Remus-Centric

Red (Pt.1)

TW: Heavily implied self harm, mentioned yelling, Virgil leaving the dark sides, Janus being sad, mentioned (though never explicitly) blood.

vent vent vent vent vent vent vent vent vent-

Me venting through Remus again? Ha, no. Totally not.

Sorry if the story line doesn't make much sense. I just needed to write this one and didn't bother editing it.

Fun fact! Octopi have arms, not tentacles. Arms have suction cups the entire length of the limb, while tentacles only have suction cups near the end of the limb. Some Cephalopods, like the octopus, have arms, others have tentacles, and some have both!

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There was no logical reason for him to do it. There's almost never a logical reason behind anything he does. It's always been, he thinks of something and he does it.

It was exactly that, that got everything even remotely dangerous locked up and kept away from him. All sources of fun, vanished, just like that. Remus will admit though, that it is entirely his fault. He hadn't thought anything of it. He hadn't seen the point in covering it up.

That had been his first mistake.

Remus prides himself in his honesty and openness. He absolutely hates having to lie. But maybe, just this once, he should have anyways.

Janus had been so angry when he first saw. If he wasn't the Duke, Remus might have even admitted to being a little bit scared. The snake had looked positively terrifying that night. He wouldn't stop yelling, yelling, yelling.

Remus didn't know what he did wrong. How could he? The angry blabber fell deaf to his ears as he's was engulfed by confusion.

He hadn't done anything bad. Had he? No, of course not! It was nothing. Nothing but red.

Apparently, red wasn't a good colour on him.

That's when the first set of rules was created.

-All sharp objects must be locked away and hidden.
-Remus is not to be left alone for longer than an hour straight.
-Remus can only wear short sleeves.
-Remus is never to do any task by himself, or without supervision.

Remus resented these rules.

They treated him like a baby. He absolutely hated every second of it. He was a full grown adult! He can take care of himself just fine! One mistake had led him to his demise, stuck in an infinite loop of boredom and frustration.

He was fine! What was all the fuss about? There was no reason for any of this.

It took a while before things finally went back to normal. Well, as normal as it could get with Virgil gone.

Janus was heartbroken when he left. It was devastating to see the usually so calm and snarky side, reduced to a pile of pitiful sobs. Remus did his best to help the snake, struggling to stay above water himself. And then one day, it's as if nothing had ever happened.

Janus went back to his usual daily tasks, back to exactly how things were before. There was an unspoken agreement between the two remaining dark sides, never to speak of the other again.

In the midst of that emotional tornado, Janus lost sight of the rules he, himself had set up. He would still check in with Remus every few hours, feeling as though he'd forgotten something important. Remus would never blame him though. After everything that had happened with Virg- him- it only made sense for Janus to push out the useless thoughts of red encumbering his head.

Remus was able to wear what he wanted again, help, have fun, dye his arms red.

Once again, he had been wrong.

His second mistake, was believing Janus was over it.

Janus had grabbed his arm. It felt like fire burning against his skin. He yelped and forcefully pulled his arm back.

This time, there was no anger. Just disappointment. It was so, so much worse. The snake held out his hand. He was insistent and didn't let Remus leave. He gave in, and shamefully, Remus let Janus pull back his sleeve.

Instead of the yelling, all Janus did was sigh.

Remus had hurt his only friend. He couldn't listen to something as simple as those few rules. He couldn't keep his stupid impulses under control.

He didn't know why. He didn't know and he hated it. It's just so frustrating. He knows he shouldn't but he couldn't care less. He likes the red.

He does it because he can, and that's not enough. There's no explanation to his actions and he can't stand it. Yet he doesn't stop.

Every time the red would fade, he'd do it again. The sting had become such a constant in his life, not having it there just felt... wrong.

Everything was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. So he continued. He grew more frustrated by the day, impulse and curiosity pushing him to go deeper.

He wants more red.

Janus never left his side after that. He'd force Remus to sleep with him in his room. He was never given the chance to be alone.

He was back to being babysat.

Remus loves Janus, he really does. But in that moment, he wanted him gone.