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Janus yawns, rubbing his eyes. He had the weirdest dreams that were all starting to jumble together in his hazy mind. But he remembers the world swirling around him, coalescing into something he'd never seen before, something that-
Nope. It's gone and Janus opens his eyes, ready to greet the day with reluctant enthusiasm, because his mother is the most cheerful person he's ever met and she also happens to be a morning person, which is worse.
He freezes. Blinks. Then blinks again.
Perfect vision crowds his shocked gaze. So does a surprisingly familiar bedroom not his own, with rumpled octopus-printed green sheets and a heap of disheveled clothes at the foot of the bed. He's switched bodies with his soulmate in his sleep.
Janus begins to grin, so hard his cheeks start to hurt. He knows this room. He's spent hours upon hours in this room, sprawled on the bed or crammed onto the slouchy green beanbag chair playing video games with his best friend, Remus.
His soulmate is his best friend.
He jumps out of bed, nearly measuring his length on the crowded floor when he realizes how tall and lanky Remus actually is. Dizziness assaults his senses, making him pinch the bridge of his nose and close his eyes. When the dizziness recedes, he cautiously opens his eyes again.
"This is so cool!" Janus squeals to himself, awed when Remus's rough tones come out instead of his higher-pitched voice. He rummages through the pile of clothes at the foot of the bed, pulling on the ones that look the cleanest (which isn't saying much, knowing Remus).
A knock on the door interrupts him smoothing his shirt and nerves assault his senses, butterflies crowding his stomach and spilling up his throat. It has to be Remus's mom. Roman's probably out in his own soulmate's skin right about now, considering he and Remus are twins. He doubts that Roman's soulmate has tried to come visit him, unless maybe they know Roman and are curious what hellspawn must be Remus's soulmate.
"Hello?" Remus's mother asks softly through the door. "I'm Remus's mother. Remus is the person you're in right now? He's your soulmate? I can tell you about him if you like."
"I know," Janus says hastily, opening the door and flushing bright red. "It's uh. It's Janus."
Her eyes light up and she clasps her hands together.
"Janus!" She exclaims. "Oh, I hoped it might be you- I know, I know, you aren't supposed to speculate on people's soulmates and I really tried not to, but you're so good for Remus, you really are..."
"I am?" Janus asks blankly. This is not the reaction he expected at all, although truthfully, he isn't sure what reaction he actually thought he would get. Remus's mother smiles, a little wistful.
"Oh yes," she assures him. "He wasn't- well, he wasn't on the best track before he met you. I'm glad that he has you in his life."
As Janus stands there, digesting that particular tidbit of information and turning several shades of red, she brightens again.
"Oh, you'll never guess who Roman's soulmate is," she confides in a stage whisper. "Virgil! I never would have guessed."
"I would," Janus says dryly, remembering the dreamy looks Virgil would send Roman's way when he wasn't looking. And the 'Virgil + Roman = True Love' doodles in the back of Virgil's notebook that Virgil made Janus swear on pain of death he'd never reveal. Remus's mom laughs.
"Come on," she says. "I'll make you breakfast. I have a feeling the twins will make it over here, too, once they find out who their soulmates are."
"Thank you," Janus says, trailing her down the hallway. Virgil is already seated at the kitchen table, slumped and ill at ease in Roman's body. It was a good thing he wasn't in the acting profession, Janus thinks, because he'd never pass as Roman in a thousand years.
"Virgil!" Remus's mother says brightly. "It's Janus." Relief glitters in Virgil's newly brown eyes.
"Hey, dude," Virgil says, drawing aimless shapes on the table in front of him. "How uh, how are you?"
"Happy," Janus says simply. Virgil nods, his shoulders relaxing.
"I know what you mean," Virgil mumbles. Remus's mom bustles around, making pancakes.
"Can I uh, can i help at all?" Janus asks. She turns, frying pan in hand, and laughs, shooing him away.
"Sit down," she encourages. "I'll be fine."
The doorbell chimes through the house and she smiles.
"And I have a feeling that's either Remus, Roman, or both," she says, bustling over to the front door. Remus spills through the door first in Janus's body.
"Mom, it's Janus!" Remus shouts in delight. "My soulmate is Janus! I knew it!"
"Well, mine is Virgil, so who got the better end of that deal?" Roman retorts, poured into Virgil's body. He looks just as ill at ease as Virgil does.
"You both did," their mother says firmly. "I'm making pancakes. Go say hello to your soulmates."
Janus looks up, his face flushing, when he meets his own mismatched eyes.
"Hey," Remus says softly, sitting down next to Janus.
"Hey," Janus says just as quietly back.
"So you really live like this, huh?" Remus asks.
"Remus!" Their mother scolds. Janus nearly falls out of his chair, he's so overcome with laughter.
That's his soulmate, all right.
He couldn't be happier.