A Noble Boy and a Stable Boy ~{Sanders Sides}~

~9~

TW:  Near dr0wning

Janus arrived home, unaccompanied by his parents. As usual.

It was dusk, the blue becoming a shadowy hue in the sky above, that was tentatively being lit by stars. Servants were rushing around, like they usually were when his parents were gone. With the Lord and Lady out of the house, they could finally do all the 'dirty work' that they didn't like to see. Virgil was waiting for him.

"Hello," His friend beamed, offering out an arm. "How was the party?"

Janus groaned, fanning himself lightly. "Terrible!" He whined, politely ignoring the glare the stablehand at his carriage shot into the back of his side as he linked his arm with Virgil's. "There was this boy, there. Ali Castlefire, his name was. A mainland boy!"

"Terrible, huh?" Virgil's eyes widened. "I thought you liked the mainland boys..."

The feeling of Ali's eyes boring into his soul made Janus shudder. "Not this one. He was weird."

Virgil hummed. "Well, what about everything else?"

Janus smiled, closing his fan. "The rest was the same as usual."

"Dull as fuck?"

"You guessed it," Janus's small smile became a grin. "Logan was there, of course. At least Valerie was around. She had the most lovely bracelet, you know! Rubies and rose-gold! It had little transparent diamonds too, that kept catching the colours. It was quite quaint, really."

A brief surge of jealousy swelled in Virgil but he forced it down. "'Quaint'?" He echoed.

"Well, you could say that," Janus continued, with a delicate shrug. "Compared to my things, it was a little bit too modest for such an evening, I think."

Virgil gave a thin smile which he quickly turned into a real one. "Wanna pop down to the Ivory Bridge? We can stay there for a bit."

Janus smiled. "Sure."

People worked hard all around them but Virgil was completely excused from it. The benefits of being friends with the young Master, he supposed. The sky was darker now but still not dark enough, and the lingering heat was still in the air.

Virgil was leaning on the thick, stone rails, plucking a flower-weed's petals and tossing them into the deep water below. Janus was walking along the railing, barefooted, chatting loudly about some social equittey he hated. He had been fanning himself quiet a bit and there were moments when he had to suck in a deep breath but, other than that, he seemed to be fine.

Eventually, he ran out of things to talk about and turned to Virgil with a knwing look.

"Okay," He said. "I know there's something you're not telling me."

"How did you-?" Virgil spluttered, dropping the weed in shock. Then he saw the triumphant smirk on Janus's face and he flushed. "Oh..."

Janus shook his head, grinning. "Honestly, Virgil, I'm always gonna know. You're not too good at keeping secrets, y'know."

Virgil swallowed. "So... you know?"

"No, not yet," Janus answered with a shrug, beginning to pace along the railing again. "But I know there's something. What is it?"

The servant hesitated, looking at his beautiful friend worryingly. "Are you sure you want me to say?"

"Of course," Janus started fanning himself a little harder, sliding a free finger down his corset as he sucked in a short breath. "I'd rather you told me these things. I don't wanna find stuff out at a bad time."