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Slowly, he walked to Remus’ room, hands flicking as he pondered on just what to say, and finding that he had arrived far too soon, still clueless and going over the same if slightly varied excuses and questions. How was he going to ask this? He didn't want to be blunt, that just wasn't really his style. Maybe, ' Hello Remus, it's been a while since we've last seen each other- ' except that they had seen each other earlier that day so that wouldn’t work at all. But then again, he was a liar, so put in that context he wouldn’t be wrong. But still, it just wouldn’t work. Perhaps, ‘ I was wondering if you cared to bake with me?’ . God that was horribly direct, no, not at all. ‘ Are you hungry? We could make something.’ maybe?
His hand hesitates, inches above the door, and then knocks three times. "Remus? You in there?"
Several noises can be heard, including the sound of furniture breaking, a car crash and something roaring. “Uhh, yea! Just give me a minute!”
“Alright." He leans back against the wall opposite the door, taking this time to try and come up with something better to say.
Eventually the door opens, revealing a highly dishevelled Remus. From what he could see the same could be said of his room, though he seemed unconcerned by it, grinning almost madly at Janus. “Hi!”
And just like that, his thoughts went out the window. “...uh, hi.” Shit, what was he gonna say? “Oh um, yes. I… don't need your help. With baking.”
“Well of course I'll help you!” Remus runs out of his room grinning, grabbing Janus by the arm and quite literally dragging him to the kitchen with how fast he was going. “Lets go!”
“Uh ok!”
“You'll have to teach me some things though, I'm not really good with cooking and baking, b eing banned from the kitchen and all.”
“That's not at all fine.”
“Why are we baking anyway?” Remus skids to a stop in front of the kitchen, Janus barely managing to not crash into him.
“Why not?”
“Well, you never really baked without a reason.” He gasped, hands flying up to the sides of his face. “Dee, are you stress baking again?”
“No I just, wanted to bake. It's been a while since we've had any treats so…”
“If you say so.” He could tell Remus didn’t really believe him, but that was fine, wasn’t important.
“So I was thinking maybe cookies? Unless there is something else you'd rather try...?”
“Nah, cookies sounds good. But what cookies...? Oh! How about, deodorant cookies !”
He huffed a laugh. “I'd rather not, maybe chocolate or, marshmallow instead?”
“D'awww, you're no fun... But fine, let's do chocolate.”
“Pardon me for not wanting to eat cleanliness supplies.”
“You're pardoned.”
He snorts, rolling his sleeves up to the elbow. “Hey, grab the bowls would you? They're a bit too high for me, just the two, thank you.”
“Sure!” He goes to the cupboard he’d seen Janus go to many times before, and had even gone himself when Janus asked, and grabbed the bowls. He had made them almost a decade ago, certainly not as good as he could make one now but, Janus still used them. He places them on the counter, still grinning at Janus. “Here!”
“Grand, now, we need... cocoa, butter, white sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, salt and flower. You grab those and I'll grab the utensils.” He turned around, quickly grabbing the tools from their places in the cupboards while Remus raided the pantry and a few other cupboards that held the spices. Soon enough he placed the final ingredient on the counter alongside everything else.
“Done and done! Is this all or?”
“For the most part, unless you want to add anything like chocolate chips or other non toxic substances.”
“Hmmm... maggots aren't toxic, are they?”
“...No.” Perhaps he should have been more specific.
“Maybe maggots then? They're not toxic and they have a lot of protein?” He gives Janus the biggest most moving figurative puppy eyes he can.
Janus sighs, his tone playful, and looks away for a second dramatically before looking back. “I suppose .”
“Yay!” He smiles wide, grinning like an idiot and gives Janus a quick hug. “You're the best!”
“O-oh, um, well, get some maggots I guess. Dead preferably, although it'll totally matter in the end.”
Without hesitation Remus summons up a jar of maggots, placing it alongside the other ingredients. “Here you go, fresh and ready to be vored.”
“Thank you.” He passes a piece of paper of paper full of numbers to Remus. “This has how much of each thing you put in. Also, could you hold out your arm?”
Remus does so. “Ooh, what’re you gonna do, bite it? Rip the flesh off my very bones and add it to the mix?”
“Nothing quite so messy.” He grabs the sleeve of the hoodie Remus is wearing and rolls it up. “Now the other?” He holds his hands out, waiting for Remus, and then rolling up that sleeve too.
“Ok, so now you mix everything listed there please.” He cuts off the amount of butter required and puts it in the bowl along with the sugar, two hands holding the bowl steady as he mixes.
Remus reads over the paper, haphazardly measuring out the ingredients before pouring it into the bowl, stirring quite enthusiastically, and resulting in a rather large mess.
Oops.
“...Oh dear . Next time, perhaps a bit more gentle? It doesn't need all that much mixing yet.” With another hand he grabs an egg and cracks it into the bowl, continuing to stir, repeating the action for the rest of the eggs.
"Sorry, I'm just so excited!" He shimmies a bit before mixing again, far more gently this time.
“It's fine.” He gives the other a soft smile, adding in the vanilla. “Long as you help clean up.”
After a bit more stirring he slows and looks up at Remus. “Ok, now, slowly and gently, pour in your mixture.”
Remus nods and begins to pour it in slowly, focusing so hard on not messing up that his tongue sticks out a bit.
And oh, Janus is definitely not trying to remain calm, keep his blush under control because that's far too cute.
“Alright, done!” He pulls the bowl back, smiling wide at Janus who quickly looks back down at the bowl.
“Wonderful, you can put the bowl in the sink.” He grabs the jar of dead maggots and pours it in, noticing a few here and there still wriggling. That won’t matter, they’ll soon join the others.
“Can I try some?”
“No, you'll have some when you're done. Get out the pan would you?”
“D'awww,” He pouts, getting the pan and placing it in front of Janus. . “You're no fun…”
“Oh I can be plenty of fun.” He winks, handing Remus a spoon. “Here, put the batter on.”
“Plenty of fun you say?” He wiggles his eyebrows before humming, looking at the bowl critically. There is next to no warning when he strikes, scooping up a spoonful of batter and stuffing it in his mouth.
“...I’m so surprised by that.”
Remus just grins at him, and Janus can’t help but grin back.
“Does it at least taste horrid?”
“It tastes amazing!”
“Horrid indeed. Now if you would put it on the pan rather than your tongue?”
“Fine. Besides, there are other things I could put on my tongue.” He gave a wink and a rather suggestive look.
“Oh?” Janus smirks up at him.
He panics, blushing. “Uhh, you know, like rats, or ants.”
Janus blinks, taken aback by the sudden change in direction. “Um, y-yeah, I guess… Hey, how do you think the light sides would react if we gave them a cookie? Do you think they'd freak out?”
“Oh, they totally would! Can we give them some? Please please please please please~~ ”
“Of course not, I'm definitely not just as eager to see their faces when they realize what they're eating.”
“Yes!” Remus pumps his fist in the air, doing a little dance.
“Now come on, the sooner all this is on the pan the sooner we can eat and mess with the others.”
“Oh, right, right!” He takes the bowl and hurriedly spoons out the batter, it landing in uneven blobs on the pan.
“...Alright then, exactly what I was thinking but it works. Now we just put it in the oven and wait.”
He picks up the pan and slides it onto the middle rack. As he’s pulling out however, he manages to burn himself on the rack above and curses.
“Dee!”
Janus continues on seemingly calmly, closing the oven gently before looking at the wound. “Well that's... ideal.”
“Fuck, are you okay?!” Remus rushes over to him, gently holding and inspecting the arm.
“Of course not, it's just a small burn. It won't be fine I'm sure.”
“Yea, but doesn't it hurt though?”
“It's fine, and it's tiny, barely a bother. What is a bother though is this mess. We should clean up.”
“Dee, please, I've had burns before, it may not hurt now, but soon…” He trails off.
“Well, that's human flesh, it might be different with scales. Look, if it'll make you feel better, I won't run it under cool water.”
“Please do.”
“Fine, but you start cleanup alright? Gotta be able to put the cookies somewhere when they're done.” He walks over to the sink, turning on the tap and putting his arm under the water. He watches as Remus starts cleaning, catching the worried glances he throws at him every other second.
After about a minute passes Janus turns off the tap, gingerly drying his arm before beginning to help putting some of the things away.
“Nope, nope.” Remus grabs the things from Janus, placing them on the counter. “You go rest, I'll take care of it.”
“Remus, I'm fine . A bit of cleaning is totally going to kill me.”
“Yep, it totally will, glad we agree,” He says, pushing Janus out of the kitchen towards the couch.
Janus scowls at the other but reluctantly allows it. “That's not what I meant and you know it.”
“Oh, do I?” Remus wears a shit eating grin.
Janus squints angrily at him before rolling his eyes, deciding this was not a battle he wanted to fight. “You're a mess.”
“Maybe so, but I'm your mess.” He boops him on the nose and the grin is smaller, softer almost. “Boop!”
Janus freezes, blinking multiple times, stunned. He opens his mouth, then closes it, then opens it again, face burning as he struggles for a reply.
Remus frowns, confused. “You okay there Dee?”
“Um, yes, I just,” Why oh why was Remus like this? He swears he’s going to be the death of him.
“Okay, now I'm getting a little worried.” He puts a hand to Janus' forehead, brows furrowing. “Are you sure you're alright? You look a lil flushed. Fuck, what if the burn got infected?” His hand drops and he quickly grabs Janus' arm to check.
“No I,, I'm, it's fine. It,, it would take longer than that to, to get infected.” He holds back a grimace from the burn being irritated, Remus certainly wasn’t wrong about it hurting later. Not like he could do anything for that though, other than wait.
“Oh, you're right…” He blushes, looking away. “Sorry, I guess I'm just worried.”
“It's fine, it's rather... sweet of you.”
“Well, I can be sweet. On the outside and on the inside.” And with that, he gives a classic wink.
Now, normally Janus would be rather unaffected by Remus’ words and actions but all this touching was really getting to him. “O-oh? I'm sure, what with all that batter on your face.”
“Oh, is it still there? How about you help me clean it up, huh?” He wiggles his eyebrows, giving the other a rather lewd look.
“I-...” He blushes even more, continuing to try and stutter out some words. “I mean, um, I- mmcloth, or, I mean,,,” He begins to mutter to the ground. “I-if you want I mean,, I could,,” He trails off, clearing his throat and avoiding Remus’ eyes, finding the floor and surrounding furniture to be much more interesting.
Remus frowns, pulling back a little when he noticed how uncomfortable Janus looks. “Are you alright....?”
“Not at all, I just-”
“Wait!” Remus looks around, sniffing the air. “Do you smell something burning,,,?”
Janus’s tongue flickers out a few times, eyes widening as he tasted the air. “Oh, oh , oh no!”
“Fuck, the cookies! ”
They rush to the kitchen, Janus’s burn long forgotten. When they arrive Janus quickly puts on some gloves and opens the oven, taking the pan out.
“Oh dear .”
Remus looks over his shoulder at the cookies. “Did they survive?”
“They look horribly burnt, and the bottom suffered the least, of course. I mean, we could just, cut or scrape it off, that would work. Or you could just eat them straight up. For the others we won't have to fix them up a bit.”
“Hm, I don't mind them being a lil burned to be honest.” He grabs a cookie, forgetting that they literally just came out of the oven. “Shit!”
Janus snickered at him, taking the gloves off. “How about we let them cool a bit until trying them? We could... watch something while we wait?”
Remus pouts and sticks his finger in his mouth in an attempt to lessen the pain. “Fuck, this hurt. Stupid cookie.”
“I suppose they're just, too hot for you.”
“Not as hot as you though,” he mumbles, quiet enough that Janus wouldn’t hear. A little louder, he says, “So, how about we make some frosting? Or... we could make some frosting .”
“ Frosting ?
“Uhhh…” god, what was with him? Innuendos were his thing! So why was he freaking out so much now??? “Yea, frosting. You know, icing sugar, butter, all that stuff. You know how to make frosting, right?”
Janus scoffed, giving Remus a look of faux outrage. “Of course not, who do you think I am?”
“Good, good. How about we make it green and yellow, huh?”
“Sure.”
“So... How do you make frosting?”
“Well, we’ll need confectioners sugar, milk, and the vanilla extract. And of course, the necessary measuring tools.” He turns around, going to grab the measuring cups while Remus grabs the 3 ingredients, placing them on the counter.
“Alright, what now?”
“Well, we need to whisk it all together, so a small bowl is needed.” he moves to another cupboard and grabs a decently sized bow.
“Okay, okay,” Remus says, nodding enthusiastically. “Wow, never thought I'd get to see you make frosting .” He wiggles his eyebrows at the last few words, shimmying as well.
"Remus..., you've seen me bake before." He looks up at Remus for a second, confused, then quickly measures and pours in the ingredients, whisking it into shape.
About a minute or two passes before Remus asks, "Is it done yet?"
"Maybe." He grabs a small spoon and scoops a bit of frosting onto it, holding it out. "Try it and tell me how it tastes."
Remus sticks it in his mouth, moaning. "It's delicious ."
He smiles. "Wonderful. Now we dye it and then wait for the cookies to cool."
Can't wait! They're gonna be so yummy!" He smiles bright and happy, hopping up and down a bit.
Janus grabs another small bowl, pushing half of the icing into it, squeezing out a few drops of food colouring into each bowl and gently stirring it. In no time at all they were sufficiently coloured and he set them aside for later, looking to Remus.
“I'd say there's probably around 20 or so minutes till they're cool, any ideas as to what to do in that time?”
“I have some ideas.”
“ Do share.” God, he wanted to kiss his stupid face.
Remus leans in closer, voice lowering. “How about, we go back to my room.... and watch a movie together!”
“Sure. I don't suppose the couch will try to eat us this time?”
“Who knows?”
He draped himself over the counter as dramatically as he could, speaking in a more sultry if still teasing tone. “At least I'll have my strong, shining knight there to protect me.”
“Well of course! How could I ever let my dear Snakey Prince be harmed by an ordinary couch~~” He leans closer still.
He smirks up at Remus, amused. “Ordinary couch, hm?”
“Well, hopefully just an ordinary couch. I wouldn't mind rescuing you though if that changed, my Snakey Prince~~”
He grins at that, pulling himself up off the counter and 'accidentally' brushing Remus as he walked by him to his room.
“What are we gonna watch?”
“Uh, I don't know. How about Coraline?”
"ooh! I love that movie!"
“Let's watch it then.” he quickly follows behind Janus, closing behind him when he enters his room. He twirls in front of Janus, bowing low. “Welcome to the Cursed Kingdom!”
He stands up, snapping his fingers and summoning up a large bowl of popcorn appearing into his arms. Turning back around he looks around the room, face dropping into a frown. His room was was messier than a pig sty full of people. “Oh yea, I forgot about that. Oops.”
Janus merely laughs. “It's fine.”
“You sure?” Asks Remus. He didn’t normally care about this sort of thing but with Janus it was different. With Janus it was always different.
“How long have we known each other? Of course it's fine. Unless I get impaled or something, that would be very fun I'm sure.”
Remus walks to the couch, muttering, “Well, depends on what you'd get impaled by.”
Janus follows after, sitting beside him, albeit more warily. One could hardly blame him after what happened last time.
Remus shifted close enough that they were touching, offering the bowl. “Want some popcorn?”
Janus leans on Remus, grabbing some and tossing a few pieces into his mouth. “Absolutely not.”
A few minutes passed, Remus lying more on top of Janus than by him. And despite having seen the movie a
lot
, they were both entranced the moment it started up.
Well, more or less.
“So, I guess the couch won't try to eat us this time.” Said Remus.
“Seems so, but you never know.” Janus pushed at him lightly, snapping his fingers, summoning a fluffy blanket to cover them.
“Well if it tries to eat us, we'll just deal with it.”
Dee hums, snuggling up closer, eyes closing. You could hardly blame him, it was immensely comfy.
“You know,” Remus started, “It's kinda funny. Here we are, on the couch together, watching a movie. Kinda like a date.” He laughs. “I mean, can you imagine?!”
Janus frowned, picking at the blanket. “...would that be so bad if it was?”
“No, not bad, but. It'd be quite ridiculous. I mean, you and me, on a date? ” He laughs, as if he said something funny. Janus quite frankly couldn’t see anything funny about it.
“What's so ridiculous about it?
“Oh, you know. You and me, together?” He laughed again, but it was smaller this time, quieter. “I can't really imagine that happening.”
“Why not?”
“Nevermind, let's just, watch the movie, okay?”
“What? N-, no!” He sat up, pushing the blanket off him. “Why not, Remus? Why can't you imagine us together!”
“It doesn't matter, I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry.”
“No, it does matter. Please. Do you just, not feel that way about me?” He had his hopes up, and he desperately hoped he wouldn’t regret that.
“What? No, no I-I do like you, it's just. You, liking me ? That's ridiculous.”
“What? Remus, if I didn't like you, why would I spend so much time with you??”
“Because,” He began, confused. Why was Janus so agitated about this? “Because there's literally no one else here? Because of pity? I don't know! Maybe you just got lonely after Virgil left, and settled for the only option that wasn't being alone!” He wasn’t even halfway through his little speech when he began to cry.
He couldn't believe it. He really thought that? After all he's done to show otherwise? “Remus you,,, I have been flirting with you now for who knows how long. You know I always bake alone, but this time I asked you to join me. I'm in fucking love with you you complete and utter dumbass! Even when Virgil was still here! I just, I was planning on telling you today. And, I am but, it was supposed to be in a more romantic way.”
"W-what?"
“I love you!” He exclaimed, before sitting back a bit, realizing what he had said. “I... I love you.”
He glanced at Remus, eyes widening as he saw him crying more . Why was he crying more? Was it something he'd said???
"Are,, are you alright?"
And that just makes him cry harder, knocking Janus back onto the couch in a tight hug.
“o- oh. ok. alright then.” He hugs him back, speaking quietly. “You know, I imagined this happening very differently.”
"Sorry to disappoint then." Remus smiles, hiding his face and wiggling a bit. He wasn't sorry in the slightest, not if it got him this.
"mmm, this works just as well."
"So...the movie, huh. So much for watching it.
Janus gives a small chuckle, holding Remus closer to him. "Yeah. The cookies are probably cool enough to ice and eat now though, so we could do that and then restart the movie.
"Oh yea... the cookies." He didn't make a single move to leave, snuggling closer.
"So, is that a no?"
"Cookies can wait, I don't want to do anything but cuddle you for the next few weeks."
He smiled, running a hand through Remus' hair. "Well I'm totally against that idea, let's not."
"Yay!" Remus pulled back far enough to give him a quick peck on the nose before lying back on him, grinning and giggling like a madman.
Janus doesn't even try to resist joining, and how could he? With Remus so happy like this it'd be impossible not to.