Soulmate Notebook

Chapter 6 - Janus

Trigger Warning: Abuse and Remus

When Janus's dad pulled into the driveway and stopped the car, Janus dashed up the stairs to his room. He was in enough trouble after taking the blame for Remus. He didn't want him to get in trouble for fighting a bully. As he waited in his room, he began to imagine the worst case scenario. He would have to be extra careful on which wounds he chose to hide. Logan was already getting suspicious and it was only the second day of school. As he was thinking he heard his dad's footsteps coming up the stairs.

His dad entered the room holding Janus's least favorite forms of punishment. His dad placed them on the bed before speaking. "For the next two weeks, this will be an everyday thing. You will learn to never fight in school again. Do you have anything to say for yourself before we begin?" Janus's dad said scary calm.

Janus glanced at the ground and said, "I'm sorry, Dad. It won't happen again, I promise."

"You'll be sorry when I'm done with you, Janus. I'm going to make sure that you never embarrass me like that again. Now, remove all clothing from your torso," his dad snarled. Janus stood up and removed his gloves, hoody, and shirt. He turned around and got down on his knees with his back facing his father. He's done this so many times that he knew the position well. The first strike was always a surprise to Janus. His father would whip him for at least an hour. Once he was done with that, he grabbed some plyers and removed Janus's scales forcibly. Janus eventually passed out from the pain. This is when his father would take a break to drink while he waited for the boy to wake up.

Once Janus came back to consciousness, he would beat him all over his body and leave bruises and cuts all over him. Occasionally he would break some bones, and once his father was completely done with him for the day, Janus would patch himself up the best he could. After that he would use his illusion power to hide the worst injuries, however the worse the beating the harder it was to hide. The illusion wouldn't work so well when he was tired, severely hurt, or too emotional. He knew that after these two weeks of suspension that it would be impossible for him to hide all his injuries, so he would have to hide what he could with his clothing. Then use illusions to hide the ones on his face.

It was a long two weeks for Janus. Jason, Janus's father, kept his word about doing the punishment everyday until he went back to school. Janus had a hard time using his illusions to hide his missing scales and bruises on his face. When he climbed onto the bus, he saw Remus sitting with he assumed his identical twin. When Remus saw him, he jumped up and ran over to him and hugged him. During the hug Remus licked Janus's snake side and Janus couldn't stop the wince of pain.

Remus pulled back and laughed, "Aww, Jan! You don't need to cringe. We're soulmates and one day we'll do more. Maybe next time it won't be your face that I lick." Janus didn't correct him about the action because he didn't want Remus to get involved with his situation.

"Remus! We're on the bus! Could you try to act normal? For like the entire ride," Roman called from his seat.

"Oh, hush, Roman! I'm just messing with him. Geez I can't have any fun with you around," Remus said as he dragged Janus to the back of the bus and made him sit in his lap. "Jan, I know that you are part snake, but you don't have to wear all that clothing, dear," Remus said wiggling his eyebrows.

"Remus!" Roman shouted.

Janus just looked down in embarrassment as the twins argued about what was and wasn't appropriate to say to your soulmate. Janus felt like the ride to school was lasting forever. He was zoned out and didn't realize that Roman was trying to get his attention. Until he placed a hand on Janus's snake shoulder and Janus instinctively punched Roman. Remus quickly grabbed Janus's hands and held them in his lap.

"What was that for?!" Roman questioned irritated at the boy in his twin's lap.

"Roman, calm down. He didn't mean to. You startled him, and like a startled snake he struck out at you," Remus retorted still holding Janus's hands caringly in his own.

"I'm sorry! It was an instinct!" Janus quickly apologized.

"It's ok. Remus is right, it was my fault for startling you. I'm Roman by the way. What's your name?" Roman explained still rubbing his nose dramatically.

"J-J-Jan-nus. Janus is my name," he stuttered.

"Remus said that you were his soulmate," Roman blurted out.

"Roman, I told you that he is both of our soulmate," Remus said exasperated, "I'm sorry for Roman's behavior he is quite dramatic."

"I am not, Remus!" Roman retorted as the bus finally came to a stop.

"Jan, what is your first class? Maybe we can draw pictures of juicy things," Remus suggested as he helped Janus stand up so he could get up as well.

"I have English class, Rem," Janus answered while looking down at the ground.

"Oooh! So, do I, would you like to sit with me? Roman has math so it'll just be the two of us," Remus said as they stepped off the bus. Remus held onto Janus's hand all the way to class and when he let go, Janus missed the feeling of Remus's hand in his. Before class started, the two compared schedules to see what other classes they shared. Surprisingly, the only classes that the two didn't share were history and science. "So, I get to spend most of my school day with my lover," Remus said seductively, "I'm going to walk you to all of your classes, even the ones we don't share."

"Remus, it's safer for all of you to stay away from me. I'm dangerous and the last thing I want to do is hurt my soulmates. We can hang out at school, but out of school, promise that you will pretend that you don't know me," Janus warned and requested.

"Why would you say that, Jan? I'm seriously demented and you think that you're dangerous? I'm not leaving you alone, and out of school, I'll act like we are friends. That's the best I can offer," Remus stated seriously.

Janus realized that that was the best he was going to get from him. "Fine. Don't say that I didn't warn you," Janus caved not wanting to upset his soulmate.