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“With Janus busy has anyone else spoken to Remus recently?”
It was a simple question from Logan that had hit much harder than Patton knew how to process. The answer had been a definitive “no.” An incredulous, bored, and guilty "no" that didn’t go on to be addressed. As Virgil and Roman devolved into arguing, Patton was thinking. Thinking about the things he’d said about Remus, thinking about how little of it was positive, and how long the silences had been between the few stilted conversations they had had. He was thinking… how on earth he could even start to fix something he hadn’t thought of as a problem.
The next day, Patton caught Logan returning from the dark sides’ own common area, the ends of his hair singed and lightly smoking. He returned Logan’s casual nod with a confused one of his own and made his decision. As soon as Logan was out of sight he began making his way to the foreign commons and had knocked on the door before he even knew what he would do if it opened. He had never been inside before, not even as he and Janus slowly grew closer. It had never explicitly been to avoid Remus but it was a hard excuse to deny point blank.
The door opened and Patton was met first by smiling, gnashing teeth set in a mouth that swiftly shrunk down to a normal size, allowing him to focus on the face behind it. Remus was still grinning but there was no humour in his eyes as he took in the spooked side in front of him.
“Janus is busy, so unless you want to lose your entire outer layer of skin I’d not bother him and just come back later. I’d offer it myself but I’m busy too.”
Remus knew he was something of a fiasco amongst the light sides. He loved reactions. He loved that moment when an idea got caught in someone’s chest like a fish hook and pulled in every conceivable direction before they decided how they felt about it. And Remus was far from stupid, he knew that invoking those reactions didn’t make him particularly appealing to any of the sides. They thought some of his suggestions should stay where they were meant to be, unvoiced and unheard with him. Knowing it didn’t make it easier though. As such, he had no qualms about slamming the door shut.
“Wait!"
Patton’s arm didn’t seem to agree. Jammed in the doorway, both sides stared at the invading limb, Remus watching it spasm from the inside and Patton despairing as it disappeared on the outside. The door bounced quietly open as Patton spoke.
"Ow, O-M-Geemanie.” He cradled his arm to his chest, rubbing where the door had hit, Remus stunned to silence just long enough for Patton to recover. “Sorry, you’ve said you’re busy and I’ll go if you want me to, I just wanted to ask-” And that was the start to a very good question. What on earth was he going to ask?
“I didn’t think you’d be interested in being skinned but I can arrange it if you like.” Remus thankfully interrupted though he didn’t look too excited about the prospect. If anything, Patton got the feeling he was trying to get rid of him and he tried really hard to not let it work.
“N-no, no thank you. I wanted… to ask…” Oh he was very not good at this and Remus looked ready to close the door again and he didn’t think his arm would stop him this time. “If I can help?” He eventually asked, peeking up at Remus to gauge his reaction.
“Help with what, daddy stork?” He was justifiably confused but now that he’d said it, Patton wasn’t turning around. He dug his heels in with conviction and straightened up with a happier smile.
“With whatever you’re busy with.” He offered, thinking of Logan’s smoky hair and again trying not to let it put him off.
“Dooo you know what I’m busy with?” For such a testing question, Patton couldn’t help but think that maybe Remus was getting curious, maybe he would let him in.
“I will when you tell me.”
Remus looked him over carefully, his head and body frozen in place as his eyes raked over the person in front of him. Two visits in the one day. He’d feel special if he wasn’t feeling so obviously placated. Still, at least it was Patton, who was fun to tease even when he had that ridiculously sincere smile on his face. He was very aware that he had two obvious choices here: traumatise the kid-friendly father figure or let him play for the day. One sounded vastly more entertaining than the other.
“Janus is busy.” He mused aloud, watching Patton’s brow furrow in confusion. If Patton was telling the truth, fine. He could stay. But if he was just trying to get in his good books… “I suppose I could use a test subject.”
“How about a partner, partner?” Patton squeaked back, joy and trepidation sing-songing around the campfire in his chest.
…he was succeeding. “Sounds wonderful!” With a grandiose scoop of his arm, Remus had Patton by the elbow and frogmarched him through the commons and into his own room, face sharp with a carnivorous grin. “I’m writing a story about kid who wants to eat his father.”
When Patton left pale-faced and trembling, he didn’t expect him back and he wasn’t surprised when he didn’t show again the next day.
He was surprised, however, the day after when Patton came back, still pale but armed with one of Logan’s notebooks. Stickers dotted every spare inch of it, hugging close to alarming and gruesome anecdotes from their brainstorming session the day before. Glittery ink spilled across sheets of ideas, of facts and fictions ran past Logan’s critical and graphic checks, and he presented it to Remus.
“I think the kid should have a backstory.”
Remus looked down at the notebook then back to Patton. “I’m writing a different story.” He told him and Patton faltered for a second, defeated and almost heartbroken before he pulled on a smile.
“Can I help?”
Staring at each other through the doorway, each side hopeful in such conflicting ways, it was a relief to both when Remus stepped back and Patton stepped through. Remus turned and bounced his way back to his room, rambling loudly as he filled Patton in on his newest creation and Patton nodded along, following close after as he chimed in with his own ideas.
He took his notebook home at the end of the day, opening it to write down a few of the ideas he had which were ridiculously tame compared to Remus’s but, in the duke’s own words, gave “a fun jumping point for the characters to suffer from!” Opening the book, he found his first few pages missing, torn messily from the seam but with not a sticker or splash of glitter left behind. He grinned and started writing, decorating as he went.
He never mentioned it but by the time he had to ask Logan for a new notebook, there wasn’t a page left in his old one. He kept the cover though, and let it mark a brand-new pile in his room simply labelled “Remus.”