Six Times Janus Dropped and Six People Who Took Care of Him

Roman

For as long as he could remember, Roman had a song, a lullaby, in the back of his head. It was a sweet, loving tune, the kind one would sing to a small child to lull them to sleep. He didn't know why he had it, but it felt important. He'd tried everything he could think of to find out why he had it- He'd asked Logan and Patton, the two oldest, but they didn't remember the lullaby or know why it was needed. He'd even asked Remus, but Remus had nether the song or a reason for its existence. He'd sung it over and over, but that wound up giving him more questions than he'd begun with. The song, sometimes, when sang in a calm environment, bought back a faint emotion, like something from a dream he couldn't remember. Love. Not the love between partners, closer to the love between siblings or friends. Maybe the love between a parent and child, but he wouldn't know anything about that last one. This "answer" was even more frustrating than not knowing. None of them were siblings except Roman and Remus, and none of them were parents or whatever except, technically, King. He came to the conclusion that the song must have been King's, and that meant he would never know why it existed.

Sometimes, when he was upset and the others couldn't hear, he would sing it. Despite its mystery, the song was actually pretty comforting. Part of him kind of envied whomever the song had been made for. Whoever made it must have really loved them.

-

With every new person who knew about his regressions, more stress was lifted from Janus's shoulders. Logan's addition, though embarrassing when Janus had first aged back up and found the teacher side waiting, helped incredibly. He'd reviewed the old schedule and determined that, while it was very good, a drop every two weeks wasn't sufficient for Janus's needs. Now, Janus had a scheduled drop every Saturday, caretaker duties alternating between the three who knew based on who was available.

He pretended not to notice, but he noticed how, in addition to how much better he felt on a schedule, the others were doing much better, too. Patton stopped wearing himself so thin all the time. Logan ate and slept until the shadows under his eyes faded and his body softened up a bit. Remus was just all-around happier. He'd never imagined that his drops could help the others with their stress, too. It was comforting to know that it wasn't a hassle and they actually enjoyed it as much as he did.

-

This time of year was always hard for him. The beginning of spring. The anniversary of the split.

He tried to put on a happy face for the others, but Logan, Patton, and Remus noticed when the normally bubbly and loud baby they usually played with turned into a sullen and quiet one who only wanted to nap. They fretted over him, and that only made him feel worse. On top of feeling like crap and this already being a hard time for Patton and Logan, now he was upsetting them, too. Great.

He was wandering the Mind Palace aimlessly, trying to find something to do that wouldn't involve going back to his room. Too many memories there. The Palace was quiet, mostly because Remus was off doing something in the Imagination that Janus probably didn't want to think about. Logan was helping Thomas with a meeting, and Patton was having a mental health day, meaning he couldn't go into one of their rooms. That left Roman, who was having a bad day after an argument with Virgil, and Virgil, who still hissed every time Janus entered to room.

So, he was wandering the halls.

And then, just as he was walking by Roman's door, which was open a crack, he stopped dead.

"Fall into your dreams, my dear
Sail on silver wings
You are safe with me, my dear
I love you,
I'm here."

Unbidden tears leapt to his eyes. King's lullaby... It had been so long...

For a minute, he just stood outside Roman's door, listening to the song he hadn't heard for decades, tears beginning to run down his face. Part of him recognized that it was kind of creepy to stand outside Roman's door like this, and Roman would probably sing it to him if he just asked, so he reached out and knocked.