"Oh, if I can maaaaake it there / I'll make it aaaaaanywhere / It's up to you, New York / New Yooooooooork!" Janus sang, tossing his hat up into the air.
Remus caught it out of the air and handed it back. "Save your pipes for your next music video, Jan-Jan. That song is for New Year's only in my mind."
"Besides, New York City is really only glitter and gold on the surface," Roman added. "It's filthy if you look close enough."
"Yeah, that's why it's so cool!" Remus said.
Virgil let out a long sigh. "I see I'm the one with the braincell on this trip."
Roman gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You're always the one with the braincell."
"Nice to know that you're self-aware," Virgil said, smirking at Remus and Janus's offended gasps.
Janus folded his arms with a huff. "Can't believe that you think so little of me, Hayashi."
"Can't believe that you think so highly of yourself, Kapoor." Virgil paused. "Oh, wait, no. Actually, I can."
"There are days when I consider smothering you in your sleep, you know," Janus told him as the group made their way up the subway steps. "I'd never go through with it because I'd lose the hard-earned favor of your prince, but still."
Virgil lightly shoved him with a grin. "Ah, you love me too much to do that."
"Yes, I lie awake every night dreaming about you," he said sarcastically. "Go fuck yourself."
Remus quirked an eyebrow. "Y'know, Jan-Jan, if you wanted to have more partners than just me, you could've just said something---"
Janus shushed him. "You're encouraging the emo."
Virgil spread his hands. "I'm flattered, really, Jan, but you aren't my type."
"Go. Fuck. Your. Self."
"So!" Roman clapped his hands. "What's first on the docket for today?"
"We're visiting the Strand," Virgil told him, holding up a finger. "That's what's first on the docket. I have a list of books that I absolutely have to own."
"Ooooh, boy, we're gonna be there a while," Remus muttered.
Virgil socked him on the arm. "Don't disrespect a bookworm. The consequences are of the deadly variety."
Remus spread his hands. "Hey, I'm just saying, I wanna go see the gross exhibits at the Natural History Museum, not stand around in a bookstore all day."
"That'll happen, just relax."
Janus stuck his index finger into the air. "Onward!"
.............
"How are you not already broke?" Remus exclaimed, attempting to lift Virgil's second bag of books. "This is insane!"
"Roman paid," Virgil said. "I probably would've paid myself, but he insisted."
"Hey, it's our city that you're visiting, which means everything is our treat," Roman reminded him. "You don't need to spend a single penny while you're with us."
Remus let out an agonized groan. "Seriously, Virgil, do you really expect me to carry both of these at once?"
Virgil looked up and down at Remus. "Uh... yes."
"I mean, you do have a very toned physique, love," Janus said, giving him a little nudge. "One can safely assume that those muscles aren't just eye candy."
"Just because I'm buff doesn't mean I have fucking superstrength," Remus grunted. "At least not when I can't pop out my kraken side."
"Well, don't," Roman said. "Not only is it gross, we're in public."
Remus flopped his head backward. "Can we just drop these off at the apartment before we go to the museum?"
"That's out of our way," Virgil reminded him.
"But---"
"Oh, my god, here." Roman pulled a big green backpack out of his bag and shoved it into Remus's hands. "Put them in there. Consider it an early Christmas present."
Remus took the backpack with a confused expression and stuffed the bookbags inside, eyes widening. "They fit. How---"
"It can't be filled and it's always light," Roman told him in an undertone. "Thought you might need it, with all the crap you've got."
"Oh, yeah, this is way better!" Remus said, swinging it onto his back. "Thanks, Ro-Ro!"
"Don't mention it, goblin."
Virgil raised an eyebrow. "Is it just me, or have you two been getting along better ever since you moved out?"
Roman shrugged. "Lack of parental pressure does wonders, I guess."
"Me and Persephone always sort of got along," Janus pointed out.
"Yeah, but you've got that big-brother protective instinct," Remus said. "Me and Ro are twins, so we don't have that."
"Uh, excuse me, who was always getting your ass out of trouble when we were younger?" Roman exclaimed. "I am older than you, you know!"
"It's a twenty-one minute age difference---"
"That's younger twin bullshit, and you know it."
"All right, I take back what I just said," Virgil muttered.
Janus cleared his throat. "So, are we taking a cab, or are we walking?"
"Uh... cab," Roman decided, walking up to the edge of the sidewalk and waving his hand. "Taxi!"
None of the taxis stopped.
"Okay, you're bad at this, lemme try," Remus said, pushing past him and stepping into the street, waving his hands around. "TAXI!"
Still none.
"I think you guys look too much like teenage hooligans," Virgil told them.
Remus gave him a confused look. "But... but I have facial hair. That's the whole reason why I grow it."
He sighed. "Look, let's just walk, okay? After the museum, we'll use Janus to grab a taxi back to the apartment."
"He's the shortest---"
"I can make myself look like I'm older than I actually am, which is useful," Janus reminded him. "And I could also make myself look younger, which means we might not need to pay full admission---"
"Janus, no," Roman and Virgil said.
He did a dramatic eyeroll. "Both of you are absolute wet blankets."
.............
Almost the second they got through the checkpoint, Remus instantly made a beeline for the huge dinosaur fossil in the center of the room. Janus pulled him back before he could try to climb up on it, thankfully.
"Okay, this is seriously crowded," Virgil grunted, squeezing through the throng of people. "Why the hell is this place packed?"
"The museum's a massive hit, remember?" Roman said. "Isn't that why you wanted to come?"
"I wanted to come because I like science museums like the nerd I am! I didn't expect the entire population of New York City to also be nerds!"
Janus looked around, wrinkling his nose. "It's a tourist attraction. If there's anything that those trips to the British Museum taught me, it's that people are very fond of looking at relics that have been stolen from the cultures they originated from."
"Let's not go on this rant today---" Remus started.
"There's literally no reason why the Rosetta Stone should be in London! Literally! No! Reason!"
"Janus, you're upsetting the children," Virgil told him. "You can rant about this later, okay? Let's just look at the science-y exhibits."
Roman looked around. "We should figure out a way to stay together, though. The rest of the museum probably isn't going to be as crowded, but better safe than sorry."
Virgil shrugged. "Hold hands?"
"Eh, I dunno," Roman said. "That's a little gay."
The two of them paused, then burst out laughing.
"You know, I never thought I'd witness this phenomenon in my life," Janus remarked. "It's so rare to meet a couple who bonded due to the fact that they each have one collective braincell."
"Could say the same thing about you and Remus, honestly," Virgil said.
"Aw, how dare you."
Virgil ran a hand through his hair. "Really, though, you're distinctive enough that I could probably find you in a crowd. Your only disadvantage is the fact that you're, like, three feet tall."
Janus gave him a look. "Five feet and three inches."
"Huh, thought you were only five feet, two inches, and three quarters of an inch," Roman said, smirking.
"I gained a quarter inch in the past few months."
Remus let out a massive snort, covering his mouth. "You realize how that sounded, ri---"
Virgil shushed him. "Dude, there's kids in the vicinity. Be clean."
"Impossible, but okay."
Roman pulled out his phone. "So, it's Sea Life hall first, then the hall with the Woolly Mammoth, then the planetarium?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Virgil said. "And then we can just wander and listen to Janus criticize the exhibits."
Janus cracked his knuckles with a grin. "I had better prepare, then. Maybe I should do a vlogging tour of this---"
"You're not putting this on YouTube."
"What can I put on YouTube, then?"
Virgil rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, unless you're filming a music video at some point, there's no reason to put any part of our trip on YouTube."
"Aren't you doing a holiday special or something?" Remus asked Janus.
"Well, not in the museum," Janus admitted.
"So, I'm confiscating this," Virgil told him, snatching his phone out of his hand. "You can have it back when we're done. Roman's taking care of the pictures."
Janus let out a gasp. "You thief!"
"You've stolen a lot of my stuff, too."
"In good fun! This is an unjust punishment! I demand a lawyer!"
A little girl with braids pointed at Janus. "Mommy, why does the angry boy's skin look all patchy?"
Virgil and Roman promptly lost it again. Remus looked like he wasn't sure whether to laugh or throw something at her.
Janus took a deep breath and turned to the girl's mom. "You mind if I explain, ma'am?"
The mom shrugged. "Go ahead. You'll probably explain it better than me."
"Right." Janus kneeled in front of the girl. "See, there's this thing called melanin that makes your skin lighter or darker. People with more melanin have darker skin---"
"Like me!" she chirped.
"Exactly. But with me, I've lost some melanin in certain places of my skin, which is why I look like this. It's called vitiligo."
"Oh." She seemed to consider this. "Where'd you lose it?"
Janus let out a little laugh. "No, I... ah, never mind."
"It looks nice on you."
"Dang right it does," Remus said, grinning.
The girl's mom gave her a smile. "Okay, Lacey, say thank you to him, and then we'll go find Mama, okay?"
"Okay!" Lacey gave Janus a gap-toothed beam. "Thank you!"
Janus tipped his beanie towards her. "My pleasure, miss."
"That was the most wholesome thing I've ever seen you do," Virgil told Janus as Lacey and her mom wandered off. "I half expected you to absolutely demolish her."
"Please remember, I have a little sister," Janus reminded him, standing up. "Besides, she wasn't trying to be rude, she was genuinely curious. If she was a bratty preteen, teen, or adult who was actively trying to make fun of me, I would have shown her no mercy, but she was a kid who was six at most who saw something she hadn't seen before and wanted to know more about it. No harm in that."
"How did I never know you were so good with kids?" Roman asked, grinning.
"It's kind of my job?"
Remus clapped his hands. "Okay, okay, wholesome moment over, I wanna see the weird exhibits nowwwwww."
Virgil elbowed him. "Jesus Christ, cool down, big guy. We're getting there."
................
"That was a pretty successful trip," Roman said, plopping his bag down onto the floor of his and Remus's apartment. "Logan's going to love those pictures."
"Yeah, I'm deleting them the minute I send them to him," Virgil muttered, scrolling through his phone. "I took, like, fifty of the planetarium alone."
Janus flopped onto one of the couches. "I want nothing more than to lie here forever and never rise."
Virgil snorted. "We took a cab back, don't be such a baby."
"My feet," Janus moaned, covering his face with an arm. "My feet are dying."
"Aw, it's okay, honey," Remus said, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "The gods of pain will let you go eventually."
"How we're related is beyond me," Roman muttered.
Virgil noticed the phone on the coffee table, frowning. "When did you guys get a house phone?"
Roman followed his gaze. "Oh, Emile recommended that we add it in once he found out we got our own apartment."
He pointed to the answering machine. "It says you have a voicemail."
"Well, we gave Patton and Logan the house number if something happened at the---" Roman froze.
Janus sat up. "Do you think..."
Virgil pressed the button to hear the message, preparing for the worst.
"Hi, figlios. It's your mother."
Roman and Remus's heads snapped towards the phone, both sheet white.
"I hope you get this message once you get back home," the voicemail continued. "I really wanted to be able to actually talk to you, but you were out, so... I left this." She sighed. "Your father and I want to reconnect. I've been feeling guilty ever since you boys left, and I've been doing all the research I could, and I... I told Xavier that we have to accept you for who you are. He's willing to try again, and I miss you both."
There was a slight pause before she continued. "We'd really like you to come back, just for a couple days. We've invited the family over for the holidays, and Vanessa and Nina will be there. You can even bring Virgil and Janus. But if you don't want to come, then just tell me, and I won't call again. It's up to you. I love you both."
The message ended.
Roman shook his head rapidly. "No. No, this isn't real."
"I think it is," Remus said quietly.
"It can't be real, because she'd never be able to convince Dad anything!" Roman exclaimed. "If he doesn't want us back, then he doesn't want us back, and he's not going to change his mind!"
"But what if she did?" Remus burst. "What if she managed to calm him down? What if she---"
Roman whirled on his brother. "Mom wanting to try harder and be a good parent---that I believe. She always thought that she was genuinely being a good mother to us, even if she wasn't. But Dad taking her side on this? Never in a million years."
"Isn't the fact that Mom wants to try good enough?" Remus persisted. "And don't you want to see Nina and Vanessa again? Don't you want to see all of the nicer cousins again? Don't you want to see if they caught onto that prank I pulled before we left?"
"I---" Roman let out a frustrated groan. "Look, we will talk about this tomorrow, okay?"
"Wha---no! We're talking about this---"
"Remus." Roman's voice tightened. "Today was supposed to be a nice day with our boyfriends, and I am not going to let this ruin it, okay? Tomorrow, we can argue all we want about it, but tonight, we are eating pizza and watching TV until midnight, just like we planned. So leave it."
He pulled out his phone and went into the kitchen, slamming the door behind him.
A/N: Ah, how I've been waiting to start this arc...
Also, I am very sorry that it took over a month to upload this one.