This chapter is fluffy

the next chapter is FILLED with fluff tho

Like, a LOT of it

Janus's POV:

"Time to go to the hotel," Patton realized with a relieved sigh. "I'm so tired."

I smiled at him, giving him a small push in Logan's direction. With some satisfaction, I watched as he made a contented murmur and leaned into Logan, closing his eyes. The other startled back, but didn't move. "There you go," I teased. 

Remus glanced at me with hopeful eyes and I stared right back, not moving an inch. "Aw, please?"

"Nope," I replied, crossing my arms. "But I am rather tired, for ssome reasson."

Remy shrugged, bringing out yet another paper cup filled with liquid caffeine and downing it. "I'm not."

Luna stared at him. "Where did you get that?" she asked. "He just-- he just pulled an entire venti latte out of his ass or something, where did he get--"

He laughed. "Poof babes, get me some cream."

"Shut up, never mind." She pushed aside a strand of hair and sighed, stretching and leaning into her girlfriend. "It's too late to ask questions. You woke us up in the middle of the night and asked us to drive to a hospital, you do realize," she pressed to Ava, who just rolled their eyes. 

"So what? You've been to the hospital plenty of times," they said, nodding to Aurora. "She gets in a bunch of trouble, right?"

Luna slammed her hands down on the arm of the chair, sending a fierce glare at Ava and accidentally startling Remy so he almost spilled his coffee. "That," she hissed, "is different. At least I had a coherent realization of what was going on. Do you know how worried I was when you just sent over the name of the hospital and the city? Do you have any idea at all?!"

Kara chuckled, raising an eyebrow. "I have some, considering you made a three-hour drive in an hour and a half," she remarked, tapping her nails on the table next to her. Luna swiveled her glare to Kara and she was quiet, rolling her eyes. 

"Might we just finish up and get to leaving?" Logan interjected, now having to support a half-asleep Patton from falling over. "Please?"

Virgil laughed. "You look cozy, Lo."

He pushed his glasses up and glared at Virgil. "Kindly shut up."

"Don't talk that way to my boyfriend," Roman objected, pulling Virgil into a hug. "Besides, you talk a lot, too."

Emile patted Logan on the shoulder, smiling and obviously trying to hold back a laugh. "We can go if you want," he assured the other. "It's fine."

My gaze drifted around the room, finally settling on a pale green vending machine filled with drinks down the hall. "You go ahead, I'll sstay behind a bit and get ssomething to drink."

"Oh, let me come," Luna said. "I need some sort of bubbly drink."

I shrugged. "Ssure, I don't mind if you come."

Ten minutes later, Kara, Ava, and Aurora were in their truck, as well as all of my friends. Aurora had offered to drive us, as everyone except for me and Trixie had to take the bus to the hospital. 

Luna and I were talking in the hallway, chatting while finishing our drinks. She had an orange soda, which was a surprise. She had originally seemed like a more root beer kind of person, but I try not to judge. 

However, I am awful at not forming opinions about people, so I had already failed that. Which was, of course, no surprise. 

I had a bubble tea, since it was one of the only things that wasn't either sold out or too expensive. 

"So you live with that Emile guy?" she asked, tilting her head. "Really? Wow, I wouldn't have guessed."

With an uncomfortable twinge, I remembered exactly why I had been placed with Emile, but shook my head. "Yeah, I guess it issn't the mosst likely pairing. But here we are," I murmured, letting my gaze drift down the long hallway. "I never expected to come back to thiss place again."

She blinked. "You didn't? Why not?"

I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and chasing the thoughts away. "It'ss a long sstory... for another time."

Luna laughed, nudging me. "You sure have a lot of secrets, Janus," she told me, not unkindly. "But I suppose I do too. People have secrets."

Becoming quiet, I set my drink on the arm of my chair. "I have more than mosst, I'm ssure."

"That's okay." She stretched out on her chair and yawned, rubbing at her eyes. "Man, it really is late out," she commented. 

I sighed, scuffing my shoe on the floor and gazing out the window. "Well, when elsse was I ssuppossed to get ssleep? When I was in the jail cell?"

She shrugged. "I dunno, you were passed out for a while from what I heard."

Taking another sip of my drink, I was quiet for a little while. "...I guess. But really, should that be conssidered ssleep? I don't think so."

Luna pulled her ponytail out, letting the shining hazel waves spill over her shoulders. We were bathed in the early, pale pink light of beginning-to-be-dawn, and when I looked down at my bandages everything seemed to be tinged a rose color. 

"Maybe. Or maybe not." She stood up, holding out her hand. "Come on, I don't feel comfortable in this town either."

I tilted my head, picking up my tea. "Oh really? And why iss that?"

She shook her head. "Oh, my therapist is visiting this hospital today for her sister's birth and I... I don't really want to run into her, to be honest. She's kind of god-awful. Actually, scratch that. She's just plain old horrible."

"The only therapists I know are nice," I murmured, thinking of Emile and Miss Cheryl, my (official) therapist. She's so sweet, we meet up for coffee sometimes. And Emile's straight-up amazing. 

Pausing to grab a napkin from a dispenser next to the vending machine, Luna sighed. "Well, she's not very... helpful."

She was quiet after that, not seeming to want to say more. I didn't talk, either, and followed her into the hallway to get back to the truck. 

Suddenly, a small gasp sounded behind us and I heard someone drop something. I whirled around, expecting to see Andy or one of his friends, but only a woman with red-brown hair and pale skin was standing there, gaping at us. 

"Luna?" she called in disbelief. "Is that you?"

Luna turned around, a stricken expression on her face. "Oh! ...Lily!" she greeted the other in fake cheerfullness. "How... nice to see you!"

Lily ran forward and smiled at us. "Lovely to see you as well!" she chattered. "How are you both? And who's this?" She motioned to me with a careless wave of her hand, as if she didn't really care but was just making conversation. 

Smiling just a bit too wide, Luna introduced me to Lily. "I take it thiss is your therapisst?" I murmured to her under my breath. 

She nodded quietly, and I raised my eyebrows subtly. 

Luna's therapist grabbed both my hands in hers and shook them, grinning widely at me with glossy lips. "Hello, Janus!" she chirped. "I'm Lily, Luna's therapist! You're dating, right? How wonderful, I never heard you had a girlfriend!"

Luna's eyes opened wide. "No, no!" she laughed, taken off-guard. "We're just friends, really!"

Lily scoffed, waving her hand away. "Don't be shy, Luna dearest. We girls all need a strong boyfriend, don't we? Although I expected him to be a little... taller," she remarked. 

I narrowed my eyes, crossing my arms but saying nothing. I'll leave this up to Luna, I decided. I don't want to make her therapist mad and put her in trouble. 

"We're really not--" Luna began. 

Lily cut her off with a shushing motion, pressing her fingers to her lips. "Oh come now, darling. It's fine, just admit it."

"Actually," came a voice from behind us, "I'd like to amend this discussion."

I turned my head to see Aurora and Remus standing behind us, both looking faintly amused and quite annoyed. Aurora stepped forward, putting her arms around Luna and smiling too-sweetly at Lily. "I'm her girlfriend," she interjected. "Okay?"

Lily opened and closed her mouth, her face turning a shade of red. "How quaint," she suddenly scoffed, her tone now cold. "Gal pals playing at romance. Sorry honey, but that's not how the world works."

"It is too!" Aurora shot back, tightening her grip. "Homophobic arse."

Seeming quite unsettled, Lily huffed. "I am not-- prove it," she demanded. "You'll never make it as a couple here, or anywhere, no matter what you might think. You're confused, and you think that you don't need masculine energy, but you do. You'll live to regret this."

With a cold stare, Aurora bent down and kissed Luna straight on the lips, making the other make a muffled yelp. Luna seemed flustered, but soon wrapped her arms around Aurora and laughed through the kiss. 

"There," Luna replied, a bit breathless. "Proof."

Lily glared hatefully at us, then turned tail and stormed out of the building, leaving us behind without so much as a second glance. 

Remus barked a laugh. "Well, she'll think twice before saying that stuff to you again. And if she does," he lowered his voice to whisper, "Call me and I'll shut her up, don't you worry."

Aurora raised an eyebrow. "And just how..."

"It'ss besst if you don't know," I interrupted them, sending a quelling look at Remus. "Come on, let'ss go now."

---

I collapsed onto the bed, letting out a long breath. Remus grinned and threw a pillow at me, almost hitting me in the face before I caught it and threw it right back. He stumbled backward with an indignant yelp, but didn't throw anything else at me. 

He slipped into bed next to me, and as soon as his head hit the pillow he began to snore quietly. I lay awake, watching Logan help Patton into bed, and Roman and Virgil already asleep. Emile and Remy were talking in their bed, chatting softly as to not wake the others.

I felt myself falling backwards into slumber as warmth spread over me, and I slowly, slowly closed my eyes.