I'll Find You... I Promise

Chapter 3

It had been one in a half months and Janus had yet to be allowed to visit his brother. Martha would always shrug, saying they were probably waiting for Virgil to become fully adjusted. Janus had tried over and over talking to Ryan, and the man was working tirelessly to try and help him but it seemed his hands were tied. A boss of his wouldn't even let Ryan tell him the name of the people Virgil was staying with let alone give him a phone number to call. Apparently, after a meeting with said boss, they were the whole reason this was even happening. The idiot man had decided to separate the two siblings, hadn't told Ryan about it, secured Virgil a new home, and then forced/manipulated Ryan into agreeing to this with relatively the same words Ryan had used on him with the added on threat of 'or I'll fire you.' 

Considering Janus's lack of information he had come up with a conclusion: He wasn't going to be allowed to visit his brother.

And Janus had immediately begun to regret ever agreeing to this. How had he ever been coerced into this madness?

Janus didn't care, what he cared about was fixing it. Janus had promised his brother he'd find him and it no longer mattered if the promise had technically been to do so when Virgil was older. What mattered was keeping his promise to his baby brother and never letting the kid out of his sight ever again.

So... one broken into office, six hacked passwords, and a several-hour bus ride later, Janus now stood in front of what looked like an average-looking house. It was a light blue, almost gray, colored house with white accents and two stories tall. A red minivan and a dark blue honda civic were pulled into the driveway, with a basketball hoop hanging above the garage. The grassy front lawn was complete with three different types of flowers, each a different color, in front of the porch. Two bikes and a scooter had been haphazardly deposited across the grass and in the center of the lawn, a large tree with a swing hanging from one of the branches provided plenty of shade. The porch had a metal sign which Janus was unable to read from this angle but was about 80% sure said 'Live, laugh, love' on it or something else that was equally as cheesy and stupid. A white-picket fence seemed to be the finishing touch and Janus could almost laugh at the stereotypical aesthetic of it all.

Janus shrugged his shoulders to adjust the straps of his backpack before walking up the driveway and onto the front porch. He used the doorbell and waited for someone to open, and took time to examine the porch. The metal sign did not read 'Live, Laugh Love,' but just as Janus had suspected it was indeed still as cheesy and read a list of 'In this house we...' rules which included 'respect everyone' 'believe love is love' 'study diligently' 'work hard' and 'are kind to everyone,' as well as a few others. In front of the windows, with a perfect view of the flower garden and the green lawn, were a set of adirondack chairs. The doormat did actually surprise him only because it wasn't quite the cheesy he was thinking of as it read 'Hippity-Hoppity Welcome To My Property' with a picture of a frog next to it.

Janus scoffed at it, shaking his head as he rang the doorbell again.

"Coming!" A voice shouted from somewhere inside the house, and indeed just a few moments later the door opened. The man on the other side was a nice-looking man with unruly golden curls, round glasses, and blue eyes. His skin tone was somewhere between Virgil and Janus with polka dot like freckled scattered across his arms and face. He was barely as tall as Janus, who already stood less then an inch below average height, and wore a 'Kiss the Chef' apron which had also been embroidered with a rainbow heart in the center. There was what looked like flour staining the man's cheek, and he wore mismatched socks. One of them was patterned with dogs while the other was just plain black. "Hi there Kiddo," the man said excitedly, "Are you selling something?"

Janus, who was already thrown off by the man's appearance not resembling what he had imagined, was not expecting such a greeting, "Uh, no."

"Oh! Are you friends with one of the twins?" The man asked immediately after he replied, "Hang on, I'll go grab them."