For @moceit-appreciation-week Day 6: Role Reversal
Word Count: 753
Characters: Patton (Deceit), Janus (Morality), all others mentioned
Rating: G
Warnings: none (?)
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It was supposed to be his day off, relaxing and rejuvenating himself. And he would have been happy to enjoy a little cat nap away from the magician and the overworked student, if he didn't feel a disturbance that threatened Thomas' balance. Patton sighed and got up, adjusted his purple bowtie, and grabbed his tailcoat. He adjusted his blue fingerless gloves and placed his old top hat on his head, making sure the blue band wouldn't distract him. Once he was set, he sank out with one goal in mind.
Janus was pacing around in his room, over thinking this latest conundrum. Should Thomas go to the wedding or the callback? Thomas valued his friends and he made that commitment first, but they wouldn't really miss him if he wasn't there. And then there was the callback, which could advance his career, and he'd been working so hard, he could be a positive voice and role model for thousands of people. It could do more good in the long run.
"You know, you'll wear a hole in the carpet if you keep that up," a sweet but cool voice greeted him. Janus paused and let out a huff through his nose. He should have expected this impromptu visit.
"Deceit," he said as if he were addressing a student, "Would you mind coming back during office hours?"
"Come on, Morality, we know each other well enough that the formalities are just silly!" Patton giggled, "And you need to take some time to rest."
Janus faced him with a scowl, but he couldn't appear terribly threatening in a yellow sweater vest and glasses. He was far too cute, like a brand new professor dealing with a rowdy new class at uni.
"No need for that sourpuss, professor!" Patton giggled and swung his legs from his perch on Janus' bed. His unnaturally wide grin was full of sharp teeth and his round glasses glinted in the light. His whiskers twitched as he waited for Janus to break his facade. He could never stay mad at Patton for too long.
"Now isn't the best time, dear. I have to work through so much in a short amount of time," Janus sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He could feel the weight of this decision pressing on his shoulders.
"What did you tell Thomas?" Patton asked and stood up, examining his claws and gloves—he was damned if he had a hangnail or a loose thread!
"I told him that I need some time to think things through that I don't want to rush any decisions," Janus sighed and adjusted his glasses. Patton approached him and wrapped his arms around him.
"That's so stupid of you!" he jeered. Janus snorted and shook his head.
"Intelligence aside, I need to think, hopefully without getting into Aquinas or Nietzsche."
"And you're stuck," Patton sighed and purred softly, "What does Remus want? Your sweet little prince has been shot down so many times, he's not doing so well."
"Remus?" Janus scoffed, "He wants his linguistic little brother to be kinder to his scripts."
"I thought Roman was older," Patton pouted.
"There's no telling which one is older. But in actuality, I think Remus wants to go to the callback, but he also wants to be an honorable friend. He's torn. Roman has already posed the important question: what does Thomas value more? And my student is panicked over all the possibilities."
"You know, it's a tough decision, and if you spend too long dwelling on it without a break, I can promise you won't have to deal with my little angel," Patton cooed and nuzzled his shoulder.
"You don't have Virgil under lock and key?"
"You know he's an escape artist. Especially when he has too much going on in his head. You need to take some time to rest," Patton hummed and kissed his neck. Janus melted into his embrace and sighed.
"I don't know if I can rest."
"You have got to be kitten me!" Patton hissed and held him tighter. Janus laughed and grabbed his hands, spinning out of his grip.
"How am I supposed to rest when my Cheshire cat is so playful?" Janus teased and booped their noses together. Patton giggled and kissed him quickly.
"I'm a cuddly kitty, and you are the perfect snuggle buddy. So do keep your loving husband waiting."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Janus chuckled and led Patton to the bed, happy to take a break with his frisky kitty.
Okay, so I'm sure all of you have seen at least one trait swap au. Well this is also kinda a trait swap au. Well more like a swap au with added stuff.
Okay, so first of all, the traits being swapped.
Roman and Virgil switch, Remus and Logan switch, and Patton and Janus switch.
Example: Roman is Anxiety, and Virgil is Creativity.
Also! This au is swapped Prinxiety, swapped Moceit, and swapped Intrulogical. All of them are sad, and it's all pre-established.
Now onto the actual like.. story.
So, our Thomas, the original non swapped Thomas, is thrown into another dimension somehow. He wakes up in the bedroom of a huge estate, with two people standing over him.
Himself, and Virgil.
Wait.
So he gets up, and the other Thomas explains that he was thrown here because of some like.. storm or some shit, and after giving him the most basic info he leaves bc he's kinda a dick.
So this Virgil, who is surprisingly cheery- Explains everything else, what's different in his world compared to theirs, and so on and so forth.
He explains who everyone is, and once he gets to Roman, he gets this wistful look on his face, and talks like he's the most perfect person in the whole world.
Obviously Thomas comments on how head over heels Virgil is, and Virgil just deflates instantly.
He then explains that Thomas has put barriers around the castle, whether consciously or not, that prevent the dark sides and light sides to interact.
The dark sides are forced to stay downstairs, unable to come up without being violently shocked by the barrier, and the lights are the same way, except that they have to stay upstairs.
Thomas is of course devastated, but Virgil smiles and says that they've figured out how to get past some limits. Occasionally they gather in the foyer, the light sides standing at the top of the stairs and the dark sides standing on the floor, so they can see each other and speak.
But because I'm evil and want the angst- Virgil explains that he has been condemned to this room, others can come in and out, but Virgil is trapped. He assumes it's because Thomas tends to "Shackle his creativity" quite literally.
So because he's trapped, he cannot go out into the foyer, and so he hasn't seen his love in forever.
Thomas is of course devastated, and vows to try and get rid of the barriers, however he could.
I'll be honest, I listened to Days In The Sun from 2017 Beauty and The Beast, and this is what came out of it. I'm sad.
But no joke I really like this au... please somebody give me a reason to elaborate a bit more, ask questions whatever just please
alright, you asked. Cue Sanders Sides Swap AU number Five Billion! (original post here)
Morality!Remus:
He is...chaos.
Always has a huge smile on his face.
Changes his outfit every other week, but it always has a lot of flower prints and loud color schemes.
Pure energy.
Owns the room whenever he’s in it.
Has very little self-control and can sometimes come off as rude.
Makes a lot of snap judgments.
Lowkey willing to fuck up anyone who messes with his best buds.
LOVES disney
Pretends to be innocent, but makes a lot of dirty jokes while batting his eyes.
Misleading compliments for days!
“Boy, what an ass...et to your personality, am I right?” is completely him.
He’s actually really afraid of being hurt and takes things really personally.
The breakup hit him hard. He tried his best to move on but he still blamed himself for being Too Much and ruining things.
He’s more self-aware than people give him credit for. He knows sometimes he’s overbearing and hurts his friends but he doesn’t know how to stop.
On the morality side of things, he’s really loose about it. Always asking what Thomas thinks. He’s kind of afraid to be too harsh.
Best friends with Creativity!Logan and Anxiety!Roman. Argues with Logic!Janus a lot.
Intrusive Thoughts!Virgil kind of scares him from a morality perspective. And a personal perspective. He sees a lot of himself in Virgil’s exuberance and wonders if he’s really as rude and insensitive as Virgil is.
As for Deceit!Patton...things are complicated.
Creativity!Logan
Cue engineering montage from Big Hero Six.
Wears a science lab coat, his fingers are always stained with grease, his hair is ruffled from running his fingers through it.
Builds stuff. Loves robots and exploding beakers.
Gets very passionate about everything he creates.
Is lowkey the mechanic of the friendgroup and always fixes broken fridges or washing machines.
If you get him talking, he will NOT shut up. He’ll just jump from tangent to tangent for hours.
Owns a million bajillion books.
Has trouble making a good balance between his friendships and his work
Can come off as cold or disinterested when he’s really just thinking through a problem
Is a huge perfectionist.
Always tries to please everyone and reach their expectations for him. He wants everything to be nice enough for Morality!Remus, safe enough for Roman!Anxiety, and make enough sense for Logic!Janus.
Plus it has to meet his OWN standards, which means it has to be original and flawless and the best it can possibly be. And if it’s bad, then he’s failed as a person and Thomas will lose his job and die in the streets.
He may be a little OCD.
But he tears himself apart trying to meet these standards, sacrificing sleep and food, and it’s only after he finally cracks that his friends catch on.
He’s on good terms with Logic!Janus, although sometimes they argue. He’s best friends with Morality!Remus and is warming to Anxiety!Roman, though they sometimes argue. (Logan argues with a lot of people, he has a temper, especially if he hasn’t slept.)
His relationship with Intrusive Thoughts!Virgil is not great. Virgil represents all the chaos and unhinged energy he tries to avoid, and he feels that if he lets Virgil win, it’ll destroy the rules and boundaries he created. And without the limitations and expectations he’s surrounded in, he doesn’t really know who he is.
Kind of likes Deceit!Patton, though. His jokes are funny.
Anxiety!Roman
Ohhh boy.
Always has two hooked silver swords in his cloak.
‘Cause he’s ready for a fight at the slightest provocation.
Has absolutely almost taken Morality!Remus’ whole face out when he was startled.
Thomas probably has a severe anxiety disorder bc Roman has absolutely no chill.
Thinks up really imaginative scenarios in which Thomas dies or is hated by the entire world.
Insomniac.
Focuses a lot on Thomas being a Terrible Person and Hated By Everyone and Should Just Hide Before He Ruins Everything Else.
He’s accepted now, which is cool, but he’s still kinda insecure about his place in the group.
And before he was accepted? He made Thomas’ life a living nightmare.
Thomas still hasn’t fully recovered from some of the stuff Roman did.
Roman has apologized, and Thomas forgave him, but nobody can forget.
Roman has regular panic attacks. He tries not to let them affect Thomas, but it’s hard. Logic!Janus is the best at calming him down and Morality!Remus is the worst, just because he’s so overwhelming.
Jumps to all of the conclusion. He’s like a freaking frog with all the jumping he does.
Still a huge Disney nerd. Loves all the hero songs and wishes he was a hero, instead of the person born to be the villain.
Lowkey hates himself on a daily basis.
Nickname king.
He’s pretty good friends with Logic!Janus. Morality!Remus would die for him without hesitation and Roman thinks he’s a lot of fun. Him and Creativity!Logan have reached a tentative truce, but Roman always finds himself snapping at Logan. It doesn’t help that he just increases Logan’s perfectionist tendencies.
Thoughts on the Dark Sides are complicated for him. They used to be his best friends.
Now Intrusive Thoughts!Virgil is okay, kind of funny. Deceit!Patton? Can die in a fire for all he cares.
Logic!Janus.
You know that ‘um, actually’ friend? That’s Janus.
He will deliver all the knowledge with the most sass and panache possible.
Always looking for an opportunity to make the others look stupid.
Sarcasm central over here.
Can and will throw down with a bitch.
Self-care is his priority, because it’s logical to take care of yourself. This puts him in direct opposition with the others a lot, but he can handle it.
(No he can’t.)
Gladly plays devil’s advocate at every opportunity.
Debates. For. Days.
Don’t bring up paradoxes or his brain short-circuits.
Makes a million puns with a deadpan expression. No one’s quite sure how to respond to it.
Inside, he is a huge, massive dork. (And not the penis kind, Virgil.)
He really loves Disney, onesies, and fun turns of phrase.
Is really select with what he says. Always poised and ready to roll.
The few times he’s been caught off guard, nobody mentions again.
When he told his name after Morality!Remus did, Thomas laughed, and Janus is still salty about it.
He’s not that concerned with morality, so sometimes his logical suggestions include murder, arson, theft, or blackmail. They’re mostly jokes.
He’s not joking when he actually sides with Deceit!Patton on multiple occasions. Morality!Remus forgives him for it, but Janus thinks he hasn’t actually done anything wrong, and they have yet to actually talk through the growing resentment between them.
He can be a real asshole sometimes, blunt and straightforward. This makes friendship...hard.
But it’s fine. He doesn’t need friends anyway. All he needs is to keep Thomas and the others alive and successful.
He gets listened to--he wouldn’t allow anyone to ignore him--but they discount his advice more often than not.
It’s three against one, after all.
And Janus is the one nobody can stand.
(Even though he counts none of them as friends, he’s actually quite close with Anxiety!Roman and Morality!Remus. Even Creativity!Logan thinks he’s funny.)
As for the Dark Sides? They tolerate him, listen to him (especially Patton) and sometimes he wonders if he’d be better off with them instead.
Intrusive Thoughts!Virgil
Just vibing, let’s be real.
The epitome of Style (tm.) Piercings for days and always rocking killer eyeshadow.
Quotes memes on a daily basis.
Appears on top of the fridge randomly.
Way more relaxed than canon Virgil. Just having fun and living his life.
Loves conspiracies and cold cases, and reminds Thomas of them at one in the morning.
A force of chaos and does whatever he wants.
Can and will drink milk straight from the container, sit on whatever surface he wants, and respond to any complaints with “It do be like that sometimes.”
Societal conventions can go fuck themselves. If he wants to dress in fishnets and commit arson, no one can stop him.
“Vibe check,” he says and knocks Creativity!Logan out with a baseball bat.
Feral goblin child.
Wishes Logan would lighten up and give him more creative control.
His ideas are actually good! Just...not conventional. And kind of creepy sometimes. He likes horror stories.
And he does wreak havoc with intrusive thoughts, mostly the anxious and/or nihilistic kind, so Thomas isn’t inclined to let him stick around.
Deadpan and will slice into peoples’ insecurities with a glare if they try to threaten him.
“Big talk from the guy no one likes,” he says to Logic!Janus after Janus dismantles his claim that reality is an illusion.
“Why don’t you do everyone a favor and think for a fucking second about what you’re saying?” he asks Morality!Remus after Remus condemns Virgil’s ideas as mean.
“Nice to see you again,” he says with a smirk when Anxiety!Roman tries to get him to leave. “But knowing you, you’ll be back soon.”
Basically he tears into anyone who tries to force him into a mold or shut him up.
Except for Creativity!Logan. He’s always begging Logan for more power and Logan always shuts him down. Because he’s afraid of what Virgil means, afraid of how boundless creativity could affect his friends, afraid of the way Virgil can easily smash his carefully constructed standards.
Virgil really just wants the freedom to create what he wants.
And deep down, he kind of wants his brother back.
But he’s got Deceit!Patton, who thinks he’s the best thing since sliced bread, so he’s alright.
Deceit!Patton
Okay so...this is not unsympathetic Patton. But this is maybe morally grey Patton. Fair warning here. I get it if you’re uncomfortable with that. He cares deeply about the people in his life but advocates some harmful coping mechanisms and...yeah.
He’s sunny. He’s bouncy. He’s always smiling and makes the best jokes.
He’s also fucking terrifying.
He’ll silence someone with a smile. He’ll say the most terrible things in the sweetest voice. He’s outwardly kind and supportive of everyone, but there’s steel underneath that.
He can impersonate people, although he doesn’t do it very often. He prefers to simply state his objective and convince Thomas.
And Thomas isn’t used to a Side that is so nice. That takes what he says into account. That doesn’t argue with the others or call anyone names. He loves his main Sides, but Patton makes him feel heard.
So he ends up almost giving Patton way more control than he should have.
‘Cause yeah, Patton is self-preservation. But he takes that in an, um, different direction than Janus would?
He’s the lies you tell yourself to make yourself feel better.
Small stuff. “It’ll be fine. Everything’s okay. It’s not a big problem. It’ll solve itself. I don’t need to study.”
Well, it seems like small stuff. Until it piles up.
Patton creates a facade around Thomas. He doesn’t want to solve problems. He doesn’t even think himself capable of that. Instead, if he hides the problems they have to go away, right?
He’s basically King of Repression.
He’s less about preserving Thomas’ health than preserving Thomas’ happiness.
And preserving happiness isn’t helpful when someone actually needs to work through their feelings.
Patton’s pretty damn terrified of negative emotions. And although he kind of knows that Thomas can’t hide from stuff forever, he’d scraped out a fragile status quo. This stuff gets worse before it gets better, and the kind of painful honesty that Thomas would need to confront this stuff...he’s scared of that.
He doesn’t want Thomas to get hurt. He doesn’t understand that hurt is natural and a part of life. He doesn’t understand that sometimes you need to hurt in order to grow.
He’s deceptively good, kind, and alluring. It’s only after you’ve taken his route that you realize how poisonous his ideas are.
He’s working on being better. And he’s got people inclined to help. Logic!Janus disagrees with him, but enjoys his company. (Patton’s the only one who never insults him.) Creativity!Logan tolerates him. Morality!Remus disagrees with him vocally, though. And Anxiety!Roman would gladly run him through.
Thomas admits that Patton is a valid part of him. However, Patton still needs to understand the difference between protection and suffocation. Repression is bad for you, and right now, so is Patton.
However, everyone’s growing and learning. So maybe Patton has a chance to be...better.
If anyone’s interested, I could write what I think the episodes would be and how they would play out!
Yeah, Baby Just Ignore What I Have To Say; Because I’m Just A Dirty Liar Through & Through At The End Of The Day.
General ramblings:
Yes more Deceit angst because I can ??? I swear I don’t like to only see dee cry/sad but uhhhh it just keeps happening ?? This started as just wanting to draw his disguises then I thought of that angsty caption and... yeah...
I keep mentioning the liar part of him in particular really and idk why... also probs should stop drawing in that same facing right profile ajdsjds
So i saw this image of a litol blue snek wrapped around a rose and got an idea
Deceit!Patton- He's a cute litol snek boy. He just kinda,, integrated himself with the light sides. At first they were like "oh no its deceit what crimes will he commit" but patton's honestly baby. Mostly the same personality as canon Pat, but he makes ominous jokes.(From Bloopers: "I got your nose! I'm gonna keep your nose. *silence* Ah, just kidding!")
you could also make this royality with blue snek wrapped around his 'rose', roman
