Prompt idea : Canon Rejanis hang out together alone and neither is sure if it's a date
When Regina got ready for her… hangout with Janis that day, she was actually nervous.
It wasn’t a big deal. Janis had asked the group to hang out and then Damien had cancelled for some weird thing with his boyfriend and then Karen and Gretchen had cancelled and then Cady and Aaron and… Regina somehow, kinda, forgot to.
So, now she had to show up. By herself. Alone. To hang out with Janis at Janis’ apartment.
The group had fully formed during spring break and gotten very close during their freshman year of college.
Regina and Janis were tentative at first and while the rest of the group hung out seperately sometimes, Regina and Janis didn’t. They’d find excuses not to - like homework, a paper, a sudden and very bad case of feeling sick - just to get out of having to spend time alone together.
It wasn’t like they didn’t want to. It was more like… They really wanted to. And that was a problem.
Because Regina had just come out as a lesbian and, well, Janis was a lesbian and they had lots of history. And then Regina told Damien the whole ‘well-I-bullied-her-because-I-had-a-crush-on-her’ story and Damien told Janis about it because, of course he did, and Janis started acting… weird.
So, yeah, they just didn’t hang out and they didn’t talk unless it was in a group setting.
Regina had changed her outfit exactly twelve times now. The clothes were either too itchy, too soft, too big or too tight. At one point, Regina had put on a dress that looked an awful lot like her moms wedding dress.
Eventually she settled on something simple. Kept her hair and makeup simple. Everything looked… normal. Regina hated that. She hated normal. But what she hated even more was that she was going to drive her car to Janis’ place and walk into her apartment and it would feel… different.
The drive was quiet. She didn’t even turn on the radio. She didn’t want a love song to pop up and mock her.
When she knocked she felt her hands get clammy immediately and then the door opened and she saw Janis.
Janis was all out of breath, like she’d spent the past hour working out and she smelled nice. Like, very nice.
“Are you wearing perfume?” Regina asked, eyebrows furrowed.
Janis’ eyes widened for a moment. “No!” She looked defensive. She was absolutely wearing perfume.
Regina just hummed and walked in. She had a death grip on her handbag, ready to bolt in case she had to. “So,” Regina said, turning to look at Janis.
Janis looked good. She always did, but Regina noticed that she was wearing that nice shirt she usually wore when she - No. The date shirt.
Janis almost bolted towards the kitchen when her alarm went off and Regina followed her, confused and with her heart beating just a little too fast.
Janis hadn’t said a word yet. This was either a good or a very bad sign. Janis didn’t talk a lot during their group hangouts either. Regina suspected that it was because she didn’t want to give her any more ‘material’ to tease her, which was stupid. Regina wasn’t like that anymore. At least she tried not to be.
Regina watched her move around the kitchen, reaching for two plates and placing them on the table in front of Regina. “You still like spaghetti, right?” Janis said, making Regina blink a couple of times.
“Uhm,” Regina needed a second to realize what was happening. Janis had cooked. Spaghetti. For their… hangout? “Yes,” she croaked out, pathetically.
Janis didn’t comment on it and continued setting the table and Regina kind of blacked out a little because Janis had made them dinner and she looked good and she wore perfume and maybe Regina hadn’t been the only one nervous about this. She wondered if Janis had also changed her outfit twelve times.
And then they were sat at the table, eating Spaghetti - which was excellent by the way - across from each other like it was the most normal thing ever.
And then Janis started talking. “Okay, so, can we talk? This is really weird,” she said and Regina’s fork stopped mid-way, mouth open and her eyes on Janis.
Janis squinted at her. “You’re being weird,” she just said, leaning back in her chair. “Aren’t you, like, super confident? Annoying?”
Regina gasped, kind of offended. “Annoying?” Her eyes widened. “I’m not annoying.”
Janis chuckled. “Last time we hung out, you talked everyone’s ears off about this stupid lacrosse game you went to, just because you thought one of the players was hot,” she started. “What’s her name? Bella? Becca?”
Regina glared at her, her arms crossed over her chest now. “Brianna,” she grumbled.
“Stupid name,” Janis bit back.
“So is Janis,” Regina said before she could stop herself and then they both started laughing.
Like, actually laughing. The tension dissolving into something lighter.
And then it was like they couldn’t stop talking.
Regina told Janis about her lacrosse training, a new album she listened to and loved, her little sister Kylie who was very interested in art now and every other stupid thing she could come up with and Janis listened to her with a smile on her face.
And Regina’s mind kept spiraling. This was nice and Janis smelled very good and she’d cooked dinner. Janis had never made dinner when they’d come over as a group. They’d usually just order chinese or pizza and Janis definitely didn’t wear her nice clothes for them either.
This felt intimate, familiar and new at the same time and an awful lot like… a date. Regina thought about it for just a split second though because the mere thought of this being more than just a simple hangout between two old friends, made Regina want to throw up with nerves.
But the time they moved to the couch, two glasses of wine in their hands and their knees so close they bumped against each other every once in a while, Janis was telling Regina a story about how she got into the Fine Arts program even though she absolutely butchered her entrance exam. “I fully tripped and emptied the entire bucket of blue paint over Professor Chen and then I slipped and fell on my head,” she told the story with her hands and clapped for a sound effect, which made Regina gasp and laugh at the images inside of her head.
“But!” Janis held her finger up. “I got to redo it once I didn’t have a concussion anymore and while I suffered at the hospital I got a better idea for what I wanted to do and it got me in, so,” Janis shrugged, smiling and taking a sip of her wine.
Regina smiled. “You would’ve gotten in anyway,” she easily said. “You’re the most talented person I know,” she admit and it made Janis give her a look she couldn’t quite read. “What?”
“That was a compliment out of your mouth,” Janis said it like she couldn’t believe it.
Regina rolled her eyes. “We’re friends,” she mumbled.
“Why didn’t you cancel?” Janis asked suddenly, making Regina stare at her.
“Why didn’t you?” Regina bit back. She was good at that. Throwing the question back instead of answering it. “You made dinner and now we’re having wine like…”
Janis raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”
Regina blushed. Regina George didn’t blush. “Like we’re on a date.”
Janis’ mouth opened and closed a couple of times, her brows furrowed like she was thinking about it. Like the only one who’d been spiraling this whole time was Regina.
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Regina mumbled, cheeks flushed and voice wavering because maybe she’d seriously been overthinking.
And then Janis started laughing.
“Are you-“ Regina was glaring at her.
“I thought I was the only one who was panicking,” Janis admit, a wide grin on her face.
Regina raised an eyebrow. “Panicking?”
“I am wearing perfume, Regina,” Janis said in a very serious tone.
Regina broke out into a smile and then they started laughing. “So, is it?”
Janis raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“A date,” Reginas voice came out quiet, very not-Regina-like. She hated it.
Janis shrugged. “Do you want it to be one?”
“Can you ever answer a question like a normal person?” Regina complained. It was bad enough that she was acting like she was, but Janis just made things worse.
Janis chuckled. “It’s a date if you want it to be one,” Janis replied, watching her reaction.
“Are you asking me?” Regina raised both of her eyebrows.
Janis rolled her eyes. “You’re being annoying again,” she said.
Regina crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, if you ask me like that then it’s not a date,” she argued.
Janis scoffed. “Maybe I don’t want it to be!”
Regina gasped in offense. “Excuse me? Dating me would be a privilege!”
Janis laughed. “Oh, yeah,” she snorted. “Having you annoy me on more occasions, yay!”
“You made me spaghetti and you’re wearing something that’s not atrocious for once and you smell very good! Sorry for thinking this was more than just a hangout for a second! Won’t happen again!” Regina groaned and jumped off the couch, grabbing her handbag.
“It is a date!” Janis followed her. “Okay? It’s a date! I changed like ten times between stirring the tomato sauce and throwing pasta at the wall to see if they’re cooked through!” Janis threw her hands up with frustration.
Regina stopped dead in her tracks and then she turned with a smile. “You did?” Janis just rolled her eyes with a blush on her face and Regina thought it was cute. “I changed twelve times,” she admit.
Janis snorted. “Would you like to continue our date then?”
Janis looked a little shy and Regina didn’t want to leave so she didn’t.
“I would,” she smiled and then they spent the rest of the evening laughing and talking.
And it was the best hangout-turned-date that they’d ever been on.
ok so idk if this is… what you wanted but I kinda think it’s very cute and they would absolutely both spiral and not say anything and then argue about it. also, no kiss or anything because in my head they also wouldn’t do that immediately. they’re idiots and the epitome of slow burn.
