Alive

Confession

TW: Cursing, F-slur, extreme homophobia, murder discussion, discussion of death by fire,  very sublte religious element

Remus' POV:

My parents have gone out. They've taken Roman to a college interview. I don't even know where for, and I don't really care that much. He got a few invitations to colleges for his grades. I didn't.

It's fine though, I didn't want to go to some prissy posh boy college anyway.

Janus and I sit on the landing at the top of the stairs, and I'm catching him up on what Virgil told me.

"So uh, Virge is sharing a room with a girl, who, kinda, was dating one of your sisters."
He pauses, looking at general area of the stairs in concentration. "Ellie?" He then asks, looking back up to me.

I don't reply, so he clarifies. "Elizabeth, Elle, Liz, Lizzie, she had a few nicknames, I don't know which one this girl called her."
I nod. "I think it was Lizzie."

"How come you knew it was her? Didn't you have two sisters?"
"Remus, my other sister was seven. If she had a girlfriend the same age as Virgil I would be really concerned." He laughs as he says it.

We wait a moment. "You, uh, you don't seem surprised that your sister liked girls? Did you know?"
He smiles, crossing his legs. "Nobody looks at their best friend like that without it being something more. I had my suspicions, let's just say."

He sighs, as if nostalgic. Then his eyebrows furrow in concentration as if he's remembering where he is.

Janus runs his hand through his hair. "Why are you telling me this again?"

--------

Ten minutes later, we're sat on my parent's double bed, and I've just caught Jan up to me going to speak to Zariah's dad. I understand that it's a lot of information for him to process, so I'm not surprised that he's left shaking and breathing heavily. We're laying down onto our backs, I stare at the ceiling, while Janus has his face hidden in my shirt, lying on top of me almost, with his left arm wrapepd around my torso. I slowly run my right hand through his hair.

He looks up. "Are you sure you'll be okay speaking to this guy? What if he hurts you? He's clearly dangerous."

I reassure him that I'll be fine, and he smiles. "You should cover up those bruises. Does your mum wear makeup?"
"I don't know, probably."
He climbs off the bed, and perches one knee on the stool under my mother's vanity, the other leg still on the ground as he starts opening drawers.

"You realise I'm going to get in trouble for you messing around with my parents' things?" I chuckle, lightheartedly, but I'd be lying through my teeth if I said I wasn't worried about it just a little.
"I won't mess too much up. Just looking for.."

His eyes lighten and he grabs the clear bottle of foundation from the second drawer down. "Got it."

"Jan, I'm not wearing that, I'm not a girl-"
"Hush. Do you want this guy to start asking questions?" He raises his eyebrows, spinning the bottle in his hand and smirking.

----

Janus' POV:

"Aha! Stop it! That tickles!" Remus laughs, moving away from me as I rub the foundation into his neck. It's doing a good job at covering up the bruises.
"Shush and suck it up, you baby." I pander back, smiling.
"I don't think you're meant to put makeup on babies, Jan!" He reaches his arms to push mine away from him.

I give in, satisfied with my job as I wipe my hands on my jeans and leave some prints behind.
He looks in the mirror, surprised. "Okay, Mr makeup artist. I'll admit it, you did a good job."
"Thank you, I do try."