Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This entire story came from this screenshot from SvS

Chapter Text

Janus’s alarm blared, jolting him awake. He scrambled to shut it off as fast as possible, trying to shun the annoying machine back into silence. It would also be great if his dad didn’t hear it. He tried to head to bed early so it wouldn’t be so grating, yet here it is, ruining his morning. It was set for so much earlier than usual. Probably for… four? He couldn’t remember. He actually only needed to wake up at seven, but he had some things to return to Remus. It was only a couple books, but knowing Remus, he’d stick around for much longer than a few minutes.

Janus slowly rolled out of his bed, wrapping himself up in the warmth of his blanket. His aunt crocheted it for him when he turned ten. His feet stuck out a bit now, but he still kept it on his bed. Besides a few frays of the pastel yellow yarn, it was barely damaged. It’s still the warmest blanket he owns.

The blanket found its way back to the bed as he dressed. Instead, he donned jeans, his binder, and a yellow sweatshirt. His hair hid beneath the hood, except for a few misbehaving strands curling out the sides. He sat on the unmade bed, leaving it alone. He was going to “wake up” when he got back anyway, and nobody makes their bed before they wake up. He slipped on the quietest shoes he owned, some cheap gray tennis shoes.

Janus stood, walking to his desk. A small pile of books was sitting in a neat pile, organized from largest on the bottom to smallest on top. Beneath them was a desk mat of a polycephalic snake, hidden away behind acrylic paint smudges. A ring was left behind on the mat from the cup of paintbrushes that was left on it overnight. Janus stacked each book into his bag, closing it and securing the straps. Throwing it over his shoulder, he walked over to his bedroom door. Pushing it open, he sidled down the hallway. The carpeted floors silenced his steps. Entering the living room, the leftover smell of a chamomile candle greeted him. He walked across the room, stepping over last night’s game of Disney Villainous. He stopped at the front door, hand resting on the door handle.
“I have the mangoes, right?”
Usually Janus tried to bring a snack to Remus as gratitude for letting him borrow books. It wasn’t really necessary, but it was fun to see Remus guessing what he’d get next. Today, he’d receive dried mango strips.

“My books,
Remus’s books,
The bookmark,
The flower that was in a book inexplicably,
The playbill that was also left in a book inexplicably… No mangoes, though.”
He sighed, turning on his heels. He paced into the kitchen, grabbed the mangoes, and returned to the front door. The mangoes were shoved into Janus’s bag as he pushed open the door, closing it softly. He didn’t want to wake up his dad. And, now, he was outside.

The morning cold greeted him as he walked down the driveway, avoiding the grass. It rained last night, and the last thing Janus wanted was wet shoes. He continued down the sidewalk, beginning the horrifyingly long leg-braking walk to Remus’s house that was right next door. It took all of… twenty seconds? So difficult. Janus glanced around, looking for someone in the dawn. No one was found, so he went ahead and climbed into Remus’s open, darkened window. Going in through the front door would be MUCH easier, but this is more fun.

“Morning,” Janus said, waving to Remus. He didn’t see the wave, as he was fixated on playing OnlyCans. The cans kept moaning every time they got their picture taken.
“Hey, How was your sleep?” Remus spun around in his chair, leaving his cans to groan in anticipation. The computer screen was the only light source, yet the whole room was easily visible.
“Fine. Did you sleep?” Janus flopped over onto the head of Remus’s bed, keeping his shoes off the covers.
“A little. I woke up at… three, probably.”
“What time did you go to bed?”
“Eight. How was Dreadnought?”
“Pretty good. It’s a series, right?”
“Yeah, I'm buying the next one soon.” Remus got up from his chair, walking over to his bed. He sat down, crossed legged on the end. The twin bed wasn’t big enough to let both lay down. The cans were still moaning.
“I have a new one for you. It’s, like, enemies to lovers with pirate kidnapping.”
“Wonderful.”
Remus wrestled Janus’s bag off of his back, haphazardly dumping it out like an eager child surveying their Halloween candy.
“Hey! You brought me mangoes!”
“Oh, yeah. There’s also a playbill and a flower?”
Remus tilted his head, puzzled. He grabbed the playbill, pulling it out of the stack of books.
“Oh. I probably threw it in there by accident. Roman dragged us to Mean Girls again.”
Every couple weeks, the Beckers would find themselves at whatever play or musical Roman needed to see. It always turned out to be an all-day affair, to the point where the twins would sometimes get pulled from school on play days so Roman had time to get ready.
“Was it good?”
“It was fine. It’s hard to enjoy it when I know that my brother won't stop singing it until we see something else. It's like a little girl after seeing her first Disney princess movie.”
“True. I did that when I was little. It drove my dad insane.”
“I’m glad I didn't know you as a little kid, then. You have a flower, too?”
“Yeah, it’s in the big one.” Janus flipped over to pull out his phone. He started scrolling through the hellsite.

Remus grabbed the book containing the flower, cracking it open. The orange flower fell to the bed, the white edges glowing in the relative darkness.
“How’d that get in there?”
Remus scratched his head. “...I’m not sure. Maybe Roman borrowed it…? He’s gotten into flower pressing. Our dad built a garden in the back to grow them and everything.” He took a bite out of a mango strip. Remus lazily rolled off his bed, hitting the floor loudly.
“I need to return this. I’ll be back.” He grabbed the lily and tramped through his door.

Janus put his phone down. He pulled his shoes off and chucked them across the room, kicking his legs up onto the bed. He shuffled around until he was curled up under the jade covers. He pulled a bit up beneath his head as well. Remus never had enough pillows. The ones he did have were super thin.

“Hello,” the rat-man strolled in, locking the door behind him.
“He was awake?”
“Yeah. He’s going out for the day with his improv group, so he’s putting on makeup.”
“At four in the morning?”
“It’s better than school. He wakes up to get ready for school, at like, two. Or two-thirty. It’s stupid. The bathroom is completely unusable until seven.”
“L. The only other person who’ll ever use the bathroom in my house is my dad.”
“Can I break into your house to use your bathroom when Roman’s hogging it?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll leave my window unlocked.”
“Great!”
Remus hopped back on the bed, sitting cross-legged in the same spot as before.
“Can we trade our books now?”
“Can we watch Kappa Kaiju while we do?”
“Of course.”

“Pass me the mangoes, will you?”

Janus handed Remus the bag over the pile of books on the ground. Early on, they migrated onto the floor. The books were sat on top of a random blanket they pulled out of the closet. A carpet would have been ideal, but Remus no longer had one. It was ruined after the saltwater taffy incident.

“You probably need to head back soon. The sun’s coming out.”
“Oh, shit,” Janus wheeled around to see. “Jesus, how long have I been here?”
“It’s… 7:30 now, so like three hours?”
“Shit, man, I’m late! My dad’s gonna be pissed.”
“You’ve been late before, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, but still. He’s always thought that I just slept late.”
“Then you need to go home,” Remus leaned over, combing his hands through Janus’s hair.
“Remus, stop fucking up my hair! God!”
“I’m trying to make it look like you just woke up! Now, take your bag. Jump out the window.”
“Aight. See you at school tomorrow?”
“Yep.”

Janus hopped out the window, turning around to wave as Remus slammed it shut. He waved back, smiling widely like he had just dissected a fetal pig. He disappeared from the window a second later. Janus ran over to his back door, hopping his fence in the process. He had a gate he could go through, but again, jumping the fence is way more fun. He pushed the door in slowly, glancing around for his dad. He wasn’t in eyeshot, but the noise of a butter knife scraping the side of a jam jar was coming from the kitchen, just an arch away. Janus walked quickly down the hallway, making his way into the second hallway, which led to his bedroom and the guest room. He stepped inside, quickly taking off his shoes (he didn’t like wearing shoes inside). He shoved them under the bed, making it as fast as he could. He was supposed to be out of bed almost a half hour ago, after all. After he finished “waking up”, he headed down to the kitchen.

“Morning, dad,” Janus said, giving Logan a quick hug.
“Good morning, Janus. You slept a while, did you go to bed late?”
“Yeah, I got a bit distracted by my book.”
“Oh, you were reading?” Logan pulled away from the embrace, looking down at his son with a pleased smile.
“Yep, I was.”
“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”
“Eh. It’s okay.”
“Nighttime reading can improve sleep quality and reduce anxiety. It’s amazing, especially for teenagers like you. I know how much you all need some better rest.”
“Sheesh, dad. It’s so early, don’t info-dump on me yet.”
Logan rolled his eyes, tousling his kid’s hair in exasperation.
“Set the table, will you? I’m almost done.”

Janus carried two plates, forks, and knives to the rectangle dining table. He placed the chipped plate and silverware on a short side of the table, and the complete plate and silverware on the long side. He sat in front on the chipped plate as Logan came by with the Crofter’s toast, scrambled eggs, and Greek yogurt. He set the dishes onto the table before sitting down, scooting his chair closer to Janus.

“Do we still need to go to Crescent?”
“Yes. You need to get a suit jacket for Morgan’s wedding.”
“I already have a suit jacket!”
Logan picked up the bowl of eggs, doling out a spoonful to each plate. “Yes, but it’s too small. You couldn’t button it when you tried it on. A year ago.”
“I don’t HAVE to button it…”
“You need a new jacket.”
Janus speared an egg, sticking it in his mouth. Logan served the yogurt to their plates, grabbing himself a Crofter’s toast in the process.
“If I get a new jacket, can I get a different color?”
“You don’t want a black one?”
“I wanna try gray, if that’s okay?”
“As long as you get a suit that fits, I don’t care what color it is. We'll probably need to get new pants, too, if you change colors.” Logan gave his toast an odd look, almost like it had just learned to walk.
“Oh, god, it’s happening,” Janus thought, turning his attention to his plate. The noise of Logan inhaling his toast like a Hoover filled the room. Usually, if nobody else took a piece early into breakfast, Logan would eat the whole plate of toast by himself in a few minutes.
“Dad! Take some time to breathe!”
“I don’t need to breathe, I need to feast!”
“DAD! Stop it!”

“Here, hold this.”

Logan handed Janus a fourth jacket to try on. This one, unlike the other three, was a tannish color.

“The sleeves might be too long, but we can get it tailored.”

Logan pulled out yet another jacket, glancing at it. He put it back on the rack quickly.
“Do you want to look at the pants, now?”
“Sure. And then we could get a tie?”
“Why, do you not like mine?” Logan smiled, leading the way to the pants section.
“They’re fine, but I want my own tie. Maybe something gold.”
“We can look at those after you pick out the suit. I assume you want it to match. Hold this, will you?”
Janus took the light gray pants. He shuffled everything he was holding around, trying to relieve the tiredness that had built up in his arms.
“I don’t see any other that’ll match with what we’ve picked up…”
“That'll probably match the tan jacket.” Janus gestured to a pair of pants.
“…Possibly. It might be a bit light. You can try it on, if you’d like.” Logan picked up the pants, handing them to Janus.
“I’m gonna head to the fitting room. Be back in a sec!” Janus ran off with his mountain of clothes, leaving Logan behind.
“There was… so many errors in that sentence…” He shook his head and turned back to the pants. He was just looking for his own this time. Navy blue. Usually he would go for black at such a formal event, but then he might clash with the groom.

A few minutes later, Janus came back. He only had one suit with him.
“Did the other three not fit?”
“Nah, I just like this one most.”
Logan smiled, looking the outfit up and down nostalgically. His features softened.
“You know…” he confided, “I never thought I’d be helping my son pick out a suit.”
“You thought you’d be looking for a dress?”
“Yes… We’d probably have to call your mother to help. I usually don’t look at clothes.”
Janus snorted, shuffling the clothes in his arm. “Except for suit pieces, apparently.”
“If I’m going to an event in a suit, then I might as well make a good impression.” Logan finally pulled some pants off the rack. The reflective look in his eyes had disappeared. “Do you still need a tie?”
“Yep.” Janus turned on his heel, hurrying away to escape the moment.

He looked over each tie, starting in the yellow section. Out of the expansive selection, two caught his eye. One had a goldenrod honeycomb pattern. The hexagons themselves were the color of ripe starfruit. The other was paisley patterned with darker yellow accents.
Janus glanced over to his dad. He was looking at the black ties. To “give you a neutral option,” he said.
“Dad…”
“Yes?”
“We’re going to a wedding, not a funeral.”
“You can wear black at places other than funerals, you know. Do you like this one?” He held up a black, shiny, unpatterned tie.
“So… interesting. Really draws your attention.”
Logan tutted. “It's elegant. Aren’t you interested in appearing elegant? That’s why you bought that cloak.”

He kept bringing that up whenever he talked about fancy clothes. Janus had convinced him to buy a layered black cloak. It had a stitched pattern down the edges of the fabric and a giant flowy hood. Originally, it was for a Halloween costume, but he liked it so much that it became a closet staple. Usually, it was used as a winter coat. It looked a hell of a lot cooler than a puffy jacket that didn’t even cover your legs.

“The cloak’s different.”
Logan sighed, placing the tie back on the wall.
“Whatever. You can borrow one of mine, if you need one.” He glanced down at the ties in his son’s hands.
“How much are those?”
“Hmm… 8.99 each.”
Logan took the paisley one, looking it over and admiring the pattern.
“Very well. I was only going to buy you one, but they’re inexpensive enough. I assume you’ll use them both anyway.”
“Thank you,” Janus said, smiling. Logan softly smiled back.
“I’ll teach you how to tie that at home.”

Chapter Text

“Tanja Tevfik?”
“Here!”
The short girl flicked her hand up, paying more attention to organizing her folders than the teacher.

“Arthur Irmina?”
“Here,” he said, looking up from his phone.

“Rosa Efraín?”

The teacher’s voice began to muffle as Janus zoned out. Soon enough, it just became white noise. He scanned the room from the back corner at which he sat. He knew most of the students from previous years. Roman and one of his friends were near the front. Him spending hours on his makeup seemed to be true. With the bronzer and the burgundy lip gloss, he almost looked like a different person. Some ginger kid apparently didn’t like that, since he kept glaring with disgust. Roman hadn’t noticed yet, luckily. He shouldn’t feel bad because one person didn’t like boys dressing up.

Janus glanced back towards the door. Remy said that he had the same homeroom. Sure, he’s usually late, but class started almost ten minutes ago. And Janus didn’t want to sit alone.

Luckily, he didn’t need to. The door slammed open just a few seconds later.
“SORRY! My cat was sleeping on me and I couldn’t leave!”

The teacher’s head swiveled to the door, her glasses flying off her face and onto the floor. They noisily smacked on the tile, thankfully not broken.
“Sir! No need to yell!”
Remy simply picked up her glasses and handed them back. “Sorry.” He went to sit next to Janus, sipping his Starbucks like a baby suckling on a pacifier. He winked at Roman’s friend as he walked by, who smiled and waved back. Roman shot them both a confused look.

She sighed, setting her glasses back on her nose. “What’s your name? For attendance?”
“Remy Osborne.”
“Alright…” she marked it down on her sheet.

“And I know Janus’s here…” she muttered.

“Okay, everyone,” she clapped her hands together. “I’m Ms. Reynolds, I’m going to be your homeroom and English teacher this year. We’re going to look over your syllabus first and discuss classroom expectations…”

Remy nudged Janus, whispering in his ear. “Did you tell her the name thing?”
“Yeah, I told her before class started.”
“Hmm.” He took a sip of coffee. “Is she cool with it?”
“Even if she wasn’t, she has to deal with it. The principal’s gay, so. Can’t really be homophobic around her.”
“You say she’s gay, and yet she doesn’t have vines in her office. I’ve literally tried to tell her ‘Buy vines!’ But apparently it IsN’t PrOfEsSiOnAl!”

“Another thing, before we start our beginning of the year assignment-”

“Oh, come on!”
“We have an assignment already?”
“Todays supposed to be easy!”
“This better not be graded-”
“It’s the first day!”
“This isn’t very live laugh love of you!”

“Calm down! It’s just for me to get to know you guys a bit better. Before that, I want each of you to get a sticky note out and write the name of ONE other student you’d like to sit with. We’re changing seats tomorrow. I’ll come collect those in a minute.”

“J, I need to borrow a sticky note. And a pencil. I didn’t bring anything except this.” Remy gestured with his coffee.
“Sure, here.” He handed Remy the pad of post-it notes.
“Thanks.” He scribbled something down that seemed entirely unreadable. “I’m gonna see if I can sit with Emile. This is the only class we have together.”
“Lucky. I don’t have any with Remus.”
“You have lunch.”
“That’s not a class.”
“Close enough.” Remy took another sip of coffee.

The conversation dwindled down as the teacher collected their papers. Janus glanced toward the front table. Roman and Emile were deep in conversation. Emile showed Roman something on his phone, then pointed to Remy across the room. Both of them sneakily glanced at him. However, they weren’t discreet enough because Remy gave them a quick wave. Emile smiled bashfully and turned away.
“Remy.”
“What?” He looked back at Janus, lowering his sunglasses to glance over them.
“Are you and Emile dating or what?”
He smiled. “Yeah, we got really close during the summer. He needed to practice makeup on someone and it just built from there.” He grinned. “And I think he’s gotten very skilled.”
“You in full makeup would be a LOOK. Do you have pictures?”
“Hell yeah, I’ll send them to you later.”

The teacher clapped her hands. “Alright, let’s get to work.”

Janus walked down the hall, heading to his last class of the day: drama. He was pretty excited. The same group of people had been in drama for as long as the class existed, and they were all mostly pretty nice, with the exception of the few transphobic kids campaigning for Janus to exclusively play female roles. Luckily, no one in class ever gave them the time of day. There were too many confident gays in there to let them.

He got to the door and pushed it open. The drama class took place in a near empty room with nothing but a small stage on the back wall. The only other person in class so far, Roman, was leaning on it checking his phone. He glanced up when he heard the door open, but it barely was a second before he nodded and went back to his phone. Him and Janus didn’t know each other very well, despite the fact that his brother was Janus’s best friend. They never really talked other than when they had a social studies project together in sixth grade. But, since Janus didn’t have any anxiety about standing next to people he didn’t know, he walked up to the stage and sat down on the edge, a few feet away from the other boy.

The next person to walk in was that ginger kid, Lewis, from homeroom. He was one of the transphobic kids that nobody in the class liked. He only took the class because it was “easy.” He glanced up once he got to the stage, giving a momentary disgusted face to Roman.
“You know, nobody here really wants to see that,” he said tamely, gesturing to the other boy’s face. Roman glanced down.
“You forgot to zip your pants.” He said, pointing with one well-manicured fingernail.

He opened his mouth to say something, but by that point more students and the teacher had streamed in, so instead he zipped his fly and ran off to the other homophobic outcasts. Roman smiled and leaned against the stage again, smirking ever-so-slightly.

Finally, fifty minutes of going over the syllabus later, the last bell of the day rang and the class was over. Most everyone shoved out of the room towards the lockers. Janus stuck behind to wait for the carnage to pass. He didn't like all the pushing. With the extra time, he started digging through his bag for his phone. He could see Roman and Lewis arguing with each other out of his peripheral vision. Judging from the offended scoffs Roman was making, it mustn't have been very nice.
Janus finally retrieved his phone and stood up, intending to walk to his dad’s classroom. He taught all the upper-level math classes at the school, and in turn made getting home very easy–

Suddenly, Janus got nearly knocked over by Roman running directly into him. “Sorry,” he muttered, not even bothering to turn around as he angrily strode out of the room at the same speed.

“Rude!” Janus yelled after him in annoyance. After he got no response, he picked up his bag and left for his dad’s classroom, leaving Lewis alone in the theater room.

“Hey, dad.” Logan looked up from his desk.
“Hello, Janus. How was your first day of high school?” He asked, getting up with his bag.
“Fine. I’m really tired, though. Me and Remus don’t have any classes together.”
“That’s unfortunate. Do you know any of your other classmates? Perhaps Remy is in one of your classes?”
“He’s in my homeroom and math, but that’s it.”

The small family walked out of the classroom. Logan made sure to lock the classroom, and then turned his attention back to his son.

The two got in the car. Janus immediately threw his bag in the backseat and slumped down in his seat.

“...Janus?”
“Yeah?” He responded, not bothering to open his eyes.
“Are you going to put on a seatbelt?”
“Oh, yeah. I guess.” He slipped his seatbelt on, barely adjusting his sitting position. Logan watched with skillfully-masked horror.
“Are you going to sit up?”
“It’s so much more comfortable here…”
“That’s not a safe sitting position, Janus. If we become a part of a collision, or-”
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Janus sat up, making sure to put his feet on the floor to appease his father.
“Okay. Thank you.” Logan said. He shifted the car into “D” and began driving. “You understand why I’m adamant about this, correct? Safety is important. I know that while it seems like a car accident could never involve you…”

As Logan rambled on and on about car safety, Janus took the opportunity to sit like the gay man he was, and sat with one leg crossed over the other and comfortably leaning on the backrest.

When they pulled into the driveway, he waited until the engine was off to throw open his door and run inside. He tore off his shoes, stumbling about one-legged until the second came off, jumping onto the family couch and hogging every seat. His father appeared beside him.
“I assume you are tired?”
“Mmm,” the teen sounded from the couch.
“Alright, I’ll let you rest. Just remember to do any possible homework you have before tomorrow.”
On the chair opposite the couch, Logan made himself comfortable with a warm cup of chamomile tea and a book. He turned on Beethoven’s Symphony #9 to cover the sound of his son softly snoring in his sleep. It certainly wasn’t the worst way to spend an afternoon.