#bogeyman!janus

[death-himself]

I don't know if you do prompts, but if you do, I was wondering if you'd ever consider adding a part in the Bogeyman!Virgil verse where the family has a fight.

Kids at that age are so temperamental, and they say things they don't mean to their family when they're so young, expressing hatred a lot. It's bound to happen, and siblings especially fight so often.

I could imagine one of the kids screaming at Virgil that he's a monster, not their real brother, that they hate him, that they hope they never see him again. It's pretty standard for a child, but I doubt Virgil would know that, and with his past of being unloved, I could see him immediately being heartbroken and devastated.

Love your work!

Sorry it took so long to get to this anon! The one-shot I wrote for this one actually ended up being like twice as long as usual :) I can imagine all of the kids, especially Roman or Patton getting upset with him pretty easily. And maybe this would also work for Thomas, I mean a single father of four kids would probably end up getting mad at them and hurting their feelings unintentionally every once in a while.

Anyway here’s the fic, I added Remus and Emile in just because (warnings for angst, fear, and Roman being an asshole at the beginning)

It was an accident. He didn’t mean to break it. He would’ve never broken one of their toys on purpose. He stared blankly at Roman’s plastic sword, the blade bent at a very noticeable angle. Roman’s eyes widened as he gazed at the damage, snatching the sword from Virgil’s hands to get a closer look. His eyes filled with tears instantly, big drops falling onto his broken weapon.

Virgil bit at his lip, guilt filling his stomach as he crouched down in front of him. He put a hand on Roman’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him. “I’m sorry Ro, I didn’t mean—” Roman shoved his hand away with a whimper, smacking him as hard as he could with his sword. Virgil flinched, despite the kid’s blow not causing him any pain. “I’m sorry, okay? We can get you a new one.”

“No! I liked this one!”

“Well...then maybe we could—”

“No!” Roman shrieked. “Go away! I hate you!” Virgil’s heart sunk into his stomach.

“Y-You don’t mean that Ro.” Virgil tried to put his hand back on Roman’s shoulder, but only got another smack from his toy sword.

“My sword was broken by a meanie monster.” Roman muttered angrily. As he stomped out of the bedroom and down the stairs, Virgil stayed crouched, watching him leave with glazed over eyes. It had been so long since he had been called a monster, he had forgotten how much it stung. And now it hurt much, much more.

He took a shaky breath, gaze shifting to the ground. Roman did tell him to go away...

Okay. He’ll go away.

Thomas had heard Roman screaming and ran to the stairs, just in time to see the kid in question storming down with tearful eyes, and Virgil melting into the shadows and leaving. In Roman’s hands was his favorite toy sword, now bent beyond usable. “Oh Roman, what happened?”

“Virgil broke it! He’s a big meanie!” Thomas glanced up the stairs, where Virgil had disappeared. Not hearing Patton talking to him in the living room or Logan asking him questions in Virgil’s room meant he probably wasn’t anywhere in the house. Of course of all the sons to disappear after an emotional outburst it just had to be the one who could teleport.

“Were you two playing and it broke, or was he mad and broke it?”

“We were playing, and he was holdin’ it, and then he smacked it against the wall and it broke!”

“Do you think he meant to break it?” Roman huffed, wiping at his eyes before crossing his arms.

“...No, but he still broke it.” A bit of relief filled Thomas at that, but he would never tell Roman. Son or not, he wasn’t sure if we would know how to calm down an angry bogeyman that intentionally breaks his adopted brother’s toys.

“Do you know where Virgil went?” Roman blinked, the question breaking him out of his anger for a moment. He looked back up the stairs, eyes glancing around for a moment, surprised at Virgil’s absence, before huffing and turning back around.

“...No, but good riddance! He broke my sword!” Thomas took a deep breath. Okay, so Virgil could be anywhere. Now he just had to hope he was somewhere with a stable connection; maybe he could call him. If not, he might’ve just lost a son. His heart began to pound at that, but he hid his worry before Roman could see.

Right, he had to deal with Roman first. He slowly took the broken sword from Roman’s hands, rubbing gentle circles into his back. “I’ll see if I can fix this. If it can bend without breaking, I might be able to bend it back. Why don’t you watch some cartoons with Patton while I give that a try?”

“But what if you end up breaking it more?”

“Then I can get you a new one. We might even be able to get you a new one today if you want.”

Roman whimpered. “But I like mine.”

“I know you do, bud. But sometimes...things break and have to be replaced. Nothing lasts forever.” Thomas glanced up the stairs, hoping to see Virgil returning. Still missing. “I’ll need you to apologize to Virgil later, okay? You said a lot of mean things to him, and probably made him feel really bad. And he’ll have to apologize for breaking your toy. Sound good?” 

Roman was still clearly upset, but he nodded anyway, staring down at his feet as he thought. Thomas ushered him into the living room to distract him with the TV, then sent a text to Virgil’s phone, hoping he would get it.

Virgil had gone back to his cave. After officially moving in with his dad and brothers, he had expected to never want to—or feel the need to—come back here. But it was just as cold as he remembered. He sat with his back against the wall, staring through unfocused eyes as the shadows on the other side of the cave seemed to taunt him.

Maybe they were. Maybe they were thinking “what an idiot, caring for humans. It’d never work out in the end. Something always goes wrong.” At least that was what he was thinking. He knew how quickly humans could turn on other humans, it would make sense for them to turn on him much quicker.

His body was still weighed down by guilt. He broke Roman’s favorite toy, of course he would be mad. Virgil knew if one of them had broken something of his, he would probably be pretty upset. His words still rang in his ears, though.

He’d stay in the cave until things might have settled down. Then maybe he’d go back and talk to Dad.

Virgil was gone for two days by the time Roman felt just as much guilt and fear as the bogeyman himself was feeling. Thomas was trying his best to stay calm, knowing Virgil was fully capable of taking care of himself, but that fatherly panic was beginning to take over.

Virgil had told him about the cave he used to live in, and Thomas assumed that he had gone to stay there. But he had no clue where it was. As far as he knew, Virgil could be in some sort of Floridian cave less than a mile away or a cave all the way in Australia. He kept texting and calling in hopes that he would answer, but the chances of him having wi-fi in a cave was slim to nil.

He told Remus about Virgil’s disappearance, hoping that the only other person with demon children would know where his cave was. What he got as his answer was Remus putting him on hold for a whole hour, then coming back to say a terrifyingly serious “I’m on the case” before being hung up on. Whatever Remus was up to only made him more worried.

Virgil hadn’t expected to start his third day in his cave being tackled by two other bogeymen. He let out a startled curse as the two slammed into him and shoved him into the shadows, taking him with them back to their home. He growled, glaring at the two kids and preparing to fight back, before realizing where he was.

Remus bopped his head with a rolled-up newspaper, Emile grinning eagerly behind him. “Hey there Vee!” Virgil sighed, his heart rate beginning to drop back to normal.

“Hey...”

“Uncle Thomas has been real worried about you.” Remus spoke, looking the newspaper over in his hands as if it were a weapon.

“He has?” Virgil tried to keep the hopeful tone out of his voice.

“Well fuckin’ duh! He wouldn’t have called me of all people if he wasn’t!”

“Did he ask you to get your kids to kidnap me?”

“No, that was my idea.” Emile responded happily, bringing Virgil over to the couch and giving him a cup of hot chocolate. “I thought it’d be funny. Sorry if it scared you.”

“It’s fine, I guess.” Virgil watched as Janus stuck his tongue out at him, a grin on his face as he ran off down to his bedroom, Remy following soon after. Remus kicked his feet up on the coffee table, looking at him expectantly.

“So you gonna teleport back home, or do ya want one of us to drive you there like a human?” Virgil couldn’t answer. It was nice to hear that Dad was worried, but he was more concerned about how Roman felt. Emile seemed to sense his unease, ruffling his hair a bit.

“Thomas told us what happened, and Roman’s really sorry. This sort of thing just sort of happens with kids. Kids as old as your brothers get upset really easily and say things they don’t mean.” A warm smile spread across his face, slowing Virgil’s skipping heart and steadying his constantly anxious mind.

“Roman doesn’t actually hate you, especially not because of just one mess-up. Kids’ brains aren’t exactly developed enough to properly respond to things that upset them, anyway, so this is pretty normal.” Virgil nodded slowly, staring down at the hot chocolate in his hands.

Remus giggled excitedly, saying in the most affectionate voice Virgil had ever heard “I bet you could destroy the world with those smarts, Lilo and Switch.” Emile’s cheeks turned red, and his smile was redirected at his boyfriend.

“It’s just basic developmental psychology, nothing but fifteen minutes of googling will tell you this much.” Remus just hummed happily. Emile turned his attention back to Virgil. “So what do you say? You wanna go back now, or wait a bit?” Virgil pulled his jacket tighter around himself. He did miss the house...and his room...and his family.

He sighed, his anxiety failing as he placed down the cup of hot chocolate, stood up, and without another word dropped into the shadows.

Virgil appeared in his room, relieved (and for whatever reason a bit upset) that no one was there. He gulped, debating whether it would be more awkward to walk out and find the others or just wait there until someone comes in. But Dad decided that for him, singing a song from a musical he hadn’t shown Virgil yet as he went about cleaning the house.

Dad stared up at him, expression blank as his brain tried to figure out what was going on. The memory of their first time seeing each other face-to-face played in Virgil’s head—and wow, he looked just as confused as he did back then.

The lightbulb went off in his brain and his eyes widened, dropping his cleaning supplies and pulling him into a hug, letting out a relieved, almost delirious laugh. “Oh thank goodness you’re okay!” Warmth filled Virgil’s heart as he hugged back as best he could, his arms pinned to his sides by Dad’s tight grip. “You were at your cave, right? I really need to figure out where that place is.”

“Janus and Remy know, Emile sent them to kidnap me and bring me to their place.”

Dad pulled away, eyes wide. “They kidnapped—” He stumbled over his words, sounding both alarmed and confused, before going silent. “You know what, I’m not even surprised.”

“Yeah, those guys are weird.”

“How did those kids know where the cave was, though?” Virgil shrugged.

“I think all three of us were formed there, they just never actually lived there. That’s my best guess at least.”

“Well...I’m just glad they found you. We’ve all been really worried.” Virgil heard four small feet running up the stairs and over to his door, two faces peering in. Smiles spread across Logan and Patton’s faces as they practically tackled Virgil to the ground, clinging onto him as if he’d disappear if they let go. Virgil hugged them back, just happy to see them again.

Then he heard another pair of feet run up the stairs, and Roman appeared in the doorway. Virgil gave him an uneasy smile. “I’m...sorry for breaking your toy, Ro, I didn’t mean—”

Roman’s lip began to quiver and tears streamed down his cheeks as he ran to hug Virgil, clinging on tightly as he babbled out apologies until his words were completely unintelligible. Virgil awkwardly hushed him, running a hand through his hair as his incoherent babbling began to die down. “It’s fine, Ro, I’m okay.”

“It’s not fine!” Roman whined. “You disappeared for two days and I was really mean to you and I thought you’d never come back and I’m sorry!” Virgil looked to Dad, hoping he would be able to help. Dad came over and gently shushed Roman, saying “Virgil’s here now, he’s not gonna leave, we’re all gonna be okay, bud.”

Roman slowly calmed down, tears no longer falling from his eyes and breathing beginning to steady. Dad asked Logan and Patton to go back downstairs while he talked with Roman and Virgil. He had to make sure his two oldest kids would be okay.

[scotianostra]

On February 19th 1314, James Douglas retook Roxburgh Castle and razed it to the ground.

James Douglas, Robert Bruce’s indomitable captain during the Wars of Independence, is overshadowed only by Bruce himself as the most compelling of Scotland’s fourteenth century personalities. Douglas is something of a Janus figure in the history of the British Isles. While many Scots came to know him as ‘the Good’ Sir James for his championing of Bruce’s cause, it was his mastery of fear as a tool of war, his personal ferocity in battle, and his brutally effective raiding style that caused people in the north of England, often subject to said raids, to bestow on him his most enduring moniker – ‘the Black’ Douglas. His bogeyman reputation amongst the English was such that, while he was still very much alive and active, mothers in Northumbria and Cumbria supposedly sang to their children:

Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye,

Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye,

The Black Douglas shall not get ye……

A chilling folk story has this refrain followed by a calloused hand grasping the mother’s shoulder, and a growling voice uttering, “don’t be too sure of that…”

Roxburgh Castle changed hands many times over the centuries, indeed it was razed more than once, this time the castle came into English hands in 1291. Following the death of the Alexander III, promptly followed by his only heir Margaret, Edward I had been asked to arbitrate between rival claimants to the Scottish throne. Seizing the opportunity to make the country his vassal, Edward first demanded all Scottish castles under Crown ownership were placed in his custody - Roxburgh was one of those handed over to his control. It stayed in the hands of the English after Edwards death in 1307, and into his son, Edward II reign.

On the night of 19/20 February 1314 – Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday – several dark shapes were seen beneath the battlements and mistakenly assumed to be cattle.

Douglas had ordered his men to cover themselves with their cloaks and crawl towards the castle on their hands and knees.

With most of the garrison celebrating just prior to the fast of Lent, scaling hooks with rope ladders attached were thrown up the walls. Taken by complete surprise the defenders were overwhelmed in a short space of time. Roxburgh Castle, among the best in the land, was slighted in accordance with Bruce’s scorched earth policy of denying strongholds to the enemy.

Pics are The Good Sir James, so imaginations of how Roxburgh Castle may have looked, and part of the ruins that remain. 

[soupydoobydoo]

“So,” Janus said.

We eyed each other warily—Janus from his place in the closet, Remus methodically piercing the pads of his fingers with his morningstar, and me from my customary position under the bed. I could hear the thrum of Virgil’s heart beating above me. We all could.

“He’s mine,” snarled Remus suddenly, dropping his morningstar in front of me and curling his hands into fists. I studied it carefully—food was food, after all, but then again it was Remus we were talking about. “And none of you little shits get to say anything about it.”

“You! You aren’t fit to take care of those rats you call pets, let alone a human child,” Janus hissed. “No. I’m not taking him.”

I grabbed the morningstar. Food was food, even if it was Remus we were talking about.

Remus hopped down from his post on the headboard. “He’s too afraid of your creepy ass snake face to even pick out his clothes in the morning,” he snapped. “At least I can be written off as a bad dream.”

Janus shifted in the shadows, his eye glinting. “That’s why I pick out his clothes for him, dipshit,” he hissed. “Bad dream my ass. You’re bound to get him locked up in an institution one day.”

Remus hooted a laugh. “As if! Where’s my morningstar?”

I sucked at the blood crusted on the points of the morningstar warily. Remus was bound to taste bad. “Nowhere,” I said.

“Poopyshit. Give it back.”

“No,” I said. “Not unless you give Virgil to me.”

There was a collective groan. “I would’ve thought that you would care about this,” muttered Janus.

I shifted around old toys and discarded articles of clothing to face the closet. “Funny,” I smiled around the morningstar in my teeth. “I would’ve thought the same about you.”

Janus’s eye narrowed. “I—” he began, only to be cut off by Remus, who shoved his head under the bed, right in my face. “Give me back my morningstar, Ted Dusty!”

“No!” I said. Remus ducked under the bed; I bit his nose.

“Ow! What the fuck!”

“You’re lucky I didn’t aim for that stupid mustache!” I snarled. Remus shrieked and clawed at me with bloody hands. It was like something out of a cheap horror film—I heard the creak of a closet door opening. Janus was coming out, good—I hadn’t kicked his ass in a while—

The bed above me shifted. Virgil’s breathing pattern changed: he was waking up.

Janus dove back into the closet in a flurry of shadows. Remus shoved me over and moved in next to me. “You stink,” I said. “You smell like old people,” was his hissed reply.

“Mm..you know I could hear you guys, right?” Virgil! His lovely, lovely little voice, what a joy it was to hear it on this terrible night—

“Did you hear what he said, bogeyman?” Remus whispered. He popped his head out. “What was that, kid?”

“You’re NOT a fucking dumbass!” Janus exploded, throwing the closet door open.

I slid out from under the bed (gracefully, mind you. Not all of us can be as fucking idiotic as Remus was). “Pot,” I said, “meet kettle.”

“You must not be the saucepan then,” Janus snarled at me.

I stared at him. “Ha! Jokes on you, saucepans aren’t always black!”

A change in Virgil’s breathing made me hesitate: I looked at him. His eyes were big and watery, and they were all I could see of his face. “What are you?” he said.

There was an awkward silence. “Should we tell him?” Remus hissed to me.

“I don’t know,” I whispered back. “Janus—”

“Oh, you fools—”

There was a rattling from the closet and I knew that Janus had made his choice. I watched him slide out and kneel at the foot of Virgil’s bed. “My name is Janus, and I am the monster in your closet.”

“Oh, what the hell,” said Remus, and he extracted himself slowly out from under the bed, bones cracking all the way. “I’m Remus. Ow, my dick—I’m the one who spins your nightmares.”

“What the hell indeed,” I muttered, curling up around the edge of Virgil’s mattress. “Hello. I am the monster from under your bed.”

Janus was a solid block of shadow in the moonlight. Remus lifted his hand, slowly, towards his mouth, and began to gnaw on his fingernails. I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable scream that was to come—

“Wow,” Virgil whispered, his breath quickening, his heart beating faster, faster, his eyes widening—I opened my own to see his face, flushed with innocent wonder. “So..so why were you fighting?”

Remus scoffed. “These fuckers wouldn’t leave.”

Janus cuffed him over the head. “Remus!”—he turned to Virgil—“only one of us,” he said, “can stay.”

“Yep,” I said. “Only one.”

“Why?” Virgil asked bluntly. “Why don’t all of you stay? Does your boss say so?”

I blinked (all my eyes. I’d never really considered it this way before). Janus started. Remus farted a confused fart.

“We don’t have a boss,” Janus said finally.

“So just all stay,” said Virgil. “You can teach me all your monsterly ways—ooh,” his eyes widened “wait till Roman hears about this!”

“Okay, okay, first rule, kid, you don’t get to tell anyone about us,” Remus said.

“So you’ll all stay,” Virgil demanded. “I want you all to stay.”

“You know,” I said, “he’s got a point.”

“I’m not on board with this,” Janus said.

Virgil’s face fell. “Why not?”

“Don’t mind him,” I said quickly. “He speaks in opposites. In lies. It’s a problem he has.”

“It definitely is!” Janus snapped. Virgil let out a delighted laugh. Janus frowned. “Oh,” he said.

“This could work out,” said Remus. “Really. It’s not like anyone’s going to punish us for spending extra time on a kid.”

“Besides,” I added, “we could frighten him thrice the norm this way.”

“I’m not scared of you!” Virgil declared.

“Really?” Janus purred, slinking over to Virgil’s bedside. I sank back down under the bed. “Then I guess we’ll just have to stick together on this one. I can tell,” he said, “that he’ll be a tough cookie to crack.”

Remus ducked under the bed and grabbed his morningstar before I could reach it. “Yep!” he sang out. “Tough!”

“I absolutely hate you,” I said, glaring at him.

“Lying is Jan’s department,” he smirked, fading until all that was left was a shark-sharp smile. “Good night, Virgie.”

“Good night, stinky man,” yawned Virgil. “Good night, monsters.”

“Good night,” I said. I could feel him falling asleep.

Above me, Janus kissed the top of Virgil’s head. “Good night, little one.”

I watched as he slunk back inside the closet. Virgil was asleep, and all was right with the world. For now.

I closed my eyes. Outside, the moon shone on.

- - -

Based on this post

Tag list:

@logicalberry @virtualsanderssides @dawn-daffodil @such-a-dumbass

[death-himself]

Hidden in Shadows—Remus’s Story (pt. 1)

Summary: What has Remus been doing all this time? And who let him take care of eldritch abomination children?

Word Count: 1,511

Warnings: Body Horror, Homelessness, Angst

Part 2 (AO3 Link)

Failure. What an absolute failure. The darkness wasn’t sure what to do with its creation anymore. Its creation, who had decided to go by the name “Virgil”—and what a human thing it was to want to go by such a name—was going against everything it had taught him to do. He was too weak to kill, too weak to take souls, too weak to do anything.

He acted too human.

It watched as the young monster hid in the corner of a human child’s room, bobbing his head back and forth as if listening to his own music, using a small scrap of paper and a pencil to doodle. It had been a year since the darkness had let him out of the shadows. A whole year had passed, and no souls had been taken.

No matter how much the darkness tried to guide its creation into doing what he was made for, nothing happened. He was a disgusting failure of a monster. So, something else would have to do. And so the darkness began the process all over again, feeding its hatred for humanity and desire for their destruction into a new being.

Another five year wait was ahead of it.

Remus huffed as he pulled his coat tighter around himself. Well, he had expected this to happen eventually. Granted, he had expected his mom to beat the shit out of him, but not actually kick him out. Didn’t know she would do both.

He didn’t really have any friends to turn to; he had met them all online and the closest, his boyfriend, lived a state away. He huddled down into an alleyway in a relatively safe part of town.

Where could he go? He remembered back when his dad was alive and still with his mom there was this uncle that mom had absolutely refused to let come over. Maybe Remus could try to find him?

He shook that thought out of his head immediately. If his uncle was anything like the rest of his family, he wouldn’t want Remus around, either.

He shrugged off his backpack, hid behind a dumpster, and pushed the bag under his head. Maybe he could start making his way to Emile tomorrow. Or at least call him and see if there was anything he could do.

With that thought in mind, he took a deep, steady breath, shut his eyes, and went to sleep.

Remus awoke to a sharp pain in his chest. He opened his mouth to yell, but nothing came out. He forced his eyes open, his vision blurry. What looked to be a ball of light was slowly emerging from his chest.

Remus turned his gaze up slightly to see a hand with needle-like fingers hovering above the ball. The hand was attached to a long, gangly limb, which was attached to a horrifically bony figure, which was attached to a face. The first thing Remus thought when he saw that face was Oh wow, that’s disgusting.

The left side of the creature’s face appeared to be rotting, skin torn up and seeming to bleed a black substance that dripped onto Remus’s shirt. Its eye sockets seemed to be completely hollow, with sadistic glowing toxic yellow irises coming from somewhere inside them. Its lips were split into an unnaturally wide grin that only seemed to grow wider as the glowing ball was pulled more and more out of his chest.

It was horrifying. Remus loved it. With whatever strength he had left in his body, he punched the creature in the rotting side of its face. It reeled back, howling in pain as black liquid fell from its eyes. The ball of light immediately went back into Remus’s chest, and his strength returned.

He leapt to his feet, watching as the creature continued to howl and cry. It was in pain. He noticed the shadows seem to pull closer to the creature and he quickly pulled out his flashlight, turning it on with even louder protests from the zombie-like thing.

“Go away!” It yelled. “Leave me alone!” The voice caused Remus to pause. Holy fuck it has the voice of a child. Remus looked over its body again. It looked like a five year old boy’s dead body had been pulled and stretched into a roughly five-foot tall thing.

He watched the shadows swirl unnaturally at the edge of his light. It wanted to get to the kid, maybe to heal him. But Remus had a bad feeling in his gut as he watched it; he could almost feel its ill-intent.

He kept the light on the kid as he pulled bandages from his bag, then cautiously walked over. The kid was still clearly in pain, maybe the rotting side of his face was a lot more sensitive than normal skin.

Realizing he’d need both hands, Remus put the end of the flashlight in his mouth and gently laid a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

The kid shrieked, smacking his hand away and curling in tighter around himself. “I’m not gonna punch you again, calm down!” With the flashlight in his mouth he was barely understandable, but he got the message across.

“Liar. Humans are liars.” The kid muttered.

“Well, can’t argue with that. Humans are pieces of shit, and I don’t wanna be one of those Not All Humans types of guys. We’re all pretty terrible.” He noticed none of what he said seemed to elicit a reaction from the kid. But, at least he wasn’t screaming anymore.

Remus sat behind the kid, taking the flashlight out of his mouth and tossing it between his hands. “I don’t think I’m the worst human. I mean, I can definitely list at least a hundred people worse than me. There’s Jared from my math class—it’s always a Jared—there’s Bryce, Lucas, those are just three examples and those are just people I know personally. Then there’s also some celebrities like—”

“Is there a point to what you’re saying?”

“No, not really. How’s your face feeling?” The kid looked over his shoulder at Remus, eying him for a moment before looking away.

“It still hurts.” Remus hummed, grabbing a bandaid. “Alrighty, then come here. I got just the thing.”

The kid hesitantly sat up and turned to Remus, looking him up and down cautiously, before creeping closer. Once the creature was close enough for Remus to treat, he took the bandaid and stuck it onto a healthy patch of skin, as close to the area he had punched as he could get. The kid blinked and skittered back in alarm.

“Presto changeo, and you’re healed!” The kid ran his fingers across the bandaid, eyebrows furrowed.

“Really?”

“Nah, it’s this thing called the placebo effect, works great on little kids. I didn’t punch you hard enough to cause any real damage so,” Remus shrugged, “a bandaid works just fine.” He wasn’t sure if the kid had any idea what the placebo effect was, but it seemed to be a decent enough explanation to him.

“...Thank you.” Remus hummed.

“You got any parents to take care of you?”

“Parents?”

“Oh, that’s a no.” Remus went to lie down next to the dumpster, then pat the concrete next to him. “Go ahead and stay here. I’m sure whatever the hell those weird shadows you came out of are are bad news.”

“The darkness takes care of me! It’d never hurt me!”

“Well, then do whatever you want. I won’t stop you.” Remus turned to face away from the kid, closing his eyes and listening closely.

The kid looked into the darkest part of the alley, ready to allow the shadows to bring him home.

But that’s when he felt something angry and frustrated within the darkness. He gulped, slowly backing away towards the human he had just met. He gave himself only a moment to think, before lying down next to Remus and holding tightly onto the back of his shirt.

Remus smiled triumphantly to himself and turned around to look at the kid. “Guess you’re staying with me, then?” The kid clung onto Remus’s shirt, not meeting his eyes as he nodded.

Remus ruffled the kid’s hair. “Well, then it’s good to meet ya. I’m Remus. What’s your name?” The kid glanced up, confused. “Do you have a name?”

“I don’t think so.” Remus hummed in thought. “Mind if I give you a name?”

“Okay.”

“I shall now call you...Ballsack.”

“No.”

“Lil Shit?”

“No.”

“Asshole!”

“I don’t like your names.”

“Alright, alright, fair enough. You can name yourself.” The kid went silent for a moment. Remus checked his phone, seeing just how late it was.

“Actually...let’s save that for tomorrow. Sleep on it, and all that.” He ruffled the kid’s hair again, closing his eyes. A few moments later he heard a quiet huff from the kid, and he closed his eyes as well.

Remus was now the father of a five year old demon thing at the age of fifteen. It was just like in his fanfiction.

[death-himself]

Hidden in Shadows—Family Reunion

Summary: When Remus finds out Thomas has adopted his cousin, he just has to pay him a visit. And why not bring along his demon children as well?

Word Count: 1,668

Warnings: None(?)

(AO3 Link)

The day started with Remus frantically slapping Emile awake, patting his forehead at the speed of light. Emile groaned, swatting lazily at Remus’s hand. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Get a look at this!” A phone was shoved into Emile’s face. He blinked at the light, grabbing his glasses off the nightstand and scanning over what Remus was showing him.

It was a Youtube channel, run by a man who looked somewhat similar to Remus, with the same last name as him to go with his looks. “That’s my uncle!”

“Your uncle’s a Youtuber?” Remus nodded, eyes blown wide with excited surprise. “And he’s gay as fuck, but that’s not the point for once, look at this.” He pulled up what looked like a family photo with Thomas surrounded by three kids. Remus zoomed in on the eldest of the three.

“That’s my fuckin’ cousin! I met him once when he was four or something, I tried to get him to burn the house down!” Remy and Janus had woken up from the commotion, creeping over to listen. Janus looked over the picture, his eyes stopping on one shadowy corner. He hissed, backing away a bit behind Emile.

“Something wrong, Jan?”

“Someone’s in there.” Remus furrowed his brow, taking a closer look at the picture. He would usually assume it was just the shadows looking weird or his imagination messing with him, but you don’t just dismiss when an eight year old demon says that someone’s there.

In the shadowy corner was a very vague shape that looked kind of like a person if you squinted, tall enough to stand up on its toes and hit its head on the ceiling.

It didn’t look like much, probably not even enough to get the conspiracy theorists on it, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Emile looked over the picture for a moment. “Didn’t you guys say there was a bogeyman before you? Do you think they’re still out there?”

“Probably. What do you think they did to get kicked out by the dark bitch?” Remus asked. Remy mumbled out something that vaguely meant evil scary bitch as a form of agreement.

“The darkness never told me what he did. Just said he was bad at everything except stalking kids.” Janus answered.

“Well, that’s uh...” Emile looked back down at the picture Remus had pulled up. “Do you know where your uncle is? We could pay him a visit.” Remus shrugged.

“I think I remember. I think he lives down the street from where my dad used to live. Y’know, in that period of time after the divorce and before the die.”

“Do you still remember where that is?” Remus nodded, grabbing his jacket and backpack, already stuffing it with a flashlight, lighter, and swiss army knife before heading to the kitchen to grab snacks.

“It’ll be like an hour drive, so if we wanna go there, figure out what’s going on, and get back without your moms finding out, we’re gonna have to go soon.” Emile blinked, understanding that his moms had probably left only half an hour ago and wouldn’t be back for another six hours, but simply giggled and went along with it, getting Remy and Janus ready for the trip.

“How well does your uncle know you?” Emile asked as they pulled up in front of the house.

“I mean I visited twice with my dad when I was probably six, so...not very well!” He let Remy climb onto his back as a piggy back ride while Janus took Emile’s hand, pulling the hoodie hiding his nonhuman appearance further over his face.

They walked up to the door, Remus rapping on it a couple times before trying the doorknob. “Hey it’s open!” He turned the knob and made his way in confidently. His ears were immediately bombarded with screaming and crying, along with bags of groceries that had been placed down haphazardly on the ground.

“Roman, you’re gonna be okay, just breathe.”

“I’m bleeding!”

“Nosebleeds happen sometimes, it’s not a very serious thing, you just have to wait it out, alright?”

“But I’m bleeding!”

“Oh for the love of—Virgil could you get him some more tissues?”

“Yeah, sure.” The last voice came out as an echoing sigh and quiet footsteps came a bit closer. Remus peeked into the living room to see what was happening, only to come face-to-chest with whatever the hell that tall creature in the shadows of that picture had been.

The creature stared down at him for a moment, before backing away and growling, baring his razor sharp teeth threateningly. Remy did the same, growling from his perch on Remus’s shoulders. Emile gulped, looking back and forth in confusion, before realizing that Janus had let go of his hand and was growling as well, prepared to attack.

The unknown bogeyman seemed taken aback by having two like him growling at him, long enough for Remus to grin, peek around the bogeyman, and shout to Thomas, “Hey Uncle Thomas, looks like our demon children met!”

“Our what?” Thomas looked over the situation. “Wait...you’re Remus, right? My nephew? I think I saw you at John’s funeral.” His eyes widened when he noticed Remy and Janus. He opened his mouth as if about to ask questions, before sighing and shaking his head. “You know what? Virgil, tissues, please. We’ll deal with this after Roman’s nose stops bleeding.”

The bogeyman, Virgil, grumbled as he reached into one of the bags on the ground and pulled out a box of tissues, not taking his eyes off of the four for a second as he walked back around them to the living room. Emile smiled nervously at him, pulling Janus back over to him and holding him back by the arm.

Once Roman’s nosebleed was dealt with, they sat around the coffee table in the living room, Thomas bringing in coffee, tea, and chocolate milk for everyone. Virgil glared at Remy and Janus as Thomas handed him a cup of tea, mumbling a thank you and continuing his watch.

“It’s been a while since I saw you around, Remus. Have you been doing okay? Well...judging by all this you look like you’re doing alright.”

“Eh, was homeless for a bit, met Janus that way. Got to meet Em in person for the first time, became a father of two, y’know just your typical Tuesday.”

“You were homeless?”

“Did you not know that?”

“If I knew, I would’ve come out and helped you!”

“Oh.” Remus took a sip of chocolate milk, smacking his lips awkwardly. He shrugged. “Oh well.”

“You’re not still homeless right? You’re staying with Emile’s family?” Emile nodded happily.

“My moms are perfectly fine with it.” Relief filled Thomas’s body at that.

“Well that’s good. Now can we talk about, uh...” He looked across the table at Janus hugging Emile’s arm and trying to grab his coffee while Remy banged his cup against the side of the table and smiled at the sound.

“Oh yeah, I never introduced them! These are my precious children, Janus and Remy, they both tried to kill me when we met, but they’re my sons now. They were supposed to replace Virgil in the whole “bogeyman” department, but then stuff happened and now they’re my kids.”

“Huh.” Thomas thought it over for a moment, before smiling at Janus and Remy. “Well it’s good to meet you two. You can just call me your uncle.”

“Or grunkle! That’s what you’d be to them, right Dad?” Roman spoke excitedly.

“I guess so.” Remy babbled out something incomprehensible, which Emile responded to with “No, no more chocolate milk, kiddo.” Remy whined in response. Thomas looked back and forth between the two, before taking a deep breath and deciding to ask another time.

While Thomas, Remus, and Emile caught up and got to know each other, they allowed the kids to have fun together. Janus and Logan seemed to be having a battle over who was smarter while Remy crawled around and chased Patton in what they hoped was a game of tag. 

Roman had been watching from the sidelines with Virgil in an attempt to be the mature one of the group, until Patton tagged him and he joined the game. After that Virgil didn’t seem to really know what to do with himself, so Thomas simply gestured for him to join them. “You’re closer to Remus and Emile’s age anyway” was Thomas’s reasoning.

Virgil joined hesitantly, not used to being around humans other than his dad and brothers. He listened for the most part, enjoying Emile’s calming words and tone of voice, as well as most of Remus’s sense of humor.

Soon the four had to head home. Patton hugged Remy and whispered something that only toddlers and extremely young children would understand, receiving a giggle from the three year old. Logan and Janus shook hands, having accepted each other as equals after almost two full hours of debating and arguing about taxes, houses, and other things they definitely knew nothing about.

Once they were gone Virgil, Patton, Roman, Logan, and Thomas settled down in the living room, Patton and Roman falling asleep immediately after hitting the couch. Virgil ruffled Roman’s hair, taking a deep breath. While it was nice having Remus over, he preferred it being just the five of them.

“We should invite them over again sometime.” Thomas spoke calmly. “It’d probably be good for you to have friends around your age anyway.”

“I think I’m fine with just these guys.”

“Virge, they’re not even preteens. Having people your age around you is supposed to help with social skills and all that. So...just give them a try, alright?”

“Yeah, sure. They don’t seem too bad anyway.”

As Emile drove them home, he and Remus listened as Janus described in detail how his debate with Logan had gone and how he had definitely won, while Remy dozed off, barely strapped into his seat and drool coming out of his mouth.

[death-himself]

Just curious about what Halloween costumes would be worn for both the monster soulmate au and hidden in the shadows? Love your writing!

In the monster soulmate AU I feel like Virgil would go as Morticia Addams from the Addams’ Family because he finds it funnily appropriate. Logan would probably refuse to go as anything more than a mad scientist, but Roman definitely tried to get him to go as something more dramatic. With Roman it’s kinda hard to picture him in any outfit (dam spider body messing things up XD) but he would try his best to pair with Virgil as Gomez because he’s a romantic like that. And he probably has a real sword somewhere, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Janus definitely wouldn’t understand the point of Halloween and would try and get out of it if he can. Roman and Virgil would team up against him and make him look like an amphisbaena (a snake with heads on both ends) for their own amusement. 

And Patton would dress like a 1940s mob boss. Don’t ask why, I have no answers.

In Hidden in Shadows Halloween would probably be treated differently because everyone’s scared of the bogeyman getting their kids. If trick-or-treating still existed though I imagine all of it would take place during the afternoon rather than late at night, and the kids would just be running around in their costumes for the whole rest of the day :)

Anyway Roman would dress as a Disney prince or princess, maybe Rapunzel or Eugene. With Logan I like the idea that Roman said he should go as a nerd and Logan went “oh okay then” and just chose the most stereotypical nerd outfit he could find to spite him. Patton would probably dress as a ladybug or a bumblebee then run around the whole night making buzzing sounds

Virgil probably would be really confused about Halloween (like I said, trick-or-treating would’ve taken place during the day, when Virgil is usually in his cave) and would want to know everything about it. Thomas would probably have to really awkwardly explain the origin of the holiday and how it was probably created as some sort of response to bogeymen in this world. After getting it explained to him though Virgil would probably just grab a bedsheet and turn himself into a really tall menacing ghost. Thomas would probably copy him to make him feel better after Roman laughs at him ^-^

[death-himself]

Feel like it’s about time I did a masterpost

Sanders Sides:

Hidden in Shadows (AO3 Link) Summary: Virgil is the world’s new bogeyman, but for whatever reason he doesn’t have any desire to kill. Instead, he watches over the children, especially three certain children in the Sanders’ household (Brotherly LAMP w/ dad Thomas) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 (Complete) Roman’s Story: (Part 1) (Part 2) Remus’s Story: (Part 1) (Part 2) Family Reunion Nightmares Sleepy Bargaining Hide and Seek Accidents Happen

Four Human-Eating Monsters and An Apathetic Florist Series (AO3 Link) Summary: A series about a drider, naga, vampire, and ghoul in love with each other and their one poor human boyfriend. (DLAMP Soulmate AU) The post of the same name When Logan Met Patton (Logan/Patton) To Take Someone’s Breath Away (Virgil/Janus) Hunt Gone Wrong (Or Right, Depending on How You See Things) (Logan/Patton/Virgil) All Tied Up (Virgil/Roman) If a Karen Gives a Flower (Remus/Emile) Roman the Big Bad Drider Sickness ≠ Death How I Met Your Father To Be Fair, It Was a Cute Spider Cat and Mouse Nightmare What to Do When Your Naga Boyfriend Kidnaps You

(Potentially Permanent Hiatus? idk I still really like this AU)

Love is Dead (AO3 Link) Summary: After Janus dies, he's willing do anything necessary to keep his old home, no matter how many people try to move in. Even if those people are bubbly strawberry blond boys with the ability to be completely oblivious to all his scare tactics. He'll make him move out eventually. It's not like he enjoyed that idiot's presence or anything. (Moceit Ghost AU) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (Most Likely Discontinued sorry)

Could You Meet Me Beyond the Grave: (AO3 Link) Summary: After Virgil dies, he comes back to life as an undead creature known as a Willow. As time goes on, he learns how to function this way. Soon Braille begins appearing on his skin, messages from his soulmates. See how they meet, and how they react when they find out what he is. (LAMP/RED Soulmate AU) (Prologue 1 and 2) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 (Discontinued)

Feed on Me (AO3 Link) Summary: Based off Alec Benjamin’s song of the same name, Virgil’s a hungry vampire and his boyfriend just came home from work (Romantic Prinxiety) (One-shot)

How to Raise a Harbinger of Destruction Series (AO3 Link) Summary: A collection of stories (started thanks to @secretlypansexualmango ‘s asks :p) about Remus and Deceit raising Virgil the Antichrist Remus is a Good Parent and Declan the Wine Mom Playdate Time for a Bloody Sleepover! Mr. Priest Dude Gets Attacketed Fearing the Future New in Town Happy Birthday Extra lil bits and bops to the story: 1 2 3 (I can’t re-link the tumblr posts because they’re all from asks and i’m lazy so sorry just go on Ao3)

Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus:

Remember You (AO3 Link) - Creepypasta Crossover Fic Summary: Leo has been followed by a tall faceless man his whole life. After saving the world from Gaea he chooses to surrender himself to the entity in hopes to protect those he cares about, becoming one of his proxies and losing all memories of his past friends, name, and life. But some people just aren't willing to let him go, and will go to whatever lengths to find him and bring him back home. 1 2 (Hiatus? Really want to do a rewrite I came up with a better idea)

Sleep Tight (AO3 Link) Summary: I wrote this while I was extremely tired and never looked back, but I’m putting it here anyway just because (Solangelo) (One-shot)

Nothin’ Like a Chicken Nugget Bouquet for Valentine’s Day (AO3 Link) Summary: I wrote this in French class after one of my friends gave one of my other friends a bouquet of chicken nuggets for Valentine’s Day (Solangelo) (One-shot)

Immobile (AO3 Link) Summary:  Nico wakes up being unable to move, Will comes to help him out (Solangelo) (One-shot)

OC Stuff:

“Platonic” Cuddling (AO3 Link) Summary: Two best friends decide to cuddle and it's definitely completely platonic, no romantic feelings here what are you talking about (Rowen/Caiden) (One-shot)

[scotianostra]

On February 19th 1314, James Douglas retook Roxburgh Castle and razed it to the ground.

James Douglas, Robert Bruce’s indomitable captain during the Wars of Independence, is overshadowed only by Bruce himself as the most compelling of Scotland’s fourteenth century personalities. Douglas is something of a Janus figure in the history of the British Isles. While many Scots came to know him as ‘the Good’ Sir James for his championing of Bruce’s cause, it was his mastery of fear as a tool of war, his personal ferocity in battle, and his brutally effective raiding style that caused people in the north of England, often subject to said raids, to bestow on him his most enduring moniker – ‘the Black’ Douglas. His bogeyman reputation amongst the English was such that, while he was still very much alive and active, mothers in Northumbria and Cumbria supposedly sang to their children:

Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye,

Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye,

The Black Douglas shall not get ye…...

A chilling folk story has this refrain followed by a calloused hand grasping the mother’s shoulder, and a growling voice uttering, “don’t be too sure of that…”

Roxburgh Castle changed hands many times over the centuries, indeed it was razed more than once, this time the castle came into English hands in 1291. Following the death of the Alexander III, promptly followed by his only heir Margaret, Edward I had been asked to arbitrate between rival claimants to the Scottish throne. Seizing the opportunity to make the country his vassal, Edward first demanded all Scottish castles under Crown ownership were placed in his custody - Roxburgh was one of those handed over to his control. It stayed in the hands of the English after Edwards death in 1307, and into his son, Edward II reign.

On the night of 19/20 February 1314 – Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday – several dark shapes were seen beneath the battlements and mistakenly assumed to be cattle. Douglas had ordered his men to cover themselves with their cloaks and crawl towards the castle on their hands and knees. With most of the garrison celebrating just prior to the fast of Lent, scaling hooks with rope ladders attached were thrown up the walls. Taken by complete surprise the defenders were overwhelmed in a short space of time. Roxburgh Castle, among the best in the land, was slighted in accordance with Bruce's scorched earth policy of denying strongholds to the enemy.

Pics are Douglas by the late Andrew Hillhouse and Roxburgh Castle, which is now a ruin with very little to show, by the talented Andrew Spratt