Sanders Sides God AU

A Second Chance

     Janus stayed quiet. He knew Patton was right, that he did the best he could, but...
     It still hurt that his best wasn't enough.

     "It isn't your fault Jannie." Patton assured him. "It's like he's dead Patton." Janus sobbed, hugging Patton tighter. "But he isn't. When you were showing Thomas how to feed him, didn't he act exactly like you knew he would?" Patton pointed out. "I suppose..." Janus sighed. "And part of him must still be there. He called you Mom!" Patton cheered as Janus pulled away and chuckled. "I suppose he did..." Janus admitted as Patton wiped his tears. "I know it's hard, and it's okay to be upset. You have every right to be upset." Patton assured him. "But don't blame yourself. Please. None of this was your fault." He pleaded.

     Janus nodded, and tried to smile as he held Patton close to him. "What did I do to deserve you?" He asked fondly. "Clearly, you've done more than I know... I knew you were protecting the Smaller Gods, I didn't know you raised them." Patton admitted, stroking Janus's cheek with his hands. "Most of them... yes... A lot of them came to me as adults, a lot are still children." Janus sighed. "How... How many are there?" Patton then asked, wondering how much work Janus really had on his plate. "More than I can count..." Janus admitted, resting his forehead on Patton's and closing his eyes.

     "Oh dear..." Patton sighed, realizing just how much work Janus did. And he couldn't even ask for help, couldn't even tell anyone, all this time he had been doing it mostly alone, and none of them had any idea.

     Janus had passed out in Patton's arms, falling asleep due to exhaustion. Patton helped him up a spiral staircase that lead to Janus's bedroom. There, he laid with Janus on the bed and cuddled with him, deciding that whether Janus agreed to it or not, he was going to make sure Janus got a good, long, rest.

***

(Warning for: slight discussion of how struggling with mental illness makes dating difficult, joking about being poisoned, and mention of a tragic love story involved in Virgil's work.)

     "Oh Virgil!" Roman cheered, entering Virgil's domain. Virgil, however, didn't appear to be there. Instead, string cutters were busy at work, causing Roman to look confused. "Virgil?" He called again, looking around. "Hmm..." He hummed nervously, feeling tense as he took a step back. "He's usually either here or in my domain... Where else could he be?" Roman muttered. "Unless he had a soul he wanted to guide personally to the after life. That would make sense." He noted before turning back towards the exit. When he turned around, however, he was startled by Virgil floating upside down in front of him.

     "Ah!" Roman shouted, jumping back and clutching his chest. Virgil laughed, holding his stomach as he rotated to float right side up. "Don't scare me like that!" Roman scolded, letting out a huff as he dust himself off. "What do you expect, Patches?" Virgil teased before landing on the ground with an excited look. "It's spooky season! Halloween is just around the corner!" Virgil cheered. "Yes, I'm aware." Roman sighed, smiling fondly and rolling his eyes.

     "What are you doing in my room anyways?" Virgil asked, smirking as he pulled out a string and waited for the clock to go off. "Well, you never sleep here, so it's not really your room." Roman scoffed. "Okay, what are you doing in my place of work?" Virgil corrected. "I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date tonight." Roman explained. "All our dates have gone badly." Virgil reminded him. Their first date was interrupted by some mystery God they still knew little about, their second date was cut short because the place they went to was more crowded than Roman expected, which gave Virgil a panic attack, and the most recent date they had been on, they had both been too afraid of messing up or something happening to really enjoy it.