Chapter Text
Regina lay in bed, scrolling on her phone, looking at ideas for a couple's costume. It was the first Halloween after she and Janis started dating, and she was very excited for it. Before the bus crash, when she ruled North Shore High school, she usually wore something kind of slutty and suggestive. The effort didn't matter, being hot did. She even refused to do a couple's costume with Aaron.
But, then the bus crash and the painstaking recovery happened, and Regina finally confronted her own shittiness. She did the work, owned up to all the crap she had done to the people in her life, and apologized. Realizing she was in love with Janis had been quite a pill to follow, but Regina took the risk, kissed Janis, and confessed her feelings.
Dating Janis was amazing. Regina was still getting used to being open and vulnerable with a romantic partner, but it made her happy. Janis was an amazing girlfriend. She was loving and attentive, but she was also the only one who could keep up with Regina's sarcasm. The brunette accompanied Regina to physical therapy and planned romantic dates for them. Regina took a little bit to get used to being the one to take initiative in her relationship, but she did love surprising Janis with her favorite desserts and taking her on dates, and holding her hand at school.
That was why she found herself excited to choose a couple's costume with Janis. They had spent the past week sending each other ideas back and forth. So far, they had considered, Caitlyn and Vi, Xena and Gabrielle, Agatha and Rio, Captain Marvel and Maria Rambeau, and even Clarke and Lexa.
While they were all great costume ideas, they just didn't feel like the right choice for them.
Jay❤️: what about this one?
A moment later, the image loaded, showing a picture of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy from the animated series. They had watched the animated series together when Regina was still mostly immobile after the accident and they both loved it.
Regina❤️: baby!!! that is perfect
Over the following week, they made sure to get the clothes and makeup they needed for the costumes. Janis got a red wig, since she was going to be Poison Ivy, and Regina bought temporary hair dye.
They were going to debut the couple's costume at Regina's Halloween party, which was going to be on the night of Halloween, a Saturday. Before they could have the party, though, Regina, Janis, and the rest of their friends were going to a haunted house. It was Cady's idea originally, since she had never gone to one, and the others were happy to oblige. Regina noticed Janis force her smile a little, but she brushed it off when the blonde asked her about it.
So, on Friday afternoon, they rushed home from school so they could get ready. They talked about it, and decided not to go to the haunted house dressed in costumes because they wanted to save the costumes for the party. Regina didn't really agonize over what to wear— she picked a pair of comfortable loose-fit jeans, a warm cable-knit sweater, a brown jacket and brown flat ankle boots. Her back kind of ached that day, but it wasn't too bad, so she took her cane because she knew there would be a lot of walking.
At 8 p.m. sharp Shane pulled up in front of her house and picked her up— her parents and Kylie had left for the weekend to go to New York because there was some Halloween amusement park that Kylie wanted to experience. Shane drove them to Janis' place next, and the brunette jogged out of the house, dressed in a pair of black ripped jeans, grey t-shirt, red flannel button-up, and a leather jacket. On her feet, she had her trusty combat boots.
"What's up?" Janis greeted them with a smile, but Regina couldn't help but feel that she was still tense.
"Y'know, just getting G to tell me what your couple's costume is." Shane quipped, making Janis laugh and Regina groan. He had been annoying her all week, but she wasn't budging.
"No way, bro." Janis shook her head "We need to make an entrance."
"You're no fun." He grumbled playfully.
They picked Damian up next, and then headed to the haunted house, since Gretchen was going to pick the others up.
Shane parked near the haunted house entrance, and then spotted candied apples at a stall.
"Oooh, a treat." He remarked, hopping out of the car to go to the stall.
"Jay," Regina spoke softly once he was out of earshot. She looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear them either "are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Why?" Janis replied, looking away.
"You just kinda seem tense." Regina shrugged, not wanting to push Janis' boundaries. She still found herself being cautious around Janis even though they were dating. She had hurt the brunette so much, and she wanted to do everything right.
"Just haven't been sleeping a lot." Janis offered, keeping her tone nonchalant.
"Okay." Regina hummed "Well, do you wanna sleep over at my place tonight? I'll be home alone."
"Sounds amazing." Janis leaned in and pecked her lips, just as Shane returned.
"Can't leave you two alone for two seconds." He tsked playfully "Making out immediately."
"Shut up, loser." Regina countered, making all of them laugh.
"Now, is that any way to talk to the man that got you little treats?" He raised an eyebrow, handing Regina a pack of sour gummies, and Janis a pack of peanut M&Ms.
"Thanks, bro." Janis replied with a grin.
"See," He pointed at Janis, staring at Regina "this is a friend."
The others arrived soon after that, and they begun their haunted house journey. Cady and Gretchen screamed no less than 25 times each, and Shane jumped into a wall when one zombie cast member jumped out at them. Janis didn't yell and she didn't jump, but Regina felt her curl further and further into herself. It was like she was trying to disappear.
Midway through the house, Regina offered her right hand to the brunette, interlacing their fingers together. She held the cane with her left one. Janis squeezed her hand painfully tight, but they didn't talk about it, even as she kind of hid behind the blonde several times.
After the haunted house, they went to dinner, and Janis barely said two words the entire time, but she did keep a hand on Regina the entire time. If she wasn't holding Regina's hand, her hand was resting on Regina's thigh.
It was around 11:30 that night when they left the diner, but they didn't want to end the night. So, they headed to Regina's place, with a pit stop at Janis' so that the brunette could get her overnight bag and her Halloween costume.
They spent the next couple of hours playing board games and truth and dare, and while Janis relaxed, somewhat, she was still pretty quiet.
Shane was the last to leave at 1:45 in the morning, so Regina and Janis left the glasses and went to shower and then sleep.
Regina settled in a comfortable position on her side, slipped an arm around Janis' waist and drifted off immediately. But, she didn't stay asleep. Around 4 a.m., she woke up, a little confused, until she realized that the bed was empty next to her. She frowned to herself, got up carefully, and went looking for her girlfriend. She found Janis in the living room, with the TV on, playing Brooklyn Nine-Nine, curled up in the corner of the couch. She was awake, but she looked damn near terrified.
"Jay?" Regina spoke softly, and Janis jumped "Hey, it's me."
"Sorry." Janis breathed, wiping away a stray tear.
"Baby, what's going on with you?" Regina took a seat on the couch.
"I- I shouldn't have g-gone to that haunted house." Janis murmured, shaken.
"What? Why?" Regina frowned.
"A- A few years ago, when e-everything happened with us, Damian wanted to cheer me up for Halloween." She explained "So, he took us to a haunted house. O- Only it wasn't very legit and I tripped and fell through a trap door into this like half-built room with rusty chainsaws and fake blood and plastic skeletons that moved randomly. It took Damian and the employees like three hours to find me and get me out."
"Jesus…" Regina breathed.
"A-And I know I wasn't in any, like, real danger." Janis continued shakily "I know that. But, I couldn't breathe today at the haunted house and I keep getting these flashes from that day."
"I am so sorry, baby." Regina pulled her into a hug "I should've realized something was wrong."
"You helped." Janis mumbled against her shoulder.
"Do you wanna try sleeping again?" Regina suggested "We can turn the TV in my room on."
"Okay." Janis nodded, taking Regina's hand.
When they settled in bed, Regina made sure to hold Janis tighter, hoping it was comforting.
Janis didn't wake up until 11 in the morning, so she was pretty sure she succeeded.
She and Janis spent all morning cuddling and letting their kisses escalate, never going so far as sex. Regina wasn't sure if she was ready, mostly because her body was so broken and scarred. She knew Janis wouldn't care, she would probably even find it attractive, but Regina cared. Even if she did get over the aesthetics part of it all, she wanted the first time she and Janis had sex to be magical, and her body was just not strong enough for that yet.
Janis, being an actual angel did not try to pressure her once. She just let her set the pace. She did sneak into Regina's shower that morning, and the blonde tensed up for a moment, until Janis slipped her arms around the blonde's waist and pressed her lips to Regina's back, right where the scarring was.
"Beautiful." She whispered against her skin, and Regina felt goosebumps erupt along her whole body.
Eventually, they made it out of the shower and started getting the house ready, though not before they dyed Regina's hair. Regina and her family had already carved a bunch of pumpkins, per Kylie's insistence, so she and Janis set up the fake spiderwebs, skeletons, and floating candles around the yard and the house.
Gretchen and Shane showed up first to help around 6:30 p.m., and then the others followed half an hour later. Though they all had bags with their costumes with them, no one was actually ready.
Once they made sure the house was fit for a party, they each took one bedroom or bathroom around the house to get into their costumes. Regina and Janis shared Regina's bedroom, though the brunette was in the bathroom and Regina was in the actual bedroom.
She put on a red and black sleeveless crop top with stars, a pair of red and black shorts, and leather boots with the same colorway. Since the ends of the left side of her hair were light blue, and she had dyed the ends on the right side pink, pulling them into two ponytails, with two strands framing her face, she used pink eye shadow on the left eyelid and blue eye shadow on the right eyelid.
She had also ordered a replica of Harley's hammer, which completed the outfit perfectly.
"Reg, are you done?" Janis called out from the bathroom.
"Yeah. You?" Regina responded, and a moment later, the door to the bathroom swung open, revealing Janis, with her face, neck, and hands dyed green. She was wearing the animated show dark green jacket with a collar, under which she wore a white shirt. Regina didn't know where she had found them, but she wore light green leggings with intricate poison ivy designs, and black leather boots. She was also wearing the red Poison Ivy wig, and she had used dark green lipstick on her lips. She looked incredible.
Regina wasn't sure if it was messed up to be attracted to someone that had used artificial paint to dye their skin green, but she was and she didn't care.
"Fuck, you're gorgeous." She closed the distance and kissed Janis while the current redhead was still gawking at her with a wide-eyed expression.
"You are literally the hottest Harley Quinn ever. And I include Margot Robbie in that." Janis blurted out when Regina pulled back, making the blonde laugh.
"Thank you, baby." She replied with a wide smile. She loved it when Janis called her gorgeous or hot or beautiful or any compliment really "You are a perfect Poison Ivy."
"Rejanis, are y'all ready?!" Damian called out, knocking on the door.
"Be there in a second." Janis called back.
"Ready for this?" Janis offered a hand, which Regina took.
"Ready to outshine everyone? Fuck yeah." Regina shot back with a smirk.
"There's the cocky asshole I love." Janis snorted as the two of them walked out of the bedroom and towards the living room.
"Holy fuck, that's hot!" Shane let out a whistle, making everyone turn to look at them. Regina saw Gretchen's mouth drop open while Cady let out a quiet "Wow."
"Now that's a couple's costume!" Damian exclaimed loudly.
He was dressed as Solange from the elevator video when she slapped Jay-Z, Shane was dressed as a sexy vampire, Cady and Aaron were dressed as Posh and Becks, while Karen and Gretchen were Wednesday and Enid from the Wednesday TV show.
"You all look great." Regina told them, they all gushed over each other's costumes for a while, before the other people started arriving.
Shane was in charge of the music, and he was taking his role as vampire DJ very seriously, refusing to take anyone's requests. Regina mostly stuck to Janis and their friend group, though she did circle the house once in a while to make sure everything was okay. Not that anyone would dare to fuck shit up at Regina George's place.
It was after midnight, and Regina hadn't seen Janis in around twenty minutes, so she went looking for the brunette. She spotted her outside on the back porch. Since it was so stuffy inside, they had left the doors open, and Regina could hear Janis' conversation with Grace. It actually felt like a Déjà Vu of that spring fling dance months prior.
"So, you did have feelings for her." Grace remarked, but her tone wasn't aggressive so Regina stayed out of sight.
"I hadn't realized it." Janis replied quietly "And we've had a long road to get to where we are now."
"Hope it works out for you." Grace responded quietly.
"Thanks." The brunette replied.
Once Grace, who was dressed as RiRi Williams, walked away, Regina stepped outside, slipping her arms around Janis' waist.
"You okay?" She asked softly.
"Perfect." Janis told her, voice content.
Nothing about the two of them had ever been simple. They had more history and pain than most couples three times their age. But, they had somehow, miraculously, found their way back to each other. Janis had let Regina fix things, she had managed to find it in herself to forgive the blonde, to give her a chance.
Holding Janis was better than anything Regina had ever dreamed of, and she never wanted to let her go.