Chapter Text
Janus lightly reapplied his eyeliner in the mirror, making sure not to mess it up. It was a nice dark green shade, to bring out the yellow in his eye. These restrooms sure were fancy for a school. It was a private school, but still, no school bathroom needed perfume and free soap. It really was like a hotel lobby, just with toilets. The door swung open, and Janus continued to apply his makeup. "Howdy there Jan!" Remus said excitedly as he stuffed dead bugs and cheese into the perfume bottles. "Careful there, Dukey, this place is full of soap. " Janus held up his pocket mirror to ensure that the eyeshadow didn't smear. "Oh please J-anus, I'm fine, I've coated my whole body in lard so the soap doesn't stick." Remus dug a moldy sock out of his pocket and shoved it in the towel dispenser. "Do you want me to coat you with lard too? I have extra in my purse. Then we can get greasy together." Janus finished putting on his eyeliner and switched to eyeshadow. "I'll pass, thank you. Although it is clever of you dear, putting on the lard. I'm sure all the soap will just slide right off. Are they still being pissy out there?"
It had been a couple years since "Janus" and "murder" had been in the same sentence, and it hadn't been a joke, but it looks like today's show had changed that. "OH YES," Remus said, flapping his hands, "They've been all upset about it ever since Patton found that body. I mean, they have detectives, policemen, the ones doing the forensics, IT'S A MADHOUSE OUT THERE. I can't believe they do all this over one girl! I mean, it's obvious she's dead, I don't see her walking! Why do all these people need to be here? And besides, they won't even let us touch the body! IT'S OUTRAGEOUS!" At this point, Remus' hand-flapping had gotten so violent, it had triggered the automatic soap dispenser. "AH! FRICKITY FUCK FUCK!" Already his hands were red with soap dripping off them. "And look at all that lard gone to waste." Janus said dryly. He put everything back into his makeup bag, and proceeded to head out the door.
He stopped before opening it, making sure his expression was perfect, and headed out. Janus walked around to the middle of the auditorium where his group was. They had been getting ready to perform in the show choir competition, when Patton got nervous and ran off. And that's when he tripped over the body that was sticking halfway out of a janitorial closet, which of course put the competition to a pause. They looked up as he walked over, and Janus could see tears in some eyes. "Well, well, look who finally decided to show face at the scene of the crime." Roman said glaring at Janus. "Of course, it's no big surprise that the bananconda slithered away once another body was found." Janus gave a little hiss and instead waited for someone else to fill the gaps of the conversation. "Roman, we don't know that he did it, and even if he did, there's no evidence to prove such a thing ." Logan was crouched down next to Patton, and leaned against the chair behind him. In the empty chair next to Roman, it was easy to see that was where Remus had been sitting. There were several stains, most which had unknown origin, even to Remus, as well as his purse.
"I mean, he was put on trial for murder only, like, four years ago, I don't see why he can't be capable of it now." Virgil replied to Logan, giving Janus the side eye as he did. Janus didn't respond, but only glared back. He didn't mind when they found out about his little 'situation', but it wasn't helping anyone to bring it up now. "Oh come on guys, you know he didn't do anything! Sure, Jan can be a bit mean sometimes, but that doesn't mean he'd kill. And you're forgetting he was found innocent." Patton wiped some tears from his eyes and looked at Janus hopefully. He gave Patton a slight smile and pushed his hat back. "Yes, I must agree with Patton. I mean for one, I would never think of hurting anyone. And besides, Virgil, Logan never said I wasn't capable, he just said there wasn't any evidence." Janus chuckled "And there shouldn't be anyway, I didn't do anything. Except, oh I don't know, persuade Professor Picani that he should give us this opportunity in the first place." Virgil snorted and looked away. Judging by their faces, it seemed like for right now Janus was not their favorite person. Patton was probably the only one who would think he didn't do it, and while Logan wouldn't believe anything without proof, Janus was sure he had his suspicions on the matter. He wasn't very worried though. Once this whole thing had blown over, they would trust him enough and everything would be back to how it was.
The auditorium was in a state of shock it seemed. The different groups were clustered together in different sections, officers and staff members were scattered around talking to one another, it was just a total mess. The Candies, a group of girls from their competing college, were huddled together. Their facial expressions varied from anxiousness to fury. The one in the yellow looked especially nervous. He was curious as to whether anyone other than his friends would make a connection, although he hoped it wouldn't be the officials. Roman looked as if he was about to say something but got distracted by loud screaming heard from the bathroom. "Too much soap I presume." Janus stepped away from his friends and went to go check in on his roommate. He walked in, and Remus' entire upper body seemed to be red, rashy, and covered in soap. He was clutching his face and just wailing in the most awful high-pitched tone. Janus crinkled up his nose. Remus' little additions to the perfume had certainly been quick acting. It wasn't as bad as their dorms, but that didn't make it pleasant.
"HOLY SHIT IN A BISCUIT! MOTHEREFFIN POOPY!" Remus screeched as he tried to wash off the soap, but really only got it everywhere. "Here, come here you stinky whore." Janus grabbed Remus by the wrist and dragged him over to the sink. "Don't touch anything, especially your face." Janus heard the door hinges squeak and looked over as he gently held Remus' head under the water. Patton came in worriedly and then his face scrunched up. Janus could tell the aromatic cheese was the cause. Patton shook it off and stepped over to them worriedly. "ARGHUBLE!" Remus flung out his arms and shook his hands wildly. Janus let go of him quickly. "WHAT WERE YOU DOING, DROWNING ME? Please do." He then went to wipe off his face, which resulted in more soap and more screaming. Patton got the water running and attempted to rub off the soap on Remus' face. Janus reached over and got some paper towels. Dabbing bits of the soap off, he and Patton managed to clean off most of the soap despite the lard, but it didn't do much to help the swelling or rashes that were already there. "You're actually needed by one of the officers or somebody I think, um, that's kinda why I followed you." Patton smiled and looked guiltily at Remus curled on the floor. "Alright," said Janus, shrugging. He wasn't sure if Patton would be okay with Remus, the Duke had a way of traumatizing the little puffball. Nothing he could do though, Remus could be pretty stubborn when he wanted to disturb people. So he left, and figured the officers or detectives were just going to ask him some things, probably just for a statement.
Janus saw a tall man in a white and red shirt walk towards him as he exited the bathroom. He noticed that the man's haircut and glasses reminded him of someone, but he couldn't think of who. It probably didn't matter anyway. "Hello there. We saw you talking with your friends up there, and realized we hadn't heard anything from you. I'm Detective Dean," the man said, giving a friendly smile. "We'd just like to know if you saw anything suspicious, or maybe know anyone who would've had a motive, and you were with the one who found her right? ." Janus chose his words carefully and spoke. "I didn't see anything except her go back down the hallway, I figured she might have just needed to use the bathroom." He recounted the story of Patton finding it, and said "I wasn't really with him, I was just following him to make sure he was okay. " Detective Dean looked at him for a moment. "You seem familiar. Are you positive you didn't see anything?" Janus made eye contact and replied with a definitive, "No." The detective looked slightly disappointed and gave a sigh. "Alright. Thank you." Janus watched him as he retired to the other officers, and heard him mutter, "That poor girl." Janus turned around to go back and realized who the haircut reminded him of. He thought Remus might find it funny, he did love hearing about serial killers.
He walked back to his group, as Patton and Remus had rejoined them, and that bathroom had been explored quite enough already. Professor Picani had come back to them as well, after a long conversation between the staff and judges. As he approached, the professor looked up at him and clapped his hands together. "Alright gang, due to the, uh, well, unfortunate circumstances the competition is canceled. I'm sure you're not surprised about this, but it never hurts to know what's happening." Virgil watched gloomily as other participants started to get up and leave, and he asked, "So is this whole thing, like canceled canceled, or is it just postponed?" Roman raised his head and nodded. "Yeah Professor, we've been practicing this performance for ages, and we can't just let that all go to waste. This competition was supposed to be our way to win more money for the program!" His long hair swished in front of him, as he folded his arms. "Well Roman, a girl died. The judges and hosts of the show decided to just call the whole thing off, in her respect. There'll be other competitions." He gave Roman a pat on the shoulder and started to lead them to the exit. Roman looked dissatisfied and disappointed, a phrase which also would tickle Remus. Patton looked up at Roman and gave him a nudge. "Professor's right kiddo. There'll be other competitions. We'll just have to wait till then." Roman sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's just not fair, and I'm tired of all our chances of stardom being shot down by one thing or another." He sadly smiled at Patton and walked ahead of them.
They rode back to campus in silence. The cancellation, the corpse, and everything that had happened had lowered the mood. Even Remus had quieted down, which was unusual for him. Janus watched the landscape roll by as they passed it, thinking about the others. The sound of papers flipping distracted him, and he looked over. It seemed Logan decided this would be the ideal time to do homework. From the looks of it, Janus assumed it was probably his chemistry homework. They didn't get along well, and Logan could be quite…annoying in some instances, but Janus did admire how easily he handled his enormous amount of classes. He looked around at his other friends and tried to read their faces. Patton looked sad, likely due to Roman's anger and disappointment, which was clear, Virgil looked mopey, although that wasn't surprising, and Remus looked like a half-drowned rat. As usual. The next couple days were going to be interesting though, that was for certain. With everyone bummed out, he could use them to his advantage. For what, Janus didn't know, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.