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5am-the-foxing-hour · 2 years

Text

Acceptance

Janus had no idea how it happened or what caused it, everything had been relatively fine. Yet here he was, with a fever even more stubborn than Virgil, making his life a smothering hell. Who would have thought getting accepted would throw you off kilter and leave you a bit green around the scales.

Hey fanders! It's been a while since I last wrote anything for this fandom! But I am back (for now, no idea how long I will stay around this time), and I bring you all this.

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Characters: Janus, Roman, Remus, Logan, Patton, Virgil, Thomas, Orange is mentioned but doesn’t show face.

Warnings: Sickness, vomiting, fever

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Word count on this post: 2 836

Word count total: 6 901

- AO3 Link -

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General Fanfic Tag list: @ebony-wolf, @nashiraneko, @i-sold-my-soul-to-thefandom, @rabbitsartcorner, @punsterterry, @sleepyssnail, @nightmaresides, @virgilswritings, @ninja-girl2846, @ninjago2020, @starryfirefliesbloggo, @garecc, @sympatheticdeceit, @cookiethedevil, @askthesnake, @all-bridges-will-burn, @tacohippy56900, @little-euro-girl, @aggressiveshipper, @imbasicallyshakespear, @slayerofspiders, @prinssess61, @underthesea73, @suicidalcitrusfruit, @sander-side-stuff, @franthehorsegir, @dupstepbranch, @multi-fandoms-posts

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Janus woke up gradually, feeling the worst he ever had as far as he could remember…

He lay sprawled on his bed, limbs feeling as strong as boiled spaghetti and as heavy as lead. Yellow blankets kicked off, the black sheets wrinkled and soaked in sweat.

Janus blinked numbly up at the ceiling of his room, everything was swimming before his face and nothing wanted to stay in focus. He blinked sluggishly as he, on weak shaking limbs, pushed himself into a sitting position, swaying there he sat, the loose t-shirt, with his logo on it, that he wore to bed was sticking to him, like a wet plastic bag to itself.

The alarm on his bedside table was blaring; its annoying repetitive beeping caused a headache to start to gnaw behind Janus’s tired feverish eyes.

The deceitful side slowly turned and reached for the alarm, to turn it off. The change in position caused a strong sense of vertigo to strike, causing him to crumple back onto the bed until the world felt more solid.

He reached out, missing the alarm clock at first, sending a half full glass of water crashing to the floor with a crash. Janus blinked down at the broken glass not fully absorbing what happened, before the beeping returned again in higher intensity. Janus reached out again and his scaled hand slapped down on the off button.

The alarm grew blissfully silent and Janus slumped back onto the bed with a sigh of relief that only turned to a cough followed by an attack that left him panting for breath. He slumped there he lay, he was just going to close his eyes for a moment, just a moment… but sleep graced him again for a moment before the chill that took over his body roused him again. Janus curled up on his soaked bed as the cold sunk its teeth into him, chilling him to the very bone, causing his body to shiver hard enough for his teeth to chatter.

Hunger gnawed at his stomach, but the very thought of eating anything caused nausea to roll in in waves, almost strong enough for him to gag. Janus weakly crawled off the bed getting to his feet, shivering harder when the floors were colder than the air in his room, miraculously missing the broken glass with his naked feet. The change from prone to standing sent off another coughing attack that left Janus wheezing, hunched over against the bed, almost collapsing back onto it. He reached down for the blanket, throwing it back haphazardly onto the bed. The headache grew stronger the longer he stood up, now feeling more as if Remus had grabbed rusty spikes and hammered them into his skull.

Janus swayed on his feet, the nausea squirmed uncomfortable in his stomach growing stronger as well along with the headache. Janus gripped the fabric of his t-shirt as he felt the world spin around him.

He should lie back down, but the thought of laying back on his soaked gross bed didn’t feel very nice. He was panting as he struggled to think on what to do.

In the end, his body decided for him as the world started to spin even more and Janus felt his knees give out before he crumpled like a wet sheet of paper.

Everything went dark before he even hit the floor.

-o-

Patton looked up from the puzzle he had been working on at the sound of a crash from upstairs not long after followed by a thud.

The moral side looked around, Virgil was lying on the carpet that took up most of the living room floor, feet up on the couch cushions, a pair of noise cancelling headphones over his ears. If Patton listened closely he could hear the muted sounds from the music Virgil was listening to while scrolling tumblr on his phone. Logan was sitting next to where Virgil’s feet rested, a book almost as thick as his arm on his lap, but the logical side wasn’t reading, he too was looking up, towards the stairs, with confusion.

“Did you hear that too?” Patton asked

“If you mean the ‘thump’ then, yes.” Logan stated as he bookmarked his place in the book and closed it. The two blue sides rose from where they were sitting, gaining the attention of Virgil, who gave away a questioning noise moving one of his headphones as he looked up at the two sides.

“What’s going on?”

“There was a thump from upstairs.” Logan explained “Patton and I were going to go investigate the cause.”

“It was probably just the twins...” Virgil grumbled.

“Better to investigate than to assume things.” Logan said as he started to climb the stairs. Patton followed after and Virgil rolled his eyes and waved them off before putting his headphones back on.

Logan and Patton shared a look, before they climbed the stairs. While the downstairs resembled Thomas’s apartment (or where he was currently staying), the upstairs was pretty much a world of its own, leading up to the mind palace. Now the mind palace was grand, containing all the side’s rooms, as well as the mind palace theatre, Logan’s debate station. The dream cinema and of course the whole memory library, containing all facts Thomas had ever learned as well as everything he had experienced and seen. Janus’s courtroom was also located amongst all the swirling and twisting corridors. A pair of huge doors lead out to Roman’s side of the imagination, while a beat up backdoor led to Remus’s.

The floor that contained the doors to the side’s rooms had been relatively plain, a boring corridor with doors on either side, the light side doors closest to the staircase while the dark side doors were at the very end of the corridor, as well as two bathrooms in the middle. That had been the norm, up until Thomas had seen Enchanto, after that, the doors as well as the floor took on a more Casita look.

Which caused the doors that previously had been in nothing but the plain colour of the side that occupied it, to now have a glowing carving of said side on it as well. The floor also split the corridor so instead the sides doors were facing the balcony that was filled with all from plants (Logan), some fancy statues (Roman), paintings and pictures showing the sides or important moments in Thomas’s life (Patton), as well as some random halloween decoration strewn around that never got taken away (Virgil).

Still, there were a few corridors still existing, each leading to the door of the side that Thomas was slowly learning to accept, or had not yet met. The Orange door was the furthest away from the staircase, while the corridor that led to Remus’s room was growing shorter day after day. The corridor down to Janus’s room had shortened after he told Thomas his name, and was now moving a bit faster than Remus’s corridor, to join the wall that already held the core side’s doors.

Patton and Logan stopped at the top of the stairs, before they went in a direction each, Patton taking the left turn while Logan took a right turn. Walking past their own doors, knowing that if anything happened in there, they would know it.

Looking around, the carvings on Roman’s door were out, signalling that he was not in his room and most likely in the imagination adventuring. A glance into Remus’s corridor showed his door also not glowing, meaning that the other twin was likely also in the imagination.

A glance down the orange side corridor showed the door glowing steadily, but the door was still closed shut by Janus’s yellow ‘keep out’ tape, keeping the side behind it from being able to interact with Thomas personally, until the right moment, or due to happenings in Thomas’s life.

Virgil’s door was faintly glowing since the anxious side was still in the mind palace. Logan and Patton met up on the opposite side of the stairs, standing before the corridor that led to Janus’s door. The yellow door seemed to be looming, but Logan frowned when he noticed how the glowing carving was flickering and pulsating unnaturally. The two blue themed sides shared a look, Patton worried and Logan uncertain. They hesitated for a moment before they entered the corridor.

Logan knocked on the yellow door.

“Janus?” he called, the two of them waited anxiously, but there was no reply. Logan knocked again, harder this time.

“Janus?! Buddy? Can you open the door please?” Still there was no reply. “Should… should we go in?”

“We would be intruding on his privacy, but… he might need help if he hasn’t replied to our calls.”

“Better to be safe than sorry, right?”

“Right.”

Logan grabbed the door handle and pushed it down, the door was thankfully not locked, and pushed the door open.

The warm humid air of Janus’s room rolled out, hitting them in the face causing both of their glasses to fog over. Logan took his glasses off and cleaned them with a tissue, before putting them back on and pushed inside. Patton meanwhile rubbed the paws of his cat hoodie against the glass of his own glasses, before he followed to peer inside, but not entering the room.

The room was dim, the only light being from a big terrarium that took up most of the left wall of the room. Fairy lights hung along the ceiling from the middle and out in pretty arches, combined with clinging plants and greenery. A stained glass window, covered by a pair of thick curtains, took up the right wall. A stripe of rainbow coloured sunlight managed to find a hole between the fabrics to pierce into the room, landing softly against the crumpled sheets and blanket on Janus’s bed. The wall opposite the door was nothing but a gigantic bookshelf that held books, as well as trophies and other winnings.

Logan walked inside, while Patton worried his hands with the paws of the hoodie, he stayed at the door, making sure to keep it open. It was the best way to make sure the room didn’t start to influence their cores, when the side the room belonged to weren't able to keep it in check.

There was no sign of Janus anywhere.

“Patton, could you turn on the lights please, it would make it easier to look.” Logan said as he looked inside the terrarium with curious eyes, having caught sight of a couple of yellow boa snakes, who stared back at him or ignored him completely.

“Oh! Sure.” Patton said as he looked around for the light switch, turning it on once he found it. Filling the room with a bright yellow light. Logan turned away from the terrarium, only to freeze where he stood when he caught sight of something on the other side of the bed, cursing loudly as he rushed forward.

“What?! What happened?! Logan?!” Patton cried out, ignoring the risk, as he rushed over to join Logan, the sight that met him on the other side of the bed made Patton pale.

Janus was sickly pale apart from the feverish flush that was high on his cheeks. Despite how hot Janus’s room was, the yellow side was shivering, unconscious in Logan’s arms.

“He’s burning up…” Logan muttered as he rested his wrist against Janus’s sweaty forehead. “This is very concerning.”

“But, how is he sick? We can’t get sick on our own, we only tend to get sick when Thomas is sick, and it’s never this bad!” Patton rambled. “What’s wrong with him!?”

“I don’t know, but he can’t stay here, the room is too hot, we need to bring him somewhere we can cool him down. Taking him to any of our rooms would only put him at risk and in harm's way as our rooms would have an easier time influencing him, when he’s this weak.”

“What about the common room, it’s the most neutral space we have… and it would make it easier for us to keep watch and care for him.”

“Agreed.” Logan nodded, before he returned his attention to Janus. “Janus, can you hear me?” He got no reaction from the snake side. Logan shook him lightly and clapped him lightly on the cheek, that brought forth a reaction, Janus’s face scrunched up and he blinked his eyes open and gave away a soft huff of breath. Logan frowned at how Janus’s eyes didn’t really focus on anything. “Janus?” Janus blinked, turning his head slightly to blink blearily up at Logan.

“Lo-” his voice cracked and Janus’s whole body jolted as cough after cough attacked him once again. Logan cursed softly at the sound of the coughs while Patton made a pained noise in the back of his throat.

“Patton, go and get the common room in order, I will carry him downstairs.” Patton nodded as he rushed out of Janus’s room, taking a detour into his own room to grab his fluffiest blankets before he moved downstairs.

“Janus, we’re going to move you to the common area so we can monitor your health better.” Logan explained once Janus’s coughs died down to a pained wheeze, he just groaned in reply, slumping his head against Logan’s shoulder, eyes closing. “Stay awake, please. You are in dire need of medicine and water. How long have you been sick?” A weak shrug was all he got in return. Logan huffed, not happy with the answer, but knew he better start moving. He changed his hold on Janus, gently taking Janus’s right arm and moving it so it lay over his shoulder, before he moved one arm to hold under Janus’s back and another under his knees. Logan rose to his feet, securing his hold on Janus’s body. Janus made a aborted noise at the sudden movement, gagging but thankfully not throwing up anything. Logan stood stock still, allowing Janus time to get used to it. The yellow side actually whined as he slumped against Logan’s chest.

Logan didn’t like this one bit, there were no records of a side getting sick this bad. Janus was burning up, delirious from the fever, despite this Thomas seemed to be doing fine, so Janus’s sickness had yet not affected their host… Logan hoped it wouldn’t. Thomas was still mentally exhausted after the wedding, even if it was getting better.

Virgil looked up when Patton came rushing down the stairs, arms full of fluffy blankets. Virgil sat up properly on the floor, removing his headphones.

“What got you in such a rush, pops?”

“Janus’s sick, and we don’t know what’s wrong.” Patton said in a rushed breath as he started to get the couch in order, removing some of the throw pillows and putting the blankets in place, before rushing into the kitchen to get a dish tub and putting it on the floor next to the couch, who knew if Janus would be able to keep food and water down or not.

Virgil followed Patton with his eyes unsure if he was to help or stay out of the way.

“Are you sure he’s sick and not just faking it?” Virgil snarked, as Patton ruched into the kitchen again.

“Virgil!” Patton yelled, looking up over the kitchen island to give Virgil a disapproving glare. “He is sick and needs our help.” Virgil scoffed

“I’m just saying, it wouldn’t put it past the bastard.” Virgil grumbled, only to look up when he heard Logan walk down the stairs, and whatever snarky comment Virgil was planning to say to the snake, when he saw him, died on his tongue, as his eyes caught sight of Janus’s limp form in Logan’s arms. Sure, Janus might be able to pretend to be sick, but he was not that good. Virgil felt guilt and worry squirm in his stomach.

Getting to his feet he moved over, to get a better look. Janus was pale, his scales less vibrant than normal, dark eye bags under his eyes that almost rivalled Virgil’s eye-shadow and despite how lethargic his body was, shivers still shook his limbs. Virgil didn’t even have to reach out to know Janus had a fever from the high flush on his cheeks.

“Any idea what’s wrong with him?” Virgil asked, in a hushed tone. Logan shook his head as he gently deposited Janus onto the couch, making sure he was comfortable before tucking him in. Janus hadn’t managed to stay awake from the path from his room to the living room.

“I- no, there are no records of any of us getting sick unless Thomas is sick, and even then it is never this bad. I… I hate not having an answer to what's wrong with him.” Logan said as he crossed his arms, distress causing his eyebrows to furrow. Virgil worried his lip, between his teeth, he too, didn’t know what was wrong.

-Continue reading on AO3-

#Sanders Sides #Janus #Remus #Roman #Logan #Patton #Virgil #Thomas #text #the fox writes #Sick character

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