Camille giggled and held onto Janus as he twirled her. Simone sighed a bit. Unlike Lila, Camille was Janus’s girl and always had been from the moment she could recognize him as her older brother. Janus was most protective over Camille. Saying she was fragile and dainty, which she was compared to the other twins. “I’ve been really good. I’ve been doing awesome school projects with Mommy and Daddy. Daddy helped me paint a dragon the other day!” Lewis’s painting skills weren’t anything to write home about but Camille seemed to enjoy it. “Mommy! MOMMY! Did you bring it?! Janus needs it for his room.” Her sweet little voice called out and Simone pulled out a folder.

“I did bring it. It’s right here,” She handed it to Camille and Camille took out the painting. It was caked in layers of messy poorly blended paint. There was a fat blob with what appeared to be wings.

“His name is Spencer,” Camille offered it up to Janus. “You gotta take real good care of him okay? Daddy and I worked really hard on it. Took us fifty thousand hours to do it.”

Simone was behind Camille and she put up one finger. It took her one hour to do it with all the mess she had made.

Camille got put down and she puffed out her face as Janus abandoned her for their mother. Simone smiled up at her son. “Oh… Janus these are lovely presents.” That she had no use for but she would treasure them all the same. “Look Lewis… Janus got me a book on survival.” She decided not to encourage the hair situation anymore than she already did. “These are absolutely perfect,” she kissed Janus’s forehead.

“Can we talk for a minute?” She took her son’s arm and walked with him. Some of the boys around the school were all looking at Simone. After all she didn’t look too much older than they did even if she was over fifteen hundred. “Janus… Are you trying in school? Is everything okay?” She put her hand to his forehead. “I’m just really worried about you. Snowball brought me home a copy of one of your tests. It’s not like you to fail… I’m just disappointed.”

Janus was excited when Simone pulled him aside from everyone else. Was she about to praise him for his excellence? Give him tips on how to improve his prank? Was she going to give him private hugs and attention? The possibilities were endless.

“Anything for you Mom!” he said with absolute joy in his voice. The moment her tone changed, though, his heart started to sink. With every sentence, he felt as though he were being weighed down with iron chains. And then the dreaded word came.

Disappointed.

Janus’ world shattered. He couldn’t hear anything else except the word bouncing all around him.

Disappointed.

It couldn’t be. How could she be disappointed in him? What had he done wrong? The grades? Well, he was slipping. Maybe he was paying too much attention to the girls he wanted to date, and less on his grades. Maybe that was it. The lack of attention. Was that what he had to fix in order to get back into her good graces?

“OhmygoddessI’msosorryMomI’lltrytodobetter!” He said quickly, trying to fight tears. He was tripping over his words, trying not to hyperventilate and cry. “I need to go to the bathroom,” he decided on finally, running away.

Myrri walked up to Lewis and Lila, watching as Janus ran away. “What…did you do to him?”

Simone didn’t want to break his heart and it showed from the look on her face as he ran away. This had been a favor from Lila and Lewis. Sure, Lewis could have told Janus that his mother would be disappointed by his failing grades… but that might not work for the long term but his mother saying it would hit home almost immediately.

Lila had her arms crossed and looked at Myrri, “Had Mom tell him she was disappointed in him. It took a lot to convince her to do it too. Dad and I were talking about how to do it for weeks.”

Mone came over with a sullen look on her face, “You made me be mean to my baby.” She might never actually forgive Lila for it but Lila hugged her mother.

“It had to be done, Mom… It had to be done.” Lila waited for Janus to finally come back and she hugged him really tight. “It will be okay Jan. We can get your grades up in no time.” She had asked him to come back out and Simone even came over and hugged him.

“Just promise me you’ll do better and it’ll be okay…” Simone stroked back Janus’s hair as she hugged him. “I just want the best for you Janus… That’s all.” She kissed his forehead. “I know you’ll make me so proud. Both of you.”

Camille took Janus's hand and smiled up at him, "I'm proud of you Janjan."

It took some time for Janus to calm down, and much to his surprise, Lila was helping. She probably felt the genuine panic and anxiety he was feeling, and knew that he needed help. When he finally came out and was told it would all be okay, he started to feel better. Even Camille was trying to cheer him up. He knelt down and gave his little sister a hug.

“I’ll hang up your painting and use it as inspiration to keep going,” he said as he ruffled her hair. He stood back up, “I’m sorry I freaked out Mom…I’ll do better.”

Myrri walked up, “Oh? Are you going to join our study group then?” He was asking in front of Simone, so of course he would say yes.

“Ugh, fine,” Janus replied as he crossed his arms defiantly. “I’ll come to your study group…”

“Good,” Myrri replied with a smirk. “But I doubt you’ll catch up in time to be a real threat to being top in our class.”

“Want to bet!?” Janus was suddenly fired up. “I’ll get the top spot, and dedicate it to Mom!”

Camille was absolutely overjoyed that Janus was using HER painting over anything her mother said for inspiration. Right now she was Janus’s favorite girl! Her! Not Mom! But then Janus went all Mama’s Boy and Camille realized she still lost in the end to her mother. She guessed it was fine… Her mom was pretty great after all.

Lila smirked a bit and nodded, “Good, we got some cute girls in it that you might like. Consider it motivation.” She needed to throw her brother some kind of bone after all.

–

Mid-terms were coming up and the twins were working hard at their grades. Professors were impressed by Janus’s motivation.

Lila was impressed by the fact it took him only a week to figure out how to balance getting good grades and still fooling around in the closets. Lila put her arm around Myrri to whisper to him. “We failed Myrri… He’s found a way to be even more motivated about school and still get girls.”

Her torture was still continuing on the daily. Sure, he came to study group but on more than one occasion she caught him playing footsies with Michelle. Ugh, she told him not to do it at the table but Janus probably caught on that she had something to do with their mom scolding him.

“And… that’s all the material for this mid-term,” Lila smacked the book closed. “If we’re lucky we’ll all pass it with flying colors.” She looked at Janus being smooth with Michelle. “Anything you want to add Janus?”

Without even looking in her direction, his eyes locked with Michelle’s, he waved his hand. “Myrri, you probably should re-read chapter six. Tullin and Juri, chapters four and five. Those are probably your weakest parts.” He gave a half glance towards Lila. “My dearest sister is perfect at the moment, as is Michelle. Though, if you want some private tutoring…”

Myrri slammed his book shut, “I think that’s good enough Janus.” He grabbed his friend by the collar. “And you have laundry to do today, and it’s your turn to clean the bathroom.”

“Ugh, fine,” Janus replied. “Maybe later Michelle?”

Michelle giggled. “Oh definitely later…”

They weren’t exclusive, as far as anyone could tell, but it was obvious that things were progressing.

Janus huffed as he followed Myrri back towards the dorm. Hmm…how can I get rid of these two? Maybe… He smirked. Lila and Myrri were about to get a lot closer, leaving him to his own devices.

–

It started with an innocent letter addressed to Myrri. He opened it, and his eyes widened. “Wow, a collection of mint condition texts from the Academia de Luna!? Janus, do you know how rare these are? I have to see them. And look here! You can bring a friend! Why don’t you come with me! They’re on display for one day only on the old campus!”

Janus waved his hand, “Boring. Why don’t you ask Lila instead? That’s more her thing.” That, and a chance at a date with you is a guaranteed yes…

It wasn’t long before Myrri was pounding at Lila’s door. “Lila! Hey Lila! Look at this!”

Oh this was grating Myrri’s nerves. Janus was being too big for his pants now that his grades were good. His entire persona was ‘Mom is going to be so damn proud of me’ and it was oozing into everything he did. It was how damn overconfident Janus was without being wrong that was actually grating to Myrri.

–

Janus had oddly cut off the resonance probably because of his perverted thoughts so Lila wasn’t complaining. If only she knew…

Lila opened the door and she was in a cute wintery dress with her hair done up. “Myrri?” She tilted her head. “It’s not like you to come see me. Did Janus do something wrong again?” She was awfully protective of Myrri and would give her brother the biggest tongue-lashing of his life.

Janus, did you do something to Myrri?!

She finally took the paper and looked up at Myrri. “So… You want me to go with you…” She was blushing. “Me of all people? To go look at these books with you?” She squirmed a bit, “Yeah… I can go with you I needed to go to the book store anyways… It’s… It’s a date!”

Jannussss it’s happening!!!! The joy was overflowing on her side of the resonance.

They walked together to an old classroom and Lila walked in. It looked so weird… “Wait… MYRRI DON’T–” Myrri shut the door behind them like a good student. “Shut that door.” She groaned loudly and stopped her foot.

“JANUS ARGENT TERROWIN!” She screamed. “HOW DARE YOU TRICK ME, YOU BASTARD!” She started to unleash hellfire all over the classroom. “YOU BASTARD LET US OUT!”

When Janus filled the resonance with nothing but laughter she cut the resonance and crossed her arms before deciding trying to burn the whole classroom down was the best solution she had.

Janus cut the resonance, and looked across the table at the very pretty fae girl that had asked him out today. Sure, Michelle was nice, but there was something about fae girls that always pulled him in.

If only he knew.

—

Myrri put himself between Lila and the door, placing both of his hands on her shoulders to snap her out of her rage. “Lila. LILA. CALM DOWN.” He made sure that she was looking in his eyes. Even in her rage, she still looked cute, but no, now wasn’t the time to lose focus. “There are other ways out of here, we just have to think.” He took her hand, and held firmly. As long as her hand was in his, she wouldn’t be able to cast the magic.

At least, that was what he was hoping for. He wasn’t actually sure she even needed hands to cast magic. Janus and Lila both were talented mages in their own right, though where that talent came from wasn’t quite known to any of the kids. Lewis, Simone, Xeik, and Angela were the only ones who really knew what happened, though from what Myrri had gleaned from his father’s notes, it was still one giant mystery.

“Lila…let’s just…sit and think awhile, okay?” He wanted to try something. He wasn’t sure it would even help. Hell, he didn’t even know if she would let him, but he did it anyway. He ran his hand through the side of her hair, stroking it softly. Light and calming strokes, anything to distract her from her anger. “Your hair is pretty,” he let slip without thinking.

Lila stared at Myrri. She didn’t want to hurt him anybody but him. There was that hesitation just like Mom said there would be. Simone wasn’t stupid and had seen the way Lila looked at Myrri. She had ALWAYS leaned towards Myrri. Myrri was the only one who had ever been allowed inside the twins’ solid line against the outside world. Janus tolerated Myrri a lot more than most people but it was a direct influence of Lila’s feelings.

It had always been Myrri.

So when he reached up she sort of lost her breath and leaned into his hand as he brushed her hair. She closed her eyes. “Fine…”

She hadn’t wanted to be overbearing with Myrri and she had asked her mother the best way to get Myrri to notice her first. It was unfortunate that he was Xeik’s son. That was most likely going to make this a struggle.

When it came to her father… All Lewis could say was ‘I like him more than I like Llonan’ as he loaded a nightly trap for the prince of Sulwal. So this was good. Lewis liking Myrri was good.

Which when she thought about it made her blood boil even more. “HE KNEW I WOULDN’T TURN DOWN A DATE FROM YOU! THAT BASTARD KNOWS I LIKE YOU!” Her anger had gotten the best of her as she shouted it out. “He wouldn’t stop laughing about it. A date with you was a guaranteed yes from me.”

“A date?” Myrri blinked. Was this a date? He hadn’t considered that it could be. But why would she have wanted to go out on a date with him? She had the pick of the whole school, hell, the whole world. Why would she choose him? But then she just admitted it. The truth of it all.

“You…actually like me?” he asked, stopping her to confirm. “Because I’ve liked you since the day we met. Though…” He blushed. “I thought your dad…hated me so ended up just not pursuing you. And I thought you were looking everywhere but at me,” he admitted. “Cause I don’t know why you would….” He wasn’t even doing a good job at explaining it. “But you do like me…and I like you…so…”

At that moment, the door clicked and a janitor walked in. “This is such a touching moment and all, so can you two just make out already so I can yell at you to get out of the classroom? I really just want to finish this floor and go home.” He crossed his arms.

“S-sorry!” Myrri said suddenly, “We ended up getting locked in. We’ll leave now!” He took Lila’s hand and led her out into the night, where he paused in the darkness. “Do you uh…want to try kissing?”