a camera flashes
Sirius watched Remus Lupin laugh like a child standing outside a candy store, imagining just how good it would taste. The best part was that Remus was laughing at something Sirius had said. Sirius himself had produced that reaction. He knew he was funny. Many people told him he was funny many times, but it all felt worthless now because Remus thought he was funny. He certainly laughed like it.
Before Remus looked at him after his spout of laughter, Sirius collected himself. God, this was the second time they were actually talking, and Sirius was lusting over him. He had a problem. Sirius supposed he may have had a tiny crush on Remus before they met, but something had changed the moment he had eyes on him. It was all very cliché and felt entirely pathetic because Sirius had always laughed at people who thought love at first sight was real; perhaps this was his karma. Fairly good karma, he supposed.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Remus asked from through a gap in the bookshelf.
They were in a small bookstore that Remus had taken him to. It was a family-owned establishment. It turned out Remus had a liking to them as much as Sirius did. There was a slight smell of coffee wafting through the shop’s narrow pathways between shelves. Everything was dimly lit by lanterns hanging on walls. Sirius assumed lightbulbs were producing the light. It seemed like a hazard to have authentic lanterns close to books.
“I’m trying to decide when the right time to ask for a signed copy of your books is,” Sirius lied through his teeth, moving past the gap so he tightly shut his eyes. That made him sound like he was fishing for copies of Remus’ books, which was definitely not what he was doing.
He would have spiraled just a bit more, but Remus chuckled lightly. Sirius heard the scraping as Remus pushed books on the shelf to create another gap. “Buy some on eBay or something,” Remus replied sarcastically.
Sirius dramatically rolled his eyes. “But they’re so expensive there,” he replied with a slight whine. He continued to walk the length of the pathway until the bookshelf ended, and he was faced with Remus to his left, leaning on the wood that previously was between them.
“You are a billionaire.” Remus was taller than Sirius by a reasonable amount, and even while leaning on the shelf, he had to look down to meet Sirius’ gaze. Sirius’ online stalking had done no justice to how tall Remus was in real life.
With an easy laugh, Sirius walked past Remus to another aisle. “I don’t stay a billionaire, which is a very generous term, by making bad financial decisions,” he replied, grabbing a book from the top shelf, which was abnormally high, so he stumbled slightly.
Remus had a hand on Sirius’ elbow before he could fall. Really, it had been more of a misstep, and Sirius could have very well caught himself. He would have said this to anyone else and might have told Remus if he hadn’t been so preoccupied with how close they were now. Remus didn’t miss a second when he took the book from Sirius’ hand and observed it.
“Just how many houses do you own?” Remus asked while observing the book he had stolen.
“That’s irrelevant.”
“I do believe it has some relevance,” Remus retorted, handing the book back to Sirius. “A big historical fiction nerd?”
Sirius looked down at the book he had grabbed because he hadn’t actually looked at it. He saw the title had Paris in it. He suppressed a shutter and attempted to place the book back where it had been. However, the gap was closed by another book that was leaning against the other one. Remus took the novel from Sirius’ hand and fit it back where it had been previously. A flush crept onto Sirius’ face, and he was immensely grateful for the dim lighting of the bookstore.
“Not really, actually,” Sirius replied honestly because he didn’t typically have much time to read. He had always spent his time with his friends or consuming anything music-related, from poetry to symphonies. “I’ve really only read your books in that genre.”
“Why’d you read them if you don’t usually read?”
“My close friend Mary had been nagging me to read something by you for years. She got me a copy of your most recent book, and I had a calmish night once and decided to start reading. I haven’t stopped since,” Sirius revealed.
Remus smiled slightly, and it seemed like he didn’t even realize it was there. “So it was Skeletons of Paris that got you hooked?” he asked, something like doubt in his tone, and the reminder of Paris didn’t seem so bad when it came from him.
Sirius didn’t like any mention of France. He had spent some time in Paris when he had first run away, singing for tourists and scraping enough money for a ticket to London. Sirius had always made sure that his tours didn’t reach France. He went to every bordering country but never France. The fact that Remus’ book had been named Skeletons of Paris had almost been enough to make him put it down, but he had pushed through for Mary. By the tenth page, Sirius had forgotten what Paris meant to him because the writing had just been that good.
“You can thank Mary for that.” Sirius began to walk down the path leading them to the shop's front. Every step brought more natural light to the area. “She’s been going on about how amazing you are for what seems like an eternity.”
“Not unlike what I’ve heard about you,” Remus joked, and when Sirius turned his head, he could see a wide grin.
“Don’t make me regret telling you about that.”
“I don’t believe it was you who told me. It happened to be James, Lily–”
A teenage boy approached Remus from behind. “Excuse me,” he interjected, and with a questioning look, Remus turned. “Are you by chance Remus Lupin?”
With a glance toward Sirius, Remus gave his full attention to the boy, who couldn’t have been more than thirteen. “I am,” Remus replied, sounding like he knew where this was going.
Sirius himself had been in these situations many times before. The ones where he had just existed, and someone recognized him. He typically enjoyed the interactions. There was a time when he had wished and hoped to be so famous that people would stop him on the street and ask him for an autograph. It didn’t feel right to complain about it when it started happening whenever he stepped out of the house. Sirius got used to the cameras on him when he was in public, and he typically didn’t pay them any attention.
But it wasn’t the front he wanted to put up with Remus. He didn’t want to appear as a global household name. Sirius just wanted Remus to see him as a person instead of a brand, and he had a feeling that he had just that. Remus didn’t look at him like he was going to resume the largest tour to date in a few weeks. Remus just looked at him like he was a normal person who happened to write poetry. The best part was that this teenage boy didn’t even look at Sirius while he talked to Remus, and there was a noticeable blush on his cheeks. Sirius hoped he wasn’t that obvious when he spoke to Remus.
He stayed back and observed the interaction Remus had with his fan. Overall, it was very sweet. The boy talked about how Remus’ books got him into reading years ago and asked Remus to sign the one he was currently purchasing. It ended with the boy taking a selfie of both of them, which Sirius knew he was in the background of, so he grabbed a book off the shelf and discretely placed it over his face. If Sirius had to guess, they talked for around five minutes.
Once the boy left, Remus shifted his attention back to Sirius with a regretful expression. “Sorry about that,” he apologized, but Sirius knew what it was like, a lot more than most people.
“I do have some experience when it comes to fans, so I won’t hold it against you too much,” Sirius joked.
Remus shook his head and breathily laughed. “For a second there, I forgot who you were.”
“Feel free to do it again.”
At Sirius’ comment, Remus only chuckled once more, not realizing that Sirius was being genuine. A grave feeling at the pit of his stomach told him that whatever he could have with Remus would be ruined by just what came with his name. The paparazzi and the world’s watching eyes would tarnish the possibility of anything. The comments that everyone thought they were allowed to make would impact everything Sirius touched. Remus wasn’t unknown but he was in no way prepared for the scale of how well Sirius was known.
Peaking past the edge of a bookshelf so he could see to the street through the wall of glass, Sirius spotted three men with cameras, their eyes glued to the door of the bookstore. He didn’t know how they found him so quickly. Perhaps someone had seen him walk in and realized who he was, even with his scarf and hat to disguise his face. Sirius’ eyes flickered to a young woman at the desk, but she didn’t look like she particularly cared about what was happening.
“How well did you say you knew the owner?” Sirius asked, retreating behind the bookshelf again, allowing it to conceal him. The bookstore was relatively vacant with him in it, though if pictures of him leaving it made it to the magazines, it would be filled every moment for the coming years.
Remus narrowed his eyes. “Fairly well. Why?”
“Well enough that we could leave through a backdoor?”
There was a second before it was evident on Remus’ face why Sirius was asking. He pushed passed Sirius and peered to the street. It didn’t take him long to see the cameras waiting for them to leave. If they took photos, they would catch Sirius and Remus leaving together. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for the media to spin it around somehow. Remus would run away in terror if he saw the articles that would have been written just because he was in Sirius’ proximity.
“I’d say so. Come on, I know the way.”