#@thecrowslullabye did this end up on your feed. Did you see I did Loceit?

[typically-untypical]

Echoes of the Past - Day 5

Plot:  “The world outside had its own rules, and those rules were not human.”

CW: None... I think.

The world was full of stupid rules,

Make direct eye contact with the person you are speaking to.

Respect your elders.

Ask the teacher if you can be excused to use the restroom.

Girls wear pink; boys wear blue.

And Janus hated it. Why should he have to make direct eye contact with someone? Wasn't responding to them enough? And why should he respect someone just because of their age? Respect was earned. He hated that every time he had had to use the bathroom in high school he was supposed to ask. Maybe for little kids it made sense so that they didn't wander off but wouldn't high school teachers prefer not to be interrupted during their classes? It seemed everywhere Janus turned he was met with more rules that didn't make sense, more rules that seemed to be meant to force people to fall in line rather than actually help them. Janus was only 16 and he had grown really tired of society. He wasn't sure he wanted to keep doing this stupid thing of existing with other humans. Especially when there were so few humans he wanted to be around. He groaned as he leaned into his boyfriend's lap, trying to hide from the social pressures.

"Nebuli, you cannot run away from existence," Logan said quietly as he ran his hands through Janus' hair. His fingers moved gently, carefully taking care of any knots Janus had in his hair. Society was awful, but Logan was a shining light through it all. His boyfriend was straightforward; he said what he meant; and Janus could trust Logan to be honest.

He also knew that Logan liked a good debate, and he was willing to provide if it meant escaping the world for just a little bit longer. 

"Why not?" Janus asked, "why can't I escape from the world? We could run away together." He turned a little bit, looking up at Logan and giving him a teasing smile, exaggerating it just a little bit so that Logan would know for certain he was teasing. 

"Would you like to talk about what is actually happening?" He asked softly, "Or would you like me to give you the reason you can't run away from the world?"

"Give me the reasons. I'm not ready to talk about today yet." Janus hid his face in Logan's stomach, curled up as if Logan could protect him from this world, and Logan continued to stroke his hair. 

"First off, you have neither the skills, nor the funds to live in a secluded cabin where you might be able to escape society." Janus attempted to be offended but chuckled nonetheless. "Secondly, we are still in high school, and it is illegal for us to be out on our own."

"Our own," Janus asked, looking up a little bit and Logan smiled at him.

"Of course," Logan said, "Because if the option is you disappearing alone or me going with you, I would go with you. Though, I am going to do my best to provide a few other options, one of them being that you will stay here with me and I provide you an escape from the society you seem to despise so much."

Janus smiled, his shoulders falling as he closed his eyes, relaxing against Logan. "You do an amazing job of providing me an escape. The only reason I am still here right now is because of you," He reassured before sighing again. "One of my teachers asked a question and no one wanted to answer it. Typical class issues," He flourished his hand, "So he did the whole "No answer is a wrong answer and I decided to go ahead and answer, to spare everyone the embarrassment, and do you know what my teacher said?"

Logan shook his head no.

"He told me my answer was wrong. How crappy is that? No wonder no one wants to answer questions in his class. I told him off and he gave me detention. Apparently the principal agreed that I need to learn to obey authority and not cause problems where they aren't needed. It's so completely stupid." He groaned, and Logan bent down, giving Janus a gentle kiss on is head.

"I understand that must have been extremely difficult." Most people would think that Logan's quiet calm voice was disinterest, but Janus knew better. He knew that Logan was on his side. "I am sorry that you had to deal with such a difficult situation." He just didn't know what to say, and for some reason that made Janus feel a lot better.

He leaned into Logan's touch. He was already feeling a lot better. Logan always made him feel better.

"Thank you," Janus muttered. "What do you think I should do? Should I just let him get away with it, or should I get even?" Part of him had already decided, but another part of him was actually looking for Logan's advice. He trusted his boyfriend's intelligence.

It was Logan's turn to smile. "Society would dictate that you just leave it be and secretly despise this teacher for the rest of the year, but we've already discussed you are not a fan of society's rules, so it seems like you already know your answer."

Janus smiled and nodded. "Yes, yes I do. I'm not going to be available tonight, are you going to be okay without me?"

"Of course," Logan said with a smile. "Tell Remus I said hello."

"And how do you know that I will be seeing Remus tonight?" Logan had his eyebrow raised and Janus laughed. His boyfriend knew him well, and he knew his boyfriend.

"Fine, fine, I will tell Remus you said hi, and you will have an alibi for the two of us if we need it." 

"Naturally." Logan helped Janus sit up, giving him a soft and gentle kiss before they separated, "but I know you won't need it. "I trust you to be able to get yourself in and out of trouble without my help."

Janus couldn't help the smirk that crossed his lips. "I promise I won't do anything too stupid."

@simplestoryteller @fantasticfangirl21 @joylessnightsky @melaniidarling @tsshipmonth2020