Demus Oneshots

Tell

More Remus centred than Demus but we're still putting it in here-

Remus knocked on the door and waited for it to open, hugging his empty clipboard to his chest. The door opened and a man poked his head out.

"Hello." Remus said cheerily. "Peter Dagger, I assume?"

"Um, who's asking?" Peter asked. Remus blinked a couple of times.

"I am." He said. "I'm Remus. D'you mind if I come in?" Without waiting for an answer, Remus pushed past Peter and into his house.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked.

"Survey." Remus said, tapping the back of his clipboard. He knocked on a wall twice, seemed to listen and noted something down on the imaginary paper on his clipboard. "For school paper."

"Um, that's all very well but you need to leave-" Peter started.

"D'you have kids, Mr Dagger?" Remus asked. "Daughter? Twins? Maybe a son?"

Peter's eyes flicked to the floor before he looked back at Remus. "No. I don't have children."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He asked. "What about a partner? Wife? Husband? Both?"

"No, I'm not married." Peter said, his eyes flicking to the floor again.

"Really?" Remus asked. "You live here all by yourself?" He asked. "This... three storey house? All alone?"

Peter shrugged. Remus narrowed his eyes slightly. "Interesting." He walked out of the hall and into the living room.

"Dagger. Where's that name from?" Remus called from the living room.

"Look, I don't care what school paper this is-"

"D'you not know?" Remus interrupted. He kicked a table and tilted his head to the side. "Interesting last name. Dagger. Rare, d'you suppose?"

Peter's eyes flicked to the floor again. How could he get this strange boy out of his house?

"I'm sure we all like to imagine that our name is one of a kind." Peter said stiffly. Just answer this odd boy's questions and he'd be gone.

"Yes but it does sound rare, doesn't it?" Remus asked, looking around the room. "Dagger, Dagger." He seemed to be testing the name out on his tongue. "How many Peter Daggers do you suppose there are in England? Two, three, one?"

"I wouldn't know." Peter said through his teeth. "I'd like to think it's just me."

"How do you feel about people, Mr Dagger?" Remus asked, noting something else down on his clipboard. "Do you like people? Feel as though there is a place for all people in this world?"

"I don't need to share my views on people with a child." Peter sneered, getting annoyed.

"How do you feel about people who are gay? Bi? Pan? That sort of thing." Remus asked. Peter's eyes flicked to the ground again and he didn't answer. "Not answering? How about those who use multiple pronouns? He/she, she/they," Remus seemed to pause for a fraction of a second, "they/he?"

"I think they're... confused at best." Peter said. "Why do you need to know this?"

"Do you know what a tell is, Peter?" Remus asked. "A lying tell is something everyone has. When you lie, your tell comes through. Whether it's scratching the back of your hand or rolling your eyes or something like that, everyone has a tell."

"Why are you telling me this?" Peter snapped.

"Because you have a tell very similar to your son's." Remus said, a bite in his voice that nearly matched Peter's.

"I don't have a son." Peter said, his eyes flicking to the ground again. Remus laughed and clapped his hands.

"There it is! There's the tell!" He said excitedly. "Yeah, almost exactly like Janus! Only their eyes flick to the side rather than the floor. You remember your son, Peter? You kicked him out a good, oh, two years ago? He must've been, what, 14?" Remus shook his head. "That's cold, even for a guy like you."

"Who are you?!" Peter snapped.

"Remus, we've been over this." Remus said, smirking. "Though you wouldn't know me. But your son does. He knows every part of me. Very well." Remus laughed at Peter's disgusted expression. "Yeah, after you kicked Janus out, their mum came and picked them up. Lily Dagger, right? High school sweethearts gone bad after a birth defect cause Janus to come out with, what did you call it? A half-face?"

"Get out of my house." Peter snapped.

"Or what? You'll hit me? I'll have child services on your ass in five minutes!" Remus laughed. "So you're gonna hear me out. You hurt my partner. My beloved Janus. And you're going to pay for what you did to him."

"Janus was confused and wilfully-" Peter started.

"Oh, shut up." Remus groaned. "I've heard it all before. Now, listen to what happened after you kicked your own, only child out. Their mum came and picked them up. They went to therapy for the insane amount of trauma you shoved on him. Then, he came to my high school last year. We went out on a couple dates-"

"You're disgusting." Peter snarled.

"I'm not a mirror." Remus snapped. "And that should be the cherry on top of the cake of your prison sentence."

Peter blinked, caught off-guard. "What?"

Remus grinned and pulled a tape recorder out of his jacket pocket. "Got everything down here. And with testimony from Janus and Lily, this should be enough to land you in jail." Remus grinned at Peter's flabbergasted expression. "I'll see myself out. Thanks for participating in my survey, Mr Dagger. Your response is greatly appreciated."

Giving Peter Dagger what he deserves is such fun. Also, I definitely didn't look at that title for a minute, trying to decide if I'd spelt it right or not.
Bye,
Blaize