⇢ ˗ˏˋ dirty dancing by cody jon ࿐ྂ
blue lock x fem!reader
characters: yoichi isagi, rin itoshi, seishiro nagi (separate)
content: weird/bad habits they have
ari's note: i'll make a part two soon! let me kno who u want to see in the second part!!!
part 2. part 3.
yoichi isagi: folding the top corner of a book as a bookmark
"ichi! yoichi!" you called from the kitchen. you were currently baking some cookies that you wanted to gift to isagi's friend, bachira, for his birthday.
"come here and help me taste test the cookies, please!" you called again when you got no reply from your boyfriend.
a few minutes passed and still no reply from him.
"ugh, is he deaf? oh my goodness.." you sighed, rinsing your hands and drying them with a towel before going to his room to get him.
"yoichi! i've been calling you!" you snapped as you slammed his door open. isagi jolted in surprise from the manga he was reading as you suddenly opened his door.
he removed the earbuds from his ear and sighed softly, "oh, it's just you. you gave me a heart attack there.."
you rubbed your temples and heaved in frustration, "reading my manga again? goodness.."
he nodded happily.
"yes! thanks for lending it to me, by the way. could i borrow the entire collection? i want to read them at home when i'm free." he asked, returning his attention back to the manga.
"ah, sure. just take care of it, 'kay? those are expensive as hell." you answered and wanted to walk away when you remembered why you called for him in the first place, "oh! right. come and try the cookies i baked, ichi. need someone to taste them before i give them to birthday boy bachira."
he looked up at the mention of cookies, "oh! cookies?! i'm coming!!"
he folded the top page of the manga he was reading as a bookmark so he could go back and read it again later.
"h-hey! don't fold the manga page like that. oh my god! my manga! isagi, quick unfold it! hurry, isagi!" you wailed for your precious manga.
"h-huh?! what did i do?! unfold!? what?!" isagi panicked, not knowing the damage he had done to your precious, expensive manga.
"you idiot! you don't just fold the pages like that for a bookmark, isagi! use a card, or a random piece of paper, or something! don't just fold it! oh my god.. my manga... it's ruined..." you dramatically cried and isagi's eyes widened in horror.
"i-i'm sorry, y/n!! i'll... i'll get you.. n-new manga! please don't cry, don't cry!" isagi panicked, holding your folded manga in his hands like it was some dying animal.
"oh? new manga? okay, you said so, isagi. i'm expecting my new manga tomorrow." you said and got up, flashing him a playful grin and going back to the kitchen.
"what? hey! i thought you were crying, don't do this to me! y/n!" isagi shouted, chasing after you to the kitchen.
rin itoshi: leaving you on heard
you and rin were currently watching a movie in the living room. well, it was mostly you watching. rin just sat on the couch with you to keep you company. he was mindlessly scrolling through his phone, the sounds from the movie you were watching were merely just white noise to him.
"eh? isn't that the same actor in the series we watched a few months ago?" you gasped upon seeing a familiar actor in the movie you were currently watching.
no reply.
"rin?"
still no reply.
"hello, rin itoshi?" you called, eyes glued on the tv still.
"rinnie?" you kept calling his name until you were able to pull your eyes from the screen and look at your boyfriend, who you thought was sleeping since he didn't reply to any of your calls.
you looked at your boyfriend. he had one arm resting on the armrest of the couch, his head leaning on his fist, reading something on his phone. clearly awake.
you shrugged, brushing off his silence. maybe he's reading something important. you returned your attention back to the tv, forgetting about your question to him.
"yeah, i think it's the same actor." rin replied after 15 minutes, still looking at his phone.
you turned to look at him in confusion, "what? you took so long to answer, were you googling it?"
rin lifted his face from his phone and raised a brow at you, "googling? what would i be googling? i was reading this crime article i found." he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
you gave him a puzzled look, "you know what? never mind. thanks for confirming, rin."
"of course. you're welcome, love." he nonchalantly replied and turned his attention back to his crime article as though he didn't just leave you on heard for a whopping 15 minutes.
seishiro nagi: drinking milk with ice
"hey, girlfriend? could you get me a glass of milk, please? i'm so thirsty." nagi called out while he was laying on the couch while you were in the kitchen.
"i'm busy, sei. come and get it yourself." you called back while washing the dishes.
"huhhh, but i'm sooo lazyyy. can you do it for me, girlfriend? pretty please?" he whined quietly, but loud enough for you to hear.
"ugh, fine. but only because i love you." you sighed, drying your hands and paused washing the dishes as you grabbed a glass and took the milk carton from the fridge.
you poured the milk into the glass and placed it on the coffee table in front of nagi, who had sat up from his lying down position on the couch.
he smiled cheekily at you, "hehe, thank you, girlfriend. i love you, you always take care of me."
you blushed and looked away, "whatever, sei. just drink your milk and come help me in the kitchen."
you walked back to the kitchen and resumed washing the dishes. it was quiet until you heard the fridge open again. thinking nagi was still thirsty and was just getting more milk, you ignored it and carried on with washing the dishes.
that is, until you heard the sound of clinking ice cubes. you turned your head in shock, and your mouth parted in surprise at what you saw.
nagi, adding ice cubes into his glass full of milk.
"nagi seishiro! what in heaven's name are you doing?" you said, shocked. nagi paused midway of grabbing another ice cube and looked at you, bewildered.
"what? i'm just getting ice. you forgot to add the ice cubes." he shrugged and resumed adding ice cubes to his glass of milk which was going to overflow from the amount of ice cubes he had added.
you shook your head in disbelief as you watched your boyfriend carry on with his weird habit, like he was committing a crime. but you said nothing, rubbed your temples and washed the dishes again. all while speculating about how you ended up dating a weirdo like nagi and how he even enjoyed drinking cold milk with ice cubes.
nagi bonus!!:
after cleaning the kitchen, you and nagi settled on the couch to watch a movie. he was still drinking his milk with ice cubes. you really wanted to question it but he seemed to be enjoying himself so you let him.
a few minutes into the movie, you heard crunching sounds and looked at nagi, thinking he had some chips or something to munch on. but to your horror, you saw your boyfriend chewing on the ice cubes from his empty glass.
"n-nagi seishiro! stop chewing on that ice!" you scolded, taken aback from discovering another one more of nagi's weird habits.
"oh, sorry. i'll chew softer then."
"t-that's not what i meant! y-you.. you idiot! your teeth are gonna be spoiled if you keep doing that! stop!"
"what! don't say that! my teeth are fine!"
end.
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Plant Your Hope With Good Seeds
Dukeceit Week Day 3: Snakes/Bugs
Remus and Janus break up. But literally everyone knows that's not what they want. Everyone, including their plants.
AO3 Link: [here]
Word Count: 4337
Warnings: n/a
@dukeceitweek <3
-
Unknown Number
hey so i kno i said i wouldnt text u but rupert isnt doin good. can i bring him back? he misses u
Janus stared at the text for several minutes. Rupert was, of course, the Monstera Variegata that he and Remus had raised together all the way from propagation. It had been one of the pride and joys of their plant collection. Losing Rupert in the split had hurt almost as much as losing Remus.
...Almost.
Janus
Is it getting enough light? Remember it needed the grow light even next to the window.
Janus texted back against his better judgement. He and Remus were broken up. They’d agreed not to text for a while. They’d agreed to give each other space, get used to being apart.
It sucked, though. The apartment felt empty without Remus and half their plant collection.
Unknown Number
ya i kno. but i don’t have any south facign windows here. our place is better
Unknown Number
i mean ur place
Janus sighed morosely. Well, if it was for Rupert…
Janus
Fine. Rupert can come back.
Unknown Number
yay! ill be in town this weekend. ill bring him ok?
Janus
Ok.
And then Janus promptly threw his phone across the room.
Because here’s the thing. Janus and Remus were broken up. Remus had moved eight hours away and everything. He’d been accepted into the Nuclear Engineering graduate program a state away, and they had both heard too many horror stories about long-distance relationships to brother trying. So they’d had a very civil and mutual split. Janus kept the apartment. Remus took the TV. And they’d divided their plant family between them: they each kept their favorites, and Remus had taken the hardier plants, while Janus kept the ones that were likely not to survive an interstate move.
And then… Remus left.
And Janus had not immediately wanted him back. Not at all.
(And, of course, Janus was lying to himself.)
Remus texted him Saturday morning that he was on his way, and Janus spent the first few hours of the wait stress-cleaning. He then checked on every single plant in the apartment. Watered the ones that needed it. Rotated some of the more vivacious growers so that they wouldn’t lean full-body toward their light source. Moved his small army of Sansevierias out to the apartment balcony for some extra sun.
Then, when all that still failed to fill up the entire eight hours of waiting, he started stress-cooking. So by the time Remus texted that he’d just gotten off the highway, Janus had himself a pot of minestrone soup simmering on the stove, a tray of made-from-scratch lasagna in the oven, and was mixing up a batch of double chocolate chip cookies.
There was no way he was going to eat all this food himself, he realized. He was so used to booking big meals like this, because Remus ate like he was three people. And lasagna was his favorite.
“Oh, Jake, what am I doing?” he groaned to the N’Joy Pothos that cascaded down the side of the refrigerator. And then his doorbell rang.
Janus opened the door to find Remus, dancing awkwardly from foot to foot, with his face half-hidden behind the green-and-white leaves of Rupert.
“...Hey,” Remus said, sounding sheepish. Janus’ heart clenched.
“Hi,” he said. They stood there in the doorway for a full minute before Janus stepped back and motioned for Remus to follow. Remus hesitated, but obeyed.
“Uh… I’ll just…” Remus looked around. Janus hated how uncomfortable he looked. Until about two weeks ago, this had been Remus’ apartment, too. “Can I put him in his old spot?”
“Sure,” Janus replied with a nod. Rupert’s old spot had been in the bedroom, where the big, beautiful south-facing window let in a ton of light. He’d moved Venus de Milos, his Marble Queen Pothos, and La Hoya Jackson, the finicky Hoya Carnosa that Remus had wanted but didn’t expect to make the 8-hour drive without going into shock, to free up Rupert’s spot. Remus hesitated again, before he nodded awkwardly and wandered off to the bedroom, all three feet of plant and two gallons of soil in tow. Janus went to the oven and took out the lasagna.
“Howl looks good,” Remus said when he came back into the kitchen. Janus glanced up from where he was laying balls of cookie dough out onto baking sheets.
“Thank you,” he replied. Howl was their dramatic fiddle leaf fig tree, which had decided to throw a fit just before Remus left. “I switched it to a terracotta pot with peat moss and pearlite, and doubled its water intake. It seems to be tolerating it well.”
“Good.” There was a long pause. Then,” How are you?”
Janus looked back to the cookies. “I’m doing well,” he lied. “And you? Do you start class soon?”
“Next week,” Remus answered. “And, uh. Yeah, I’m doin’ good.” Another long pause. “Uh… I’ll just. Head out, I guess.”
“You could stay,” Janus blurted out. Shit. “For dinner, I mean.” He gestured to the tray of lasagna, fresh from the oven. “If you want.”
Remus gave him an uncharacteristically shy smile, then nodded slowly. He didn’t say anything, though, so Janus just gestured for him to take a seat at the table. And then he joined him, a plate of lasagna for each of them.
“So tell me, how’s living with Roman again?” Janus asked, a few bites into the meal, because he could not take the awkward silence a moment longer.
“It’s ok,” Remus answered. He shoveled another forkful of lasagna into his mouth. “This is really good, Jan.”
Janus smiled softly. “Thank you.” A pause. “Roman doesn’t mind all the plants?”
“Nah, he’s dating this guy Patton who apparently loves plants, so the apartment being full of houseplants is a huge plus to him now.”
“Good for him.” The oven timer went off, startling him slightly. He started to get up, but Remus waved him off.
“I got ‘em, you did all the cooking.”
Janus didn’t protest. Remus got up and took the cookies out of the oven. And he even moved them to a cooling rack like Janus had taught him to do. He came back to the table.
“How’s work?”
Janus sighed. “Oh, terrible as always,” he answered. “I really must start looking for a new job.”
“Finally getting fed up?” Remus teased. Janus rolled his eyes. More seriously, Remus continued, “You deserve better, Jan. You gotta find some place that treats you right and pays you what you’re worth.”
“Thank you, Remus.”
“And hey, just sayin’, I still think you’d make an excellent stripper.”
Janus snorted at that. “I haven’t fully ruled out that particular career change.”
They fell easily back into their usual banter, lingering late into the night over a dessert of milk and cookies. It was pushing 10pm when Remus glanced at his phone and cursed softly. Janus glanced at his phone as well.
“Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you so late,” he said. Remus shrugged.
“Nah, it’s cool. Thanks for dinner, Jan. It was real good, as always.”
“Where are you staying?”
“Uh… well, the plan was to stay with Logan, but I guess he had some kind of family emergency, so I don’t wanna trouble him. I’ll probably see if I can find a hotel room.”
Janus’ brow furrowed at that. “Why don’t you just stay here?”
“Oh, uh. I don’t wanna trouble you. I kinda feel like I already overstayed my welcome a bit?”
“Nonsense. A hotel room will cost you at least $100 for the night, and that’s simply ridiculous,” Janus insisted. “You should just stay here.”
Remus worried at his lip, which Janus knew meant he was mulling over his options. Then, he nodded. “If it’s not a bother?”
“Of course not. You’re not a bother, Remus.”
Remus’ eyes softened, and he smiled. “Ok. Thank you. Oh… lemmie go get my overnight back outta my truck.”
When Remus came back inside, Janus had just about finished making up the couch.
“Hey, you don’t gotta get all fancy,” Remus teased. “You know I can sleep basically anywhere.”
“This is for me,” Janus replied. He fluffed up one of the pillows a bit more. “You take the bed.”
An odd look flashed across Remus’ face. “No way, Jan. I’m good on the couch.”
“Remus, you just drove eight hours, and you’re doing it again tomorrow. I am not letting you fuck up your back.”
‘I don’t-”
“Yes you do, no matter how often you say you can sleep anywhere,” Janus scoffed. “You can’t lie to me.”
Remus’ eyes softened, and after a moment, he sighed. “Ok, Jan. But what about you?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You hate sleeping on couches.”
“It’s only one night-”
“And don’t you work tomorrow?”
“Yes, but-”
“You’re going to be so grumpy at work without a proper night’s sleep.”
“I’m usually grumpy at work anyway,” Janus pointed out. Remus snorted.
“Ok, that’s true. But I don’t want you to be even grumpier,” he said. “Let’s just share the bed.”
Janus eyed him for a moment. This was a terrible idea. They should not do this.
“Ok,” Janus said anyway.
They got ready for bed in awkward silence, which just made Janus miss Remus’ long, rambling chatter that much more. When Janus finished in the bathroom, he found Remus sitting gingerly on what used to be his side of the bed. Janus came over and sat down on the other side.
“Hey, uh… thanks,” Remus said. “For lettin’ me stay.”
“Of course,” Janus answered. “I… I still think of you as a friend, Remus.”
At that. Remus grimaced slightly. He didn’t say anything, seeming unable to find the right words. Before he could, Janus pulled back the top blankets on the bed and laid down. After a moment, Remus did the same.
“Good night, Remus,” Janus said quietly.
“...Good night, Janus,” Remus answered. Then he reached over and shut off the light.
-
Remus played that night over and over in his head in the days after he got home, and each and every time, he was just as stumped.
He knew, in his brain, why he and Janus had broken up. It had been the only thing that made sense at the time, when the facts were just that Remus was moving away to pursue a lifelong dream, and Janus would never ever try to stop him from doing so. So they broke up. It made sense… right?
But… That morning, he’d woken up to Janus curled up in his arms, face smushed against Remus’ neck, and… Remus had completely forgotten why they had even broken up in the first place.
Remus was back at Roman’s apartment, now. Eight hours away in his own cold bed, arms empty of the man he loved, just staring at the ceiling. A sharp knock on his door snapped him out of his daze.
“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty,” Roman called. “Don’t you have class in like an hour?”
“Fuck!” Remus scrambled to get up, but succeeded only in rolling out of the bed.
“Don’t forget to lock the door when you leave,” Roman added. Clearly he was unconcerned by the loud “thump” of a body hitting the floor.
“Yup, got it,” Remus groaned in reply. He staggered, successfully this time, to his feet.
Getting dressed was a rushed affair of ‘grab whatever’s closest,’ and soon he emerged from the bedroom with one shoe on, the other in his hand, and his backpack slung over one shoulder. He rushed into the kitchen to grab the travel mug of coffee Janus always set out for him in the mornings. And then the realization hit: Janus didn’t live here.
Remus dropped his shoe.
The rest of the day went about as well as it could have gone without any coffee- that is to say, terribly. He got lost trying to get to campus, then he got lost again trying to get to class. Then he got stuck in traffic on the way back to Roman’s apartment. And then, to top it all off, the grocery store had been out of his favorite chips.
So here he was, mopey and chip-less, and fucking exhausted. He dumped his backpack and collapsed face-first onto the couch. Roman, who happened to be sitting on said couch, made a noise of protest.
“Move, I need to sulk,” Remus mumbled, though his voice was thoroughly muffled by Roman’s thigh, since that was where his face had landed.
“What on earth do you need to sulk for?” Roman asked incredulously. He moved to shove Remus off of him, but Remus went full ragdoll, and Roman couldn’t do a damn thing. “You are a grown man, you know.”
Remus turned his head just enough to stick his tongue out at Roman. Roman stuck his tongue out back.
“I had a terrible day, I earned a good sulk.”
“Didn’t like your classes?”
“Nah, they were great.”
“Professors?”
“Great.”
“Classmates?”
“Great.”
“Then Zeus Almighty, what are you so mopey-dopey about?” Roman remanded.
Remus squirmed around so he was laying on his back, head still in Roman’s lap, to look up at his brother. “So… uh… you promise not to get all, like. I told you so and shit?”
“You miss Janus!”
“No! I-”
“You do!” Roman crowed triumphantly. Remus rolled onto his side so he didn’t have to look at his brother’s dumb gloaty face.
“...Maybe,” he groaned. Abruptly, he clamored to his feet and started for the stairs. “I gotta go build a chair.”
“Carpentry won’t solve your relationship problems,” Roman called after him.
“I know,” Remus called back. “Wrong type of wood.” If Roman had a response to that, Remus was already out the door and didn’t have to hear it.
Patton found him out in front of the apartment building some time later, a jigsaw in hand, and a pile of cut wooden dowels at his feet.
“Hey, kiddo, what are you up to?”
Remus looked up from where he was balancing a plank of wood precariously across a milk crate, because his work table was one of the things he’d had to leave behind at Janus’ place.
“Oh, hey. Ro-bro’s upstairs.”
Patton gave him the sort of smile teachers gave to the kid they caught eating glue for the fourth time. “That doesn’t look super safe. Do you want any help?”
Remus took in Patton’s soft blue sweater and the dad-jeans from the nicer end of his closet, as well as the reusable grocery store bag that smelled suspiciously like some kind of lovely home-cooked meal; he shook his head. “You look dressed for a date night,” he said. “I don’t wanna fuck up two relationships this week.”
Patton’s eyes, impossibly, got even bigger and softer than they normally were, which honestly was quite the feat. He walked over to the stairs but, instead of making his way up to Roman’s apartment, he plopped down on the third step, facing Remus. Remus stared, bewildered.
“Uh, what’chu doin’ there, pops?”
“Well, it just sounded like you needed to talk,” Patton replied cheerfully. “So here I am.”
Remus stared a moment longer, somehow even more bewildered than before. “Uh…”
“I know I haven’t known you very long,” Patton continued. “But something tells me you’re the type of person who busts out the power tools when you’re upset.”
“How the hell can you tell that?”
Patton glanced over his shoulder, then leaned forward slightly. “Because,” he said, voice lowered conspiratorially. “I’m like that too.”
Remus blinked. “You?”
“Yup! I replaced all the tables and chairs in my house with ones I made myself after my last breakup,” Patton giggled. “Only two of them collapsed when I sat in them, too!”
Remus glanced down at the jigsaw in his hands, and then he sighed. He set it down, and went to sit next to Patton on the steps.
“Ok, well. Yeah, maybe I’m kinda upset.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Yeah? No? Maybe?”
“Yup, those are your three options!” Patton teased. Remus rolled his eyes.
“Ok, fine. You win, daddy-o. I’m upset because I miss my boyfriend. Or, well, my ex-boyfriend. I want him to be my boyfriend again.”
“Have you told him that?”
“Of course not,” Remus whined.
“Why not?”
“Because… I mean. It wouldn’t change anything. I still moved away. And I don’t even know if he’d want to be my boyfriend again either. Maybe he’s happier now.���
“You don’t know that,” Patton said gently. “Sure, maybe the circumstances aren’t the best right now, but if you both want it, things have a funny way of working out. But you have to talk to him.”
“I…” Remus paused. And then he sighed deeply. “I guess you’re right. Hey thanks, that did actually sorta help.”
Patton offered him a gentle smile. “Of course, Remus! Any time!”
“Hey!”
They both turned to see Roman standing at the top of the stairs, arms crossed.
“My own brother, hogging my boyfriend like this! The betrayal-”
“Relax, Ro, he’s not my type,” Remus shot back. “I prefer sarcastic little menaces.”
Patton giggled at that. He stood up and patted Remus on the shoulder. “I hope things work out,” he said. Remus smiled back.
“Yeah, I hope so too.”
Really, he just wanted Janus to be happy. Ideally with him, but if Janus was happier without him, well… so be it.
- - -
Janus was miserable.
“Dude, c’mon,” Virgil grumbled, immediately upon seeing the state of the apartment. “You’ve been watering your plants and filling the humidifiers, but you can’t be bothered to throw out your gross pizza boxes?” A pause. “Wait, you don’t even like pizza, what the hell.”
Janus just shrugged. After letting Virgil and Logan into the apartment, he’d gone straight back into blanket-burrito-on-the-couch mode. And really, he’d only bothered to get up and let them inside in the first place because Virgil had threatened to axe down the door- and Janus knew for a fact that Virgil owned multiple axes.
“I believe he is engaging in what is described as ‘emotional eating,’ or using food as a coping mechanism in a time of stress and emotional turmoil,” Logan said helpfully. Virgil just huffed.
“That’s fine and all, but Jesus Christ, dude.” He gestured around the livingroom where… ok, yeah, it was a mess.
“Did you two come here just to insult me?” Janus grumbled. His face was half-mashed into a pillow, though, so who knows how much of that was actually discernible.
“We came to make sure you were still alive,” Virgil snapped, indicating that at least most of what Janus had said was discernible. “You weren’t answering any texts.”
“Yes, and you called out of work three days in a row,” Logan added. “We are concerned for you, Janus.”
“I’m perfectly fine,” Janus lied from the comfort of his depression blanket burrito. He was not particularly surprised when neither Virgil or Logan looked even remotely convinced.
“Alright, drastic measure time,” Virgil growled. He walked over to the window, and picked up the young Burgundy Rubber Tree Janus had yet to name. Janus sat bolt upright.
“Virgil? Don’t you dare-”
Virgil walked past him and vanished down the hall. When he came back, his hands were empty, and he had a smirk on his face.
“Oh, fuck you,” Janus hissed. He dragged himself up off the couch to go rescue the poor thing, finding it stashed in the dark, windowless bathroom. When he came back to the livingroom, Virgil and Logan were sprawled across the couch.
“Ha ha, very funny.” Janus set the rubber tree back on the windowsill alongside the Snake Plant Army. “Ok, I’m up. Are you heathens happy now?”
“I take offense to that,” Logan muttered, while Virgil just crossed his arms and said, curtly, “Spill it.”
“Spill what?”
“Why are you so upset?”
“I’m not upset-”
“Falsehood,” Logan interrupted. “I have known you since high school, Janus, and I have never seen you like this before. It is highly alarming.”
“Is this about Remus?” Virgil asked.
“No,” Janus said immediately. “Of course not.”
Virgil and Logan exchanged a Look. Janus groaned.
“Fuck. Ok, fine. Maybe it is.”
“Was that so hard?” Virgil asked.
“Yes.”
“You-”
“Janus,” Logan interrupted Virgil’s retort. “It is my understanding that emotional distress is often alleviated through, as they say, ‘talking it out.’ It is clear you are not handling the break-up as well as you initially believed-”
“Of course I’m not!” Janus snapped. He took a deep breath, and turned back to the plants on his windowsill. Kaa, the Sansevieria Moonshine Remus had gotten for Janus as an anniversary present last year, was already leaning slightly toward the window again. He rotated it, and a few of the other snake plants on the sill. And then he realized the others had been quiet for far too long. He turned to find them both watching him with sympathetic expressions. “What?”
“Keep going,” Virgil prompted. Janus sighed. He felt exhausted.
“Of course I’m not,” he said again. “Because I love Remus.”
“And?” Virgil prompted.
“...And I didn’t want us to break up,” he finished, feeling glum. Wordlessly, Virgil stood up, and approached Janus, arms out. Janus stepped into the embrace. Nobody said anything; Janus didn’t cry, but he stood there for a long time. Then, he stepped back.
“Thank you,” he said, and he meant it. Virgil gave him a small smile. Logan cocked his head, seeming confused.
“I don’t understand. You just… needed a hug?”
“Hugs are great, Logan,” Virgil replied. “You should try them sometime- hey, where are you going?”
Janus strode past them both, beelining for his bedroom to find his laptop. Over his shoulder, he answered, “To fill out some job applications.”
- - -
Remus was outside building a new bookshelf- because Patton was moving in, and Roman's teenie-tiny sad little excuse for a bookshelf, which held only Disney DVDs and no actual books, wouldn’t suffice for all of Patton’s cookbooks- when his phone rang. Which was weird, because nobody ever called him, because he never fucking answered.
“Not interested, Mr. Spam Man,” he crooned over the sound of the generic iPhone ringtone. He was learning how to do kerf bending for this bookcase, and goddamn it he wasn’t going to be distracted by-
His phone started ringing again. He swore and ripped off his gloves to silence his phone. But as he did so, he realized the number flashing across his screen was a familiar one.
“Janus? Are you ok?” he answered the call, half panicked, because Janus hated phone calls almost as much as he did.
“Hi. Yes, everything’s fine.” Janus sounded slightly hysterical, which made Remus feel even more frantic. “Where are you?”
“I’m at Roman’s. Are you sure you’re ok-”
“Great, don’t leave. I’ll be right there.”
“What does that mean-” Remus demanded, but the line was already dead. Remus swore again. He briefly considered calling him back, because what the actual fuck was that all about, but he was only about 30 seconds into that brief consideration before a familiar car tearing through the apartment complex parking lot caught his attention. He quickly brushed as much of the sawdust off his clothes as he could because holy shit Janus had just parked right there in front of Roman’s apartment.
Remus watched, dumbfounded, as Janus scrambled out of his car- dressed in his very nice black suit and pale yellow button-up- and came running across the lawn toward where Remus was working. He had a tiny plant clutched to his chest.
“Uh, Jan, you good?” Remus asked. Janus stopped in front of him and doubled over, breathless, for a few moments. Then, he straightened up, and fixed Remus with a look of sheer determination.
“Remus. I want to get back together.”
Remus’ heart, the traitorous bastard, leaped up into his throat and blocked all his words from coming out.
“It’s… it’s ok if you don’t want that,” Janus continued. His look of determination faltered slightly. “It’s ok. But I needed to tell you. Because I love you, so much. And I… I didn’t want you to think I didn’t, even if you don't-”
Remus found his words abruptly. “Jan, fuck! I do! I do love you. I never stopped loving you. All I want is to be with you.”
Janus’ eyes softened. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Good, because I’ve just been offered a job here.”
Remus choked. Janus was eyeing him smugly. “You. Just like that, you got a job here?”
“Just like that,” Janus grinned. “I just came from the interview. They offered me a position on the spot.”
Remus couldn't help himself any longer. He lurched forward and pulled Janus tightly into his arms.
“Hey, be careful,” Janus said, though he made absolutely no effort to get out of Remus’ embrace. “You’ll crush our new son.”
Remus pulled back just enough to look at the small plant Janus held in his hands, and only then did his brain register what it was.
“Is! Is that-”
“Yes,” Janus replied, holding up the tiny Drosera Capensis seedling. Remus had wanted one of these for ages.
“For me?”
“Well, for us, ideally,” Janus answered, with a shy smile. “But, mostly for you, yes.”
Remus gently plucked the baby octopus plant- their new son!- from Janus’ hands, and placed it carefully on top of the milk crate that was serving as his carpentry workbench. Then, he hoisted Janus up off the ground and spun him around.
“Oh- Re-” Janus exclaimed, though he was laughing. “Put me down!”
“No!” Remus trilled. He spun Janus around once more. Then he just stood there, holding Janus, gazing up at him. Janus’ eyes grew soft. Slowly, he carded his fingers through Remus’ hair.
“Hey,” Janus said.
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
Remus set Janus down, but kept his arms still wrapped tightly around him. His heart felt warm.
“Hey.”
Janus looked up at him. “Yeah?”
“I love you, too.”
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