Six Times Janus Dropped and Six People Who Took Care of Him

Remus

Janus had been regressing for a long time. Long enough for King to have been there for the first one, and the ones in the following years. King, or "Papa," as Jay called him when he was regressed, had rolled with it, and it hadn't been long before they had routines for Janus to follow when he was regressed, signals in case of accidental regression in front of the others, things both of them were okay and not okay with, and so on. Because of King, Janus's first few years of regressing had been joyful and safe.

Now, King was gone, and Janus was alone.

Whenever he regressed, which wasn't often because he did his best to force himself not to, he spent his time shifted into the form of a child, a two-year-old, playing in the nursery King had made for him before the split. Most of the time, he was happy to play alone with his toys and snakes. But, sometimes, little him missed his papa so dearly it ached. And when that happened, he often spent his entire regression crying, his sweet snakes trying to comfort him.

That was how Remus found him.

Remus, as usual, had burst into Jay's room without knocking, intent on telling his friend his delightfully horrible new idea, but had found the room empty. He knew Janus was in there, it wasn't exactly like the snake side to escape out the window, so he looked around. Absurd as it was, he even looked under the bed. Then, finally, in the walk-in closet.

There was another door back there, cracked open, and from behind it Remus could hear... crying? Not like Janus was crying, but like a baby was crying. Had Janus conjured himself a baby? Was there a baby side Janus hadn't told him about? He pushed his head through the door, trying to see what was happening-

Well, it was a baby alright. More like a toddler, but there was a baby in what looked like a nursery, clad in Janus's colours and sobbing like it's puppy had just been shot in front of it.

Was it- It couldn't be... Could it?

Remus stepped inside and knelt next to the sobbing child. Janus or not, this child was crying, and he hated it when children cried. Professionals had standards, after all. "Hey, baby... Um..." He grabbed the child under its arms and lifted it out of the blanket it was tangled in. It was still distraught, but now Remus could see scales and one snake eye. Definitely Janus.

What was he supposed to do with a baby? Remus had never had any experience with babies. They ate... they ate the yucky green stuff, right? And milk! Babies liked milk! But what kind of milk? Hopefully not soy milk. Remus would not be able to deal with baby Janus if he liked soy milk. Um... Maybe he would be okay with the normal milk in the fridge?

"Alright." Remus readjusted his hold on Janus, cradling him against his chest. Janus calmed a bit when he did, sobs turning to sniffles, and Remus glanced down at him and was hit with a memory so strong he nearly stumbled-

"Oh, you're so cute!" He cooed, reaching down and gently poking Baby Jan's nose. Janus stuck his tongue out on instinct, and he laughed.

As the memory faded, Remus stood in the doorway like an idiot, blinking again and again. That was... a memory. But it wasn't his memory. If it was his, he would have already known Janus regressed.

Was it one of King's memories?

Janus began to fuss in his arms, and Remus readjusted him again and carried him down to the kitchen.

-

Babies, it turns out, do not like the fridge milk, mainly because Remus did not check the fridge milk before serving it and found out it went sour. Babies will remember this and refuse any other bottle of fridge milk, no matter how fresh it is. Remus tried conjuring up the yucky green stuff, but since he had no idea what it was, he wound up conjuring some green slime mould, which he knew on instinct baby Janus would not love him for. So, he put some bananas and some strawberries and yoghurt in the blender and made some kind of pathetic smoothie, which Janus drank despite Remus personally thinking his smoothie-making school suck.

More than once he considered calling Morality and getting him to take care of baby Janus. But he doubted Janus didn't want anyone else to know about... this, so he stayed quiet.

But still, he had no idea what to do with babies.

Eventually, he conjured a playpen and put Janus in it, then retrieved an armful of stuffed animals from the nursery and dumped them unceremoniously on top of him. He turned on Scooby-Doo.

And thus, baby Janus was successfully distracted.

Remus sprinted up to the nursery, looking around desperately for something- anything- that could give him some clue as to what the hell he was supposed to do with a baby. His eyes landed on a child's drawing of two stick figures, a tall one with a beard and a crown holding the hand of a little stick figure.

King! Of course! King probably knew about this before the split! Maybe he could find something in King's room!

After a few minutes of practically tearing King's old room apart, he finally managed to find a little notebook with "Baby Jay" written in gold glitter pen. Flipping through it revealed schedules, which foods Janus liked and disliked, how to deal with him when he was grouchy, signals to show an accidental drop-

Bingo!

He bought the notebook back down. Baby Janus was staring at the screen with rapt attention, which, now that Remus wasn't in a blind panic, he found adorable. According to King's journal, Baby Jay was supposed to be put down for a nap in a few minutes, so Remus scooped him and his stuffed animals up and carried them to the nursery.

-

It took a lot of struggling and suffering through a half-hour tantrum to finally get Jay to sleep, but Remus emerged victorious, if exhausted and a little bedraggled. He wanted to sleep too, but according to King's book, letting baby Jay take too long of a nap was bad because then he wouldn't go to bed at a reasonable hour. So, while he waited for the stove timer to ring and signal Janus's two-hour nap was over, he read more.

According to the book, baby Jay didn't talk, needed diapers (shit, Remus never checked if he had one,) and hated most types of milk (including soy milk, which was a relief.) By the time the alarm rang and scared him out of his skin, he'd gotten through most of the book. He went up to the nursery, ready to try again with his new understanding of baby Jay-

Only to find adult Janus standing in his room, snapping on his gloves.

"Oh, hello, Remus." Janus smiled, brushing his fluffy hair out of his face. "Everything okay?"

He had to admit, he deflated a bit. He'd been so excited to use his newfound knowledge. But hey, Janus would be little again eventually. "Do you remember any of what just happened?"

He didn't miss the brief flash of fear in Jay's eyes. "I was taking a nap all day. I've only just woken up."

"So you don't remember anything about age regressing?"

"Age regressing?" Janus blinked at him in a near-perfect display of confusion, but Remus could see the underlying fear. So he hadn't wanted Remus to know. It was almost enough to make him drop the whole thing, but he was pretty sure babies needed people to watch them.

He blew out a deep breath and sat on the bed, then motioned for Janus to sit next to him, which he did. "Jay, I know you age regress. I found you in the nursery as a baby, and I found King's journal on it. I spent all afternoon taking care of you. Remember? I accidentally gave you sour milk?"

Janus made a face, revealing that he very much did remember, but tried again to deny it. Remus wanted to sigh.

"Look, I know about this. I've been taking care of you all afternoon. You don't have to lie. I don't think it's bad and I'm willing to help if you let me." He held out his hands to Janus, inviting him to take them.

After a long pause, Janus finally nodded and took his hands.

"That would be nice."