When You're Broken On The Ground

Chapter 69

Trigger Warnings: car accidents, stress, a lot of yelling

Word Count: 1113

"REMUS!!" Remy yells, running through the ballroom, "WHERE THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO BE YOU BITCH?!" Janus sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Don't tell them their positions until the wedding, they decided. It'll be hilarious to watch, they said. Well now it's their wedding and he did not realize how stressful it would be to have to direct their family along with the staff.

"Remy you and Emile are my groomsmen, please get into your positions quickly," Janus yells. "And if you see Logan and/or Joan, directed them to Remus' side." Remy nods at him and keeps running. Gods what a mess... Janus sighs, rubbing his forehead. Two hours until the ceremony begins and he hasn't found his twin to tell him that he's Janus' best man.

Perfect timing as usual, Patton runs past Janus, yelling, "Logan I found another tie that has both colors on it!!", holding a green and gold tie that somehow doesn't look completely awful. He shouldn't be surprised, Logan always has the perfect tie for any occasion.

"Wait Pat!" Janus yells, grabbing his twin's arm. Patton looks at him, confused as he opens his mouth. "Pat you're my best man, and Logan's one of Remus' groomsmen!" Janus cuts him off before he can say a word, knowing he has to get ahead of his well-meaning but bad at listening brother.

"Got it! Thanks Dee!" he tosses over his shoulder as he keeps running, off towards a panicking Logan no doubt. The man has never felt comfortable without a tie, and if Patton's holding one that means Logan most likely forgot his in their car or didn't have the correct tie, and wither way that means Logan isn't having the best time right now. Besides, the only time Patton doesn't stop for a conversation is for a panicking family member.

"Uh sir?" He turns to look at the frazzled-looking employee, clutching an ipad or some kind of tablet at least in their hands, a black headset the only thing that doesn't seem tired and worried. "I'm sorry, but the caterer with your food was in an accident; we don't know if the food's okay or if they'll be able to get here at all."

He closes his eyes and breathes in deeply. One. Two. Three. "Okay, do you know if their workers are alright?"

"Yes, all of them are accounted for and report no injuries," the employee says, glancing down at their tablet before looking up at him. They can't be over 5'2, probably seventeen or eighteen. Personally it feels a bit cruel making a teenager handle a wedding, but life never is very fair.

"Arlight, then can you keep me updated on their position? We don't have time to order another caterer, not with some of our guests' food restrictions or the sheer amount of time needed to order ahead so they are prepared," Janus muses out loud. "We can improvise as needed, if the caterer can't come or if most of the food's ruined. Can you do that?"

The employee takes a shaky breath but nods. "Yeah, yeah I can do that. Thankfully the cake's due to get here on time, so at least you'll have cake."

"At least there's that," he agrees, letting them walk off to handle everything. He takes another deep breath. Fucking hell this is hard, why did he let Patton, Roman, and Emile talk them into a true wedding? Why couldn't they just have eloped into their honeymoon like they'd always planned in college. Would've cost less, at least, not mention the headaches would be avoided in favor of dipping out. Sure they'd let everyone know they were going, but not where. Would've been nice, travelling the world with his husband at his side, living like nomads for a few weeks and escaping any and all responsibilities they had for a while. Just Remus and Janus, living life as they always had: chaotically and outside of society's rules.

"J!" Thomas calls from his dressing room. He sighs, being snapped out of his thoughts. He is, for once, grateful for the stupid socital terms that decided dressing rooms at a ballroom needed to be a thing. It certainly made keeping his ensemble a secret from certain octopus-loving individuals like his dear fiancé easier, at the very least.

"Coming Thomas!" Janus yells back, glancing over the venue one last time before heading back to the dressing room. It's nothing much, just a room with a thick curtain and a large, floor to ceiling mirror. But it works, as Thomas is holding his outfit in it's garment bag, grinning.

"You ready?" he asks.

"Always," Janus replies, grabbing the bag and definitely not rushing behind the curtain. Thankfully there's a hook behind there, where he carefully places the hanger before taking the bag off and gazing at his outfit.

It's a fitted gold evening-casino gown, long slit going up each side of his legs to about his mid thigh, with a black silk jacket, also fitted, over top. The top of the gown, a rather modest neckline that ends a few inches underneath his collarbone, can still be seen under the jacket. Janus grins and slips it on, sighing happily as it fits like a glove. Amd speaking of gloves... He rummages in his pant pocket, pulling out his fishnet gloves. Oh Remus is gonna get a kick out of this.

"Please tell me it fits because I am not calling Dice after he insulted everything about my clothes," Thomas calls over the curtain.

Smoothing down the fabric, Janus grins in the mirror. His hair could use a bit more gel to stay down, but everything looks good. "Oh, trust me, it fits," he says, walking out.

Thomas smirks. "Well I know what Remus'll say when he sees you," he teases. Janus laughs, nodding in agreement. Was it entirely necessary to walk the thin line of proper and temptation? No, but he fully intended to look his best and, as Remus has pointed it multiple times over the years, he looks oh so good in a dress or fitted suit. All he did was combine the two into one.

"Hang on," Virgil says, slipping in with a box. "You're forgetting something." Janus raises his eyebrow in question. His best friend grins and opens the box, revealing a black bowler hat.

"Couldn't let you go without some class," Thomas laughs, dropping the hat on Janus' head.

He laughs. "Is this my Deceit hat?" The two glance at each before shrugging. "Thank you either way," he says, adjusting the hat in the mirror.