname. Yet, after Remus' reveal to Thomas, the chaotic rat man and Logan had both received a name written on their wrists. That had been a rather interesting week. Janus had actually enjoyed watching Logan lose all sense of calm and composure as he tried to understand how receiving a soulname had been possible, and how Remus was considered his soulmate.

The Logical man had been hesitant, but Remus had jumped all in, as he normally did. Even after such a short time they were already beginning to find their stride. The two really did compliment each other, and Janus saw Remus' inclusion with the others as a good step forward in repairing relationships. Unfortunately, he was almost certain that the names on his wrist would not have the same outcome. He looked down at his wrist, scaled thumb sliding gently over his human skin.

'Patton Morality Sanders'

'Roman Creativity Sanders'

This only secured his belief that there was no 'fate' at work here. "Oh, joy, exactly who I wanted to see as my soulmates." He muttered to himself, pushing off of his bed as he walked over to his closet to get dressed. Roman was currently under the impression that Janus was nothing more than a snake in the grass, the villain in his garden of Eden. Patton and Janus were beginning to get along better after Patton's admission that he wasn't always right, but there was still a divide.

His mind raced with the different options for making this situation more manageable, snapping his caplet over his shoulders. "What's best for Thomas?"

Before he could consider just pretending that he didn't have their names on his wrist, there was a soft knock on his door.

"Janus, can I talk to you?"

It was the soft unmistakable voice of Patton and for a brief moment Janus contemplated pretending he was asleep to give him more of a chance to think this over, but it would be best to get this conversation over. He walked over to his door, making sure his gloves were tightly pulled over his hands, dusting off his pants. He opened the door and slipped out of it, preventing Patton from seeing inside his room.

"Patton, what can I do for you?" He asked.

"It's about this." Patton held up his wrist and Janus saw the two names he knew would be written on it. "If I have it then you do too Kiddo."

"I don't know what you are talking about." The lie rolled off of his tongue as easily as it always did. "I'm sure my name being there is a mistake? Why don't you run along to check on the Prince of Paupers."

Patton hesitated, looking at Janus, with his mouth open a bit before nodding. "If you're sure." It didn't take long for the moral side to disappear around the corner and Janus readjusted his hat. This was in the best interest of Thomas. Roman would be content to believe it was just a mistake. Janus wasn't bothered by it in the slightest. His fist tightened under his sleeve. He wasn't bothered one bit.

As the next week went by Janus could tell his plan had worked. Roman began to act more like himself, flamboyantly flouncing around the living room, singing Patton's praises and basking in the glow of being in love. He had covered the second name on his wrist and only Patton and Janus had to know about that. Though Patton refused to cover Janus' name on his wrist, and it meant that Janus got pitying stares from Virgil which he absolutely abhorred.

Janus wasn't lonely. He had plenty to keep him busy now that he was working with Logan to readjust Thomas' schedule. Fitting in time for self-care and debating the philosophy of altruism kept him from pining after a relationship he intentionally excluded himself from. He and Virgil had even started having short conversations that did not end in him being hissed at.

"You realize if Thomas is selfish then all of his friends are going to hate him right?" Virgil asked, sitting back on the stairs while Janus leaned against the wall, both of them watching Roman dance Patton around the living room.

"Isn't this an argument you should be having with Logic, since you obviously need a dose of it right now."

"He's with Remus right now and the last time I tried to pull Logan away from Remus I almost got bit. Don't want to experience that again."

"Yes, and debating with me is so much more fun than being bitten by a disease-ridden rat."

Virgil just shrugged and Janus decided to indulge him. "Everyone is selfish, even the idea of having friends is selfish. Thomas hangs out with them because they make him feel better. The very nature of that is inherently a self-serving idea. They won't abandon him because he decided that his mental health was important, and even if they did, are those the type of people that he should be friends with?"

"I mean, probably not, but even saying you are doing something for your mental health can push your friends too far sometimes."

"You can do anything in excess, but as I told Patton, the plane was going down, we needed a change."

"What about you?" The air suddenly shifted and Janus' brow furrowed in confusion as he watched Patton giggle at being dipped in the middle of the song.

"What about me Virgil?"

"Anything can be done in excess right, including pushing people away?" He began to stand up. "Then again, I'm just Fear, what do I know?"

The sting of old words used against him wasn't anything new, but that didn't mean that Janus enjoyed it. He watched as Virgil yawned, making his way up the staircase. Janus just rolled his eyes, turning to step out into the imagination.

"Janus, come dance with us." Patton giggled.

"That slimy snake doesn't have time to join us, isn't that right?" Roman asked in an assured voice, shooting a glare as Janus.

"I'm sorry dear Patton," Janus' voice was fakely sweet, "But it seems the prince has decreed that I have other work to do. I must go fulfill my duties after all." One hand was on the doorknob that would have led out front if they were in the real world, with his other hand he made a flourish motion before stepping out, barely catching a scoff from Roman. It didn't hurt. This was the best option.

It was another two weeks before anything changed, and it hadn't even been Janus' choice to change it. He had found himself shoved into a coat closet after coming back from the imagination. It was small and he didn't hesitate to start pounding on the door. "This is hilarious Remus, now let me out." His voice was dry, not showing an ounce of humor. There was no other sound at the door, not the usual maniac laughter Remus fell into when one of his 'practical jokes' worked, nor the soft sound of someone else speaking. Janus tried the door again but it didn't budge.

"Just perfect." He sighed, leaning against the wall as he listened quietly for the sound of anyone else to come to the door. When he finally heard someone approaching he shot up.

"I am surprised you were taking an interest in the imagination Virgil." Roman sounded like he was smiling.

"Yea, well I literally had nothing better to do."

"That's... comforting."

Only a few seconds later the door to the closet was opened and Roman came tumbling in. "What is the big deal?"

"Kiss and make up, I'm tired of dealing with you two." Virgil closed the door, locking it tight.

"Two?" Roman began to look around the dark closet before realizing who else was in here with him. "IT'S YOU." He gasped, creating as much space between himself and Janus as possible.

"Really? Are you certain?" Deceit's voice was laced with sarcasm before he shifted into Logan. "Because I'm fairly certain 'you' is not my name."

"Oh don't try to pull one over on me you hedonistic habu?"

Janus returned back to his usual form. "I am not trying to pull anything over on you, your highness. If I were, I would have changed before you stumbled into my prison."

"SO YOU SET THIS ALL UP?"

"Oh my-!" Janus threw his hands up in frustration. "Will you please stop yelling! Your dramatics are all fun and cute when you have the space to be loud but we are in a coat closet!."

"You are yelling now, so I'm going to yell!"

Janus wasn't sure what he wanted more, to slam his own face into his hand, or to smack Roman so hard he felt it for a week. He groaned and slid down the wall. "Just shut up and pretend we're getting along and they will let us out sooner," Janus whispered.

"Why should I do anything you say?!" It was obvious that Roman was still seething mad at him and nothing Deceit said was going to change that, so he stopped trying and fell silent.

"Hey. Hey! Stop ignoring that I am mad at you."

"Oh, that's a laugh and a half. You, mad at me." Janus snapped, "Why could you possibly be mad at me? Is it because I laughed at your name reveal? Or did I completely ignore when you were trying to be on my side in favor of bitter animosity? Or maybe it was when I flaunted my relationship with our shared soulmate? Wait, that's right, I didn't do any of those things, that was all you."

Roman stood there speechless, trying desperately to get in the last word but Janus wasn't letting him have it.

"Whatever you might think of me Roman, my goal, first and foremost, has always been to ensure Thomas takes care of himself so that Thomas can get what he wants, what he deserves. The only reason you hate me is because you have decided to wrap yourself up so much in a world of black and white that you think that someone who disagrees with you has to be a villain. I hate to break it to you Creativity," He enunciated every syllable in Roman's title, "the only one who has been consistently villainous is you. Virgil, open the damn door!"

Slowly the door opened and Janus stormed out, trying to regain his cool as he headed off to his room, leaving Roman in a stunned silence.

"He's said it twice now." Roman looked up at Virgil, "Am I really the villain?"

Virgil shrugged. "You aren't always super nice princy, especially to someone who's been looking at you and Patton longingly for the past few weeks, but I don't care much. I'm just an impartial observer who was tired of watching an old friend pine."

Roman looked down at his wrist, a mix of happiness and guilt filling his heart as he looked at Patton's name. He knew, under a layer of carefully placed makeup, that Janus' name was written there too.

Janus stormed off to his room, most of his anger escaping by the time he reached his door. He was already regretting his outburst and how angry he had gotten himself. He liked to keep up the appearance of being cool and suave but it was irritating to be hated so much by someone you theoretically wanted to admire. Roman was such an important part of who Thomas was as a person, he was the force that drove them to do youtube, and skits, and musicals, and going to this callback would have been a huge break. Roman had tried to appease Patton by making his choice, and even when Janus convinced Patton that maybe he might have been wrong, Roman hung steadfastly to his belief that he did the right thing. How could a prince do anything wrong, right?

Janus sighed, pacing around his room to burn off the excess energy. He wasn't sure how long he had been pacing when he heard a knock on his door.

"Janus... can we talk."

That was not a voice he was expecting to hear. "You are obviously the first person I want to talk to."

"Oh, perfect, well um..." Apparently the prince didn't understand sarcasm. Janus knew that; he had just forgotten for a bit. "I just... I wanted to apologize."

That had Janus freezing in his tracks, turning to look at the door.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not admitting that I, a prince, have made a mistake, but it is possible that I have been looking at this situation through a skewed view."

Janus continued to listen, resting his back on the door.

"That was all I had to say, Snake... um... I mean, Janus."

He wasn't going to accept the apology, not yet. He needed to know that Roman was committed to changing.

"Apology not fully, accepted, but it's a start."

Roman was quiet for a second. "Very well, I will find a more appropriate way to apologize next time." He could hear the prince bouncing off and Janus sighed.

Roman was deeply an idiot, but Janus' eyes caught sight of the name just briefly peeking out from under his glove. This was a step forward, and maybe one day, Roman would be his idiot.

AN: I really liked this one when I wrote it. Hope I started this off with a big enough bang! I love all of you and thank you for being here supporting me.