Last chapter before the angst hits!! Haha~~

Realization: The energy for Demus in this story is chaotic dirty dumbass x smirking affectionate badass

Remus's POV:

I dragged Janus out of the glass doors. "Come on, come on, let's go!" I called happily. "I wanna see the forest! Show me around."

He laughed, tucking a stray hair behind my ear. "Remuss, calm down. It's more of a rainforest than a regular forest, to be honesst, so we're going to have to be careful, alright? That means no touching ssnakes, no collecting bugs, and no drinking out of sstrange ponds like you did last time. Careful."

Blinking innocently, I smiled at him. "When am I ever not? Now come on, let's go, let's go!"

"Alright," he conceded. "Would you like to go to the river or the house first?"

All previous thoughts of wishing I had mason jars to catch things in vanished in the wake of two words. 

"The house."

The house?

What house?

I looked behind me at where he was standing. "Janus? What house? Haunted?"

I hope it's haunted! That would be so cool.

Janus shrugged. "Perhaps. There's an old cottage that used to be in the forest, where Samual Darrin's brother put up camp. While Samual made a town, this town--" he spread his arms, encompassing all of the houses and other buildings-- "his brother Felix Darrin became a recluse."

He chuckled. "As mosst recluses in that era, he was convicted of witchcraft and burned. His house sstayed in the forest and crumbled," Janus finished, "and nobody'ss had the guts to take it down since for fear of a ghost attack. Completely ssilly, if you ask me."

I giggled. "Whenever someone says recluse I can only think of a turtle drawing its head back into its shell."

"Well." Janus stepped closer, glancing around at the town. "Not too far off from the actual definition. Shall we leave?" He grinned at me, holding out his hand. 

Vibrating with excitement, I looked for the forest. Once the twining, black treetops were in view, I glanced back at Janus, who was standing with his arms crossed. I smiled. "...so where is the house?"

---

As it turned out, recluse was the perfect word to use for Felix Lakeside. 

His house consisted of two rooms. One a bedroom and the other, according to Janus, a kitchen-thing with a stove and a chair. The walls were made of cobbled stone, molded together with concrete and what seemed to be grey tar. 

My first thought was how, how could someone live here?

My second was that this was a perfect place to make out in secret.

Me and Janus walked up the dirt path, past the twisty trees and unkempt bushes. I was excited to see the house, and I had to pull Janus-- who was looking with rapt attention at a bright red flower-- up to the door. 

Janus tapped on the door. "Anyone home?" he teasingly called. 

A beating of wings and a loud coo told me an owl had made a nest inside. An owl! "Did you hear that? I wanna see, I wanna see!" I grinned happily, nearly bouncing up and down. 

Can I catch it?

I want to catch it!

"Yess, darling, I heard," Janus laughed, pushing the creaky door open. "Let's go ssee if the owl is sstill insside."

Dust blew everywhere, making me cough. An old-looking wine-red carpet was covered in a thick layer of dust, with small, ripped pillows scattered around the floor. Spiderwebs fluttered in the breeze from the door, shimmering softly. 

When I walked softly inside, the floorboards creaked under my weight, making me yelp and jump back. Janus strolled casually in the house, glancing around at the graffiti-covered walls and cracked furniture. "This place has gotten worse since I last visited," he muttered, touching a finger to the paint on the wall nearest him. 

I looked around carefully, stepping over the looser floorboards and overgrown thorns coming up from the wood. A large spider dropped down right in front of me and Janus shrieked, jumping a foot into the air.

"What was that?" I laughed, nearly falling over. "Come now, it's just a spider!"

Janus crossed his arms, looking hurt. "It is abssolutely, positively terrifying-- what are you doing-- no-- wait ssstop don't PICK IT UP GET THAT AWAY FROM ME--" His lisp-hiss becoming more apparent with his panic, he shoved me and the spider, which was now cradled gently in my hands, into a desk.

I gasped in indignance. "Don't hurt the baby! He's so sweet! Aw, look at him..." I cooed at the spider, nestled firmly in my palm. "I think he's purring! Lookit, he's purring!"

Smiling happily, I showed Janus, who jumped back immediately. "That'ss... wonderful. Now, sset the thing down."

He watched as I slowly placed the spider on the desk I was shoved into. It quickly scuttled into a crack and disappeared, much to my disappointment. "You scared him," I accused Janus, who looked at me dryly.

"Well, it sscared me. An eye for an eye, Remus dear," he informed me, dusting off his hands. "Now then, shall we continue with the tour?"

I clapped my hands together happily, anticipation bursting in little fireworks inside me. "Sure!"

In the next hour, Janus showed me every nook, closet, and cranny in the house. There were no stairs, but instead, a trapdoor leading to a root cellar with a small rope ladder dangling from the top. A broken, mossy table was home to a family of termites, as I found out after trying to sit on it. 

Janus sighed, helping me up. "You're going to be ssore now..." he muttered, rolling his eyes but smiling nonetheless. 

I giggled. "Soon you'll be sore, too~"

He hissed in surprise, flushing bright red and crossing his arms. "...oh my god, Remuss, shut up," he finally mumbled, pulling his hood over his face. 

"Aw, you love me," I teased. "Hey, you have something on your nose." I reached to wipe the smudge of dirt off Janus's face and he backed away. 

Once he was a suitable three feet away from me, he stopped. "You have something everywhere," he pointed out, glancing at the dirt and dust covering me from head to toe. "You ssee?"

I shrugged. "Who cares? It's just dirt."

He stepped forward again, brushing off my arms with a resigned expression. "I care," he told me, leaning up and kissing my cheek. "I get that it's not a problem for you, but it's quite... unorthodox to walk around town covered in dust."

An idea popped into my head and I grinned slyly. "Oh, you wanna take a bath together!"

Janus hissed and swatted me, blushing furiously. I only laughed, grabbing his waist and spinning him around like in a dance. "Oh, darling Deceit, won't you dance with me?" I flirted, touching our noses together. 

"Deceit?" he asked, amused. "You're using my sstreet alias?"

It was the name he used around the places where he fought-- a safety measure, so that the police couldn't find him even if they asked (or threatened) people. I nodded. "Yeah. It's habit to use it in places like these."

He tilted his head. "Places like what?"

I waved around at the room. "Places like this-- dark, dusty, and creepy as fuck."

After shooing my hands away, Janus sat on the edge of the couch, his legs crossed and his expression affectionate. "It'ss not too creepy here," he observed, glancing at the room. "I sstayed here for a little bit when I had first run away."

The memory of Janus sitting on my bed, retelling... everything.. to me flashed in my mind. He had tears in his eyes, ready to fall, and his hand was clutching mine so hard I could feel the scratch marks even now. 

I winced and shook my head, trying to get it out. 

"Really?" I asked, stepping forward and plopping next to him, nuzzling his arm. "How did you survive the spiders?"

He made a face. "I tried my besst to keep the place well-kept so that there were minimal. Sstill, they were everywhere."

"Where did you sleep?" 

Janus looked at me as if I was an idiot. 

Which I was not! 

He, not hearing my thoughts, merely sighed. "On the bed, Remuss darling. Where else?"

Oh.

Maybe I am an idiot. 

Attempting to recover from my moment of foolery, I crossed my arms like I was offended. "What bed? I have seen no bed!"

He motioned vaguely to the other room. "There used to be a bed there before someone spray-painted it bright neon orange with some kind of toxic paint and it had to be taken away."

I nodded in mock thoughtfulness. "Was it comfy?"

"No."

I laughed, wrapping my arms around Janus's waist and pulling him down so that he was sitting across my lap. 

He let out a yelp and nearly fell over, but managed to keep his balance. He glared at me. "Don't do that," he muttered, trying to get out of my grip. 

Nuzzling closer, I put my head in the crook of his shoulder and sighed happily. "Okay, fine, just... please stay here for a while."

Looking down at me, Janus paused, then smiled. He put a hand on my arm and squeezed gently, rolling his eyes, but not trying to escape anymore. "Ssure."

The moment, I felt, could have gone on forever.