-Sander Sides Oneshots-

25. Loceit- Puzzles

Ship & Genre: Loceit-fluff/angst
Warnings: swearing, character death, crying
A/N: sorry for the wait!

Logan has been into puzzles lately. Virgil has been into painting, Roman took up sea mammal biology, and Patton took up weapon fighting. They all found different ways to grieve after Remus's death. He had died a week ago after a big fight with Thomas. Of course Thomas didn't know that he had caused him to die, and he felt awful about it now, but Janus still felt some bitterness towards Thomas. His partner in crime had been taken away from him, and all he had left was a ripped part of his sash Roman found lying next to his body. By the time they had all reached him, his body had disappeared, leaving behind the ripped piece of sash. Janus had confiscated it before Roman could.

He had been in his room all week now. Sometimes when he came out of his room, he ended up in the light side's part of the palace. His room had been doing that, since the day Remus died. It's like it sensed he didn't want to be alone in the dark sides' palace. When he came out of his room that day, Logan sat in the living room, hunched over a puzzle. He came up behind him and looked at the picture on the box. It was a pretty gory scene, but that was what Remus liked. After he died, his room dispensed boxes with everyone's names on it before it disappeared. He had taken his and hid it in his closet. He was definitely not ready to open it yet. Logan had found his full of puzzles Remus had handcrafted.

"How many have you finished?" He asked, sitting down next to his boyfriend.

"Seven." Logan replied. He sat up and they took in each other's conditions. Logan has dark bags under his eyes, and his tie was twisted up and loosely hung around his neck. His hands were shaking and his hair was messed up, but he didn't seem to care. Janus was in a similar condition, but his scales had started to shed, so he had some dead scales stuck on his wrinkled clothes. He wore a simple t-shirt and shorts, but the shirt was baggy enough to catch the fallen scales.

"You look nice." Janus said, sitting down next to Logan.

"You don't look too shabby either." He remarked, leaning back from the puzzle and putting his arm around Janus. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit." Janus replied, resting his head on Logan's shoulder. "Stupid Remus. Fucking dying and shit." He mumbled into Logan's shirt.

"How has it been since you slept?" Logan asked.

"Yester-no- two days ago." He said. Logan shook his head.

"You need to go to bed." He said.

"I know." Janus said. "Can I watch you finish this puzzle first?" He asked. Logan looked at him and smiled.

"Of course."

Janus picked up the piece in front of him and finished the weapon in the picture. He watched Logan put the remaining pieces in their places. He liked the way Logan narrowed his eyes in concentration while he studied Remus's messily cut edges. Janus saw the last piece before Logan did. He grabbed it with a smug look and put it in place.

Logan strolled his eyes and picked up Janus in his arms. He blew a raspberry into his neck, making Janus cry out with laughter. Logan carried him to his room. Janus hopped out of his arms and kissed him. Logan smiled at Janus when he broke the kiss. He was happy that Janus was showing another emotion than sadness. Janus' eyes drifted from his boyfriends lips to his bedroom door.

They entered his room hand in hand. Janus went to his closet to get the box Remus gave him.

"I want you here when I do this." He said, setting the box down on the floor. Logan nodded and sat down on the bed, pulling Janus into his lap.

"That box sounds like it has nothing in it," he said. Janus looked at him weirdly before picking up, finding that he was right. He slowly opened the box. Inside contained a letter taped to the bottom.

"There's nothing here but a letter." He relayed to Logan. He opened the letter.

'Dear Janus,

By the time you read this, I'll be dead(hopefully. Don't take a sneak peek at your share of my belongings). I'll just cut to the chase here, enclosed in this letter has a ring I made. I was planning on proposing to you years ago. But you're much happier with Logan than you are with me, and I'm so fucking happy for you. So I made a second ring. A pair. For both of you. I know that I haven't given you lots compared to what the others should have received, but you have all my love. That's all I have left to give. It's yours. I just have one request. The second you finish this letter, propose to Logan. I can tell he's going to make you very happy.

Sincerely,
Your best fucking friend :)'

Janus teared up when he found the rings attached at the bottom of the letter. They both were shaped like snakes that interlocked together. He took them in his hand and slowly fell to the ground.

"Janus! Logan exclaimed, standing up to help. Janus turned around and got on one knee. He held out that snake rings. Logan gasped. Janus tried to speak but instead, he started to sob. Logan fell to the ground next to him and pulled him in a hug.

"Yes." He whispered in his ear. "You don't need to say it. I know. The answer is yes."

Date written: 7/6/20-7/20/20
Date Published: 7/20/20
Word Count: About 948