Chapter Text
When Regina wakes up on January 1st, she’s warm.
There’s a hand running through her hair, she’s under a heavy blanket, and there’s quiet music playing somewhere in the room.
Even better, she’s with Janis. She can tell because this is not her bed or her room, and she’s laying half on top of her. Regina’s pretty sure that this is the most comfortable that she’s been in her entire life.
“I know you’re awake,” Janis comments, moving her hand from Regina’s hair for a second, “The group chat is yapping about us.”
“What about?” Regina blinks slowly, pleasantly surprised that it’s not too bright in Janis’ room. They came back here last night after counting down to midnight surrounded by their friends, stopping only at Regina’s for her car so that they could go and get something to eat. It was as they finished their Taco Bell (Janis’ decision, Regina was just a paying bystander) that they decided to go to Janis’ seeing as she was just around the corner.
Regina could’ve gone home. If she were sane, she probably would’ve. But, she got the girl and she doesn’t plan on letting her go anytime soon.
“Check it out yourself,” Janis responds, handing Regina her phone, “I haven’t engaged with it yet. I only woke up like fifteen minutes ago.”
Regina hums, taking Janis’ phone gently and scrolling through their group chat’s messages.
Janis has her phone on dark mode. Regina finds it a bit bizarre but she doesn’t comment.
damedong
Rejanis did yall kiss last night or was I drunk
bird
JANIS AND REGINA KISSED???
damedong
Im trying to figure that out Cady Jesus Christ woman
bird
I didn’t see them kiss
damedong
So ur useless to me.
Regina glances at Janis, who’s looking at her with more softness than Regina expected. She almost forgets her question.
“Why is Damian damedong?” Regina asks, “Is that a joke I’m missing?”
Janis snorts, “Dame. Dong. Like ding-dong, but Damian. I think I came up with it when we were having edibles with his sister and I haven’t changed it. Not that it needs changing, I think it’s actually kind of genius.”
“It’s definitely something,” Regina hums, looking back at the phone.
fetchen pt1
Karen and I missed the countdown 💔
damedong
Do we wanna know why u missed the countdown
fetchen pt1
Probably not!
damedong
🙂↕️🙂↕️ thank you for preserving my sanity
damedong
Now where are the maybe-kissers
bird
Probably asleep
damedong
DING DONG WAKE UP !!!!
damedong
BRRRRR ALARM NOISES
damedong
I HAVE QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS !!!!
damedong
AND IM HUNGOVER !!!!!
“I almost don’t want to tell him so that he can suffer a little longer,” Janis comments with a little smirk on her face.
“I think his head would explode,” Regina responds, rolling off of Janis and on to her back. It’s then that she sees the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling and smiles to herself.
If someone had told her a year ago, when she was sure that her social status had crashed to the ground and that she had no friends left, that she’d be waking up in Janis ‘Imi’ike’s bed on New Year’s Day, have come out of the closet, have friends that care enough to inquire about her life without using that gathered information as ammunition, she wouldn’t have believed them.
But here she is, having done all of those things, and she swears that she’s never been happier.
She looks over at Janis, who’s scrolling through something on her phone and ignoring every text that comes through. She looks beautiful, even with her face scrubbed of her makeup and in a t-shirt that’s probably older than both of them.
She wants to kiss her again.
“So,” Janis turns off her phone and looks back at Regina, “how are you?”
Regina hums. What a simple question. She’s unsure of how to answer because good doesn’t feel like an apt descriptor. She’s more in disbelief, she thinks, because how is she in Janis’ bed right now? Did she really kiss Janis last night, or was she as drunk as Damian thinks he was?
She supposes that’s not true because Janis is looking at her with a certain gentleness that she would only reserve for someone that she loves. Regina’s felt gazes like this before, but she’s never felt so treasured.
“Thinking about you,” she finally says, moving a little closer to Janis and wrapping her arm around the brunette’s stomach, “what time is it?”
“Little after 8,” Janis replies softly, moving Regina’s hair out of her face, “we can go back to sleep, if you want. Damian can wait another couple of hours. I don’t think he knows we’re here.”
“Doesn’t he have your location?” Regina asks, enjoying the fact that Janis can’t seem to get her hands off of her. The physical reassurance that Janis wants this maybe just as much, if not more, than she does, makes her feel lighter.
“Well… yeah,” Janis huffs, “It’s fine. He wouldn’t come over without telling me unless someone’s dying. And no one’s dying.”
Regina nods, admittedly still a bit sleepy, “So what I’m hearing is… we can go back to sleep?”
Janis nods, pulling her in a little closer, “Mhm. I’m not meant to be up before 10am anyway.”
Regina buries her face in Janis’ neck, cheeks warming when Janis presses a kiss to her hair a minute later. She’s never felt more comfortable.
-
Regina’s pulled from her dream by the sound of the door opening and then Janis talking.
Janis quickly moves out of the bed, leaving Regina completely alone and confused. Where did she go? Why did she leave so quickly?
She rubs at her eyes to get the sleep out of them before rolling over on to her back and grabbing her phone off of the windowsill.
Only an hour and a half has passed since they were last awake, and it’s a couple of minutes before 10am, but Janis is not in bed anymore and Regina’s cold.
She hears talking out in the hallway and that’s when the realization of what’s going on crashes into her. Janis’ mom is in the hallway. The same mother that was convinced that Regina’s going to kill her daughter and the same mother that Regina’s so carefully avoided up until this point because she knows that she doesn’t like Regina.
(Of course, this is the same woman that once welcomed Regina into her home, but that’s so not the point because the past is past and the present is now and Regina’s anxious.)
She moves to sit up, waiting for something. Janis’ mother kicking her out, maybe? That’d make sense.
Regina looks down at herself, noticing now that Janis must have lent her a shirt last night. She’s wearing an N-64 t-shirt and a pair of leggings that she barely remembers changing into - she’s pretty sure that she ran into her house to get different shoes and change her pants, but she remembers more Janis than anything.
The shirt, though, is Janis’. It smells like her, it’s something that she owns, and Regina now has it. And she really doesn’t plan on giving it back anytime soon.
Janis comes back in the room after another minute, and closes the door behind herself, “We have ten minutes.”
Regina gives her a look, “Ten minutes until what?”
“Until my mother comes in here and interrogates you,” Janis says, sitting back on the bed next to Regina, “She’s…. a bit pissed off that I didn’t tell her anything about us.”
“There wasn’t an us until last night,” Regina responds with a little shrug, “Theoretically.”
Janis pauses, “Well… yes. But I tell her everything normally, and I was having a hard time telling her about this because… our history.”
Regina bites the inside of her cheek, not wanting to make some kind of mean comment about how Janis is referring to everything they went through. They’ve moved past it, or so she thought.
She knows that Janis’ mom is still mad at her. It’s something that she’s dreaded for months and avoided - and it seems like Janis has been working to avoid that as well. It does make her uneasy to think of, though, recalling how close she used to be to Janis’ mother at one point in her life. They were close enough where she’d slipped up and called Janis’ mom mom a couple of times. Regina spent so many nights at their house.
“Is she mad that I’m here?” Regina asks, even though she already knows the answer.
“She’s mad that I didn’t tell her,” Janis runs a hand through her own hair, “Just, you know, tell her we’re close again or something. That you’re not going to out me again.”
Regina gives her a look.
“You know I don’t think you’d do that,” Janis amends lamely, reaching over and squeezing Regina’s hand, “It’s all gonna be fine. She’s going to get over it. Everyone knows that you’ve changed.”
Regina finally finds her voice again, “This is your mom, Janis.”
“I know,” Janis nods, “but I forgave you. Months ago. And she knows I’ve been happier, she just thought it was about a different girl or something.”
Regina raises an eyebrow, barely able to hold back a smirk, “There’s another girl? Janis… are you a player?”
Janis rolls her eyes, a smile tipping up the corners of her mouth. Regina wonders if Janis is aware of the way her tongue peeks out of between her lips for a second too long and how much Regina wants to kiss her right now.
“I promise,” Janis throws one of her legs over Regina’s and leans a little closer so that their shoulders bump together, “You’re the only girl. She just met Grace one time and thought she was nice.”
Regina hums, “She’s going to take her time with forgiving me, isn’t she?”
“Oh yeah,” Janis kisses her cheek, “You’ll win her back, though. She’s also way more receptive to gifts than I am.”
Regina doesn’t really know what to do with that information. She doesn’t want to buy the affections of her potential girlfriend’s mother, especially not when the woman has every reason to not like her. She should have to earn back her trust, just like she did with Janis, right?
Janis leads her out of her room and into the bathroom, where she hands over a spare toothbrush and toothpaste. Regina pushes her out of the bathroom once they’re done so that she can both use the bathroom and ready herself for whatever conversation is about to ensue. What if Janis’ mother just says no to their budding whatever-this-is and it’s stopped before it could ever begin? Then what?
She runs her fingers through her hair to tame it, and stares at the t-shirt that she’s wearing in the mirror for a minute before leaving the bathroom. It’ll be fine. It has to be fine. She and Janis have come too far for it all to be backpedaled now.
Janis is waiting in the hallway for her, and smiles nervously when she sees Regina, “You ready?”
“Don’t have a choice,” Regina replies, reaching out and squeezing Janis’ hand gently, “Let’s do this.”
They head downstairs and into the kitchen, where Mrs. ‘Imi’ike is working on breakfast. The news is playing on the TV by the kitchen table, and fresh fruits are already cut and set out on it.
Regina’s anxiety increases tenfold when Janis’ mother’s eyes meet hers, but she holds steady.
“Good morning, Mrs. ‘Imi’ike,” she says, her voice shaking a little more than she would’ve liked. She should’ve just stayed at her house last night and had to explain why Janis was with her than endure whatever this is. At least in that scenario, she would’ve been properly dressed.
“Regina,” Janis’ mother gives her a look that’s nothing short of accusatory, “since when are you and Janis dating?”
“Mom!” Janis interjects quickly, “We haven’t even discussed any of that yet. We just kissed last night. I told you that.”
“So you don’t have intentions of dating?” Janis’ mother’s eyes move between the two girls quickly, “Come on, Janis. I know you two have something going on and I’d rather you tell me what your intentions are instead of continue going around me. I know you haven’t been bringing her home for a reason.”
“Because you’re freaking out over nothing!” Janis retorts, “Regina’s good. We’ve moved on. Just trust me.”
“Mrs. ‘Imi’ike,” Regina tries, her voice far calmer than the other two, “I apologized to Janis for everything that I did. And there’s no excuse for everything that I did, but I’m trying to move forward and I would never do anything like outing Janis again. I know better now and I’m trying to do better and I will do better by your daughter.”
Janis’ mother opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted by the front door opening and Janis’ dad calling out, “Can I get a hand with this?”
“Janis, go,” her mother says quickly.
“Mom-”
“Janis.”
Janis sighs, mouthing sorry to Regina before disappearing out of the kitchen.
“You broke her heart and you two didn’t even have this going on back then,” Mrs. ‘Imi’ike says quickly, “God help me, Regina George, if you ruin her life again, that bus won’t be the worst thing that’s happened to you.”
Regina swallows, “I’m not going to do that again. And for the record - I do want to date her, but I understand that that’s not in your best interest, so…”
“Regina,” Janis’ mother pulls the finished pancakes off of the stove, “I’m not stupid enough to think that you pulling away would stop either of you. I know how stubborn you both are. I’m just telling you, that if this goes wrong and it’s by your hand, you’re never getting near her again. And you and I are going to have that understanding.”
“I’m not going to hurt her,” Regina promises softly, “I love her. And I’m not going to jeopardize that.”
Janis’ mother eyes her, like she’s trying to run through a bullshit meter, but she can’t find it. That, admittedly, makes Regina a little triumphant.
“Then what’s your plan?” her mother asks, pouring pancake batter on to the pan, putting the pitcher down before meeting Regina’s eyes again, “You both are going to college next year. Janis got accepted to NYU, where are you going? Do you have a plan?”
“I got accepted into NYU as well. I’m planning on majoring in Criminal Justice or Political Science,” Regina responds tentatively.
Regina’s not sure if the look of surprise is because Regina has an answer or if it’s because the answer is NYU, but she does find herself wishing it wasn’t such a surprise. Why didn’t Janis tell her mom about this? Has she really kept this much of their friendship a secret?
“Regina!” Janis’ father comes into the room, a big smile on his face as he squeezes her shoulder, “Happy new year!”
“Happy new year,” Regina smiles gently at him, relief creeping through her brain when she sees Janis standing behind him.
“Keilani, don’t freak out Janis’ friend,” Janis’ father says with a wave of his hand, “you know, she came to visit when Janis was sick a couple of months ago? She brought me popsicles.”
“She brought me popsicles,” Janis interjects, furrowing her eyebrows, “Dad just ate half of them.”
“Details,” her father brushes off sarcastically, “Regina, are you staying for breakfast?”
Janis’ mother is the one to speak this time, nodding to the table, “She’s staying. Sit, Regina.”
Regina’s a little too nervous to object.