Janus sighed contently and closed his eyes. He was sitting in his deep Ofuro style tub. He was sure this was the only proper way to bathe. The hot water went up to his chest, and felt so much better than the ridiculously short bathtubs that were the default in the mindscape, because those were what Thomas was most familiar with.
One of these days Janus needed to talk Thomas into treating himself to bathing in an Ofuro tub. Thomas saw bathing and showering as a bit of a chore sometimes, and rarely ever did so because it felt good.
Janus needed to do this more often and really spoil himself. Thomas just needed so much attention, and Janus felt like he needed to work harder than everybody else to get just a fraction of the results. And when he wasn't working with Thomas, he was giving Remus the attention he really deserved. Janus didn't blame Remus for the attention he needed. He was more than happy to take care of the darker side of Creativity. Sometimes though Janus just needed some time for himself.
He was still reluctant to trust Remus' safety with anybody else. Remus was his toy, his puppy, and he could be much more fragile than anybody, even Remus, could ever imagine. Logan seemed to be doing a decent enough job so far, and when Remus was with the logical side it gave Janus time to treat himself.
Janus took a sip of his wine, only to cough and sputter when he heard a frantic plea in his head, the same word repeated over and over again. Eden. Remus' safeword when he needed Janus to help him with Logan. Remus needed him.
Janus swore and climbed out of the bath. The chilly air against his hot body stung. Janus shivered and quickly summoned his black silk bathrobe with golden lining. He didn't want to get his usual outfit wet, and dealing with all of those accessories would certainly take time that he didn't have.
Janus sank out of his room and rose up in the Light Side. If he was able to go straight to Logan's room without Thomas' assistance, he would. It was probably a good thing that he had to go the long-way around, because the very first thing he saw when he got to the Light Side was Remus cowering and crying on the stairs while Virgil stood nearby, uncertainly.
"Puppy." Janus hurried to Remus' side. He put a hand on his shoulder and Remus immediately dove into him, burying his head in his chest. Janus held onto him tightly and protectively. He looked at Virgil.
"What happened?" Janus asked. "Where's Logan?"
"I don't know." Virgil said loudly, desperately. "He seemed kinda out of it when I found him, and he just got worse."
Janus looked at Remus in concern. This didn't look like Remus' usual sub drop. Something else was going on with him.
"Remus, puppy, can you look at me?" Janus asked calmly. Remus stiffened and slowly pulled away from Janus so he could look up at him. His eyes were slightly wet with tears. Remus was pouting slightly, making him look incredibly vulnerable and so much like a distressed puppy. That look brought out Janus' protective streak and need to take care of something.
"What happened?" Janus asked as he brushed away a stray tear that was starting to fall. Remus looked distracted and only vaguely aware of his surroundings. This was normal for Remus when he was really invested in a scene. His mind would start to drift until he couldn't focus on anything other than their game.
Despite how normal this kind of occurrence was for Remus, Janus was worried. Remus didn't seem relaxed, or like he was enjoying himself. He was genuinely upset and scared, because he was being vulnerable in a way that left him feeling unsafe.
"Sorry." Remus muttered numbly, and that was all the confirmation that Janus needed to know that Remus was still in a sub state of mind. The intrusive side didn't apologize for anything, not unless he was being submissive, and even then it was still a rare occurrence.
"What are you sorry for?" Janus asked. He needed to know. Remus whimpered and looked around frantically. Janus didn't know what he was looking for, but evidently he didn't see it. Remus relaxed ever so slightly.
"Don't know the rules." Remus said quietly. "Don't know what Sir wants."
Janus furrowed his brow. He didn't understand just what was happening, but it needed to stop. Remus clearly wasn't okay.
"You're such a good boy." Janus assured him. Remus whined and leaned against him, looking for more assurances, and Janus was more than happy to give it to him. "You try so hard for us, but you don't have to right now. It's okay if you don't know the rules, because you remembered the most important rule. You used your safe word, which means the game is over for now."
Remus blinked rapidly. "Does that...aftercare?"
"Yes, we're going to do some aftercare." Janus said. Considering Remus' state, he was going to be spoiling the other side all night, at the very least. "I know you don't like it, but-"
"Want it." Remus said frantically. "Please, Master." He almost sounded panicked at the thought of not having aftercare, which was a little concerning. Janus wanted to know the reason behind the sudden change, but that could come later.
"Of course," Janus said. "I have just one more question. Do you want to be Puppy and Master while I take care of you, or would you rather that we be just Remus and Janus?"
Remus nuzzled against him. "...Know we're not playing, but wanna be Puppy." Remus seemed to be trying to bury himself against Janus. "Please. Need Master."
"Then Master you shall have." Janus said. He personally didn't like for their roles to slip into their aftercare, but if Remus wasn't ready to take back control, Janus wouldn't force it on him. He would take care of Remus until he came back to himself. That was what his job was.
Janus looked at Virgil, who was just watching them. He looked a little uncomfortable, though Janus knew it wasn't because of the nature of his and Remus' relationship, but because of Remus' mental state. Virgil still didn't get along with Remus, but he seemed to care about him enough to be worried about him.
Janus was glad for it. Their relationship with Virgil was strained, to say the very least, but Janus still knew that he could trust Virgil with Remus' well-being. It was why he had told Virgil about Remus' games with Logan, just so he could keep an eye on him when Janus couldn't.
"I'm taking Remus back to the Dark Side." Janus said. "Unless it's an actual emergency, I don't want us to be disturbed. If you absolutely need me, you're the only one allowed to get me. I don't want to see Patton, I don't want to see Roman, and I especially don't want Logan to come down. Don't let anybody in unless I specifically tell you so."
Virgil raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not my Master."
Janus sighed. When he was taking care of Remus it could sometimes be hard to switch his Master voice on and off. This wasn't the first time he had accidentally used this tone with Virgil, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last.
"I'm not asking as your dom." Janus said. "I'm asking as Remus' dom. I need to take care of him, but I can't do that if I have to worry about keeping the others out, and you're the only one I can trust with this."
Virgil looked unhappy, but he nodded. "You'll owe me one."
"If you keep Logan away from Remus, I'll owe you more than just a single favor." Janus said. "Two favors, within reason. We shall negotiate later."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Virgil said. "Just get out of here."
"Gladly." Janus wrapped his arms around Remus, being wary of his back, and sank out. They rose up in the living room of the Dark Side. Janus lifted Remus and laid him down on the couch, lying him on his stomach. Janus hesitated for just a moment before he snapped his fingers. Remus' pants disappeared in an instant, leaving him completely nude, save for his collar.
Janus knew that Remus liked to relax completely naked. He found clothes restricting. Janus didn't really like to see Remus naked, just because he always made sexual comments, but he did his best to not dissuade Remus from expressing himself through his lack of clothes. Janus generally believed in body positivity and not covering up just for the sake of conforming to vague modesty standards, and it would be very hypocritical of him to tell Remus to put on clothes just because he was Remus.
The intrusive side didn't say a single innuendo or suggestive phrase. He must be in a worse state of mind than Janus had first thought. He wanted Remus to calm down and come back to himself, but Janus knew that there was no forcing it. He had to be patient and let it happen naturally. The most he could do for Remus was make him as comfortable as possible and help him to recognize that he was in a safe place. Janus had an idea how to do that.
He knelt next to Remus and started massaging the rope marks on his wrist. The marks were too harsh, and his hands looked slightly pale. His bondage had been too tight. Janus wasn't happy about it at all. He had shown Logan how to properly tie some basic knots and how to check that it wasn't too tight.
This would have to be addressed, but Janus didn't think that Remus was able to answer difficult questions right now, and he couldn't interrogate Logan now, not when he had to focus on Remus. His curiosity would have to wait just a little longer.
Janus massaged Remus' wrists and ankles one at a time until they started to look back to normal. By the time he was finished Remus was slightly more aware of himself. He was staring at Janus, and he only looked slightly distressed. Mostly he just looked tired. Now that Remus was back to awareness Janus could turn his attention to the most obvious and pressing issue that was a real problem.
"Puppy, you know that I love your tentacles, but it looks like they're hurting you." Janus said quietly. "Can you put them away? Just until I can get some bandages on your back."
Remus whined and buried his face in the couch cushion. "Don't wanna." Remus muttered. "Hurts."
"I know it'll hurt." Janus said sympathetically. "But it'll feel a lot better once they're gone, I promise."
Remus still looked doubtful, but he sighed and nodded. He clung to Janus' hands and slowly started to pull his tentacles back in. Whenever the suckers started to cling to his back Janus would use his additional hands to gently pull them off and release their grip. Remus moved slowly, so it took several minutes, but eventually his tentacles were tucked away once again. Remus sighed in relief.
"That's a good puppy." Janus smiled gently and pet Remus' hair. "You did so good, doing what you're told even though it hurt. I couldn't ask for a better puppy." Remus gave a sigh of a laugh as he finally relaxed.
Janus brushed his hands over Remus' back. The intrusive side shuddered and arched his back, pushing into the touch. Janus paused. "Does that hurt?"
"It's sore." Remus said. "Like...like pushing just a little on a bruise."
Janus frowned slightly. "I'm not surprised. You do have a bruise on your back, afterall...a bruise that I know wasn't there when we played earlier." Janus put his hand on Remus' back. It covered a large area, but the bruise itself didn't look too serious. It was mostly just red and a little swollen, with just a few blueish purple splotches. It would probably fade in just a few days.
"Where did you get this bruise, Pup?" Janus asked. He had to work really hard to not let his possessive fury slip into his tone. Remus was still in a fragile state, and Janus didn't want to do anything to hurt him.
"I fell down the stairs." Remus said. Janus could taste the truth in his words, but something felt a little wrong about it. Remus probably had fallen down the stairs, but Janus suspected that wasn't the source of the bruise.
"When did that happen?" Janus asked.
"Um...before Virgil." Remus said. "Not too long."
"Has it been long enough for a bruise to form?" Janus asked. Remus fidgeted uncomfortably and shook his head. "So where did you get it?"
Remus was quiet for a long moment. "You...promise you won't be mad?"
"I won't be mad at you." Janus swore. He would make no such promise about not being mad at Logan, but he could sincerely say that he wouldn't be angry with Remus.
His puppy sighed. "I fell...when Sir pushed me." There it was. Remus quickly continued. "B-but it wasn't his fault. I didn't tell him right away. He didn't know when it happened."
Janus still wasn't happy, but he supposed he shouldn't be absolutely furious with Logan. He'd gotten careless, but mistakes happened sometimes. Remus hadn't told Logan immediately, and Logan hadn't put his observation skills to use to see that Remus' back was sensitive. They were both to blame, but not enough so that Janus felt the need to get mad. Oh, the three of them would have to discuss this later to keep something like this from happening again, but that was just a precaution.
"Can you tell me why you used your safeword?" Janus asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you did, but I need to know what went wrong so we can take care of it."
Remus fidgeted nervously. Janus rubbed his back to try to soothe him. "I was...confused." Remus said quietly. "I-I didn't know what Sir wanted from me. I didn't know if the game was over or not. I thought you might know."
Janus frowned slightly. "How could you not know?"
Remus whined and buried his face in his hands. Janus immediately backtracked. "I'm not blaming you." Janus said quickly. He needed to frequently remind himself that Remus wasn't in a good state right now. "I'm just confused. The game is over as soon as aftercare starts. You know this."
Remus rolled over so he could look at Janus with wide, alarmed eyes. "But Sir didn't...he didn't…" Remus' face crumbled. He looked lost. His eyes took on that distant look they'd had when he'd been sitting on the stairs. Janus felt like he was starting to lose Remus again.
"Didn't what?" Janus asked. "What didn't Logan do?"
"...Aftercare." Remus said quietly. "He didn't...but he always does. H-he takes care of me. So why did he...why didn't he-?" Remus growled and slammed his head against the couch so quickly that Janus couldn't stop him. He was just glad that the couch was relatively soft. If Remus was going to slam his head against something, Janus would prefer it to be against something that wouldn't hurt him.
"It's my fault." Remus hissed to himself. "He has work. I knew he had work and that we wouldn't be able to play for very long. But I disappointed him. He had to punish me, and I took too long following his instructions. If I was a good boy, he'd have time for aftercare."
"There is always time for aftercare." Janus said sternly. He tightened his grip on Remus' hands, uncaring that his fingernails were digging into his skin. This was worse than Janus had thought. Remus was still thinking like a sub, and he was just spiraling deeper. Being submissive was supposed to give Remus the chance to relax and let go, not stress about being good enough.
"If Logan truly didn't have time to provide the aftercare himself, he should have contacted me, or Virgil." Janus said. It wouldn't be the first time that they needed Virgil to take care of Remus because his dom had something else demanding his attention. "What Logan did was wrong. Very wrong. It wasn't your fault, Puppy. No matter how badly you misbehaved, Logan had no right to do this."
"B-but-" Remus began. Janus nudged his head against Remus', encouraging the other side to nuzzle against him.
"No buts." Janus said. Remus didn't so much as chuckle. "You know how passionate I am about aftercare, and I let Logan play with you with the understanding that he treated you how I would treat you. He betrayed that trust, and that's not okay."
Remus didn't look like he completely believed Janus. He just whined and nuzzled against him. "Can...can we cuddle? Please? And belly rubs?" Janus tried to not let his surprise show. Remus mostly liked pet play because he liked diving into his more animalistic side. He'd never been more than just vaguely interested in being pampered like a puppy. Janus wasn't about to deny him though. As much fun as he had disciplining Remus when he misbehaved, Janus wanted nothing more than to treat him like the good boy he was.
"Of course." Janus said. "Do you want more than just your collar?" Remus nodded enthusiastically. "Sit up." He lifted himself up and crouched on the couch. Janus imagined that if Remus had a tail, it would be wagging. Speaking of which...Janus waved his hand and Remus yelped cheerfully when he suddenly grew a tail, similar to how he would manifest his tentacles.
Remus was so eager about trying to look at his new tail that he would have fallen off the couch if Janus hadn't steadied him. "Careful there, Pup." Janus chuckled. "I'm going to take this to mean that you like it?"
Remus yipped. Janus pet behind his nearly manifested ears that matched his tail. Janus smiled to himself. This was the kind of sub state of mind that he liked to see from Remus. He was starting to go nonverbal, and Remus seemed perfectly content about it.
"I have one more idea." Janus said. He summoned two black, yellow, and green cuffs that matched Remus' collar perfectly. Remus eyed the cuffs almost hungrily. He held out his hands. Janus smiled at him.
"You can wear these on one condition." Janus said. "If your hands start to feel stiff, or if it no longer feels good, I want you to tell me immediately. If you can't talk, then I want you to tap my leg three times, like this." He pet his hand on Remus' thigh. "Can you show me that you understand? Remus closed a hand into a fist and tapped Janus' thigh three times. Janus smiled. "Yes, just like that. That's a good puppy."
Remus smiled and his tail started to wag. He held out his fists and Janus slipped the mitts on, confining Remus' hands. Janus fastened them. Remus clapped the mitts together, smiling broadly at the muffled sound it made.
Remus played with the mitts for a moment before he looked at Janus with the most pleading puppy eyes that he could achieve. "He gestured to his collar, or more specifically to the metal ring around it. He didn't have to say a word for Janus to know what he wanted. He was a little hesitant to give it to him though.
"You want to be leashed?" Janus asked slowly. Remus nodded. "Are you sure?" Another nod. Janus was torn. He wanted to give Remus what he wanted, but sometimes he had a hard time recognizing his own limits. Janus knew that Remus didn't like to be chained down. They'd played with leashes before, but Remus wasn't always able to handle it. He wasn't doing well right now, and Janus didn't want the leash to make it worse, but he also didn't want to tell Remus how to feel.
Janus sighed and flicked his wrist. A lash patterned like snakeskin appeared in his hands. It was already clipped to Remus' collar. The intrusive side grinned. He really seemed to be liking this.
"Now, I know you said you wanted some cuddles, and I'll give them to you, but we really need to bind your back first." Janus said. He summoned some bandages. "Do you think you can hold still for me?" Remus nodded and sat up straight, turning so his back was to Janus. He quickly and carefully began to wrap it around Remus' back. Soon he was done.
"There we go." Janus said. The wrapping was a touch looser than he would usually do, but he wasn't going to be taking any chances tonight. The wrapping was just to keep Remus from aggravating his back again. It was something that Janus should have done before, but Remus had been in such a hurry. Janus had thought it would be fine. He wasn't going to make that mistake again.
Janus sat on the couch. Remus immediately snuggled up to him so aggressively that one might think he was trying to push him off the couch. His tail was wagging and thumping against the couch.
"Do you want to watch something?" Janus asked. "Are you hungry?"
Remus thought for a long moment before he shook his head and nuzzled closer to Janus. He seemed to be content to just sit there. Janus wasn't going to complain about it, but he knew that Remus could get antsy if he sat still for too long without something to occupy his mind. After a moment's thought Janus summoned a book. The Castle of Otranto. A classic, and widely considered the ancestor of the gothic genre. It was right up their alley.
Janus read aloud as he lazily pet Remus' hair and ears. The intrusive side sighed contently and closed his eyes as he began to doze off. Janus was just glad that he felt safe. He knew that this wouldn't fix everything. Remus didn't trust easily, as his trust had been betrayed before, and whether Logan had meant to or not he had taken advantage of that.
Janus knew that once Remus was back in his right mind then he would be furious. Right now though he was just hurt, and Janus was going to do whatever he could to ease that pain. Remus had been hurt by one dom. Janus needed to show him that he, at least, could still be trusted.