On the Side of Insanity (A Sander Sides Fanfiction)

17. Truce

They caught a taxi back to the apartment. It was later in the afternoon. That time of day where the sun becomes the brightest, as if giving the day it's last hoorah before fading.

No one really paid attention to Janus. Everything was mostly focused on Lily Water who was loving the attention from all her (as Bonnie Lark dubbed it) new uncles. Which was good. It gave Janus time to contemplate what to do. Virgil had forgotten his jacket so Janus had tucked it under his arm after he had put on his own cloak.

As they bounced along in carriage. Janus stared at Logan's knees. He was sitting directly in front of him and Janus had spaced out and was just thinking. He barely noticed when Logan shifted his legs, but it caught Janus's attention and he looked up.

Logan raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking Are you okay?

Janus slightly smiled, tilted his head, and slowly blinked. I'm fine.

Logan raised both his eyebrows and tilted his head down. Bull.

Janus looked away and out the window, electing to ignore Logan.

When they arrived at the flat Logan showed Bonnie Lark to Patton's room. Thankfully it had been recently cleaned. Lily Water had fallen asleep in the carriage so Remus carried her in and tucked her into Patton's bed. Logan went to his room and instantly fell asleep in his bed with the clothes he had been wearing since the day before still on. Virgil went into his own room and Roman and Remus went to (surprise) Roman's.

Everyone was too exhausted to realize Janus was the only one that didn't really have a place to go. But he held his peace and sat on the couch in the living room. He observed his surroundings, listening to the tick tock of the clock. The room was nice. Lived in. There was still the overturned table and broken vase on the floor. He noticed a lemon lying out on the counter and decided no one would mind so he peeled and ate it. Then he returned to the couch to think.

An hour later he heard someone quietly walking down the stairs. Logan pushed his glasses into place as he reached the bottom step and headed for the door.

"There is no way it's been two hours."

Logan jumped and turned to face Janus. He hadn't noticed him.

"Oh, Janus. If you wish you may use my room-."

"No skirting around it, four eyes, it hasn't been two hours."

Logan checked the clock. "Think Patton will notice?"

"I think he'll scold you if you don't get another few hours of sleep before you return to the hospital."

"I can sleep there."

"Surely you've learned that even the truly desperate regret sleeping in hospital chairs."

"It's fine. Erm, can I ask you something?"

"Gives you a real pain in the neck," Janus went on.

"Janus."

"Though I suppose it's better than nothing," Janus mused.

"You may be stubborn but I'm even more stubborn when it comes to a quest for knowledge."

"What does that even mean?"

"I want to know what you and Remus plan on doing after this is all over."

"Remus will probably stay-."

"As much as I enjoy seeing Roman with his twin, I'm not sure that that's the best option."

"Care to elaborate?"

"We all know of Remus's lack of mental stability," Logan glanced away and back at Janus. Janus nodded. "It wouldn't be safe, not to just others, but him as well. People tend to attack what they don't understand... But I'm sure you know that."