Chapter Text
As Janis walks down to the baggage claim at JFK, she readjusts her headphones and keeps an eye out for Damian. He said he’d be here, after all.
She’s been on two planes in the last 36 hours - one flight being 11 hours and the other being 6 - and she’s not about to spend more time waiting around.
Luckily, she sees Damian and his boyfriend standing off to the left by her carousel and grins, sliding her headphones off and around her neck as soon as they make eye contact.
“Oh my god!” Damian exclaims, catching her in a hug almost immediately, “I can’t believe you’re here and to stay!”
“You act like I didn’t just see you last month,” Janis retorts, hugging him back just as tight and conceding with, “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Damian squeezes her again and then gives his boyfriend a moment to say hi.
Ben’s a guy that Damian met in his junior year. Ben worked at the sandwich place that Damian frequented and somehow they caught each other’s eye, at least, that’s how the story goes. Ben’s good for Damian, though, in Janis’ opinion. Musical nerd, brunet, quiet but still able to meet Damian at his level, and he works in some kind of less-douchey finance and makes a decent amount of money.
“How was your flight?” he asks.
“It was alright. A little bit of turbulence but that’s to be expected,” Janis shrugs, “How have you guys been? Everything alright at the new place?”
“Yeah, we carved out a little space under the stairs for you,” Damian teases, linking their arms together as they walk up to the carousel. Luggage hasn’t started dropping yet, but Janis surmises that it’ll happen any minute now.
“I really appreciate you letting me stay with you guys, y’know,” Janis says, feeling a little sheepish admittedly. She knows that Damian and Ben have been living together for a couple of years now, but to upsize just because Janis said she was moving to the city and wasn’t sure about the roommate situation was a bit more than generous.
“Oh come on! I’ve always wanted us to live together,” Damian says, “Especially in New York! I have a present for you in the car, by the way.”
Janis rolls her eyes.
She wasn’t planning on moving to New York City, really. Her initial plan was to move somewhere in San Francisco after graduating from CalArts, but she returned to Hawaiʻi for a year to spend time with her mom and brother. They moved there after high school and Noah ended up finding a girlfriend and a good job and her mom started working at one of the hospitals.
She enjoyed living in Hawaiʻi again. It was nice to be outside so often, and it gave her an opportunity to spend a lot of time painting while working part-time for her grandfather’s shop. It also gave her time to grow her art page on Instagram and get some decent contracts for her art. She’s ended up with more money than she thought she’d have at this age, and while it’s not enough to retire at 23, it is enough to move to New York City with her best friend.
They get her luggage - her last two suitcases of her stuff that weren’t already shipped - and head out to the car.
“Are you hungry?” Damian asks.
“I’m fucking tired,” Janis responds, “Don’t mind me if I pass out in the back of your car.”
Ben nods, “We get it, you’ve been traveling.”
“We’re stopping for pizza,” Damian decides, to which Janis nods. She shouldn’t expect any less from him.
When they get to the car (which is way too far away for someone as tired as Janis is), Janis nearly collapses into the back seat and barely is able to click her seatbelt on. How long has she been awake again?
“Janis, before you sleep,” Damian reaches into the glove box and pulls something out, “I was on the phone with my dad the other day and told him you were coming, and he got us these.”
He hands her a couple pieces of paper and Janis has to turn on her phone’s flashlight to read it.
“Holy shit?” Janis exclaims, “He got us tickets to see Wicked?”
“Yes!” Damian cheers, “in the orchestra, too. They’re for tomorrow night, you should be rested by then, right?”
“Yes, of course,” Janis grins, reading the tickets over and trying to make sure that they’re real. She knows Damian wouldn’t lie to her and she knows especially that his dad wouldn’t do that, but it feels too good to be true.
It also brings up a weird memory of her telling their friends in high school about how she thought Glinda and Elphaba made the true love story. God, she hasn’t talked to some of them in forever.
“Wait, Ben, you’re not coming?” Janis asks, noticing that there’s only two tickets.
“No, you two have fun,” he responds, fussing around for the parking ticket as they approach the gate, “my mom’s in town anyway, we’ll go get dinner.”
“Oh, okay,” Janis hands the tickets back to Damian, “Dame, please remind me to thank your dad next time I see him. That’s super generous.”
“He already said it’s nothing,” Damian responds, “so, how’s your grandma?”
Janis’ mother’s mom, the same woman married to Janis’ grandfather that ran the shop she worked at, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease right around the time Janis graduated high school. It’s half the reason her mom moved back to the island and Noah followed. Janis hasn’t seen Evanston since they left in mid-July.
“It’s not great,” Janis shrugs, “She’s more out of it than lucid these days. The doctors are sure she doesn’t have much time left.”
“That’s awful, babe, I’m sorry,” Damian responds softly.
“I mean, it’s life, right?” Janis slumps back against her seat, “My mom’s not having the greatest time, but she finally fucking hired a home health aide for her.”
“Thank god.”
“No, seriously,” Janis sighs, “she was so stressed. They hired her right before I left to tour apartments with you and when I came back, she looked so much more at peace. It was really nice.”
“I miss your mom,” Damian admits, “she always made the best food for us.”
“When she was home, sure,” Janis responds, fidgeting with her hands. She’s suddenly way more awake than she was, “You last saw her at graduation, right?”
“Yeah,” Damian nods, “in other news, Janis, I think it’s time for you to get a girlfriend.”
“Oh come on…”
“Seriously!” Damian exclaims, “You haven’t dated anyone since junior year.”
“Yeah, I swore off girls for a bit,” Janis retorts, deciding to not mention the handful of hookups she had since living in Hawaiʻi, “I’m not here for the whole heartbreak shit. I’m always up front about what I want and they’re still shocked when I say that I’m looking to go all the way.”
“How romantic,” Ben comments teasingly.
“Well, come on,” Janis nods to Ben, “You guys talked about all the marriage and kids and etcetera, right? It’s important. I’ve known for years that I want to get married and have kids someday and I’m tired of having conversations that are like well I don’t know… maybe… bitch, I know what I want.”
“Do you have a Hinge profile? Or Tinder?” Damian asks, “because you can put it all in those.”
“You’re not setting me up with anyone,” Janis retorts, “I don’t need it.”
“Oh, yeah, because one girlfriend failing is too much for you,” Damian remarks.
“For the record, that one summer that you were super fuckin’ busy at that theater internship, I had another girlfriend,” Janis says, cringing at the thought. She really needs sleep so that her filter comes back. “We were together a month, she sucked too.”
“Okay, so what is that?” Damian asks, “two serious girlfriends, a couple of hookups, whatever the fuck you and Regina had…”
Janis furrows her eyebrows, staring daggers into the back of Damian’s head, “Why do you need to bring that up?”
“Because you two haven’t talked in forever and it’s kind of sad,” Damian responds honestly, “Cady talked to her recently.”
“Caddy also talked to me recently, she said that she and Aaron were thinking of moving to England,” Janis responds, “I don’t think she’s of sound mind.”
“England’s cute, what do you mean?” Ben interjects.
“England’s cold and rainy,” Janis says, turning her phone over in her hands, “good for those two for keeping up, though.”
It sounds snarkier than Janis intended. There’s silence for a second and Janis just knows that Damian is thinking something that she doesn’t want to hear.
“You really do need to get laid.”
-
Damian takes Janis on a mini tour around their neighborhood the next day. He shows her the best place for groceries, the closest subway station, even treats her to coffee from the little place on the corner.
They spend the bulk of the day, though, working on Janis’ room. They hang up pieces of her art, put together her bed frame so that she doesn’t have to sleep with her bed on the floor, and Janis even sorts her clothes into piles. One pile for dirty, one pile for clean, and one pile for probably never going to wear but not going to throw out, either.
By six o’clock, Janis has her makeup done and is tying on her Converse while Damian jingles his keys in the doorway of her room.
“I really wish we ate before we went,” Janis comments, collecting her wallet and keys and phone, “I’m fucking starving.”
“I offered you food an hour ago,” Damian retorts, “not my fault you didn’t take it.”
“Blah blah blah,” Janis mocks, pulling on a green flannel, “Thoughts?”
“You look like a lesbian,” Damian says, conceding when Janis stares at him, “You look fabulous. Let’s go.”
“Fine,” Janis follows him out of the apartment, checking her phone while he locks the door.
There aren’t any notifications from anything important aside from a Have fun! text from her mother and an email that she should probably follow up on based on the IMPORTANT in the subject line.
“You really don’t want to have a hookup?” Damian asks as he leads them down the hall to the stairs, “I could find you someone that’s not going to be a nightmare.”
“I’m not against a hookup,” Janis says, ignoring the urge to jump the last couple of stairs (that’s how she broke her wrist when she was eight, her mother almost killed her), “I just don’t trust anyone with a relationship. They’re all stupid.”
“How do you worship women one second and hate them all the next?” Damian asks incredulously.
“Women are lovely until they’re mean to me,” Janis explains simply, “I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to ask someone what they want out of their life. I’m not asking for a commitment with me, I’m just asking that you know what you want and what we could potentially be getting into. Why would I waste my time with someone that doesn’t want kids or marriage or literally anything I want?”
“No, I get it,” Damian responds, leading them to the subway, “Shit’s hard.”
“Yeah,” Janis agrees quietly, “you have the tickets on your phone, right?”
“I do,” Damian nods, and the move into a lighter topic as they continue their adventure to the theater.
Damian catches Janis up on his latest little acting gigs. He recently did a handful of small commercials and he might have something bigger lined up for later in the year, but he’s refused to divulge details to Janis or Ben. Janis doesn’t know whether she should be worried or excited for him. Maybe a bit of both.
When they get to the theater, there’s a little bit of a line, but nothing insane.
“Should I get a shirt?” Janis asks, fidgeting with her flannel as they slowly move forward.
“They’re expensive as hell, but if you want,” Damian responds, “I think I have one from freshman year.”
“And to think I almost forgot that you saw it without me,” Janis comments as they get to the ticket guy.
Damian waits until they’re through to respond, “Don’t worry, babe, I had your voice in my head the entire time.”
“I’m glad my influence is working,” Janis remarks, puffing her chest a little. Damian just snorts and leads her to the merch booth.
Janis stands off to the side, deciding she’ll wait until intermission to buy anything, and Damian excuses himself to the bathroom while Janis mulls. There are some nice shirts, but nothing really stands out. There’s a white long sleeve shirt that Janis considers, but it’s still too warm out to be wearing considering it’s August.
She’s checking her bank account to see if she can justify the price of a hoodie when someone clears their throat behind her.
“Sorry, are you waiting for something? We’re trying to figure out where the line begins.”
Janis’ voice runs cold at the voice. There is no fucking chance in hell that this person is who Janis thinks she is. That would be a cruel joke from the universe.
Is her luck so bad that Regina fucking George is really standing behind her?
Janis swallows, responding with a short, “No, not in line.”
She doesn’t turn around. She doesn’t need to see.
“Okay, thanks.”
Janis swears she can hear her heart pounding in her ears. That wasn’t Regina. No. There’s no way.
She stares ahead at the shirts, unable to think anymore. Maybe she just needs to go to her and Damian’s seats and decompress. She’s been waiting for this for years, after all.
She’s waiting for Damian to get back when she finally turns around, confused. Where could he possibly be? No one takes this long in the bathroom.
It takes her a second, but she finally finds Damian near the end of the line, talking animatedly to none other than Regina fucking George.
How dare he.
Damian is her best friend, not Regina’s. And why does Regina look good? What kind of bullshit is that? Why does she have bangs and why does she pull them off? And why does she look happier than she ever did in high school? Janis knows their time in high school was rough but was it really that bad?
She doesn’t realize how hard she’s staring until Regina finally looks at her and their eyes meet.
Her jaw drops open ever-so-slightly and they stare for a second longer before Regina says something all too familiar.
And, sure, Janis doesn’t hear it, but she sure as hell remembers what it’s like to see her name leave Regina’s lips.