summary: janis hates people, she doesn't trust them, she knows how cruel they are. she becomes suspicious of the new girl, patty, who seemingly doesn't have one bad bone in her body. janis sets out to find what patty is hiding under her bright smiles and bouncy pigtails.
word count: 1300
yes, this is a gender-swap story, patty = patton, janis = janus, virgil is nonbinary, and roman, remus, and logan are male :) i was just really feeling like writing moceit but 𝒻 𝑒 𝓂 𝒶 𝓁 𝑒 𝓈, hope you enjoy :))
tw/cw// angsty janis, it's literally all fluff :))
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Janis had hated people ever since third grade when she experienced just how far people were willing to be cruel. Of course, she loved her best friend and her siblings, but she still despised the human race. She pretended that she didn't care, that she was content with the state of the world as she perceived it. But deep down, she hoped someone would be the exception. She hoped someone would prove her wrong, prove that there is still hope in humanity.
In came Patty. Patty Baker, who was all too aware that her name was apart of the popular children's nursery rhyme, was a new student at Janis's school. She made friends with everyone, even the kids who didn't want any friends. Janis couldn't deny that she was adorable too. Patty came in every day with different prescription glasses, a flowy skirt that was barely long enough to pass the dress code (usually a pleated skirt, Janis noted), and either a button-up/polo shirt or a baggy sweater.
However, no matter how beautiful she was or how nice she seemed, Janis didn't believe that she was actually that nice of a person. "I'm telling you guys, there has to be something wrong with her; maybe she's a counselor at YMCA in her free time." "Why would that make her evil?" Logan, Janis's best friend since fifth grade, asked. "Have you ever been to their camps and afterschool daycares? Those counselors are some of the worst people in the world." Virgil, Janis's sibling, rolled their eyes. "I told you, they only put you in time-out because they told you not to go outside without their permission." Janis scoffed. "Like I was going to listen to them. I was eight and obsessed with insects; what did they expect?"
Logan sighed. "I believe you're reading too much into this. I've talked with Patty, and based on what I've seen, she wants to do good deeds purely because she wants to help others." Janis shook her head. "Maybe she knows I'm onto her; she's covering something up." Logan shook his head and looked back down at his book without another word; he'd known Janis for years, she was never one to listen to rationality if she'd already set her mind on something.
Janis ignored Logan's disappointed head shake as she stared at Patty. "She has to have ulterior motives, no way she's that pure."
~~~~
Janis's first attempt was small, in her opinion. She planned a garage sale with the movie Patty had desperately been looking for the past few months in stock. But Janis also forced her younger brothers, Roman and Remus, to pretend to be sad kids with no money that wanted the same movie. Virgil said it was overly complicated and too much work, but Janis ignored them.
Unfortunately, much to Janis's chagrin, Patty ended up buying the movie for the twins.
Janis decided to up the stakes a bit. She made walnut cookies for the school's bake sale, knowing that Patty was allergic to walnuts. Janis at least made sure Patty wasn't deathly allergic to them, though; she wasn't trying to kill Patty, just trying to prove a point. As Patty greeted Janis at the sale, Janis set her acting skills in motion and forced herself to appear upset.
"What's wrong?" Janis shrugged. "It's just that no one wants to try my cookies. I spent all night making them." That was a double lie. Her dad made them, Janis only partially helped by mixing the walnuts into the dough, and she scared off anyone who tried to take more than one cookie since she wanted there to be enough for Patty to believe her story.
Patty frowned and stared down at the cookies before huffing quietly. "Okay, I'll buy three cookies." Patty pulled out her wallet and handed Janis the money. "But aren't you allergic?" Patty shrugged with a warm smile. "I won't die; it's just uncomfortable. Besides, it'll be worth it since you made them." Janis ignored the heat that came to her face at Patty's words and the wink she added at the end. Needless to say, Patty was stuck drinking water for the rest of the day to take the pain from her mouth after she ate one of the cookies.
Janis felt slightly bad but more so annoyed; why couldn't Patty just say no? Why couldn't she put her own wants and needs before the feelings of others? Janis set her final plan in motion.
This last plan was far more straightforward than her first two. Janis noticed that Patty was seemingly busy all day, except during seventh period. No matter how many times Janis asked around, which was something she hated doing, no one seemed to know what Patty did during seventh period.
Janis managed to get out of class as soon as the bell rang since her teacher didn't care for his job much. She found Patty exiting the library and making a beeline down the hallway to the school's garden. No one went to the garden unless they were apart of the garden club, a club that hadn't had any actual members or meetings in six years.
Janis followed Patty and watched from the garden's entrance as she sat down on the bench in the garden area. Patty inhaled deeply and looked around contently. Janis refused to think about how ethereal Patty looked under that lighting, with butterflies and flowers surrounding her in the most beautiful way possible. "Who is this girl? God?" Janis mumbled to herself.
One of the janitors walked through the area and greeted Patty, to which the girl returned with a wide smile. Janis hoped the janitor wouldn't blow her cover, but luck wasn't on her side. "Are you looking for something?" Janis forced a fake smile and nodded. "I got it, thanks." The janitor shrugged and left the garden while Janis slowly rose to her feet.
Patty smiled and patted the seat next to her; the edgy girl awkwardly accepted the offer and sat down. "You're wrong, by the way." Janis stared at Patty cautiously. 'Is this a villain reveal moment?' She thought warily.
Patty giggled at her confused face. "Your little 'plan'. Logan told me yesterday what you've been doing. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't have any ulterior motives, although that'd be really cool if I were an all-powerful supervillain or something." Janis flushed, now embarrassed.
"I-It's not personal, I just-" "It's okay, I get it. There's not a lot of people in the world willing to be selfless. It's hard to trust that kind of thing." Janis stared at Patty as the breeze ran through her short pigtails. 'Seriously, this girl cannot be real.' The way Patty looked right now reminded Janis of a Disney princess, which only further proved Patty was, in fact, not real. 'How can she be real? If she's real, that means I like her, and I don't like people.'
Janis's amazing logic made perfect sense, to her at least.
"Well, I'm sorry anyway. I should've just gotten to know you instead of practically torturing you." Patty shrugged as if to say it didn't bother her. "So, what are you doing out here?" Patty sighed. "I just need to focus on myself sometimes. I don't really do anything for seventh period, and since I'm busy all day, it's the only time I get to relax."
"I can leave you alone if you want-" Janis began rising to her feet but stopped when Patty grabbed her hand. "No, it's okay. I-" She smiled softly. "I like having you here." Janis sat back down, still staring at Patty. "Really?" Patty softly kissed Janis on the cheek. As she pulled back, both girls' faces were bright red. Patty giggled once more. "Really."
~~~~
this idea started with patty having trauma, then patty having depression, then i decided just to make it fluffy :)) i really loved writing this; writing female characters isn't really my specialty (more so male and nonbinary characters), but i tried to convey the soft sapphic energy. hope you all enjoyed, love you all, stay safe, buh bye!!
3/30/21
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Sanders Sides One-Shots
Fanfiction~ every ship except remrom, thomas x sides, and no x reader :) (a lot of poly ships aren't in here but that's just bc there's so many variations that it'd be hard to get all of them djfhksk) ~ NO smut here, just angst and fluff :)) ~ posting on satu...
