Forever?
Remus’ pov.
It’s ten in the morning when Remus wakes up again. The first time was at three, his nerves twisting on his intestines, making it impossible for him to sleep. The second time was at six, waking up in alarm because Remus’ brain made him think he’d forgotten something. He hadn’t, of course, everything had been meticulously planned for months now, and there was no chance he was getting this wrong.
He managed to fall back asleep by eight, and the third time he wakes up, at ten, it’s to the feeling of warm lips on his cheek. He smiles before he opens his eyes, and he feels his heart beating wildly against his ribs. Today, nothing can go wrong. He’s had this planned for ages, poured a lot of the money he’d earned at his small job at Cambridge’s library into this, poured a lot of time and love too. No, today, nothing was going wrong.
He opens his eyes to find Sirius nestling to Remus’ neck and face, sleepily kissing his cheek or ear every now and then. He stirs silently and presses a kiss to Sirius’ hair as a good morning, before resting his face in the nest of hair. It’s the 28th of June. It’s been a full year of this, of kisses and lazy mornings and laughter and pure unfiltered love. Remus would do anything to keep this forever.
He lowers his lips to Sirius’ ear and smiles as he whispers a ‘Good morning’ and feels Sirius’ lips curl into a smile against his skin.
“Morning, Moons.” He smiles, and when Remus turns to face him, he has a mischievous look on his face, “Know what day it is?”
Remus nods with a smile, “Yeah.” He says, then captures Sirius’ lips in a kiss, “Happy Anniversary.”
Sirius kisses him back more forcefully, pushing Remus on his back and climbing on top of him, “Happy One Year, my love.” He grins in between kisses, and it quickly, very quickly, turns into yet another session of morning sex. Since October when they moved in, it’s become their thing: with Remus and Sirius both coming home at night from university or the tattoo shop for Sirius, exhausted and almost dead on their feet, morning became the only moment they could take the time to be intimate. Well, on the weekends, too, obviously, but their mornings were sacred. A moment for just two of them, when the world doesn’t exist, and only them and their love matters for an hour or two. Also, it proved to put them both in a great mood for the day.
It’s almost noon when they make it out of bed, and after a much needed shower that leaves them both dirtier than when they entered it, they retake a shower, now separately, and get dressed. Remus is very careful with his attire: he’s got to look perfect today. Like someone one would one to spend forever with.
In the end, he wears a green buttoned shirt that Sirius says brings out his eyes, along with blue jeans rolled at the ankle and white trainers. He takes extra time on his hair, making his curls look somewhat defined instead of ragged like always, and even puts some of Sirius’ concealer on the treacherous pimple that decided to grow under his eye.
When he thinks he looks fresh enough, he joins Sirius back into the living room, who is wearing a black shirt and blue fitted jeans that make his butt look heavenly, black shoes and a bunch of silver jewellery that adorns his outfit perfectly.
“Don’t you look dashing.” Sirius grins, “What have you got planned then?” he asks, and Remus smirks at him. He’d made Sirius promise not to plan anything for their anniversary, that Remus was taking care of it all, and now, he has to deliver.
“Starting easy. A picnic.” He announces, and goes to the fridge. There, he takes out a basket full of sandwiches, cookies, jam, butter, white wine, and strawberries. There’s a white and red checkered blanket in there too, and it makes Sirius chuckle.
“Oh wow, didn’t know we were in a movie.” He smiles, “Where are we going?”
“Follow me.” Is all Remus says before leaving their flat. Sirius follows after him with a grin, going on and on about how Remus is being all mischievous today, and that Sirius loves it. It’s teasy, and it’s funny, and it’s not long until they reach their destination. It’s a small parc not far from their flat that the pair of them discovered on Remus’ birthday, when they all went out with some of Remus’ friends from uni, and ended up passing out in the green area, drunk on vodka and high on weed. Since then, it’s been their designated spot anytime they just want to take a stroll.
Remus guides them to the lake, which is now clear and inviting, with summer in the air, and they settle their blanket there, under an old oak tree next to the lake, where Sirius often stands up to take flat stones and throw them over the water, seeing how many times he can make them ricochet. They eat the sandwiches and drink the wine on the blanket, talking and laughing as the reminisce the last year they spent together. Between memories of the Experience Trip, and recalls of the last eight months spent living together, there’s a lot to go around, and they spend more time than they were supposed to laughing and talking vividly.
Remus doesn’t see time pass, and he is thankful for his thoughtful self of a week ago who planted an alarm on Sirius’ phone just in case of this: if they got too wrapped up in one another to continue through the rest of Remus’ genius plan.
It’s ten to three in the afternoon when it goes off, and it makes Sirius frown. The alarm reads ‘Tattoo!!!”, something that confuses Sirius.
“Tattoo? I..I cleared the day?” he asks himself out loud, then checks his calendar. Remus tries not to smile or give himself away, but when Sirius’ shoulders deflate, he almost breaks. “Fuck, Remus, I’m so sorry, I was sure I cleared the day to spend it together, I completely forgot I had an appointment booked…” he rambles on in apologies, and Remus smiles gently.
“Don’t worry about it.” He shrugs, “I, uh, I’ll walk around until you’re done. It’s no issue.” He says, knowing damn well what Sirius is about to say.
“No, absolutely not.” Sirius frowns and stands up, clearing up their picnic with Remus’ help, “It’s our anniversary, you’re not going to walk around all alone like an idiot.” He scoffs, “You’re coming with me.”
And so, Remus doesn’t oblige. It’s all part of the plan, and he mentally high fives himself for how well this is going. Only four more activities to go through, he thinks distantly, and almost chuckles to himself. They walk back to the tattoo shop, which Sirius bought back in October and completely remodelled to look more like him: now, the store is all different shades of black and grey and blue, with the odd pop culture reference here and there. The walls are adorned with Sirius’ drawings of tattoos, but also of Dorcas and Pandora’s abstract paintings. They’re a nice colourful addition to the tern colour of the parlour, and Remus thinks that this place just feels like Sirius through and through. He loves it.
Once they enter the tattoo parlour, Sirius gets to preparing his stools, saying that he wants to get the most ready he can before the costumer gets here, so that it takes less time. Of course, when Sirius cannot find the stencil or any note of what the client wants, he fumes.
“For fuck’s sake, how hard is it to tell the tattoo artist what you want?” he grumbles under his breath as he looks through his papers, “Some people have a fucking life, man, I can’t spend forty five minutes doing a stencil once he gets here.” He checks the time, three fifteen, and curses, “He’s supposed to get here now. I swear to God, if he’s late I’m going to hurt him so bad. You can’t do that to someone whose job is to stab you with an inky needle.”
Smiling to himself, Remus places a vinyl, A Night At The Opera, on the record player and lowers the needle. Sirius turns around and sighs, “For all I know the fucking client could hate Queen. What if he only listens to Central Cee or something?” he asks with a pained face, and Remus bites his lip.
“Actually, I think he likes Queen.” He chuckles at Sirius’ frown, and continues, “I think he listens to Queen, Bowie, The Cure, all that jazz, really.” He grins, and that’s when realisation falls onto Sirius.
“Fucker.” He swears, and Remus giggles.
“I think your fucking client is actually your boyfriend who planned this for you.” He grins at Sirius, who shakes his head with a smile.
“And you just let me get mad. No issue for you whatsoever.”
“Nah. You’re hot when you’re mad.” He shrugs with a grin and sits on the tattoo bed. Last time he was sat there, was before a very intense making out session that ended up in them fucking on the tattoo bed. He’d be lying if he didn’t kind of want it to happen again.
Sirius shakes his head in defeat, “You actually want to get tattooed then?” he asks, and Remus grins. Since Sirius opened the shop, he’s been more and more inclined towards tattoos. Now, along with the pads and crescent moon he got in Italy, and the 5 he has in common with everyone from the Trip, he has a sunflower on his hip, a kiss mark on his thigh for Sirius’ birthday, a lily on his shoulder and Canis Major’s constellation on his collarbones. Along with the three slash scars on his torso, his body is well decorated, he’ll say.
“You’re going to call me cheesy again.” He preambles with a grin, “But it’s our anniversary so I’m allowed.”
“I’m never against cheesy Moony.” Sirius teases, “He’s such a poet.”
Remus rolls his eyes fondly and brings his hands towards Sirius. Rather, his left hand. “I want a S. On this finger.” He points to his ring finger, and watches as Sirius’ eyes go round.
“You’re kidding me.” He gapes at Remus, who chuckles.
“No, no, I want a S here.” He assures him, and Sirius keeps looking at him with round eyes.
“I…Tattoos are forever.” Is all he says, and Remus cocks his head to the side.
“And this,” he says, pointing between both of them, “Isn’t?” he asks, and Sirius promptly blushes.
“I-yeah, but I mean. Wow. I didn’t expect that.” Sirius murmurs in a small, surprised voice and takes Remus left hand in his. Remus lets him and chuckles he remembers something. The one thing that made him so sure that Sirius was going to say yes tonight.
“I’m not the one who keeps calling you my husband.” He remembers him with an eyebrow raise, and Sirius chuckles, still blushing. It’s true, ever since Sirius met Remus’ new uni friends, he’s been rather…territorial. That is to say that whenever he met them, he introduced himself as Remus’ lawfully wedded husband. This made Remus laugh so much that it kind of became their thing. It’s been months since Sirius introduced him to anyone as his boyfriend.
“But it’s so much more fitting?” Sirius teases, and it makes Remus’ stomach swoops. To stop himself from ruining his plans right there and then and proposing right now, he looks for Sirius’ book with different fonts to pick the one he wants.
“That one.” He points to a gothic, baroque sort of font that makes the S look epic. He likes it, and he knows it’ll go with the others. That tends to happen when all of your tattoos are done by the same hand.
When Sirius is done applying the stencil, he looks at Remus with a solemn look on his face, “Are you really sure? I don’t want you to regret it later.” He asks, and Remus nods.
“I’ve thought about it a long time.” He disclaims, “You didn’t ask me that when you did the pads and the constellation.” He pinpoints, and Sirius shrugs.
“Those are under your clothes. No one sees them unless you’re at the beach or something. Your hands are always on display.” He explains, and Remus nods.
“I know. But I want this.” He nods surely at Sirius and sure enough, less than fifteen minutes later, he has a fresh S tattooed on the side of his ring finger. He grins proudly as he looks at it, and already pictures the ring that will go with it later. He honestly cannot wait.
When he Sirius is done, he stands up, and is met with an incredulous stare, “You think we’re leaving?” Sirius asks, still wearing his black plastic gloves and his hair up in a bun. Remus has always known that Sirius was hotter than usual population, but like this, with all of his arm tattoos on display, he looks both heavenly and sinful. And yes, Remus would like to leave before he succumbs to the urge and fucks Sirius into the tattoo bed.
“Yes?” he asks, “Unless you want to have sex, because I’m always up for that.” He declares, biting his lips and staring at Sirius, at his forearms and at the high bun he put his hair in. He’s more than up for it, so is his dick, he realises.
Sirius chuckles, “You and your tattoo artist kink.” He rolls his eyes and shakes his tattoo gun to get the ink to come down. Remus does have a tattoo artist kink. There’s no denying it. “You think I’m going to let you get an S and not get a R myself?”
“Er.” Remus blinks at him, “I didn’t think of that.”
“You’re stupid.” Sirius shakes his head and starts drawing directly on his skin with the gun.
“No stencil?” Remus asks, and Sirius smirks.
“Nah, doing it raw.” He says, and Remus stares, mesmerised by the whole of Sirius’ being. No one could ever be as interesting as Sirius. Nor as hot.
“Can we still have sex once you’re done?” he blurts out, but finds he doesn’t regret it. He’s already hard anyway. His plans can wait a little.
Sirius chuckles but miraculously keeps his hand steady. “You’re insatiable. But yes, absolutely, take your clothes off.” He orders, and Remus nods. He takes off his shirt and his jeans, and when Sirius’ eyes snap up to him, they’re filled with mischief.
“I have an idea.” Sirius smirks, then giggles, “How about you suck me off while I finish this. Try and make my hand less steady.” He suggests, and he looks so damn smug that Remus wants to prove him wrong. Fuck it if his R gets fucked up. It’ll be for a good cause.
“Absolutely. I hope the R comes out fucked up.” He nods and drops to his knees. He pries Sirius’ jeans open and shimmies them down, along with his underwear, which makes his dick spring free right then. He’s already hard, and Remus finds himself thanking the stars above that they’re just nineteen and still able to go five times a day. Life will get duller when he won’t be able to. Without waiting any more, he takes Sirius into his mouth and gives his everything. He doesn’t want the tattoo to look good anymore, and he honestly thinks it’s fucking hot to try and deconcentrate someone who is busy this way. He still hears the steady grumble of the gun, but now, along with it are some ragged breaths. Remus takes him deep, just how he knows Sirius likes it after a year of doing this, and it’s not very long until he hears the tattoo gun stop. He grins around Sirius’ cock and pulls off.
“Not tattooing anymore?” he asks cockily, and Sirius rolls his eyes, looking flustered.
“My hands are anything but steady.” He shakes his head, “Get on the tattoo bed.” He demands, and it proves that Remus’ plans are going to have to be delayed a little further.
It’s almost five when they leave the tattoo shop, both smelling of sex and sweat, and Remus thinks that they’re definitely late for their plans now. It was worth it, he thinks, but still. He’s been planning this for longer than he cares to admit.
“That was all you had planned, right?” Sirius asks as they walk back to the flat, both in need of a shower, “Isn’t it?”
“Nope.” Remus says, making the P pop at the end, “We still have two things to do.”
“Was the sex inside that plan of yours?” he asks with a judgy stare, and Remus chuckles.
“I…well no, but I was expecting it would happen.”
“Fucking tattoo kink.” Sirius mumbles. They get back to the flat and shower, only to walk back out on the street when the clock strikes five. It’ll be fine, he thinks. They have time.
“Okay, I may have another surprise for you.” Remus starts, “Regulus helped me pull this off.”
Sirius’ eyebrows shoot up to his hairline, “Reggie? How? He’s in Paris?” he asks right as they arrive in front of the storage unit Remus rented for this. They stop in front of it and Remus smiles at him. He slides the key into the lock and lets it fall open. When Sirius’ eyes fall on what lies inside, his jaw drops lower than ever. He looks like a kid on Christmas, staring at the motorbike as if it would disappear if he stopped looking for even a minute.
“You’re kidding.” Sirius murmurs. In front of them is an 80’s Original Black and Brown Harvey, the best of its condition that Remus could find. It was in Paris, so obviously, he needed some help, and while James is also in Paris, he was positive he wouldn’t be able to keep such a secret. So, Regulus it was.
“I know it’s not the best in the market, but you’ve been wanting one forever, so.” He explains, “I found it on Internet, but it was in Paris, so I had to ask Reg.”
“Remus…” Sirius breathes out and takes a step towards it. Remus had wanted to get it cleaned before showing it to Sirius, but he was scared of damaging it, so it’s still dirty and a little rusty, but well. It’s Sirius’ every dream. He lets him take this in, lets him walk to the machine and run his fingers over the metal. Remus let the keys on the ignition, which Sirius snag and pockets.
“You bought me a motorbike.” Sirius states, and Remus nods.
“It was what you wanted, right?” he asks, even if he already knows it is. There is a huge drawing of exactly this motorbike hanging over Sirius’ desk at the tattoo shop.
“Yes. Yes it’s exactly what I’ve been wanting.” He whispers, then finally snaps his gaze from the motorcycle to Remus, “Moony, this is…” he trails off, snaping his gaze from Remus to the motorbike back and forth, “This is incredible. I can’t believe it…”
Remus smiles and takes a step towards him, “Happy anniversary.” He says, once again, and Sirius chuckles wetly.
“Yeah. I…Wasn’t it too expensive?” he asks with a frown.
“I have money.” He shrugs, “You pay for everything, least I can do is repay you in gifts.”
Sirius shakes his head, “No, Remus, I-“ he starts, but stops himself, “We’ve had this argument too many times already. You know that you don’t owe me anything.”
“I know.” Remus nods, “But I want to buy you gifts.”
“I, this is…” Sirius looks back to the motorbike, and finally, a smile breaks on his face, “Thank you. This is amazing.” He shakes his head, “You just knew exactly what I wanted…”
Remus chuckles, “It’s not hard, it’s a wonder you don’t have it tattooed yet.”
“That’s true.” Sirius chuckles, then looks at the cardboard box next to it, where a helmet and gloves are sticking out of. “You got the stuff to ride it too?”
“From my mum, actually.” He grins at Sirius and walks over to the box, discarding two helmets, four gloves and a protective jacket, “She used to ride when she was younger.” Before the accident, he doesn’t say, but Sirius knows.
“She’s amazing your mum, I swear.” He shakes his head and looks at the stuff in Remus’ hands, until the latter raises an eyebrow.
“What are you waiting for? Don’t want to take her for a ride?”
Sirius chuckles, “Oh because she’s a her now?”
“Of course, it’s a bike. All bikes are girls.” He shrugs, and hands Sirius a pair of gloves and a helmet.
“You’re coming too?” Sirius asks with an eyebrow raised, “You? On a motorcycle?”
Remus shrugs, putting on the helmet, “Yeah. Why not?”
Sirius bursts out laughing, “You? The guy who was scared shitless on the back of a camel?”
“Pfft, that doesn’t count.” He rolls his eyes, “You have a drivers license, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” Sirius shrugs with a smile, and Remus gestures for him to sit on the bike. “You’re going to hold onto me like a lifeline, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely.” Remus nods, “Hop on.”
So, without further ado, Sirius shakes his head laughing, and gets on the bike, followed by Remus, whose hands immediately latch onto his waist. Just being on top of the bike is enough to scare Remus, who absolutely has a fear of heights, and he feels Sirius laughing already.
“Chill out, man, we’re not going to die.”
“Shut up and drive.” Remus grumbles, and sets his phone with the GPS ready for his planned destination on the phone holder the previous owner had added.
“Where are we going?” Sirius asks.
“Just follow the route.” He tells him, and Sirius looks over his shoulder in surprise.
“You still have more planned?” he gapes at him, “I thought we were taking her for a ride then have sex on top of it? You know I have a bike kink.”
Remus rolls his eyes, “I assure you, I know.” He says, thinking back to the time Sirius saw Hope’s old bike in the farms’ basement and tried to get Remus to fuck him on it. As if he’d do that on his mother’s stuff. “Just drive, you’ll see where it leads you.”
Sirius gives up on the fight and puts the key back into the ignition and turns it. Upon the first roar of the motor, Remus’ hands tighten around Sirius’ waist, and he hears his laugh outside of the helmet. It’s going to be a long journey.
Actually, it isn’t. It seems that where Remus has gotten used to train journeys to London or Manchester when James was living there, he forgot how much faster going on a bike was. And with the way Sirius drives, no one would ever have time to get bored.
Remus knows that he’s testing the Harvey, and it’s why he’s going so fast, and taking so many sharp turns, but he lets him do his thing. Well, he screams rather un-masculinely when he takes bends the bike a little too much on his turns, or when he decides to pass two cars on the highway by going in the middle of both roads instead of going right like any sensible person. Remus wonders if he slept his way into having his drivers license with how horribly he’s driving, but as soon as they leave the highway to take on smaller routes, he’s certain that no shag could have been good enough to offer this maniac of a man the right to drive on actual roads with actual people there. He keeps his eyes shut and his arms tight around Sirius for the remainer of the journey, only opening his eyes when he starts to wonder if maybe he’s died and not realised it because his eyes were closed.
It's after an hour that they finally reach their destination. Remus knows because he feels Sirius finally slowing down, and he thinks that they’re either done, or have finally been pulled over by a copper. Either way, he’s glad.
He hops off the bike as fast as he can, takes off his helmet and protective jacket, and takes a moment to breathe. He’s alive. Sirius has not killed him. And buying him a motorbike was the greatest mistake of his life.
“I should have never bought that.” He voices, eyeing the Harvey like a death trap.
Sirius laughs, “Come on, I went easy on you.” He grins, “I was going kind of slow.”
“Excuse me?” Remus narrows his eyes at him, “Going slow?”
“Yeah, I only went like ten over the speed limit. It’s kind of slow.”
“I’m regretting a lot right now.” Remus shakes his head and breathes. He might die, he thinks. He probably will, actually. He thinks that they’re going to have to do the same journey back to Cambridge, and he feels like throwing up.
“Stop your whining.” Sirius rolls his eyes, “I said I was a good driver, not a careful one.”
“Good means careful, you moron.” Remus shakes his head. He breathes for a few more minutes, until Sirius’ voice snaps him out of it.
“Where are we anyway?” he asks, and immediately, Remus snaps his head up. Fuck. He forgot. This is the last part of his plan. The most important part. Suddenly, the urge to vomit is back, but for different reasons.
He looks around. Sirius parked exactly where they were supposed to park: in the gravel looking over the lake. They’re in the countryside, at Remus’ uncle’ cabin, not too far from Bury St Edmonds. In front of them is a huge lake, with a small boat ready to embark next to the pier, and to their right, a little off the road, is his uncle’s cabin. Well, they call it a cabin; it’s actually a full-on house. It’s not even in wood but in beige stone, which contrasts with the blue wooden blinds around the windows. There are flowers everywhere, Remus’ aunt’s work, and ever since he was a kid, visiting his family here, and later, when he was a teenager, sneaking with his cousin Oliver to smoke aboard the small boat, he thought this place was pretty. The perfect place to propose.
The thought gets back onto his head; he looks at Sirius, who is now smelling some of Remus’ aunt’s flowers, and his apprehension turns back into giddy excitement. He taps onto his front pocket and feels the square box there, making him smile. He’s going to propose. He’s going to ask his love to spend forever with him. Isn’t it beautiful?
“We’re at my uncle’s cabin.” He tells Sirius, “They left us the place for the weekend.”
“Really?” Sirius smiles, “That’s so sweet.”
Remus smiles too and bites his lip. “Yeah. I always thought this place was beautiful, so.” He shrugs.
“It really is.” Sirius nods, looking around at all the greenery and flowers everywhere. It looks like some sort of safe haven, something right out of a Monet painting. “We’re sleeping there tonight?” he asks, and Remus nods.
“I packed your things for you, don’t worry.” He smiles and looks at the time: six thirty. They have two hours until sunset. Two hours left of Remus’ nerves twisting in apprehension.
“Did you plan anything else?” Sirius asks teasingly, and now, Remus can’t say he does. That the most important part hasn’t even happened yet.
He chuckles, “No, no it’s over.” He chuckles, “I don’t have any more tricks up my sleeve.” He raises his hands in surrender, and Sirius narrows his eyes at him.
“You do. Moons, we’ve spent seven years pranking people together. You always have another trick up your sleeve.”
“Meh,” Remus shrugs, “Gotta keep you on your toes somehow.” He grins, and Sirius chuckles.
Together, they head inside the house, mostly to settle all of their stuff. The house inside is basic but still kind of cool: it has white tiling and stone pillars supporting the ceiling, which has the whole framework showing, and the staircase opens up into a open other level, with a big mezzanine and three bedrooms. It’s a mix of old and new, of original fixtures that were in the house when they bought it and added things from his aunt and uncle.
Remus guides them to the guest room; a small bedroom with its own bathroom and a double window that opens onto a terrasse. The terrasse has a stone banister filled with flowers, ivy and other weeds circling and twirling around it, making it look that much more beautiful. It faces west, and looks over the lake, making it beautiful during sunsets.
“Why didn’t you tell me your aunt and uncle own a such a beautiful place?” he asks, and Remus smiles.
“Because I knew I’d take you there one day.”
“It was all planned then.” Sirius shakes his head, “See, one more trick up your sleeve.” He says, making Remus chuckle. He can’t answer, because Sirius gasps before he can.
“My gifts!” he says, “I’ll have to give them tomorrow, they’re at home.” He explains with a truly distressed face. Good thing Remus has more than one trick up his sleeve.
“Ah, I thought of that, actually.” He grins, and opens his bag. “Your hiding place sucks.”
Sirius gasps, “You opened them?” he asks, and Remus chuckles.
“No, just took them. To open them here.”
“You beautiful bastard.” Sirius grins and chuckles, fishing the many, many gifts wrapped in gifting wrapper. There are so many that Remus had to switch to a bigger bag.
“You really needed to buy this many things?” Remus asks with a judgy stare, and Sirius laughs.
“Says he after he bought me a fucking Harvey.” He says, and gives Remus the smaller one out of five total.
“We’re going this now?” Remus asks, and when Sirius nods, he tears the wrappings open. The first gift is a copy of the new Hunger Games that came out last March. It’d been sold out forever, and Remus had been wanting to read it for months now. Thank God Sirius is there.
“I’ve been wanting to read that!” he exclaims with a grin, “Oh my God, thank you Pads, this is amazing.” He grins and starts to read the back cover, when Sirius snatches it from him.
“Not reading it now, Moons.” Sirius rolls his eyes, “You have four other gifts to go through.”
Remus nods, still trying to read the end of his sentence in Sirius’ hand, until the latter snaps his fingers in front of his eyes, “Right, sorry. I’ll behave.”
“Idiot.” Sirius rolls his eyes and hands him another gift. “This one is really just because I saw it and it made me laugh.”
“Did it?” he asks with a smile and tears the wrappings open. Sure enough, as soon as he realises what it is, he bursts out laughing and gets red in the face. In his hands are a bell that reads ‘time for sex!’ and a pair of pink furry handcuffs.
“What the fuck?” he chuckles, and Sirius grins.
“Only got to ring it now.” He says, making Remus laugh.
“This is perfect.” He says with a grin, and wordlessly accepts the third package. From the shape alone, Remus knows it’s a vinyl, and he is already smiling as he tears the wrappings open. His grin transforms into a gasp as he realises what it is.
An original copy of Heroes by David Bowie from 66. A signed copy.
Remus’ hands fly to his mouth and his eyes turn to Sirius, who giggles.
“You won’t believe it, but I found it in some thrift shop.” He says, “A signed bloody copy.”
“I can’t believe it. This…Oh my god, Sirius, a signed copy?!” he exclaims with a grin.
“I know! I was literally jumping up and down when I saw it.”
“This is amazing. Perfect. Oh my God!” he exclaims and captures Sirius in a happy kiss. His first signed vinyl. This is crazy.
“Ready for the fourth?” Sirius asks after a beat. Remus checks the time, they still have an hour to go. It’ll be okay. He breathes and thinks that if Sirius didn’t want to marry him, he wouldn’t have gifted him the signed vinyl. He wouldn’t let it slip through his fingers.
“Yeah, ready.” Remus nods, still looking at his previous gifts. He’s never gotten this spoiled before, and he knows that Sirius was holding back at his birthday for now.
Sirius hands it to him, and when Remus unwraps it, he smiles sweetly at the sight of it. A golden necklace with a small moon at the end. It’s sweet, and Remus has no doubt he’ll wear it everyday.
“Does it go underwater?” Remus asks, and Sirius nods.
“Pure gold.” He says, which Remus recognises as a flex, but doesn’t say anything about it. He asks Sirius to clasp it at the back of his neck for him, which he does. As Remus feels the cool metal on his skin, he smiles.
“Thank you, Sirius.” He says, “It’s beautiful.”
“Looks good on you.” Sirius nods, as if congratulating himself for his choice, and pulls out the last one. A small rectangular box, “Open it?”
Remus nods and pries the top cover open. Inside are two pieces of paper. Two tickets, Remus realises. He squints at it and sees two locations on them: Heathrow, London to Ezeiza, Buenos Aires.
“No.” Remus’ jaw drops, “Buenos Aires?” he asks, and Sirius nods with a shit eating grin.
“I know you wish we’d gone on the Experience Trip.” He grins, and Remus can only stare at him unbelievably.
“Argentina? You…We’re going to Argentina?” he asks, and Sirius breaks out in giggles.
“Yeah. Planned everything already.” He declares, “Leaving on the first of August for two weeks.”
“Oh fuck!” Remus swears and beams, “Argentina, Pads!” he exclaims with a shit eating grin on his face.
“I know! It’s going to be magical!” he grins and giggles, “I miss Latin America anyway.”
Remus lowers the box onto the bed and grins at his boyfriend, “I can’t believe you bought all of this, it’s just…amazing.” He shakes his head in bewilderment, “Thank you.” He grins and raises his hand to fidget with his necklace.
“Thank you, Moons.” Sirius returns, “Today was incredible. I…I mean, everyday we get to spend together is amazing, but today,” he shakes his head with a sweet smile, “You really managed to make it feel special.”
Remus smiles at him and kisses him sweetly. Part of him wanted to make it special because it’s their anniversary, but another part of him made it all this big so that Sirius would never forget the day he got engaged.
It feels weird to think that he used to be so insecure, and that he felt like he was a burden to people. When he thinks of himself from last year, he feels such a surge of affection and pity because how was it possible for someone to hate themselves this much? To think they didn’t deserve love, that they were a burden to everyone, even his own parents?
Remus has grown in the past year. He knows it. Where he used to hate himself and never look at himself for longer than necessarily, he now truly takes care of himself. He changed for the better, and he knows that part of why he grew so much is because he had so many people there to help him learn to love himself. And this love and trust he learned to have, now translates into absolute surety that Sirius won’t ever leave him.
It used to be hard, the first few times that Sirius told him he loved him, to truly believe it, but after a year, Remus realises that yeah, he’s loved. And that he deserves to be loved.
“I love you.” He tells Sirius as he pulls off from their kiss, with a sure smile on his face.
“I love you too.” Sirius smiles and kisses him again, “We’re going to Argentina!” he giggles, quickly joined by Remus. They stay like this, kissing for a while with a mess of presents scattered all over the bed, until an alarm goes off in Remus’ head.
He leans back and watches out the window: the sun is setting. It’s time.
“Come with me.” Remus whispers and takes Sirius’ hand. He leads them outside of the room onto the terrasse and walks over to the vinyl player he asked Oliver to set up, with a single album there. He places it on the record player, and Wrapped Around Your Finger by Police starts.
“Police, eh?” Sirius raises an eyebrow at him, and Remus chuckles.
“You like them.” He says, and Sirius nods. “Will you allow me this dance?” he lends his hand towards Sirius, who smiles at it.
“Oh, of course, dear sir.” He teases and takes the hand, letting himself be pulled into a waltz. Remus leads, pulling Sirius close, with one hand on his waist and the other holding his hand. Sirius has his hand on Remus’ shoulder, and is smiling.
“Remember last time we danced like that?” Sirius asks, and Remus takes a second to think.
“Must’ve been at the Lovegood’s wedding.” He frowns, “Can’t remember any other time.”
Sirius nods, “Yeah, exactly.” He chuckles, “I remember, we were talking about which name we’d use if we got married one day.”
Remus involuntarily freezes and chuckles awkwardly, “Ah, right.” He clears his throat, “What did we decide on, again?” he asks, and he curses himself for continuing on the subject. He can’t get his cover blown so close to the moment he’s supposed to propose. Really, Sirius chose the perfect moment to start on this.
“Lupin-Black.” Sirius answers, even if Remus knew damn well what they settled on. Not like he wrote ‘Remus John Lupin-Black’ on the new notebook he bought for uni.
Remus nods as he dances along to the music silently, until he decides that he’s been silent for a little too long, “Today was perfect.” He sighs as he thinks back to the day they’ve had. Really, any day he gets to spend to Sirius is perfect, but today was better. He makes a pact with himself to make the 28th of June a special day for the rest of his life. Only four dates to make special: Sirius’ birthday, his own birthday, their engagement date and their wedding date. Sure, later, their kids birthdays too, but that’s a trouble for later.
“Really was.” Sirius smiles and leans his head against Remus’ collarbones. They sway gently for the remainder of the song until it ends and switches for Police’s Every Breath You Take.
“Oh, I love this song.” Sirius smiles. Remus matches him as Stings’ voice fills the space around them.
“Me too.” He smiles and makes Sirius twirl, because he knows it makes him smile. From then, it’s a game of who will make the other twirl, and how many dance moves they can muster together. They laugh and chuckle as the voice subsides and the music takes the lead back, when they regroup into a gentle sway. Remus looks at Sirius with stars in his eyes and decides that this is the moment.
He makes Sirius twirl, and while Sirius isn’t facing him, he drops on one knee and empresses himself to draw the box from his pocket.
As Sirius turns back to face him with a grin on his face, he is on one knee with a small ring box opened in front of him, looking at Sirius like he hung the stars and the moon himself. And from the look on his face, one would think that he did.
His lips turn into a ‘o’ shape, and he watches Remus with surprise in his eyes.
“You know, you almost blew it when you mentioned our last names.” Remus declares with a chuckle, mostly to help his nerves, and Sirius breathes out, surprise and hope still lacing his features.
“Moons…I…” he tries, but the words die in his throat as he looks at Remus, who thinks he can see a shimmer grow in Sirius’ eyes. In the background, the music stops gradually, just as intended, leaving space for Remus to talk.
“Okay, here it goes.” He chuckles, and feels his own eyes watering, “Sirius, my love. I thought a long time about what I should tell you, but I never did quite get it right, so I’m improvising.” He says, “I think I never managed to write down how I feel because there’s not quite enough words to describe it.” He smiles at Sirius, who now has tears cascading down onto his cheeks.
“I could say that being with you makes me feel alive, that you are the most interesting and mesmerising person in the world, but it doesn’t quite feel enough, does it? I..I love everything about you, everything, from the way you draw everything you see, or the way you manage to make people feel seen without even trying. I love your awful cooking, and your music taste, and your kindness, and everything you do.” He knows he’s rambling, but he just goes with the flow. It works, he thinks, because Sirius is now grinning with tears falling from his eyes, staring at Remus with endless love.
“You’re a light in the dark, and I would be completely lost without you. The prettiest star in the sky.” He sniffles, because he is crying like a lovesick idiot too, and thinks that he’s talked for long enough.
“Sirius Black, will you marry me?” he asks with a grin, and before he is even done asking, Sirius is nodding through tears and falling onto his knees to join Remus.
“Yes. Yes, yes, yes, of course.” Sirius sniffles and kisses Remus passionately, “I love you so much.”
Remus chuckles, all of the nerves he had before just disappearing, and a huge sense of love, relief and hope filling him. A promise of a lifetime together. Doesn’t that sound great?
“I love you too.” He kisses Sirius back, until they’re both smiling too much to be kissing.
“You fucking poetic idiot.” Sirius chuckles wetly, “Improvised my arse.”
Remus chuckles too, “It was improvised!” he defends and kisses Sirius again. After a minute, Sirius is again, grinning to big to kiss. “What?” Remus asks, because he’d like to kiss his fiancé again. Oh, that’s a nice word. Fiancé.
“We’re engaged!” Sirius exclaims, staring at Remus like an idiot, “Like, as in to be wed! I can’t believe it.” He shakes his head in bewilderment, and Remus thinks back to the small weight in his hand.
“Not yet.” He says and takes the ring in between his fingers. It’s a silver ring with a big diamond in the middle, incrusted with other, smaller diamonds all around the silver band. It cost Remus a small fortune, but it looks so much like Sirius that he thinks there’s no chance he won’t love it.
Upon the sight of it, Sirius tears up again, “It’s perfect. I didn’t even look at it before, but fuck, Remus. This is…my dream wedding ring.” He summarises, and Remus chuckles.
“Guessed right, then.”
Sirius shows his left hand, with a freshly tattooed R on his ring finger and waits for Remus to slide it on. When he does, Sirius stares at his own hand, with one additional ring, and he chuckles again.
“It looks perfect with the others.” He says and kisses Remus again, “Thank you, Remus Lupin-Black.” He chuckles to himself, and Remus feels a rush of adrenaline. He cannot wait to be married to that man.
“You’re very welcome, Sirius Lupin-Black.” He grins at his fiancé and kisses him again under the rising moon, happier than they’ve ever been.