Chapter Text
To say Janus was nervous was an understatement .
Janus was fucking panicking.
Why was Janus panicking? Because Remus was nervous, and he was never nervous. The loud, obnoxious, crazed, manic, rat, octopus, side he was proud to call his boyfriend, was nervous. So yeah, Janus was a little bit worried about what this meant for him, since today was date night. Remus had promised Janus a day in the imagination, since it was December it was probably snowing and freezing cold in the imagination because the twins just fucking love the idea of a white Christmas.
Remus did promise that Janus was going to be warm, grabbing his old coat and normal gloves he waited downstairs where him and Remus normally met each other. He didn’t have to wait long, Remus soon appeared with a bundle of clothes with him.
“Hello snakey.” Remus greeted him, throwing the clothes at him. “Put those on.” Janus huffed and looked at them closer, it was a new coat, snow pants (they look like leggings), and a new pair of yellow gloves.
“Remus what-?”
“It’s going to be cold, and I figure since it’s going to be cold and wet you would need something warmer.” Janus smiled down at the clothes and brought Remus in for a kiss.
“You are the most perfect boyfriend I have ever had.” Remus had a puppy dog look as Janus put the new clothes on him. They then walked out into the cold, the difference was that they were on Roman’s side of the imagination instead of Remus’s. Janus knew this from how picture perfect everything was, along with a horse drawn sled . During the winter, Remus’s imagination always looked distorted and grimm.
“Remus, what are we doing here.” Janus cautiously asked. Remus chuckled and motioned Janus to the sled.
“Don’t worry about it, let’s go.” Once they got settled with a blanket and everything, they were off. Janus tried to pry more information out of Remus about their date, he was being very cryptid, infuriating, and cute.
“Sorry Jannie I can’t tell you, trade secret.” Janus snorted as he saw a small town come in view.
“You can’t keep a secret Remus, you can’t lie to the embodiment of deception.” Remus laughed and wrapped an arm around him.
“Well this secret I’m keeping tighter than a virgin’s butthole.” If anyone asked, Janus did not give out the ugliest snort of laughter. Remus laughed along with him as they pulled up to the town. From a distance it looks small, but it was actually massive. Shops, parks, a giant Christmas tree, a skating rink, a group of carolers, a slope to sled down, and a small area for snowmen and snowball fights.
It was the perfect little Christmas town.
“Remus what is all this?” Remus got off the sled and stood next to Janus.
“Roman has been working on this for weeks now, I made him an offer to let us use it for the day with minimal damage.” Before Janus could question his boyfriend further Remus began dragging Janus away.
“Come on! Let’s get some hot chocolate!” Janus laughed as this crazed man dragged him to get some. It suddenly came on him that he was warm, his new clothes were comfy, warm, and fashionable. Once Remus handed him a cup of the chocolate Janus fell a little bit more in love with him.
“Ok, so the plan today is to have fun with minimal damage, now what should we try and destroy first?” Remus asked while looking around wildly. Janus laughed and looped his arm with Remus’s.
“Why don’t we walk around? We can see the shops, look at the giant Christmas tree, and then we can either go sledding or ice skating before lunch?” Janus looked around nursing his too hot chocolate, with a hint of caramel.
“That sounds perfect! I know what we can do! We can scope around for a good sandwich or cafe and then go sledding! That way we know exactly where the food is!” Janus laughed and agreed as they walked down the town. Making small commentary on the toy shops and jewelry shops. Everything was there, book shops, a bakery, and a little “Santa’s Workshop”.
“Oh wait right here!” Remus ran off, throwing his chocolate somewhere. Janus followed him to the ‘workshop’ and took his phone out. There in Santa's lap was Remus whispering something to the imaginative figure before him. Whatever Remus whispered made Santa smile, it was heartwarming.
“Remus smile!” Remus gave a big toothy grin as Janus snapped a photo. They said their goodbyes and found a cute little cafe that had soft instrumental music playing in the background. They both agreed this would be the place for lunch. Once they got back to the town square, Remus practically dragged a laughing Janus to the sledding area. Quickly Janus threw his cup of chocolate away before Remus picked him up and ran him up the hill.
“Remus!” Janus squealed as they got to the top, Remus pulled out a sled and helped Janus sit down in it. He was sitting in front.
“Oh I see when we crash I will be your cushion.” Janus chided, he was excited and nervous.
“Yup!” Remus laughed as he pushed the sled down, the both yelled and screamed with joy down the hill. They did end up falling over and crashing into a pile of white fluffy snow, Janus was completely buried and he could hear Remus laughing. Janus was then pulled out of his snowy prison and was happy to report he was still warm.
“Ok, let’s try this again, but without crashing.” Janus chuckled as Remus began dragging him and the sled back up the hill.
“But that’s half the fun!” They went down the hill a few more times, they still crashed every time, and somehow Janus continued to be buried by the white prison. Finally they just decided to lay in the snow, they were right next to the little clearing where if Janus were to look over, he would see small imaginary children building a snowman.
“Hey Remus.” Remus vaguely looked over to him, a smile graced his face.
“Yes, my nakey snakey?” Janus gave a small chuckle.
“One, I’m not naked-”
“Not yet.”
“Two, do you wanna build a snowman?” The magic words, Remus jumped up, pulling his snake like boyfriend along to the clearing to build a snowman.
If you can even call it that, they ended up building Cthulhu instead, and yet the children weren’t scared. Together hand in hand they got out of the snowy clearing and slowly made their way back down the streets of the town. It gave them a chance to shake off any extra snow, passing by the shops and stores was amazing, but one caught Janus’s eye. It was a small little dance studio playing Christmas music, Janus completely missed it on their first go around.
Remus seemed to notice Janus staring at something and followed his gaze, he smiled softly before dragging Janus towards the building.
“Remus wait! I haven’t danced in years!” Remus pulled Janus into the building and took off their coats. Remus snapped his fingers and they were wearing dance costumes and dance shoes.
“Jannie, you dance all the time at the house. I know you still got it.” He held out his hand and Janus took it smiling down at the ground.
“If I fall you better catch me.” Remus’s eyes twinkled.
“I would never drop you.” Remus snapped his fingers and a rock version of jingle bells played. Janus laughed as they started a very complex dance with a bit of tap mixed into it. To any bystander it would look like something from a dance competition on the tv. They swirled and twirled, kicked their legs out, jumped around and still looked majestic while doing so. By the time the song ended they were in a dipped position panting and catching their breaths.
“Haven’t danced in years, my ass.” Remus whispered, it caught Janus off guard so much he began to laugh.
“Just kiss me you idiot.” And they did, then they went to actually go eat lunch. Once they got into the cafe Remus made Janus go pick them a seat while he ordered their food, all the while making gross commentary on how rotten food should be cooked.
By god Janus loved this man. He watched Remus shout loud obscenities in the cafe as he ordered their food. Janus took this time to go through the pictures he’s been secretly taking. Laughing at each one, when it got quiet he looked over to see Remus on his cell phone with someone.
He was frowning, and quietly yelling into the phone. Finally he hung up on the phone and their food was ready, he brought them over to the table along with some more hot chocolate.
“Is everything ok?” Remus sighed and slumped into the booth that Janus picked out.
“My brother is trying to double cross me on our deal, he promised me his side of the imagination for the whole day, twenty four hours.” Janus remembered Remus briefly talking about it.
“Ok, so what’s the problem?” Janus asked, sipping his cocoa.
“He thinks, I’m going to go back on my end of the deal.” Remus said before taking an ungodly huge bite out of his sandwich he got them.
“What did you promise him?” Janus asked, taking a more normal smaller bite. Although if he wanted to he could technically eat the entire thing whole. Being part snake and all.
“I promised to leave him and Thomas alone for two months.” Janus nearly choked on his food.
“Remus! You can barely leave them alone for two days, let alone two months?” Remus took another bite, smiling.
“I wanted to take you on a nice date, besides it’ll go by quickly. I got a new project idea that I need to get started on and it’s going to take a while to get it organized and ready. It’ll be the biggest project I’ve ever done, and once I got the plans and everything organized I’m going to ask Roman for help.”
“You’re going to ask Roman to help? Who are you and where’s my boyfriend.” Remus laughed loud and clear throughout the cafe. It was contagious and Janus found himself laughing along.
“Don’t worry baby, he’s still here and as horrifying as ever.” Remus winked at Janus who snorted and rolled his eyes.
“Thank god for that,” He mumbled, taking another normal bite as Remus inhaled his sandwich. “So what is this big project?”
“It’s a secret.” Remus said, he finished his sandwich and took to finishing his drink and eating a fork.
“So many secrets from me? And you still have yet to lie to me?” Janus mused, taking another sip from his cocoa.
“I have never lied to you and I never will, but trust me on this.” Janus smiled and grabbed his hand, squeezing it.
“Ok, I totally don’t trust you on this.”
Remus laughed again.
After lunch it was getting pretty dark so Remus took Janus to see the tree lighting ceremony that was taking place. Remus didn’t even look at the tree, he just watched as Janus’s eyes lit up along with the tree. In the dark sides house, it was always dark with only soft yellow light. It wasn’t very bright, it was only ever dark but around Christmas Janus loved the lights. They didn’t have good Christmas lights, just some crappy ones that would always have one or two lights missing from it. But every year Janus lit up with them.
Remus always watched Janus' expression, it made his heart flutter like a bat trapped in a cage that was about to be boiled alive. It was a good feeling. Janus then pulled Remus closer to the tree where there was a station to paint or make ornaments to place on the tree. Remus rolled his eyes at how excited Janus was but happily joined him.
He was halfway done with his when his phone went off, he looked at the contact only to see it was Roman. Remus cursed quietly and excused himself from Janus who was currently focusing really hard on painting snakes around a Christmas tree on his ornament, Remus was painting an octopus on the bottom of a Christmas tree. Walking away from the table he answered his phone.
“Hello?”
“Remus, get out of the imagination.” Roman’s voice buzzed through.
“No, we had a deal. I haven’t trashed your winter wonderland, or set anything ablaze, or traumatized anyone here.” The other line was quiet for a second.
“I don’t trust you, you are planning something and I want you out.” Roman’s voice buzzed.
“No, you gave me twenty four hours and I still technically have another twelve to use.”
‘He’s right Roman.” Remus could hear Logan’s voice from the other end of the line.
“Shut up nerd!”
“Roman be nice.” That was Patton.
“Can’t you just kick him out?” And that was Virgil.
“Sorry to break it to you emo, but he can’t. Not as long as I had permission to enter in the first place.”
“Get out of my side!” This continued on for a few more minutes, when Remus turned back he could see Janus staring at him.
Worried.
“Fuck.” He whispered. He smiled and gave a thumbs up and relaxed once he saw his boyfriend smile.
“Are you even listening?” Roman’s voice pulled him back into the conversation.
“Ok listen here you little shit, you gave me twenty four hours to use and I’m using them. I’ve been planning this for over a year and you are not about to mess everything up for me.” The line was quiet, until Patton whispered ‘language’.
“All this for a date for your boyfriend?” Logan asked. Remus chuckled and stared at Janus who was back at focusing on his ornament.
“If I play my cards right, he won’t be anymore.” Remus could only hear a small commotion going on before hanging up. He decided to silence his phone as he walked back to Janus.
“Is everything good?” Remus nodded and kissed his cheek, they finished up their ornaments and placed them on the tree. They took a moment to enjoy the lights and the ornaments before going to the skating rink.
You would think someone who can dance so beautifully can also ice skate, but sadly no. Janus can’t skate to save his life, he was practically clinging onto Remus as they skated around. After another hour of skating around and falling over on each other, it was time for the main event.
Remus helped Janus off the ice rink, and once their shoes were back on he led Janus to the horse drawn sled to go into the meadow in the far distance. Once they cuddled up in the sled Remus felt Roman’s presence in the imagination, along with what seemed to be Patton, Logan, and Virgil.
“Great just, great.” He thought, and pulled Janus in tighter as the sled began to pull them out of the town and to the dark meadow. There was supposed to be fireworks and Remus might have meddled with the fireworks for a little bit. Once they were out there they started, he looked behind him to see another sled in the far distance. No doubt his brother and the others, he had at least ten minutes until they got here. As the fireworks continued Remus got his fireworks ready next with a snap of his fingers.
“Janus?” He asked quietly. Janus smiled and turned towards him.
“Yes love?” Oh good god he was too sweet, Remus was going to melt as if he was burning alive in lava.
“I love you more than anything in the mindscape.” Janus smiled and kissed him gently on the lips.
“I love you too Ree.” Remus smiled and directed Janus’s attention back to the fireworks, Remus took a few steps back and took out a small box. He then went down on one knee as his firework went off. In bright green colors it read,
“Janus will you marry me?” Janus whispered as he turned around to see Remus on one knee. In his hand was an open box with a ring inside. “Remus, what-” Janus covered his mouth, he was smiling, trying not to let his eyes tear up.
“Janus my love, I want to spend the rest of our lives together, to wake up together, to cause chaos together.” Janus felt his tears fall as Remus continued. “I wouldn’t trade our relationship for anything in the world, not even for a hundred trash bins filled with rotten mold and underwear. So, will you do me the honor of being my husband?” Unable to talk Janus nodded, Remus smiled and while still on the ground he took off Janus’s glove and placed the ring on.
Upon closer inspection, it was a snake ring cradling an emerald. Janus placed his hand off his mouth as Remus stood.
“Will you marry me?” Remus whispered, leaning his head on the shorter snake's head. Janus gave a dry chuckle looking at the man before him.
“A thousand times yes.” Wrapping their arms around each other they kissed. Once they parted Remus laughed and spun Janus around, causing him to laugh as well.
“He said yes! He said yes! I’m going to get married! He said yes!” Janus laughed into the wind, ignoring the rest of the fireworks going off.
“Remus put me down! You big oaf!” Janus laughed into the wind as Remus lost his footing and they crashed into the snow, still laughing. Janus held up his hand, the ring glistening in the light of the fireworks.
“I have a fiance .” Janus whispered before laughing. Remus laughed along and got up pulling Janus up as well. They were still very giggling and happy, riding the high they just had. That is until Remus looked past Janus to see his brother and his friends staring at them in shock. Janus followed his gaze and smiled softly, he didn’t care what they thought, he was getting married.
“Roman!” Remus shouted before lunging at Roman to grip him in a giant hug, causing them both to fall in the snow. Janus couldn’t help but laugh at his fiance’s antics. “Thank you so much for letting me use your imagination! Mine would have never let us get this mushy with each other!” Roman was absolutely dumbfounded by Remus who was smiling down at him. Not smirking or grinning, a full smile.
“Remus darling get off him, let the man breathe.” Janus giggled out, walking over to his soon to be husband. Remus jumped off as Janus helped Roman back up. “Thank you, honestly , for letting Remus run around this place.” Janus couldn’t help but smile up at his new brother in law. Roman looked back and forth from Remus and Janus, before settling back onto Janus.
“May I see the ring he got you?” Roman finally asked, Janus nodded and held up his hand. Roman took it and inspected the ring, he was quite impressed with it.
“Remus did you make it?” Roman looked towards his snow covered brother.
“Yup! You see-” and before long they were all back in the small town idly chatting, Patton was cooing over the proposal. As it turns out they saw the entire thing and were surprised that Remus planned this entire thing. Logan and Roman were discussing the ring with Remus, talking about how Remus actually made the ring by hand and dug up his own gems for it. Virgil stayed quiet for the most part, and stared at the floor.
“Well this is very unexpected for you two, what are your plans?” Logan asked, shifting his glasses on his face. Patton nodded along sipping his hot chocolate, they all sat around a giant circle table, it was Logan, Patton, Virgil, Janus, Remus, Roman, and then back to Logan.
“Yes, I had no idea he was going to do that, it was unexpected and not unwelcomed.” Janus giggled as Remus placed a hand around him.
“Well I figured in the next two months or so, we’ll have a small idea of what we want to do.” Remus answered, taking a drink of some ‘special’ hot chocolate.
“Is that why your part of the deal was two months?” Remus nodded along.
“Yup, it’ll take us a while to think of something.” Janus laughed and leaned into Remus, so much fun and excitement has happened today. He slowly let his eyes close and fell into a wonderful sleep.
Unaware the hell that was planning a wedding.