Confidentiality

Chapter 9

Patton, true to his word, finished cooking a couple minutes later. 

"Dinner!" He announced to the room, interrupting the conversation that Janus had been watching. 

Logan immediately sat down at the table, stars dancing in his eyes. Patton laughed, putting the pot of sauce in the center of the table. 

He teleported back to the kitchen, and came back with two plates of plain spaghetti noodles in his hands. He placed both on the table, before teleporting back and grabbing another two plates.

This process continued until all six seats at the table had a plate in front of them. 

“Looks delicious, Patton Cake!” Roman grinned, plopping down in a chair. 

“Thanks, kiddo!” Patton giggled, walking over and ruffling Roman’s hair. 

The others all sat down in a seat at the table, all seeming to know exactly where to sit. Janus bit the inside of his cheek, not sure where they wanted him to sit.

Patton seemed to realize Janus’ dilemma pretty quickly, because he smiled and gestured to the seat in between Remus and Virgil. 

Janus sat down, staring at the spaghetti on the table. 

Ah, now he understood the problem.

In order for Janus to eat, he would need to take his mask off. It was possible to lift his mask up just a little bit, but they would see his birthmark, and that was the whole reason Janus had kept the mask on in the first place.

Janus shakily grabbed the ladle that was resting in the sauce, pouring some on his plain noodles.

He was starving, so not eating wasn’t really an option. Plus, he didn’t want Patton’s cooking to go to waste.

So, he slowly reached his hands toward his mask, ignoring the way they all paused to watch him. 

He kept his eyes glued to the table as he unlatched it, not daring to look up at the disgusted expressions they most likely wore. 

He heard a gasp come from Remus. “Your face…” The hero began, and Janus had to suppress the growing urge to burst into tears. “It’s awesome!” 

Janus furrowed his brow, looking over at him.

Remus was smiling widely, looking at him in amazement and wonder.

“...what?” Janus murmured in surprise. 

“Is that a scar?!” Remus asked, bringing a hand up and poking Janus’ cheek.

"Remus, that's rude." Logan scolded.

“No, it’s a, uh, birthmark.” Janus shook his head.

“It’s wicked!” Remus brought his other hand up, and squished Janus’ cheeks. “You can tell people you, like, rescued babies from a fire! Ooh! Ooh! Or that you were in a deadly explosion!” 

“I-I don’t--” Janus stammered, confused.

“Aw, kiddo!” Patton cooed. “I can’t believe you tried to hide this adorable face from us!” Patton pouted. “I’ll never forgive you!”

Janus went bright red. “Adorab--?! You seem to be confused.” Janus grabbed Remus’ hands, gently pulling them away from his face.

“What’s there to be confused about?” Virgil rose a brow.

“You’re such a cutie!” Roman agreed, ruffling Janus’ dirty blond hair. He gasped. “Your eyes are two different colors!” 

“You’re like a kitten.” Logan spoke through a mouthful of spaghetti.