#ts downside story

Note: This was originally posted on Robindraw’s AO3. I edited the first chapter and wrote chapter 2 and now wish to finish the rest of the story based on Robin’s notes. This is not my story, it’s HERS. I just have the notes and the story and am writing it. This was before Janus’ name reveal so I’m keeping it Clyde for the story for now. 

There is also an animatic Robin made of this AU you can watch

here. 

Summary: 

Clyde (Deceit) was a relatively normal teen who lived with his parents and his brother until he discovered that he has powers, but they have a price…. You can read here how Deceit became one of the most dangerous people on the planet, ….but could there be people who can stop him? And what does his family think?

Oh crap… One on the face again? And you can see it more than the others too. How many does he have now? 15… 16 maybe? At least most of them can be covered with a shirt, but the ones on the face? Those could become a real problem.

But he had to use it. If Ms. Mayer knew he was the one who took the money out of the register? She would have fired him and he needs the money too much for that to happen.

Clyde stood in front of his whole body mirror. He was wearing an old Disney shirt of his, which he would never admit to anyone he still had, but he just couldn’t let it go. Used socks and T-shirts were spread around his relatively dimly lit room, still lying in the same position he had thrown them there from the days before. The sound of a terrarium, with his favorite little snek buddy Terrence in it, filled the thick air, breaking the silence.

The 17-year-old looked at his face in the mirror with a disgruntled frown. He had to figure out a way to hide them somehow. Not that they didn’t look cool but other people would start to ask questions that he can’t even answer himself.

A sudden knock on his door threw him out of his thoughts. Without waiting for an answer, his little brother stormed into his mess of a room.

“Dinner’s ready!’’

He turned out of reflex towards the sound but remembered quickly why that would be a terrible idea. He ducked his head down quickly so that his bangs would cover a little of his face and got down on his knees, pretending as if he was cleaning his socks off of the floor. But it was no use. The curious kid had already had a glimpse of what he was trying to hide.

“What’s that on your face?”

“Forf**ks sake, Virgil, if you don’t want your head ripped off you better stop storming into my room like that.”

It threw him off a little that it was already time for dinner. His parents were apparently home early today, great.

While he was throwing socks under his bed, the 10-year-old approached him.

“What? Do you care about me seeing your dirty socks all of a sudden? That’s a first. But seriously I think you have, like, dirt on your cheek or something.”

Bending down, Virgil tried to get a glimpse of his brother’s face but he kept turning more and more to the side so he couldn’t see.

Suddenly a sock went soaring and made a landing right on Virgil’s face. He stumbled back a little and ripped the stinking object off while his brother stood up from the ground.

“Ewww, gross! You’re disgusting!”

“And you’re a pussy.”

They taller boy tried to go around the right side of the smaller boy while having his head turned so that Virgil couldn’t see the three scales on his left cheek, but was stopped by a hand gripping his arm and attempting to pull him back.

“Look at me!”

“Let go or I’ll make you.”

“Not until you show me! I wanna see!”

Getting irritated with him he barked out an “Okay!” before he turned his head. The side of his face he was trying to keep hidden was in full view of his little annoyance who still clung to his right arm.

Virgil’s eyes widened in shock.

“Woooah. Are those scales?! That looks so cool! Are they real?”

Clyde’s face showed maybe a second of surprise on his face but masked it quickly with a confident grin.

“Are they real? Of course not. This is my Halloween costume. Well, an idea for it.”

Virgil’s furrowed his eyebrows.

“You’re lying.”

“Wha- Me? Never!”

He got down to his younger brothers eye-level.

“Virgil, I would never ever lie to you, little brother.”

Virgil rolled his eyes.

“That’s a gigantic lie. You told me yesterday that you didn’t eat my pudding, even though you were still holding it!” Clyde couldn’t help but chuckle a little at that memory. “So just tell me the truth. I know when you’re lying.”

Clyde’s face darkened a little, his smile fluttering. He was thinking about using his powers on his brother but considering that using his powers caused this dilemma in the first place… he chose to tell the truth.

“I- ok, you have to swear to not to tell our parents or I will rip you into pieces.” Virgil straightened his back and stared wistfully into his brother’s eyes. “I have these scales because of my superpowers.”

The smaller boy’s shoulders went down, disbelief and disappointment in his eyes.

“You still pretend like I’m an idiot. You, brother, you’re an ass.”

With these words he left out of the door, leaving a smirking Clyde behind.

Sometimes the truth is the best lie to hide behind.

The young man got up and his eyes fell again to his mirror. Through it, he could see the terrarium with his snake resting inside. He turned and walked around his bed. He looked into the glass box, to see a curled up Terrence on a stick with his beautiful light yellow scales.

He had a soft smile on his face before he shuddered and his eyes showed maybe something akin to… worry.

Maybe he shouldn’t use his powers as much anymore. What if he-

No. No, no, why was he afraid? It’s not like that’s ever going to happen.