Sirius Black is obsessed with music. He loves listening to Queen, Bowie, Arctic Monkeys, Bon Jovi and so many more artists. Sirius his life is music, if something happens to him he puts on his earpods, opens his spotify and just gets lost into the beauty of music. Music is his passion, so why not use his passion as a way to earn money? At the age of 21 Sirius opened his very own record store, and needless to say, he is very happy with it. When it’s 6 PM his work is over and he goes to visit his brother’s coffee shop which is to the left of his record store, and drinks a warm cup of tea while catching up with Regulus.
Remus Lupin is obsessed with books. He loves his books more than anything. When he wants to stop feeling a certain emotion he opens a book and gets lost in it. He reads everywhere; in his bed, on the train, but mostly in the coffee shop from his best friend. Remus owns a bookstore to the right of the coffee shop ‘Black Tea’ and everyday after work (which is 5 PM) he goes to Regulus’s café and drinks coffee.
~~~
“Oh, you like ABBA Gold? I can’t blame you,” Sirius was walking through the records when a girl around the age of 16 picked up the album. The girl has long brown hair and is wearing an oversized grandpa sweater.
“Yes, I love ABBA and it’s amazing dance music which is just perfect!”
He laughs, “I totally agree with that, what’s your favorite song?” Sirius always loved hearing the thoughts of his customers.
“I love Angeleyes. It reminds me of my girlfriend's eyes which are blue, I know it’s sappy but it’s also a good song so,” She laughs with him.
They both laugh and walk to the cash register, “Do you have a special occasion for buying this, then?” Sirius asks politely.
“It’s for our 6 month anniversary. She loves ABBA too, to be honest she kinda introduced me to them.”
“Is that so?” He says while wrapping the album up in an adorable heart wrapping paper.
“I knew she loved the songs so I started listening to them so we could have a conversation topic for when we would talk.”
“Aw, that’s so cute!”
The girl pays and grabs the gift, “Everything for my girl,” She laughs.
“Well, I wish you both already a happy anniversary and have fun with the album!”
“Thank you, and I’ll definitely come back here more often!”
“Glad too hear that, bye!”
“Bye!!”
Sirius laughs to himself while closing up. It’s a few minutes after 6 when he finishes up and walks in the building next to his.
“Hi Reggie! How are you my lovely darling baby brother?” He grins.
“I was doing better before you were here.” Sirius just laughs at him and takes a seat at the bar where a mint tea is already waiting on him.
“No but I’m serious, how was your day, Reg?”
“I didn’t have any rude customers today so that’s very good. I didn’t see my best friend, which is very weird. Normally he comes in everyday at 5:10 PM but today he didn’t.”
“You have a best friend?!”
“I’m not uncable of platonic love, Sirius,” He rolls his eyes, “But yes, actually he owns the shop next to mine.”
“The bookstore?”
“Yes, that one. He stops working at 5, so he was supposed to be here an hour ago.”
“I’m sure he is just busy, Reggie. Probably to cut up in a book or something.”
“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”
“Well it’s not the coolest thing you can do in your early twenties I gotta say.” He shrugs his shoulders.
“You should open a book more, maybe then you’ll understand that life is not only about listening to music, making music, and going partying and at those parties dancing to music.”
“Shut up Reg, it’s not like you have such a perfect job either! You are literally a waiter in a café.”
“I am the owner, Sirius. There is a difference.”
“I don’t care, Regulus. You are serving people their drinks like a dog Reggie, there is no difference-”
“Remus!” Regulus says enthusiastically.
Sirius looks over and snaps his mouth shut. He is pretty sure his heart stops. Walking up to his brother is an absolute gorgeous man. The man, Remus apparently, has very light brown curly messy hair, hazel eyes, and is wearing the prettiest grandpa sweater on earth. As for the rest he is wearing a casual brown pants with black doc martens.
“Hey Regulus, sorry that I am so late, I was reading this new book and totally lost track of time…”
Remus makes eye contact with Sirius and it looks like the time has stopped passing. He looks him up and down and his cheeks start to glow a lovely pink. After what felt like forever staring into each other's eyes, Regulus speaks up. “Do you two know each other or what the fuck is happening?”
“No I uhm no we don’t. I’m Remus Lupin.” He holds his hand out and Sirius shakes it.
“So you are the best friend of Regulus?” He manages to say.
“That I am. So how do you know Regulus?”
“I am his older brother. My name is Sirius Black, I own the record store next door.” Sirius gestures awkwardly to his left.
“Black Star is the name isn’t it?”
“Yes, named after my last name and first name, and then put together in the song from Radiohead.”
“Oh, I love Radiohead.”
“Then you definitely have to come by the store so we can listen to some of his songs!”
“I love that, Sirius. I stop working around 5 so I’ll come to you then?”
“Yes great!”
Regulus puts down Remus his black coffee on the bar table, “Here you go. Anyways I’m off, I have to help the customers,” And he just leaves them alone.
“I really love your eyeliner, Sirius,” Remus says.
He feels his cheeks get bright red, “Oh thank you. I really love your sweater, it looks so soft.”
“Thank you." It feels awkward. Sirius has no idea what to say to such a handsome man and Remus has no idea what he can say to such a pretty dude. After a minute of awkwardly sipping from their drinks in silence Remus talks again. “Regulus mentioned you love music, what music do you like the most?”
Sirius laughs and oh, it’s the most beautiful thing Remus has ever heard. It’s bold and loud but also so sweet and gentle. “Well that’s like asking me to pick between my 2 future children. What is your favorite book, Remus?” He asks with a smirk.
“Touché, Black.” He laughs now too. And it's the most perfect thing Sirius has ever let his ears touch. It sounds so carefree, so overwhelming with love.
“Talk to me about every music genre, every artist, every song on earth.”
Sirius blinks, “What? Are you willing to listen to that forever during rant?”
“I really like your voice and you smile so cute when you talk so yes, I really am willing to do that sweetheart.”
Sirius thinks he got his second heart attack in half an hour. I like your voice. You smile so cute when you talk. Sweetheart. Sweetheart. Sweetheart.
So that’s what he does. He talks about how cool David Bowie was, how iconic Queen is, how his guilty pleasure is listening to Britney Spears, and so much more. He talks and talks and talks. Occasionally he looks at Remus, only to find him staring at Sirius with his beautiful eyes and nodding along with his head to indicate that he is listening.
“I would totally sell my mother for a concert ticket from the Smiths, I mean their lyrics are perfect and the tunes are amazing! But it’s not like selling my mother for a ticket means much, I would sell her by any chance I could get, which you probably heard all about from Reg but anyways-”
Sirius gets interrupted by his phone ringing. The screen shows the contact name ‘Bambi’.
“Oh sorry I gotta take this,” He says.
He picks up the phone with his volume up a bit too hard, “Hey Sirius, where are you mate? We were supposed to meet up like 20 minutes ago?”
Remus says, “I’m sorry for keeping you here Sirius. I’ll leave, I'm so sorry.” He stands up and grabs his coat, but Sirius grabs his arm, “No, please. I really like talking with you.” He tells him in the most sincere way possible.
After intense eye contact Remus does sit back down again.
James is talking through the phone, “Sirius you have your ‘there is a pretty man sitting besides me’ voice on, so I’ll leave you to your future husband, give him kisses from me. I’ll see you later in our apartment then, bye!!” And then he hangs up the phone.
Sirius slowly looks over to Remus scared, “Did you hear that last part?”
Remus grins and tips his head to the side, “Do you think I’m pretty?”
Sirius thinks a second before his answer, he could say that his best friend is just a cunt and that he is sorry about what just happened, or he could say something flirtier back. It does look like Remus has interest in him so he chooses the second one. He grins right back at him and says in a low voice, “I don’t think you are pretty, Remus. I think you are the most gorgeous person I have ever seen.”
Remus his eyes grow wide and his mouth hangs open a tiny bit. His cheeks glow once again with a gorgeous shade of pink. Out of nowhere he slides his phone to Sirius, “Here.”
He looks down at it and sees that a phone number is supposed to be filled in. His heart makes a lovely jump in his chest. Immediately Sirius fills in his number and does the same with his phone so Remus can fill in his number too.
“I really have to go now, Sirius. I’ll see you tomorrow at 5!” As Remus stands up his hand brushes past Sirius’s and he is pretty sure he died right there. Even though Sirius isn’t even standing up he feels like his legs are about to give out and he is gonna drop to the ground.
As soon as Remus is out the door Sirius is sprinting to his and James’s apartement.
When he arrives he bursts into the kitchen where he knows James is because of a delicious scent. “Ah there you are! Pads I thought I had to call 999 to come and save you from a kidnapper or something-”
Sirius walks up to James and turns him around by his shoulders. “Prongs, I have never met a more perfect man. Ever.”
James immediately stops with what he was doing and all his focus goes to Sirius, “Tell me everything!”
So Sirius does. He tells about how amazing Remus looks. How Remus is the owner of the bookstore 2 stores from his. He tells James about how Remus and him talked at Regulus’s café. He talks about how he made Remus blush.
“And when I said to him that he is the most gorgeous person on earth he just slid his phone over to me.”
James looks at him confused. “Why would he do that?”
“So I could fill in my number, you idiot.” Sirius says with a smile.
“You got his number?! Oh my god Pads, that's amazing!”
“And he comes to me at 5 to listen to Radiohead, which he loves!”
“So you have his number and you already have a date planned?! Do I have to start making wedding plans or?” James laughed.
“Shut up.” Sirius laughs with him.
“Go rest then, sleeping beauty. You have to be able to keep your eyes open to see this goddess of a man.”
“Good idea Prongs. Goodnight!” He gives him a cheek kiss and goes to his room. When he is laying in his bed and picking up his charger from his nightstand his phone lights up.
Beautiful book store man <3
< Hii
Me (Sirius)
Heyy >
Beautiful book store man <3
< Was the person you left waiting for 20 minutes mad at you?
Me (Sirius)
No, he can never be mad tbh.
The person is my best friend and we were supposed to go to grab a bite.
But it’s all okay bc he is now making chicken paella for tomorrow >
Beautiful book store man <3
< I’m very glad. And, paella?
Me (Sirius)
It’s a Spanish recipe.
He is half Spanish and his mom is the best cook on earth.
I’m so happy he inherited that lmao >
Beautiful book store man <3
< And what abt you, are you 100% British?
Me (Sirius)
I’m half British. My mother is French but my father is british. And you? >
Beautiful book store man <3
< I’m also not 100% British. My dad is Welsh but my mom is British tho. Can you speak French then?
Me (Sirius)
Yess >
Beautiful book store man <3
< Can you say something to me in French?
Me (Sirius)
What’s the magic word, Lupin? >
Beautiful book store man <3
< If i promise not to google translate it will you just tell me?
Me (Sirius)
Aww but I wanted to hear you beg :(
Nvm I just realized how that sounded
Anywaysss
That’s a deal, love ;) >
Ton rire est comme une musique à mes oreilles. >
Beautiful book store man <3
< Are you gonna give me a hint?
Me (Sirius)
Nope go figure it out pretty boy. Goodnight! xx >
Sirius locks his phone and puts it on his nightstand. That night he falls asleep with a big smile on his face and dreams about a man with a grandpa sweater holding a cup of coffee.
Me (Remus)
Regulus >
Regg >
Are you awake? >
Reg
< Yeah I’m awake, what’s wrong?
Me (Remus)
You speak French right? >
Reg
< Yes, why?
Me (Remus)
Could you translate this? >
Ton rire est comme une musique à mes oreilles. >
Reg
Did Sirius send you that?
Me (Remus)
Maybeee… >
He said that I couldn’t google translate it
but he didn’t say anything abt asking someone else to translate it >
Reg
< No you know? I find this more fun. Go figure it out yourself Lupin ;)
Me (Remus)
What?! No Reg plsss >
Regulusss >
Reg? >
Reg
< Goodnight :D
Me (Remus)
I hate you. >
~~~
Remus grabs his key for the front door of his store and opens it. He quite literally throws his bag on the ground and races to the language book shelves.
“Come on, where is it?!”
He runs his fingers over the backs of the books. Remus is looking for the French dictionary so he can translate the sentence that Sirius texted him last night. It is driving him insane. Did Sirius say a secret to him? Did Sirius flirt with him? Did Sirius ask him out? He needs to know.
His eyes spot the book and he looks every word up while writing the English translated ones on a tiny piece of paper. It takes him a while, but eventually he looks stunned at the tiny paper piece that he is holding.
Your laughter is like music to my ears.
Oh. Oh this man. Remus laughs to himself, he spoke the most sexy language to him while saying the most poetic shit on earth. Remus his laughter is like music to his ears. Sirius owns a record store, he loves music, and he thinks Remus’s laugh is music to his ears.
Sirius Black is gonna be the death of him.
He grabs his phone, takes a picture of the piece of paper and opens Sirius’s contact.
Me (Remus)
*Photo*
Ever thought of becoming a poet? >
Gorgeous music guy
< Music is like poetry if you really listen to the lyrics ;)
Remus hears footsteps and looks around, there is a 16 year old girl with short blond hair and bright blue eyes.
Me (Remus)
Sorry someone just walked in, I gtg, bye! xx >
The girl walks aimlessly around looking a bit lost. “Hello, can I help you?” Remus asks politely.
“Yes actually you can. I’m looking for a book about astronomy but I’m not an expert. At all.” She says smiling.
“That’s no problem, I am, so just follow me.” He winks at her.
Remus leads her to the right corner of the shop where books about space, astronomy and astrology are placed.
The girl looks like she wants to ask more, “Is there anything else?” Remus asks patiently.
“I don’t know if you can help me with this but, I also know nothing about anything space related. Do you have any recommendations?”
“Luckly I have a best friend that is obsessed with the night sky so it’s not a problem at all. Tell me if I’m crossing a line but, who are you buying this for if you know nothing about this?”
“For my girlfriend. It’s almost our 6 month anniversary and I wanted to buy her something special and with meaning. On our first date we stargazed all night long while talking about everything and nothing at all. It was so magical. Normally we were just gonna go out and watch a movie but then I said that my house is nearby and we were gonna eat something in my backyard, but then we kept talking and she mentioned she loves stars, so I said that she definitely had to stay until the stars were visible. In the end we kept talking all night long.”
“That’s the best gift someone can ever get. It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah well it’s not beautiful if I screw it up.”
“You are not gonna screw up. I’m gonna help you, okay?”
So Remus helps the girl, he spends hours talking to her, informing her about the differences between astronomy and astrology, and so much more. He tells her everything he knows, from Uranus spinning sideways to the sun being the biggest star. In the end the girl picks a book and they walk to the checkout.
“Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it!”
Remus wraps the book up in nice wrapping paper, “You’re welcome! And I hope she is happy with it.”
“I hope that too.” They both laugh and the girl pays.
“Have a good day and I hope you guys have a wonderful day together!”
“Thank you, bye!”
“Bye!”
And so his day continues. Replacing books, helping lost customers, telling people his recommendations, …
When he looks on his phone he sees that it’s almost 5 PM, which is closing time. But more importantly, 5 PM is also gorgeous music guy time. No one is in the store, so he finishes putting the new books away and walks out the door.
He is standing behind the big glass in front of Sirius’s shop. Sirius is helping out a man and making gestures with his hands. Oh those hands of his. They are filled with gold rings on almost every finger. The man walks outside and Sirius follows him with his eyes until he sees Remus staring. Remus doesn’t stop staring, no he just stares harder because Sirius looks like a god. He is wearing an oversized black leather jacket and under it a white spaghetti strap top and a dark red tie. Thereby fits his leather pants and his black all stars. His hair is hanging loose over his shoulders, perfectly curled. On his face is black eyeliner and transparent lip gloss.
Sirius lifts his hand and waves at Remus. He blinks and realizes that he was staring shamelessly at Sirius. Remus smiles at him and waves back before entering the shop. There are boxes with records everywhere that you could imagine. They are sorted per genre, and then per artist, and finally those albums are sorted alphabetically. There are also a few record players put in the store. The store itself is decorated with posters from bands and newspaper articles about rock stars. There are also hanging a few concert tickets on the wall.
“I thought I had to call 999 for a stalker alert.”
“Very funny, Sirius. So this is your store?”
“It is, yes. Do you like it?”
“I really do actually. It looks exactly like a place you would create.”
“I take that as a compliment.” Sirius laughs. “At this hour there are no customers anyways, so choose your albums Lupin and we can go in the back listing to them.”
Remus walks around to look for his kind of music. It’s not that it’s hard to find it, since it’s all so well organized. He grabs ‘The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from mars’ from David Bowie, ‘A moon shaped pool’ from Radiohead, and ‘The Queen is dead’ from the Smiths.
“You have amazing taste, Remus. Come on!” He grabs Remus’s hand and walks them to the small room behind the store. Remus his heart almost beats out of his chest. Sirius's hand is so soft and warm. Even though they are not exacly holding hands, Remus just knows their hands would fit perfectly together.
The room has 1 small couch. “Go sit, I’ll put the albums on the player.” So Remus goes sit on the small couch.
“Did you have a busy day, Sirius?”
“No, not really. It was rather calm. You?”
“Same. Nothing special happened. Well, until I got here of course.”
“Aw, you think I’m special?” Sirius turns around to face Remus.
“Definitely, you are the princess of special.” He winks at him.
The music starts playing, Starman from David Bowie, as Remus recognizes. Sirius goes to sit on the armrest and lays his legs on Remus fully.
“Oh, I love this song!” Remus says enthusiastically.
“Is this your favorite song?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?” Sirius smiles.
“Because it makes no sense at all. Bowie is all about lyrics that make no sense but still makes it work perfectly. Plus the melody is amazing.”
Sirius turns his head to Remus, “I love that.” After staring into each other's eyes he whispers, “Come dance with me.”
“What? Sirius I can’t dance.” Remus laughs.
“Who cares? Come dance with me,” He repeats.
Sirius stands up and pulls Remus with him. He puts his hands behind Remus’s neck.
“What do I do with my hands?” Remus asks, totally lost on the subject of dancing.
He drops his hands and places them on Remus’s, “You can place them here.” Sirius moves their hands and places them on his own hips. Sirius puts his hands back on Remus’s neck and they dance. Or well, Sirius dances, Remus just follows.
“See, you can dance!” Sirius smiles.
“No, you can dance. I’m just holding on to you.” Remus laughs.
“Either way I’m dancing with a handsome man, so I take that as a win.” Sirius says grinning.
They dance all the way until the end of the song, and then Moonage Daydream starts playing. As they are swinging to the music Remus whispers jokingly, “I’ll be a rock ‘n’ rollin’ bitch for you,” While smiling brightly.
Without missing a beat Sirius moves closer to Remus, so close that Remus can feel his hot breath when he answers, “Keep your mouth shut.” And that is what he does. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t blink. He doesn’t breathe. Sirius is so close. His lips are only inches away from his. They both slowly move even more close to each other until their lips meet in the middle. It’s a very soft kiss and it doesn’t last very long, but it felt like the whole world fell away. The music in the background tunes out in Remus’s head, the only 2 things he can make sense of is Sirius’s lips softly brushing against his and his hands cupping both of Remus’s cheeks. When they break apart Sirius has a beautiful red blush on his face and his lips are a bit darker than they were before, his eyes are glossy and dreamy.
“I have a new favorite song now.” Remus says while smiling.
Sirius laughs, really laughs, his head is thrown back and his hands move from Remus his cheeks to his chest.
And that’s how they spent their afternoon. Listening to music while making out, chatting with each other while making flirty comments in between, and cuddling on the tiny couch.
“Would you like to go to my apartment for dinner, Sirius?”
“I would love to, my moonbeam.”
Remus laughs, “Moonbeam?”
“I am a star, so you are my moon.” Sirius explains.
“I like it very much. Now come on, I’ll make you pasta.” Remus grabs Sirius his hand for real now with their fingers intertwined and, yes Remus was right. Their hands fit together perfectly.
While walking down the street they see 2 girls holding hands. One of them Remus recognizes as the girl that bought an astronomy book for her girlfriend, and the other one Sirius recognizes as the girl that bought an album for her girlfriend. Both the girls smile at them knowingly, Sirius looks down and sees that one of the girls is holding the album. When Remus looks at the other girl he sees the book that he selled. As they pass them Sirius squeezes softly in Remus’s hand, “That would be us in another universe.”
“I’m already very glad that I have you in this universe, sweetheart.” Remus replies.