"So, um, anyway, what other stuff can you play?" Janus asked. Why was he so nervous around Remus? Why now?

Remus shrugged. "Pretty much anything that follows the Blues 12."

"What's that?" Janus asked and he realised he actually wanted to know. He liked the way Remus explained things.

"It's the twelve chords of blues." Remus said. "Like, um, hold on." He played a quick C Major, F Major, G Major.

"Like that. And then you obviously add in the walking bass line." He said. "We learned it in Year 8. Were you not here?"

Janus shrugged. "Probably not." He admitted. "But, anyway, if it's Blues 12, why's it rock 'n' roll?"

"Well, cause most rock 'n' roll songs came from rhythm and blues, which came from blues." Remus explained, smiling a little. "So what a lot of these artists did was thought 'hm, I like those chords' and just sped them up. Most rock songs follow the Blues 12. Hound Dog, Be-bop-a-Lula, Rock Around The Clock, Ready, Teddy, all that stuff."

"Wow." Janus said. "You know a lot about this stuff, huh?"

Remus nodded, grinning. He looked so excited, so happy. It made Janus want to smile too.

"Yeah, it's great. My actual piano itself is so boring, all waltzes and quartets and minuets. It's stupid. But this." Remus' eyes lit up again. "I just really love it. I love singing it, listening to it, playing it, dancing to it, all of it."

"It's pretty good." Janus said. "But what about modern stuff? You play some of that?"

Remus scrunched his nose up as he shrugged. "I can't sing pop songs, they do things that my voice can't even begin to reach. And if I play musicals, Ro's going to bombard in and start screeching at the top of his voice." Remus scrunched his nose up again as he shook his head. "Not really, no."

"Oh." Janus looked at Remus' hands, still resting on the keys. At the back of his mind, he wondered what it would be like to walk down the street, holding one of Remus' hands.

"Um, how long have you been playing?" Janus asked, mentally shaking himself. Remus let out a long sigh that heaved his shoulders.

"God, I don't know." He said. He gave a little laugh. "Since I was six? So... just over a decade? That's, like, playing the piano fully. And since I was... 13? For rock 'n' roll."

"Ever written anything of your own?"

Remus laughed. "God, no. I'm not... wordingly? No, that's not it." Remus stared at the floor for the good part of a minute, completely zoned out. He clicked his fingers and pointed at Janus, startling him. "Lyrically! I'm not lyrically gifted."

Janus couldn't help but snort with laughter. "Your go-to was 'wordingly'?" He asked. Remus crossed his arms and pouted at him.

"Hey, it was a good guess!" He protested.

"Wordingly." Janus repeated, dead-pan. Remus rolled his eyes.

"It's just proving my point."

Janus laughed. "Yeah, fair."

"Anyway, that's me talked about, what about you?" Remus asked, leaning his chin on his hands. Janus shook his head.

"Sorry, Rem, I don't talk about myself." He said, putting his hands up.

"Oh, come on, Flynn Rider!" The Disney reference made Janus chuckle. "There must be something you like to talk about? What's your favourite hobby? What never fails to make you excited? What makes you happy?" Remus asked. Janus hadn't ever had someone's full attention like this before. It was strange but not unwelcome.

"Keeping my reputation." He lied.

"What even is your reputation?"

Janus shrugged. "Trouble maker, skipper, asshole-"

"That's a shit reputation." Remus said candidly.

"It gets me through without getting hurt." Janus said, a defensive tone slipping into his voice. "As long as it keeps me safe, I don't care."

"It's not you, though." Remus protested. "You're smart and clever and a flirt and sweet and awkward and a music-lover and a History geek, like me, and-"

"And a wimp." Janus finished.

"No you're not." Remus said. "You're awesome."

Janus laughed a little under his breath. "And I'm keeping my reputation, darling."

This has just been 3 solid chapters of Janus' POV. Who wants to make it 4?
Bye,
Blaize