Remus Lupin was supposed to be the sensible one. He was a professor at a nearby university, he didn’t drink much, he wore suits to work, and many of his “friends” considered him to be prudish.
Remus Lupin was supposed to be curled up on his couch, reading a book in his flat.
Remus Lupin was not supposed to be tipsy, bordering on drunk and walking down the dark streets of london.
Remus Lupin was not supposed to be standing in front of a tattoo parlor because its the only shop with the neon open sign on.
Ding
As Remus pushed the door open, a head turned towards him and began to speak.
“Hi, welcome to Star Tattoos and Co., how can I help you?” Call Remus a sap or whatever, but he lost his breath when he made eye contact with striking blue eyes. The man behind the counter seemed to get annoyed at Remus’ lack of an answer and let out a small huff.
“Er- I’d like a moon tattoo please. Somewhere along my collar bone.” Remus tried not to slur his words, but it was difficult with the amount of whisky he had drank after his students were particularly vexing today.
The man nodded his head, looking down at the tablet in front of him.
“Do you have a design in mind?” Blue eyes connected with his once more, and Remus almost choked on his words.
“Not really, you have creative control over that.” The male’s eyes lit up with Remus’ words, and began to write a few things down before turning and walking out from behind to desk.
“I’m Sirius, I’ll be handling your tattoo tonight.” The man, Sirius, flashed a blinding smile at Remus before gesturing to go to his station.
“Sirius…that's..isn’t that a star in the Canis Major constellation?” Remus couldn’t stop the question escaping, and internally cringed at himself for asking. Sirius turned suddenly, almost causing Remus to smack into him, surprise evident in his eyes.
“Y-yeah. How did you know that?” Sirius asked breathlessly.
“I’m an astronomy Professor. I'm supposed to teach that constellation in a few days actually.” Remus explained, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck as heat flared in his cheeks.
“You’d find my family fascinating then.” Sirius snorted, “ Our entire family is named after stars. My brother is Regulus, my father Orion, my aunt is Andromeda, and so on and so forth.” Sirius waved his hand in the air, and caught himself from speaking further.
“Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I seem to suck at controlling impulses when I'm tipsy.” Remus smacked a hand over his mouth and groaned at his words. “I seem to suck at keeping my mouth shut too.” He grumbled.
Sirius just laughed and waved him off, moving a curtain to reveal the back of the shop where 4 different stations seemed to be set up. All varying degrees of cleanliness. Only 1 was meticulously organized and spotless, the other 3 had varying degrees of.. “Organized”.
Sirius directed them to the second station, and began grabbing various items before turning to Remus with a devilish grin on his face.
“I’ll sketch out a rough design and run it past you for approval, this might take a bit. Do you mind just hanging out for now?” Sirius seemed nervous that Remus would walk out and leave, which didn’t click into Remus’ brain as logical.
“Oh yeah thats fi-” Remus got interrupted by another voice calling from the front.
“Sirius, where the fuck did you put my stencil paper? I’m working on a design for a client and can’t find it.” The voice that called out to Remus’ tattoo artist was similar to Sirius’, it had a British accent with a French lilt to it.
“Reggie, aren’t you supposed to be the organized one?” Sirius scoffed, turning from the tablet he was drawing on to grab what Remus assumed was the stencil paper.
“Says the one who stea-” The voice cut off mid sentence, and Remus turned to see the owner of the voice.
“Uh hi.” Remus gave a half wave, and noted that this man looked a lot like his tattoo artist.
“Here Reggie.” Sirius threw a pack of stencil paper across the room and returned to sketching Remus’ tattoo.
“Who’s this?” The man, Reggie, asked.
“Oh, this is Remus. I’m working up a tattoo for him.” Sirius replied, not looking up from his work. “Remus, this is my brother Reggie.”
“Sirius, I’ve told you that you call me Regulus or you call me nothing.” Regulus huffed out, crossing his arms like a child.
Remus cocked his head to the side in confusion, he was trying to pinpoint why the name seemed familiar.
“That’s it! You’re named after a star in the Leo constellation!” Remus exclaimed, turning to face Regulus entirely now. Confusion painted Regulus’ face, but as fast as it was there it was gone. Before Remus could say anything,
“He’s an astronomy professor. He knew my constellation too, I bet he could find our stars in the sky quicker than us.” Sirius mumbled to himself. “There! Done!”
“Alright Sirius, I’ll let you get back to it. I need to get back to James and Winnie. It was nice meeting you Remus, have fun with my brother. Take care of him alright?” Regulus’ words held a meaning far deeper than what they sounded, Remus could tell by the way Regulus was looking between Sirius and Remus before turning and disappearing out the doors.
Sirius scoffed at his brothers antics and shuffled over to Remus to show him the sketch. The artists face was a mixture of excitement and nerves, and remus couldn’t help but think it was adorable at how nervous he was. It showed he genuinely cared.
Remus was breathless. The design was amazing. Sirius had drawn phases of a moon weaving through constellations.
“I can always add or take away things. It isn’t that great I know but-” Remus cut the artist off before he could finish his rambling.
“Sirius, it’s beautiful. I don’t even have words for it, it’s perfect.” A blush fanned across Sirius’ cheeks at the praise.
“Well it needed to be as beautiful as you are.” Sirius mumbled under his breath.
It was now Remus’ turn to have a blush spread across his cheeks, and he raised a hand to try and cool his cheeks.
“A-anyways. If you sit back I can start the stenciling.” Sirius, to his credit, steeled his nerves and began gathering his supplies.
Remus did as he was told and sat back, fiddling with his fingers as he waited for Sirius to be done with whatever he was working on.
When Sirius came back, Remus had the realization that he would have to take his shirt off in order for Sirius to be able to give him his tattoo. He mentally cursed himself, but he couldn’t help but feel nervous excitement at the prospect of getting a tattoo. With having Sirius so close to him.
Remus shook his head, attempting to physically shake the thoughts from his head.
“Are you ok?” Sirius asked, arms full with stuff for Remus’ tattoo as he began laying things out.
“Oh uh yeah, I’m fine.” Remus replied with a smile.
“Alright. Now, if you could remove your shirt I can start stenciling.” Sirius’ voice was soft as he spoke, and as soon as he got the words out he turned from Remus to hide his face and to busy his hands with prepping the stencil.
Remus curled his long fingers around the hem of his shirt and pulled it up over his head before folding it neatly and setting it down next to him.
The next time Sirius turned around, he couldn’t hide the slight flush of his cheeks as he stepped forward, looking to Remus for permission to lay the stencil.
Remus nodded, but pause mid motion.
“Sirius, would you mind a last minute placement change? I think if the tattoo went down the middle of my chest starting here,” Remus pointed to the spot right beneath the hollow of his throat. “Rather than along the collar bone like I originally thought. Especially with the amazing design you created.” Remus flashed a lopsided grin at Sirius, and it had the desired effect.
Sirius flushed before nodding his head slowly, moving forward to place the stencil where Remus indicated.
“You’re right it fits better here.” Sirius mumbled.
After a few adjustments, Remus okayed the placement and buzzing filled the quiet tattoo parlor as Sirius set to work.
20 minutes later Sirius had completed the bottom half of the tattoo and began to start the top hald before realizing this was a particularly awkward angle. While typically he would ask if Remus would lay down to finish the tattoo, Sirius had a different idea in mind.
“Remus, do you mind if I try something?” Sirius’ voice was hesitant as he glanced up at Remus, but his eyes showed confidence and Remus couldn’t help but feel entirely comfortable in the artists’ presence. Thinking for a moment, Remus nodded his head and looked to Sirius curiously.
With the approval, Sirius paused the tattoo guns movement and maneuvered himself into Remus’ lap. Essneitally straddling the other man’s hips, before resuming his work without sparing a glanceat Remus.
“I- Uh- Sirius.” Remus couldn’t form a coherent sentence, as he looked at Sirius’ focused expression.
“Is there an issue?” Innocence coated Sirius’ tone, and Remus couldn’t help but stifle a small smile.
“Not at all. Do you tattoo all of your clients like this?” Sirius’ face morphed into one of shock at Remus’ sudden confidence, before smirking at him.
“Nah, just you.” A grin broke out on both of their faces as they dissolved into fits laughter, as Sirius resumed the tattoo.
20 minutes later, Remus’ tattoo was finished and covered in plastic wrap. Sirius was trying to give him instructions but couldn’t focus on the man’s words, all Remus could do was stare at how gorgeous Sirius was. When Sirius had finished his mini speech of instructions, he rang Remus up.
As the professor began to turn to leave, he felt words tumble out of his mouth before he could stop them.
“I think I may forget those instructions. Mind if I contact you if I have questions?”
“Not at all Remus, I’d like that very much.” Sirius took up a pen and wrote out his number, handing it to the other.
“Thanks, I’ll talk to you soon.” With that, Remus turned and walked out of the tattoo shop. Pausing a little ways down the street.
Remus looked up to the sky as the rain began to fall. At first a soft and gentle drizzle, soon became a storm of howling wind and water. He put a hand out to let the water run through his fingers.
Yeah. Remus thought to himself. I’m in love with him. Remus took a deep breath, ghosting his fingertips across the plastic wrap over his new tattoo while a smile fell across his lips. Petrichor filled the air, and Remus walked back to his apartment.
Already thinking of ideas for his next tattoo. Perhaps I’ll get a star.