Light humming floated softly through the cell as the eldest prince ran his fingers through his boyfriend's hair. Remus was asleep, his head laid in Janus's lap as the rest of his body lay sprawled across the cot. Roman and Patton had insisted the couple sleep in the cot as they most definitely needed it the most. Janus was inclined to agree and hadn't argued much, he didn't let Remus argue much either.

Currently, Patton was sleeping in the back corner of the room. Janus was sitting up in the cot, and leaning back against the wall, he was the one humming. Remus, of course, was asleep and probably wouldn't be up for a long time. Despite everyone's worried nagging to get some rest, Remus had stayed awake for several hours in an effort to catch up with Roman and Patton. Eventually, the two had to pretend to go to sleep just to get Remus to do the same.

Roman was awake too, tapping his feet nervously. The rhythm unconsciously matched to the tune of Janus's humming, Roman, always a musician. The Light Realm Crown Prince was sitting by the bars of the cell, pressed up against it to give him the best view of the wooden door at the end of the hall. He was rubbing his hands together, as if for warmth, and looked tense, far from relaxed.

"Watching the door isn't going to make someone magically open it," Janus said, he didn't know why he said it. Roman wasn't bothering anybody by watching the door, it wasn't like it mattered, "Trust me, I've been watching it for a month now."

Roman scoffed slightly, "How can anybody trust someone with the name Deceit?" he asked, he didn't know why he had said it. Virgil had already said it hundreds of times, Janus's trait name didn't show his character as clearly as the trait name Anxiety did.

Janus paused for a moment, his fingers freezing before slowly continuing, "Is my father dead?"

"...Yes."

"Then my name is Janus."

"Also a stupid name. Virgil's a strange name too, your parents were definitely thinking outside the box weren't they?"

Janus smiled, "Virgil is the name of a legendary warrior in a Dark Realm myth."

"And who was Janus? A school librarian"

Janus shrugged, "Which do you want; the truth, or the lie?"

"What do you mean?"

"Janus is the name of the very first hybrid wizard in the Dark Realm. He started a revolution in the kingdom and brought about change without ever having a title added to his name. He made mistakes, as all leaders do, and people died. But, because of him, magic was more accepted in the Dark Realm and it was the start to this kingdom becoming one of the most inclusive safe spaces on the continent. But that took a long time, he was dead by then. That's the truth. The lie, however, makes him out to be a little more cruel and evil. After all, the dead can't write. They have no say in how people make them out to be."

"You're the first hybrid king, aren't you?"

"I am," Janus nodded and then looked over to the other prince, "Our parents had their reasons for giving us our names. Yours and Remus have to do with myth, yes?"

Roman nodded, "Yeah..." he shifted slightly, and tried to lean closer to the bars as if adjusting how he saw the door would make it open.

Janus looked over at the other Crown Prince "I'm sorry I gave them Logan."

Roman shook his head, "No you're not, but it's okay. I-I probably would've done the same thing for Remus... I realize that now." Roman looked to Janus and Remus, the eldest prince was still smiling and threading his fingers through Remus's hair. "He really loves you," Roman whispered.

Janus laughed a little, "I should hope so. I think I'm going to marry him," Janus told Roman, smiling widely as he said the words, "Not now, of course, I'll wait until things settle down. But once we're out, I'll ask him."

"You wanna marry him?" Roman asked, feeling excitement for his brother.

Janus shushed him as if they were middle schoolers gossiping rather than two prisoners in jail, "I don't want him to know yet. But yes, I do. I was going to wait a few more years to ask, I wanted him to be older. Remus always said he didn't like the idea of marrying so young, frankly neither do I." Janus grimaced at the idea, in another world Remus may have been married at sixteen. "And of course if he says no I'll respect that. But I love him, very much. And he earned my father's approval, he gets along with Virgil, not so much with my uncle but I think that's only because Remus scares him slightly. He'll make a wonderful leader... and I feel, that possibly, it would be a wonderful way to unite our kingdoms again and stop this silly on and off war once and for all."

"He'll say yes," Roman assured him.

"How can you be so sure? He's changed in the past couple of years."

Roman nodded and smiled slightly, "I'm sure he has, I have too. But he'll say yes, I can tell. He really loves you. The way he talks about you and looks at you and holds you, I can tell."

Janus felt his heart swell with excitement at the idea, but no, wait, he mustn't get too excited. They were still trapped here, they still needed to escape and get out alive. "He's very self-conscious you know. I think he was new, to being accepted for who he was." Janus told Roman, he looked guilty and Janus gave him a small eye roll. "Oh relax, I'm not talking about you. Remus has already told me all about how you were the first to have his back. I just meant in general... he was very nervous on our first date. It was just a picnic, and we were of course being accompanied because my father was always very protective. But still, before it even started, he set down the rules and threatened to cut out my tongue if I ever tried anything he didn't like, the way he said it made the guards nervous." Janus laughed slightly, "I think he was so scared that I was only out for one thing, that he forgot I was demisexual, though even if I wasn't I would never do anything without his consent. I had to come out to him all over again, not that I minded, I wanted him to be comfortable."

"And then what?" Roman asked softly.

"He became very red in the face but we finished our date and at the end, I asked if he'd like to go on another date. He said yes, but he wanted to plan it because apparently, that's a thing you do in the Light Realm, switch off who plans the outings, and that was the beginning of our relationship."

Roman couldn't help but smile and swoon a little at the story, what could he say, he was a romantic. Janus glanced at him before looking back down at Remus, "What about you? You and that Logan? How was your first date?"

"Oh," Roman said with a bit of surprise, "Well, I don't think we've actually been on a real date yet. It happened during our trip, and there wasn't really time. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing too, I never really thought it was gonna happen like that."

"How did it happen?" Janus asked curiously.

Roman looked towards the door again, as if looking to see if they had time or privacy, "Promise you won't hurt him? He already feels guilty enough as it is, and I'm pretty sure getting slapped and threatened was good enough."

Janus raised an eyebrow, "That depends, what did he do?"

And so, Roman recounted the tale. He started by mentioning their rules, and their friendship contract. Then he mentioned how Logan confessed a crush on Virgil, and how once Roman realized just how great Virgil was and why Logan liked him Roman assumed he had no chance and so lied to stop Logan from dating him. And then he brought up how Logan got upset when he taught Virgil a few songs on the Ukulele. Finally, he got to the part where Logan tried to kiss Virgil, Janus did not seem happy about it but he did laugh at how his brother reacted. Roman told him about the few minutes they had while alone and finished the story by telling Janus how they met Remy.

"...And thats it. I'm just kinda waiting for when he realizes he doesn't actually like me like that and that it was all just his feelings for Virgil. Then he'll break up with me, which is fine. I don't want to keep him from being happy."

Janus looked confused, "You don't think he actually wants to date you?"

Roman smiled fakely, "Not really. I mean, I want to date him. I've had a crush on him since I was thirteen or so and he's absolutely amazing but... I don't know, I just... I don't think he really, truly, feels the same way."

"You know what I think?" Janus asked.

The younger prince looked at him, "Whats that?"

"I think you're lying to yourself. You're not afraid that he doesn't like you romantically, you're afraid that he does.... And I also think you're right, that boy is absolutely smitten with you, it's disgusting."

Virgil was rapidly tapping his fork against his plate and bouncing up and down in his seat, eyes glued to the meal in front of him. His grandfather sat next to him, eating from his own plate of food and seemingly clueless to the mental distress Virgil was displaying. Across from him was Logan and his uncle. Logan was eating quietly, unlike Virgil, and aware of Virgil's distress but unsure of how to help. Everyone else was talking about evil plans and Logan and Virgil's future roles in their supposed utopia.

"Virgil," Markus asked, temporarily interrupting Virgil's stream of anxious thoughts, "Did your father ever have you attend council meetings?"

Virgil glanced towards Logan, they weren't paying much attention to the conversation going on. Virgil couldn't exactly blame him, he wasn't too fond of it himself, 'Sometimes,' he signed, a boy just a few years younger than him translating on his behalf, and sitting just a few seats to his right. The boy was one of the kidnapped citizens, apparently, his younger brother was deaf and in exchange for becoming a translator, they had both been moved to one of the bedrooms and out of the dungeon. 'I didn't like the meetings. Dad never made me go. Dee went to almost all of them,'

"You'll be attending meetings once everything has been put in place, I assume your nephew will be attending them as well, Tafe."

"Eventually, I do not trust him yet."

Markus nodded his head in understanding and silence returned to the table as Tafe and Markus continued to eat. Virgil hadn't even touched his own food, he wasn't exactly in the mood to eat. He glanced over at the translator, the boy hadn't been given any food and was staring at the plates in front of everyone else. Virgil frowned before sliding his plate to the kid, they smiled and thanked Virgil before quickly digging in. When Virgil turned back to the others at the table, the adults were staring at him disapprovingly. Virgil didn't even try to justify his actions, just shifted slightly in his seat so if anyone moved to take the boys' food he could stop them.

Markus cleared his throat, "Well, Virgil, your brother is clearly involved in a relationship with Prince Remus." the man rolled his eyes with slight disgust, Virgil glared at the action, "How about you though, have you caught the eye of any young woman out there."

Virgil sneered at that, 'I don't like girls,' he told his grandfather.

Markus laughed, "Well, you're still young. That'll change, I'm sure. Don't you agree Kieran?"

Virgil lifted his hands to begin signing again, and correct his grandfather about what he meant but a sharp look from Logan quickly told him to drop it.

"I suppose," the general mused a bit, "I never married, and barely dated in my youth. But I'm sure we'll find both Logan and Virgil some wonderful brides." The words had an instant reaction from both boys, Logan beginning to choke on his food while Virgil had to stop himself from breaking out into a full-blown laugh.

"I don't want to marry a woman!" Logan declared, "I'm dating Roman, I'll marry Roman. He's already planned the wedding!" Well, that certainly caught Tafe's attention and changed Logan's mind about revealing their sexualities.

The table was silent as Tafe glared at his nephew. Markus looked upset about it but not nearly as angry as the general did. Virgil wondered for a moment if that would change when he found out Virgil was also dating a guy. Ira did not look very upset, she didn't seem to care at all, and in fact, had not been very involved in the conversation.

"You're dating the prince?" The general said lowly, Logan looked at his uncle with more confidence than Virgil had ever seen on him, and nodded. "Since when have you done such horrible things."

"Do you mean date boys?" Logan asked, "Not long, Roman is my first relationship. However, I have been attracted to males, and only males, for nearly seven years. And I refuse to ever say otherwise."

The general jumped to his feet and Logan immediately did the same, "You will not date a man."

"I'll date whoever I please, you can't stop me. Roman loves me, and I love him, he's wonderful and nothing you do can ever change that."

Kiera glared and Logan glared at each other for a long moment, it reminded Virgil of two dogs fighting and trying to scare off the other, before Kieran slowly stood up straight, "We'll see about that," he growled before swiftly turned on his heel and turned towards the door.

Logan smiled a bit and seemed to relax before suddenly realizing what the general was implying and immediately running off after him, "No-! Wait! Uncle-!"

Virgil stood to follow but Markus grabbed him by the hem of his shirt, "Don't go after them Virgil, your friend needs to learn his lesson."

Virgil glared and pulled away, he wasn't sure what 'lesson' his grandfather meant but he didn't care, he huffed angrily as he took off towards the door, quickly following Logan and his uncle out of the dining room and up towards the prison cells the others were kept in.