Sanders Sides (and more) One Shots

Some-Zing Strange

Janus Suave...if you were to ask anyone at his college, he had quite a reputation, though it's not entirely definitive on whether it's good or bad. He was quite a smooth talker whenever he needed to be in order to get what he wanted. It was unpredictable whenever he lies since not only was him being a liar an open secret, but he has shown the work he could do many times, thus keeping credibility. There was something that made it ironic how much of a charmer he could be and it's as plain as the scales that show up on his face. The rest of his family took pride in being called monsters, but he preferred "Snake Folk" when specifically thinking of his family. Janus was proud of using his abilities to his advantage (transforming to sneak around, enhanced senses, being strong, being able to stretch and climb, etc.), but he knew all too well the humans wouldn't be completely fond of what he really was. It's because of the potential bigotry that he carried a roll of gauze with him; he wasn't always in control of when his scales showed up on his face or for how long, so he would just wrap them in gauze and write a fake doctor's note that wasn't in his handwriting so no one would ask. For quite a while, he was quite used to the system he made for himself, but not everything lasts forever.

One evening, Janus was looking for a particular philosophy book for his studies. He didn't really have much luck finding the specific one. His brief inability to watch where he was walking caused him to bump into someone near him.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," they both said as they turned to face one another.

However, when the bandaged snake man turned only to be greeted by a formally dressed man with messy hair and glasses, he-well, they both froze. For many parts of his life, he had heard of something monsters experience called a "Zing", which usually happened once in a lifetime. He always thought about such a "love at first sight" experience, but never thought he'd actually experience it for himself. Once he snapped out of it, Janus looked at the book in the man's hand; it was the philosophy book he was looking for.

"Oh, were you using that book?" he asked.

The man looked at the book in his hand.

"Oh, this? I was actually done reading it and was going to put it back. Did you need it?"

"Oh, thank you, Mr..."

"Um, Mr. Tesla, but feel free to call me Logan. I haven't decided what to major in, so I'm going with multiple classes until I can find one of my liking. What about you, Mr..."

"Suave, but usually it's Janus. I'm mostly into psychology and philosophy."

The two talked about plenty of things from their ways of learning to self care and what the school knows them for. Next thing they knew as they were going their separate ways, they had each other's phone numbers in case they wanted to study together.

Once Logan went back to his dorm, he couldn't help but think that of the encounter that made his face turn red and his stomach become knotted. He remembered how deep Janus's voice was when speaking to him, he remember how touching Janus's hand while giving him the philosophy book gave his arm shivers, he remembered not wanting the moment to end...he felt disappointment as he remembered the Zing. Throughout his life, Logan thought he was incapable of zinging with someone, so he didn't bother finding love or showing feeling and just considered himself married to academics. He wanted to feel happy that he zinged with someone, but he didn't think Janus would accept him if he found out what Logan really was.

Although Janus continued to live up to his reputation, he found time to text Logan and check up on him. He wanted so much to find a time and place for them to meet up again, but until then, he was content with texting Logan to get up know him and remind him to take care of himself.

One evening, Logan texted Janus suggesting they spend time at Logan's dorm to study and a little more. Janus was excited, but cursed his scales for showing up on the day of what was possibly a date. He carefully placed the gauze over his scales before the evening and just decided to go along with the assumption that he's just clumsy.

Janus wore a T-shirt with Bill Cypher on it and jeans. He also had his comfortable bowler hat on his head and a rose behind his back. He knocked on the door and was greeted by Logan with neater hair, but his glasses were askew.

"Logan, have you been overworking again?" Janus asked.

"Well, maybe a little," he shyly answered.

"Oh, Logan. We've talked about this; you're smart. No teacher is going to penalize you for taking a break."

"I know. It's just a force of habit. Anyway, let's continue this discussion inside."

Janus went inside with Logan and gave him the rose. Logan nervously smiled and thanked him.

"When was the last time you had a proper meal?" Janus asked while coming up with ways to help Logan.

Logan looked at his phone to check the time and date before saying "Well, two days and four hours ago, I had a meal that had baked potato, sweet peas, and a rare steak. Other than that, I've had coffee and vitamins in between assignments".

Janus was surprised when he heard about Logan eating a rare steak, but was more focused on making sure Logan didn't overwork. He looked over the various syllabi and noticed that there were check marks next to each assignment, including ones that weren't due until the end of the semester.

"Logan, this habit has kept you from getting actual rest. Are you allergic to breaks or something?"

"No, just garlic. Besides, as long as I'm not hurting myself physically, it shouldn't matter."

"Well, it matters to me. You're so far ahead of schedule already. You are going to relax even if I have to put you in a death cuddle!"

After they both took in what Janus had said, they both heavily blushed and remained in silence for a while.

"Wow, um, I never thought someone would care that much about my well-being. Speaking of self care, though, may I ask what happened to half of your face?"

Janus suddenly remembered what he intended to say about his face, but upon looking at Logan, he thought about the severe consequences of lying to him in a potential relationship. He was scared of being rejected, but he just carefully removed the bandage. Logan was shocked as he saw the other half of Janus's face.

"Oh my! You have-"

"I know. I've lived with it. You don't have to say-"

"A rash. How often do you cover those scales with gauze? That must irritate your skin!"

Janus went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. From what he saw it was true; what little human skin was under the gauze was irritated from him covering the scales. By the time Janus got out of the bathroom, Logan stepped away from the fridge with a bottle of some red liquid

"Drink it. Don't worry, it's clean," Logan enforced and assured.

As soon as Janus grabbed the bottle, he drank the liquid and noticed his skin was no longer irritated. Before he could even ask his question out loud, he noticed that the contents of the bottle smelled like metal. He approached Logan and expressed his observation.

"Yea, it's typical for blood to smell like metal," he admitted without looking Janus in the eye.

Janus was stunned, but rather than disgust, he was intrigued on what more he might've learned about Logan.

"Wait, so are you a-"

"Well, my mother is, but not my father. Fortunately, I found out months ago that there is a term for me: dhampir."

"Wait, dhampirs are rare, aren't you?"

"As common as snake folk. Most of us use our immunity from the sun to our advantage."

"Wait, so if you and I aren't completely human, than you must know about..."

"The Zing? Yes. Until I met you, I actually thought I wasn't capable of it, so I just stayed married to my work to not think about it."

No longer having anything to hide from one another, the two found a lot more to talk about and proceeded to do more social studies than actual studying. They couldn't help but feel excited about telling their families they zinged.