Virgil sighed as he tried to keep up with Logan, who was constantly running at least five feet ahead of him everytime he saw a flower further along the trail. Normally Virgil wouldn’t mind watching Logan when he was regressed. He didn’t really mind now really. But sometimes it was a stark reminder that even a regressed 7 year old Logan was probably smarter than him.
“Look!” Logan said for probably the 8th time since they had left the house, so eager to show off the things he found fascinating. Virgil always paid special attention to any of the things Logan showed him, wanting the little one to feel heard and appreciated as he would proceed to ramble about everything he knew about whatever type of rock, flower, or bug he was trying to show off.
I don't think I've ever said this but I've posted way more of the Halloween agere stories on my ao3 than I have here. I might come back and post them one day but if anyone is interesting in reading more of those, and if people just would like to read all of my other work, you can go check me out there! Other than today it's been months since I posted, but I did write something new for the Halloween story that you can read!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Janus startled at the sound of a whimpering Remus.
It had been completely quiet in the living room prior to. Janus had mostly had a quiet morning to himself. He had assumed Remus must have been sleeping in when he walked into the kitchen bleerily that morning, and found that there wasn’t a giant mess waiting for him. Remus almost always woke up before Janus. Where Janus needed 10 hours of sleep to be a fully functioning serpent, Remus only needed about 3 to completely terorrize the day. Janus didn’t mind the absence though, not just because it meant he wouldn’t have to chase Remus down in order to get him to snap away the mess. He wasn’t worried if Remus slept in a bit, it was probably well warranted.
The rest of the morning had been like that. Janus found time to make himself breakfast, coffee, and when he was done eating, he had curled up on the couch and started reading. He hadn’t even been suspicious once of why Remus wasn’t awake, but now, seeing his obviously little one in tears, he sort of wished he had.
“What’s wrong?” Janus asked, figuring something must be wrong if it has Remus in such shambles. Remus shook his head and wobbled over to Janus, eyes fixated on where his head would find rest on Janus’s chest a few seconds later
“Hey, it’s okay.” Janus comforted, cradling Remus’s head when he laid down on him, though Janus didn’t not feel envy for his joints as he bent down to be lower that Janus as much as he could be. Remus whimpered and hid himself further into Janus.
“Shh, come here.” He said softly, hoping to convince his little one to get into a more comfortable position. Remus let out a whine from the back of his throat and pressed himself even further in Janus, as if he meant to phase through his shirt and found skin to skin contact.
“I know, I know.” Janus placated. In reality, he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure why Remus was suddenly so upset. He couldn’t recall any incidents happening earlier in the week. Not that something had to go wrong in order for Remus to regress, that’s just what usually caused it. Sometimes Remus found fun in playing little for a while, but he had once confessed that regression could be scary at times. How can something feel so little and still deal with the horrors of being an adult?
“Wait, Logan, one more time, where are we going?” Thomas asked as he was dragged through the mindscape, a sensation he was still only recently getting used to.
“Lost the last big person to chocolate.” Logan explained as he readjusted the falling goggles on his face. Yeah, that’s what Logan had said a minute ago, and it still clarified nothing for Thomas.
“Logan, what are you--”
“Pat! I got him!” Logan interrupted, pulling Thomas into a living room. And for all Thomas’s initial confusion, upon seeing the living room, it felt like it cleared up fairly quickly.
Sitting in various locations in the living room were some of the sides, clearly in various states of regression and sitting in front of bags of Halloween candy. Thomas had known that some of his sides had planned on regressing and trick-or-treating, so that wasn’t all that surprising. What was a shock was that all of them seemed to have regressed!
Firstly, the twins were seated near the television on the floor. Thomas could clearly hear them arguing over who had gotten the most candy. Thomas had known those two were going to be little together the moment the idea had been brought up. The twins enjoyed being little together, much to the chagrin of whoever was in charge of them, since they tended to get into baby fights.
“I got 340 pieces of candy, and you only got 320! That means I got more!” Roman argued as Remus ripped open a mini bag of skittles.
“Nuh uh ‘cause you’re not counting all these!” Remus argued back just as he managed to get the bag open, sending a skittles rolling off in every which way.
“That’s not how that works!” Roman disputed, but dug through his own pillowcase and pulled out a pack of skittles himself and started opening it as Remus crawled around the room, looking for his loose candy.
He crawled all the way to Virgil, who was sitting on the floor by the couch. Even from his distance, Thomas could see how sticky Virgil’s hand looked. As some of the skittles rolled towards Virgil, the little one squealed and picked them off the floor and--
“No no, baby, yucky!” Thomas hurried over attempting to intervene, but Virgil was already putting floor candy in his mouth, smiling happily and humming in delight. Remus whined.
“Roman! He ate some of mine! It still counts!” Remus complained as he crawled back. As Thomas approached, Virgil smiled up at him sweetly, holding up his bag.
“Tho! Loo’!” Virgil held up the bag for Thomas to look inside, mostly finding a lot of loose candy and already opened packaging. Thomas smiled down at the toddler, though it was a bit strained.
“Did you eat all that candy already, Vee?” Thomas asked, kneeling down.
“No, Janus and him shared a bag.” Logan explained. He had walked over and held in his hand a wet napkin. Thomas took in gratefully and began to clean up the sticky mess from Virgil’s hand and face, much to the little one’s distress.
“Vee was too scared to go up to the houses, so he and Janus shared.” Logan explained. Thomas peered over at his Logical side as he spoke, wondering if he was still regressed or not.
“What about you? Where’s your candy?” Thomas asked as he finished cleaning up his anxiety. Virgil whined when Thomas wasn’t looking at him anymore, and started to pat his face.
“I don’t like candy.” Logan admitted. “So I gave it t’Patton.” He explained. Thomas nodded, but didn’t have much time to question it as Virgil grew fussy. Thomas sighed and relented.
“Okay bud, stand up and I’ll pick you up.” Thomas said. Virgil gurgled happily and clumsily stood up on his feet. Thomas lifted Virgil up and adjusted him on his hip. It was a good thing his sides were just figments of his Imagination and not actual adult sized men.
“My M&M’s only had 10! Why did yours have 11?!” Thomas heard Roman whine. He looked over at the twins.
“Roman, that’s just how candy packaging is, you probably have one that has more than Remus.” He tried to appease.
“Nuh uh! No way he does!” Remus argued, and it only seemed to spur more arguing between the two. Thomas sighed once more. How had all of them regressed?!
“Who was big with you guys?” Thomas asked, ignoring Virgil as he whined and reached for his candy bag he had left on the floor.
“Well, I was a little big for a while, but that was only ‘cause I was nervous.” Logan admitted, his face turning a bit pink. Thomas nodded, and smiled at Logan, hoping to convey he was proud of his logical side for being vulnerable. “And Patton was big big, but then he started eating sweets, and he didn’t stay big for very long after.” Logan continued to explain.
“Where is he now?” Thomas asked, finally bending down and picking up Virgil’s candy bag and handing it to him. Logan shrugged.
“He was here when I left.” He explained, looking around. Thomas grew a bit worried at that, until Roman piped up.
“He’s behind the couch with Janus.” He helpefully explained as he counted his candies again.
“Oh! I also getta count Janus’s candy ‘cause he took all my yellow ones!” Remus argued, standing up and hurrying over to the couch.
“Nuh uh! You gave them away then!” Roman argued, also standing up. Everyone made their way over to the couch, and Thomas peered behind it to find his two remaining sides.
“‘Mas!” Janus looked up and smiled at Thomas, lots of yellow candies and wrappers sitting in his lap.
“Hi.” Patton squeaked as he looked up. His face was covered in chocolate, and unlike the other sides that were all dressed in their pajamas, Patton still wore his blue sweater and tight pants. Thomas couldn’t stop himself from awwing at the sight. His Morality must have tired really hard to stay big if he hadn’t even had the chance to change.
Remus counted under his breath, before cheering.
“Janus has 32 candies, which means I win!” He declared, already running back to his candy bag.
“Some of those was his! You don’t get to count them all!” Roman yelled, chasing after his twin.
“Bellow!” Janus babbled, holding up a yellow box of Dots candy. Virgil’s eyes grew wide with want, and he reached out towards it, almost topping Thomas over.
“Oh geez, okay, I think it’s time for all my sides to go to bed.” Thomas called out as he bent down for Virgil to get the candy. The twins both let out audible whines, but didn’t argue. Which Thomas was grateful for.
“Wait, I forgot--” Logan gasped, before running towards the kitchen. Thomas was about to intervene, worried that he was trying to avoid bedtime, but then Logan ran back in with another pillow case of candy.
“Oh good, more sugar.” Thomas said teasingly. “Whose bag is that?” He asked.
“It’s for you.” Logan said with a small smile. Thomas was surprised.
“Huh?”
“Oh yeah! We tricked or treated for you too!” Roman explained, rushing over, his bag gripped in his hand.
“Yeah! I got you the most candy though.” Remus added, which was immediately refuted by Roman.
“Janus took all the yellow ones out though.” Logan explained as he handed the bag to Thomas. At hearing his name, Janus looked up again.
“‘M ‘bellow.” Was his only comment to that.
“That was…very kind of you guys,” Thomas said genuinely touched that his sides thought about him. “Thank you…Now, let’s get to bed.” Thomas explained, setting the candy down. He knew he would have to get them to bed soon, or else they might begin to question why Thomas wasn’t eating any of the candy that was made up in his own head.
I don't even remember what the original direction of this story was tbh...it's not bad, i just don't know where to go from here!!
+++
Janus looked both ways, making sure no one was walking in the hallway. He was only a few large steps away from his bedroom, but he had to be absolutely sure he wouldn’t run into anyone, couldn’t dare risk getting spotted. But when it seemed the coast was clear, he took a deep breath in, before holding it an racing off towards his room. If he held his breath the whole time, then no one would hear him, no one would questing what he was hiding in his hands, and no one would ever catch him.
He continued to hold his breath even as his lungs began to protest. He couldn’t breath until he made it to safety. He gripped his ornate door handle and pushed in the door, before quickly shutting it behind him. And it wasn’t until he turned the lock and tested to make sure it was secure twice, before Janus gasped in a gulp of air.
Safe. He was safe and secure once more.
Janus took a few seconds to recompose himself, before he walked over towards his bed, staring down at the pastel yellow box in his hand. The box was plastic, making the corners sharp, and Janus learned that the hard way because his grip had been so tight, he could feel painful indents in his hands. But it was worth it, no one had seen it, no one would know.
He was still hesitant to reach inside and reveal the contents of the box to the openness of his bedroom though. Even it did not feel secure enough to squash all of Janus’s deep fears about what the others might think if they were to find him with such an item. So Janus looked around for something smaller he could hide in, something where he felt confined and small and safe. His eyes wandered over to his closet, and Janus scurried over to it, hands only then beginning to loosen their tight grip, though not before he walked in and closed the door, drenching himself in darkness and linen scent.
He did have a small light in his walk in closet, so he turned it on, casting the room in a yellow hue. He then sunk to the ground, and finally, allowed the pastel box to fall from his hands and into his lap, giving Janus a moment to breath, feeling as if he had been on edge from the moment he had taken the box from the Imagination.
Janus wasn’t sure if all the secrecy was even worth it, wouldn’t the constant hiding just add more unneeded stress into his life? But he hadn’t been able to banish the thoughts from his mind. He knew he wanted it. Knew it would aid him in building that small little sanctuary he had been craving the moment he had left his comfortable spot in the subconscious. Now more than ever, did he need comfort. And if this was going to aid in that, then who was he to deny himself?
Or at least, that’s how he had felt when he decided to make the dreaded thing, now he wasn’t so sure.
Still, he took a deep breath, and slowly began to process of opening the box up and dumping its contents into his waiting gloved hand.
I think my brain prevents me from writing sad Patton stuff for more than a few tries, and that's a feature not a flaw.
+++
“Are you ready to show off your pretty dress, Pat?”
Logan had been waiting outside of Pat’s bathroom door for a few minutes, waiting for his little one to finish getting ready. She had insisted that they could do it all on their own, even if they were regressed, and Logan had trusted her. But the longer it took, the less and less convinced. He was about to open the door and check on them himself, when suddenly, the door opened, and Pat’s head peeked through.
“I don’t wanna go anymore…” Pat whispered quietly, her voice close to tears. Logan frowned stepping forward.
“How come? Janus was really looking forward to playing with you.” Logan explained. They had been planning the little dress up playdate for a while now, and Pat had been so excited for their new fairy dress. It was a lovely baby blue, and Roman had even crafted beautiful nylon wings to match.
“I-I wanna wear my kitty instead,” Pat whimpered, but Logan wasn’t quite convinced. All week Pat had spoke nonstop about her dress, both in headspace and out of it. She thought it was absolutely lovely and gushed about the lace and how pretty it was going to make them feel. Logan would of course find Pat’s cat onesie if that’s what they really wanted to wear, but the change felt sudden, and Pat wasn’t one for sudden change.
“Is that how you really feel?” Logan asked, and caught Pat’s lip begin to wobble, and tears filled their eyes.
“Oh, Pat…” Logan whispered as his worries were confirmed. Pat ran out of the bathroom and towards Logan, hugging him tightly. Logan was quick to meet her efforts and wrapped his arms aroun their waist, ignoring the unpleasant feeling of tears seeping into his shirt in favor of comforting his little one. He noticed that Pat was wearing the dress, and it seemed to fit them, which was a positive thing. He wasn’t sure then why exactly she was so distraught.
Logan stood in the kitchen entrance bashfully, hiding his card behind his back, waiting for Roman to notice him. He really wanted to show him what he had made, but was a bit nervous as well. Even though he was regressed, he still was hyper aware that he was Logic, and Romanw as Creativity. So for him to try and be creative, it was a bit…
He just hoped that isn’t how Roman thought.
He still hadn’t found the courage to speak up to gain Roman’s attention. He was standing at the fridge, staring into it. It was the second time Roman had gone into the fridge looking for something, but not ever taking anything out.
“I know I want SOMETHING, I just don’t know--” Roman stopped mid sentence when he turned around, and finally noticed Logan. Logan felt his face heat up and he immediately looked away, gripping his card tighter.
“Hey ‘Silent but Nerdy’, what are you doing?” Roman asked with a smile. Logan felt a bit of his confidence waiver at the teasing, since it meant Roman hadn’t realized he was regressed. He bit his cheek, trying to be brave like Roman. He would never ever be scared to show off his work.
“Made you something for Halloween.” Logan admitted, taking a tentative step into the kitchen, still hiding the card, just in case he last minute decided to not give it to his caregiver. Roman tilted his head in confusion.
“You MADE me something?” Roman asked for clarification, and Logan nodded once, before very quickly throwing the card onto the table, so he couldn’t change his mind anymore. Roman took a second to look it over, before recognition filled his eyes.
“Oh! My stars, do I have a little cosmonaut with me?” Roman asked, eyes lighting up, and Logan felt himself smile a tick. It had been a few months since he last fully regressed, what with filming and planning and editing and writing, but with the holiday coming up, Logan was no longer able to fight its call.
“I did it when I woke up.” He explained. It had still been dark when he woke up, so he had used his nightlight to draw the picture. And he used his best hand writing and everything. “Did it for Halloween, used the right colors black and orange!” Logan was especially proud of himself for that.
“You did amazing, my little prince! Now, come here!” Roman cheered as he scooped Logan into a hug. The boy laughed in delight, and allowed himself to truly and fully slip back into that comforting regression he hadn’t had in a long time.
+++
Roman ran his fingers through Logan’s hair as the little guy napped. He had fallen asleep with his head right on Roman’s lap after playing all morning, and it would have been cruel if Roman were to try and move. He looked over the card Logan had made him once more, admiring the little bats he had drawn, and how hard he clearly had worked to make sure each word was spelled correctly.
“Have fun?” A voice spoke up. Roman looked over to the stairs and saw Janus walking down them. Roman smirked and waved him over.
“So much fun, I’ve missed my little star.” Roman admitted, fondness in his voice. He then held the card up for Janus to see. “Look what he made me, my little creative guy!” Roman praised. Logan didn’t use his creativity often, but everytime he did, Roman was always so so proud of him.
“Those are some…interesting color choices.” Janus said as he observed the card. Roman chuckled as Janus stared at the olive green and dark blue letters.
“Alright scare bear, you read to see how cool the house looks?” Remus asked, his hands covering Patton’s eyes. Patton’s hands were on top of his at the regressor’s own insistence, since he didn’t want the surprise ruined at all!
“Yeah!” Patton cheered in response. Remus snickered. The tyke had insisted to everyone that he wanted a ‘spooky’ looking house this year for Halloween. He had said something along the lines of ‘I’m big now! I can handle it!’. No one bothered to point out that he was still regressing to the same age he had last year, it felt like a moot point.
“Alright, three, two, one, look!”
Remus guided his and Patton’s hands off his face to reveal the newly decorated house. Virgil, Roman, and himself had been in charge of most of the decorating, but he had been insistent that he wanted to be the one to reveal it to Patton. Not only because Patton felt the most comfortable around him exploring ‘spooky’ things, but because he had most of the good ideas anyways, and he wanted to point them out! Virgil and Roman had mostly been there to be the pg police.
Patton gasped at the reveal. The house was thoroughly decked out for the spooky season. Bats hung from the gutters and bounced in the wind. Skeletons were perched in different places around the yard, including one of the 12 foot ones those in real life people seemed to enjoy. Remus was a bit underwhelmed. He’d fought skeletons twice as big in his sleep, it was the tiny ones people had to watch out for. Gravestones lined the path that led up to the porch, which was decorated with purple and orange Halloween garland and spiderwebs. Though not a single spider was to be found in the whole area. Patton had bravely agreed to webs, but no spiders.
There were monster decals in the windows, and skeletal limbs scattered around the yard. Remus had avoided blood, but had painted certain parts of the walls with green slimes. The only thing that really Remus regretted was being vetoed out of setting his stabby stand in friend by the door and letting him scare people who tried to approach.
“Wow!” Patton cheered, his eyes darting from each decoration. He clung to Remus’s hand, but still, the fascination was evident in his smile. Patton might have been a tiny bit scared, but he was being pretty brave about it overall.
“Wanna take a closer look at anything?” Remus asked. As much as it pained him to exhibit restraint, wanting to delve into the history and lore he’d created for every bit of decoration, including the names of all the skeletons, he knew it would be better to go at Patton’s pace. Let him get used to the scary skellys, as he so affectionately called them, and approach the webs with caution. Patton looked around, probably searching for the least scary thing to get acquainted with first, before carefully pointing at one of the gravestones near the start of the walkway.
“Wanna take a look at that? Do you know what it is?” Remus asked, prompting Patton to walk by taking a few steps forward.
“Mhm.” Patton said, though offered no elaboration about what he thought it was, before taking a few steps towards the gravestone. Remus chuckled to himself, mighty curious if Patton really knew. His understanding of the world as an adult was already pretty warped, so sometimes it was fascinating to learn what regressed Patton thought of different concepts and objects. Remus truly had no clue if Patton knew what a gravestone was or not.
Patton eventually let go of Remus’s hand so he could get closer to the decoration. It wasn’t made of real stone, which Remus detested. He had wanted everything to be authentic. But Virgil insisted that it wouldn’t be safe, considering half of them were kiddos sometimes. Rocks sticking out of the ground were just too much of a hazard, apparently. But, Remus had snuck a few authentic decorations that Virgil would never be wise to.
“Do you know what it says, tater snot?” Remus asked.
“Yeah!” Patton responded before he even read it, before squinting his eyes at the words.
“J!” Patton cheered as he managed to make sense of the first letter. Remus snorted, but smiled.
“Good job!” He praised. But Patton wasn’t done.
“S…” Well, that was another letter on the gravestone, he had that much going for him.
“J…S…” Patton repeated, a bit quieter. Remus chuckled again, though his attention was momentarily away as he looked around the yard for the next thing he wanted to show Patton. Maybe he would be interested in looking at the bats? They swayed around in the wind, which was neat, but they might be too close to the spider webs for Patton’s comfort still. He could walk him up to one of the windows and show off the monster decals. Those were a bit more cartoony, which made sense since Roman had designed them. Or maybe he could--
Remus’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a butt hitting the ground, and then a loud cry.
“Pat attack! What’s wrong?” Remus cried out as he scrambled over to his suddenly crying kid. Patton was shaking, and when Remus came over, he reached out for his carer sadly. Remus was quick to slip to the ground and wrap his arms around Patton, allowing him to cry into his shirt.
“J-Janny.” Patton cried, tightly pulling on Remus’s shirt, using it to wipe off his own face and snot. Bewildered, Remus allowed the action, instead trying to figure out why Patton was wailing over Snake’n’Bake.
“What about him, puddin’?” He asked, and Patton started his response with a lip wobble, and a shaky gesture towards the gravestone they were sitting in front of.
“Says Jan’s name! H-he de-ad!” Patton wept, before demanding more comfort by stuffing his face back into Remus’s neck. Though Remus instinctively cradled Patton’s head against him, and rubbed his arm smoothingly, his facial expressions were a whole different story. Remus had to hold back his overwhelming laughter as it became clear what had happened.
Patton knew his letters just enough to know Janus’s name started with J, and that his last name started with an S. And so, he must have misunderstood the gravestone, that had written on it in bigger letters ‘JOHN SMITH’. Remus didn’t dare let Patton know he was fighting demons trying not to let his laughter escape him, but on god, that was the funniest thing to ever happen.
“Awww, poor baby.” Remus cooed, kissing his sandy hair. But Remus wasn’t cruel. He wouldn’t leave Patton to feel so hurt for long, even if he found the whole thing hilarious. Instead, to help his little baby out, Remus did the most logical thing he could do.
He summoned Janus.
“Remus, it’s cold-” Janus didn’t finish his sentence, before stopping, staring down at the two with a mix of confusion and concern. Patton immediately looked up when he heard Janus’s voice, and cried out in relief, clumsily standing up and reaching out toward Janus.
“JANNY!” The regressor cried out, hugging his friend tightly and rubbing his snotty face all over Janus’s shirt, which Remus knew Janus just loved. Janus wrapped his arms around Patton, it seemed like Remus wasn’t the only one with that comforting instinct, before shooting a quizzical look to Remus, who smiled.
“I’ll tell you later, just make sure you act as alive as possible.”
