"Hey, Mr Dagger!" Roman yelled excitedly, running up to Janus. "Look, look, look!"

Janus grinned as the six-year-old spun around. "I'm Prince Roman!" Roman declared, holding onto the edge of his cape to make it flow out behind him. "D'you like it?" He asked, beaming.

Janus nodded. Roman's grin faded. "Why aren't you talking?" He asked.

Janus showed Roman his notepad, crouching down. "Ursula stole... my... vo-ice." Roman spelled out. He looked up at Janus. "You lost your voice?" He asked, tilting his head to one side. Janus nodded gravely.

"How do you get it back?" Roman asked. Janus shrugged. Roman paused for a couple of seconds, looking very sober as he thought. He looked up at Janus and kissed him on the cheek.

"Did that work?" Roman asked eagerly. Janus shook his head. Roman looked down in disappointment. "Oh. I just thought it would cause I'm a prince."

Janus wrote something on his notepad and showed it to Roman. "Yeah but... you're not... my true love- oh!" Roman said. "Wow, I'm so stupid, of course it's not going to work! You need your true love!"

Janus nodded. Roman's excited smile faded.

"Who is your true love, Mr Dagger?" He asked. Janus shrugged. "You don't know?" Janus shook his head.

"Well... who do you like?" Roman asked. Janus wrote something else down on his notepad. "Boys and girls?" Roman asked. Janus nodded.

"Oh, like my Zeze!" Roman said excitedly. "Zeze likes everyone. He's never been on a date before, though, which is really weird because my Zeze flirts with everyone."

"I can see it's rubbed off on you." Janus thought.

"Well, it can't be any of my friends because you're really old." Roman said. Janus laughed. "Hey, you got your voice back!" Roman exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Janus opened his mouth as if to speak but closed it, shrugging. Roman's face fell.

"You haven't got your voice back?" Roman asked sadly. Janus shrugged and shook his head. Roman sighed in annoyance, swishing his cape.

"I know what I'll do." Roman said. "I'll ask Virgil. Virgil knows everything."

Roman ran off into the class, shrieking his friend's name. Janus laughed and stood up.

"So it's working then?" Logan asked. Janus shushed him quickly.

"Shut up." Janus hissed, hitting his friend on the shoulder playfully. "If Roman knows I can speak, he'll be so disappointed."

"Why are you doing this, anyway?" Logan asked. Janus shrugged.

"It'll give the kids a nice quest." He said. "Now shush, he's coming back."

Roman marched back to Janus triumphantly, dragging a very annoyed Virgil behind him.

"Roman, you didn't drag Virgil away from whatever he was doing, I hope." Logan said, putting on his reprimanding tone. Roman shook his head.

"No, Mr Brown." Roman said. "Virgil wasn't doing anything."

"Was too." Virgil grumbled. "I was being the Lord of my castle! Baba says I have to protect my castle from people like you," he gave Roman a shove, "who want to steal it."

"Virgil, we don't shove people." Logan said. "Roman, we don't drag people away from their castles, okay?"

"Okay." Roman whined. "But it wasn't even a proper castle! Virgil, I promise that after this is done, I'll build you a proper castle. In the sand-pit and everything!"

Virgil narrowed his eyes at Roman. "Pinkie swear?" He asked.

"Pinkie swear." Roman said quickly. "Now, help Mr Dagger."

Virgil sighed dramatically. "Roman says you lost your voice to the Sea Witch Ursula." He said. Janus nodded. "Well, obviously, we need to find true love's kiss for you before three days are up to get you your voice back. Can I go back to my castle now, Roman?" He asked.

"No." Roman said. "We still need to work out who Mr Dagger's true love is." Virgil sighed again.

"Well, obviously it's one of the parents." Virgil said. "Unless it's Mr Brown-"

"No." Logan said quickly.

"Exactly." Virgil said. "So, clearly Roman, it's one of the parents."

"What do we do until then?" Roman asked. Virgil shrugged. Janus nearly laughed at how these boys were taking this so seriously.

"I guess Mr Dagger will just have to live without a voice for a day." Virgil looked up at Janus. "When did you lose your voice, Mr Dagger?" He asked.

Janus wrote something on his notepad. Roman read it in his head. "He lost his voice this morning." He reported.

Virgil nodded sombrely. "Good. We have a lot of time left. Now build me my castle, Princey!" He said, grabbing Roman's sleeve and pulling him away.

Roman tapped Janus on his knee. "Mr Dagger?" He asked. Janus looked over at him. "My Zeze's here." Roman said. "He has to be your true love, it's the only one left. Come on." Roman took Janus' sleeve and pulled him over to the class room doorway.

"Zeze! Zeze!" Roman cried. Roman's zeze looked around, worry in his eyes. It sighed and crouched down to Roman's level.

"Wow, Ro, don't scare me like that!" He said. It held out its arms. "C'mon, don't I get a hug from my favourite prince?" It asked. Roman giggled and hugged him.

"Zeze, this is Mr Dagger." Roman said seriously. "He lost his voice to Ursula and needs to find his true love in three days or he'll never speak again." Roman's zeze looked up at Janus before looking back at Roman.

"Now, that sounds very serious." He said. "But how can I help?"

"Don't you see?" Roman asked. "You've got to be Mr Dagger's true love! You're the only person left." Roman ran back to Janus and pushed him towards his zeze. "Come on, come on."

"Roman." His zeze said, standing up. "I don't think-"

"It has to work!" Roman said desperately. "Mr Dagger tells the best stories, how can he tell stories without his voice?!"

"Ro, why don't you go grab your bag and coat?" His zeze asked. "I'll talk to Mr Dagger, okay?"

Roman nodded and ran off.

"Sorry about him. I'm Remus, by the way." Remus said.

"No, it's fine." Janus said quickly, making sure to keep his voice low. "It's my fault anyway. I thought it'd be a good idea."

"Ah, so he does speak." Remus said, a crooked grin on his face. "I take it this was for Prince and Princesses today?"

Janus nodded. "Yeah, I couldn't be bothered to think of a costume and thought it'd be fun for the kids to work out what to do. Builds their problem-solving and teamwork skills as well."

Remus nodded. "Interesting." He sighed. "Look, I'm never gonna be your true love, let's just get that out of the way." It said. "However, I would like to get to know you better. What're you doing Saturday?"

Janus nearly laughed. "Are you trying to ask me out?" He asked. Remus looked away quickly.

"Maybe, what about it?" He asked. Janus laughed.

"Nothing, it's just cute. And I'm not doing anything on Saturday." He said. "I'd like to go out with you." Remus blinked at him.

"You're serious?" It asked. "Like, actually serious?"

Janus shrugged. "Why not? You seem nice."

"Uhm- great." Remus said. He laughed a little in disbelief. "See you at six, seven?"

"Seven works for me, if that's okay." Janus said.

"That's more than okay. That's- wow - great!" Remus repeated. "Great, great."

"Zeze, Zeze!" Roman called, running back across the class room.

"Careful, Ro, you'll fall." Remus said.

"I know!" Roman protested. "But I can't fit my coat over my cape." He whined. Janus put a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh. Remus looked up at him.

"C'mon, Ro, I think we've taken up enough of Mr Dagger's time." It said. "We'll sort this out outside, okay?"

"Okay." Roman said cheerily. "Bye, Mr Dagger!" He called, waving at Janus as he ran down the hall and out of the school.

"Nice meeting you." Remus said. "And I'll see you at seven, Saturday."

"Can't wait." Janus said with a grin.

"Now, I'd better go after the little Devil." Remus said, pointing down the hall. "See you."

"Mr Dagger! Mr Dagger!" Roman yelled, running up to Janus still in his coat.

"Woah, Roman, be careful." Janus said. Roman stopped in his tracks, an opened-mouth grin on his face.

"You got your voice back!" Roman yelled, jumping up and down.

"Inside voice, Roman." Janus shushed him.

"Sorry." Roman said. "But you got your voice back! Did Zeze help?" He asked.

Janus looked over Roman's head, where Remus was leaning against the doorway. He smiled a little at Remus.

"Yeah, he did." Janus said. He looked back at Roman. "Go get your coat off and hang your bag up. We're starting class soon."

This is so cute and a lot longer than I expected. No regrets, though.
Bye,
Blaize