Summary: Roman's on a tour with his orchestra for a month, meaning his husband Janus is alone with their family and raising them like a single parent. But there's one thing that keeps Roman in the family's heart.
Words: 1124
"Oh good boy! Yeah, there's your star buddy, good little guy." Janus was whispering softly to his toddler as the pair were working on potty training together - but it seemed to be going well as Ceol's star chart was almost full. The toddler seemed overjoyed at their achievements and continued to point at their stars. Ceol really was such a cutie.
But unfortunately getting a quiet moment with a child was rare since Janus was the father of three hyper sons. "Daaaad! Come see my pretty t-shirt!" The oldest son, Walton, was screaming at the top of his lungs. The family were working together decorating old t-shirts, just a messy play activity Janus could use to keep the boys entertained and distracted about the absence of their other father. Years ago Janus had no idea how to entertain kids without the help of his husband. But now he seemed like an expert.
Walton's old t-shirt, that was previously an apparent 'yucky' yellow, was now decorated with scribbles of pink and blue flowers. But the most important thing was that Walton was smiling wide and proud. "That is pretty Walt, maybe you can use the smaller brush for the stems?" That suggestion got Walton quiet again so Janus could focus on the middle child that had walked off towards the map Janus and his family kept on the wall. "Hey Bri! What's wrong? You need help with your painting?"
Brio was staring at the map with a thumb in his mouth. This was the first time he was old enough to comprehend what the map meant - he knew now that his other father had hopped on a plane and was playing piano for people in other countries for a few months. Ever since Roman bought that map for his family Janus had spent every morning placing pins on where Roman's next show was. The boys were allowed to stare at the pins whenever - and they often did when they were upset.
"Hey Bri, it's OK..." Janus was soon beside Brio and putting an arm on his shoulder, ready to be struck with a crying kindergartener. Brio was just silent though and staring. He was a quiet young boy but this seemed a little too unusual. "What you thinking about?"
Brio reached up and pointed at where the latest pin was placed - on top of Italy. "Is Dad there?" The boy chirped, pointing at the boot shape at the bottom of Europe. Janus smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, he's in Italy with his favourite piano and thinking all the time about you three." Janus had to bring Brio into a hug since he was being so cute. He had the same curly brown hair as Roman and the same hazel eyes - he was just a more adorable version of the man Janus married and adored to the moon and back.
But Brio managed to escape the hug and pointed at Italy again, more specifically at Italy's labelled capital city of Rome. "Is he there?"
The cuteness made Janus laugh a little but he took the question as a curiosity to learn more about his father's job. Or it was a curiosity over geography and how the world worked. Either interest Janus would love to inspire. "Not exactly, he's in Milan, which is up here." Janus pointed at where he guessed Milan would be. He knew it was northern Italy at least and that seemed to be enough to spark Walton's curiosity too.
"But it's called Rome! Why isn't Dad in Rome if he's called Roman?" Walton watched the map too, following the pins going from Italy to France to the UK to New York and then back to the family's home in Florida.
Janus smiled gently remembering the reason why Roman was saving his journey to Rome. "He wants to go with all of us, when we all have time." That had been said for years, Roman wanted to take Janus to Rome (and pay for everything) before they even thought about kids. But once kids floated into the men's mind they knew going to Rome could wait until the kids were old enough to appreciate it.
It seemed as though the t-shirt activity was getting boring by this point as both Brio and Walton had ran away from the plastic table, and Ceol was toddling around the living room and grabbing everything in sight. Janus was watching his kids entertain themselves for a while, feeling so amazed these little humans were viewing him as a father. The only thing that would make this better would be Roman's arm around his shoulders and his whispers in his ear. That was heaven for Janus whenever it happened.
"Aww Dad Ceol's being like Dad!" And indeed Ceol was. Walton and Brio were surrounding their little brother who was standing beside the toy piano Roman got the family just before they left. He was slamming on the piano with open fists and screeching his own version of 'Dada' at the same time.
But in order to save Janus' ear the father had to sit on the counter with his sons, placing Ceol on his lap for a second and prying his hands away from the music. Ceol seemed determined to try playing the piano though and seemed super intrigued by the sounds it made. All the kids did the same amazed look whenever Roman was rehearsing his next performance. "Hey, Ceol, let's try this." Janus spoke gently and bent the toddler's fingers so he had a bit high accuracy with his flails. Eventually Brio and Walton joined too and the three were all playing the piano together.
Until Brio quietly commanded another request for his less musically inclined father. "Can you play Dad's special song?"
Janus only knew how to play one song on piano, and only because Roman taught him years ago. And when the muscle memory came into Janus' fingers to play the sweet song Janus was transformed back to learning the song as a teenager. When he was sat on Roman's lap in front of the grand piano stuffed in the high school's music room, Roman's arms around his waist, Janus trying to not get nervous about his crush touching him. Sometimes Janus missed those days of having Roman all to himself, but he wouldn't replace his three boys for the world.
And whenever Janus heard he and his husband's special song, he was transported to wherever Roman was. Since right now Roman was probably sipping coffee and staring over the city of Milan from an expensive looking Italian balcony - Janus was there too. Janus was right next to Roman in this moment and feeling all his love.