The train
Why did Remus have such bad luck his whole life? Now he was stuck on a train to London, in the evening, during autumn. Why did the train have to break down now?
He sat alone by the window, his bags beside him. He put on his headphones and watched the rain fall outside.
The train started moving again, but very slowly. They had probably finally fixed it. Soon, the train reached its next stop. More people got on than got off. All the seats were taken except the one next to him, where his belongings were. The train started again. Remus sighed; he wasn't getting to London anytime soon.
A few moments later, Remus felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, taking off his headphones, and looked at the person who had tapped him. Before him stood a rather... flamboyant guy.
His thoughts were interrupted by the guy's voice.
"Is this seat—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the train stopped again, and he fell headfirst into Remus's lap.
*The guy was quite pretty. He had long, curly black hair with bangs that framed his pale skin, which was covered in dozens of beauty marks, making it look perfectly smooth. If you were to connect all those beauty marks, you'd probably get some sort of constellation. His gray eyes stood out like two stars in the night sky.
The guy quickly stood up and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Sorry, didn't mean to do that. Well, as I was about to ask, mind if I—" Before he could finish his sentence, Remus interrupted him by moving his things and letting the guy sit next to him.
The guy put his stuff away and sat down, lighting a cigarette. That's when Remus noticed his designer ring: Vivienne Westwood. He was probably some spoiled rich brat. His thoughts were interrupted yet again by the guy speaking.
"Does the smoke bother you?"
Remus shook his head and was about to say something, but the guy's phone rang.
"Hello, it's Sirius. James, it's you! No, I haven't arrived in London yet. I got stuck on the train. I'll call you when I get there, alright?" He hung up after that.
Remus chuckled and spoke, "So you're going to London too, huh? To be with your little boyfriend? And you're on the train alone? How old are you? Seventeen?"
The guy, or Sirius, put his hand on his chest in mock offense. "Hey, I'm not a high schooler! I'm twenty-one. And I'm not going to London just to be with my 'boyfriend.' And he and I aren't dating; he's like a brother to me!"
Sirius crossed his arms and spoke again, "I just want to get away from home. I used to live in France, but my parents weren't exactly accepting of my dreams, so I kind of ran away. I'm staying with James until I find an apartment. He got accepted to his dream sports school recently."
Remus raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think a total stranger wants to hear your sob story?"
That made Sirius frown. "What an asshole," Sirius thought. Then Remus spoke again, "You have a spare cigarette or something?"
Sirius took out a cigarette and gave it to Remus. "How about a toast? Since I already told you my 'sob story,' and we'll probably be stuck here for a while since the train broke down, how about we have a toast? To, uh... James getting accepted into his dream school?"
Remus tilted his head. "That's got nothing to do with me."
That made Sirius frown, but he stopped pouting as Remus spoke, "You're toasting to something that happened to your friend. Why don't we toast to something that has happened to both of us? To two people who happened to be going to London at the same time, stuck on the same train."
"To Remus Lupin, the wolf guy, and Sirius, the dog star."
'Remus Lupin? What a dumb name,' Sirius thought. He clicked his cigarettes against Remus's. "A toast to us."
A few moments passed until Sirius broke the silence. "So, you said you're going to live in London. May I ask why?"
Remus turned his attention to Sirius. "Oh, yeah, sure. I'm going to an arts school there. I already got accepted, but I don't have a job or a place to stay, so I'll be looking for both once I get there."
The two talked more until they arrived and separated at the train stop. Would they meet again? And if yes, how and why?