𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒊𝒂 「𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒙𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒖」

7.

TRIGGER WARNING/AUTHORS NOTE: there is bullying in this chapter that is about a mental disability (autism to be exact). I want to let everyone know that I myself am autistic and are trying to write janus (who is the autistic character) as close to my experience as possible. So if you have autism and his description doesn't fit your symptoms, know that I'm not just making stuff up. But the real trigger warning is the use of the R-slur uncensored and ableism, calling an autistic person useless because of their disability. There is also homophobia with the F-slur. Please be careful.

Virgil

It's been a short while and we have our drinks and I can't stop bouncing my leg but that's normal.

We've mostly sat in silence as we all drank our drinks. Janus got a tea, Remus got this ridiculous looking coffee and I got a hot chocolate, caffeine makes me antsy.

Janus looked over to remus for a second, looking like he's trying to silently communicate with him but got back a confused look.
Janus just sighed and turned to me. "I'm happy to see you again but uh... well, we were both wondering what happened. You just left. You didn't even keep in touch. And we were just wondering why that was..." janus spoke, almost nervously. That was strange to me because Janus was usually so confident, even in his anger.

I just looked down at my lap. How was I going to explain properly? As far as they knew, my dad was a single dad trying his best. They didn't know him like I did.
I didn't want them to. They would've wanted me to do something.

"W-well uh... we moved pretty suddenly and uh... my phone broke and I didn't memorise your numbers so... I'm sorry.. I really didn't mean too. I missed you guys," I spoke as I kept my eyes down. 
The first bit was a lie but I really did miss them.

When we moved suddenly, he gave me no time to prepare and then when we got to the new house, he took away my phone because he didn't like me having friends.
He never let me contact them and would always tell me they're much better they were without me, that I was a burden.

I wanted to talk to them so bad but I couldn't.

Janus just nodded as he went quiet and sipped his tea. "WELL! That doesn't matter! The bitch is back and we are together again!" Remus laughed as he spilled his drink on the floor before running out.

I just stared at the door he ran out of in confusion. Janus just sighed with a slight smile on his face. He just silently stood up and gestured for me to follow him as he followed after Remus.

When I did, we saw Remus running around like a crazy guy and people staring. "I see somethings never change," I hummed quietly as we followed Remus.
"He's a lot more responsible then he was before," Janus shrugged as we kept following Remus all the way to the main school building.

As we were walking around, trying to make sure Remus didn't run into someone, by accident or on purpose.

The next thing I knew it, some slammed their shoulder into Janus and sent him falling to the ground. "Oh sorry, thought even a retard like you would know to stay out my way," I heard a deep voice speak, followed by a group of laughs.

Remus immediately stopped and helped Janus up, but i spoke first. While I do have anxiety and prefer to steer away from conflict, I refuse to stand by and let my family be hurt.

"Hey! Leave him alone, and don't say that!" I argued back quickly as I took a step forward. Very unsurprisingly, they just laughed at me. I'm shorter then them and I'm very scrawny.
"And what are you going to do about it?" He chuckled as he looked down at me.

I felt my confidence drop as he loomed over me. "Huh? You gonna protect the retard? It's not like he can look after himself is it?He can't even listen to the fire alarm," He shoved me as he took a step closer with a laugh, like he just told a hilarious laugh.

"Hey! Fuck off or I'll fuck you up," Remus shouted as he gently shoved me behind him. I just rubbed my arm as I turned to Janus, who looked close to crying.

"Oh I'm so scared of a fucking fag," he joked as Remus swiftly threw an upper cut to his chin.
Automatically, the strangers friends went to attack Remus before the guy held his hand up. "Not now," he growled as he held his chin, glaring at Remus.

"You'll regret that," he scowled by they walked away.

I just stayed frozen as Remus turned around and started helping Janus calm down.
He was hyperventilating and trying not to cry. "What was that about?" I asked quietly as I walked up to Janus.

"That was Blake. He was our friend but when Janus got diagnosed with autism and we came out he just stopped hanging out with us and told everyone about it," Remus explained quietly as he held a crying Janus. He wasn't hugging back but was leaning into Remus. He shakily put his headphones on.

"Oh... that's... not good," I spoke quietly, unsure at what to say to that.
"He'll be fine eventually. If he comes near us ever again I'll beat the shit out of him," he growled and Janus slapped his arm. "No. I don't want you getting in trouble," he mumbled as he turned to me.
"Do you hate me now? I wouldn't blame you," he mumbled.
"What? No! Of course not. You're still the same person now as there was before I knew," I quickly answered, upset that he thought I would hate him for something like that.

"Okay... thank you for standing up for me by the way," he smiled as he rubbed his arm.
"I didn't really do much. It was instinct. I'm not going to just sit there while someone insults you," I shrugged. I didn't think it was anything to be thanked for. It was an instinct and a common curtesy.

"Either way... thank you. We should probably get to class now," he spoke quickly as we started to make our way to our classes.