Chapter 3
It would have been very easy to hate him.
As they faced each other beneath the stone arch framing the bakery door, cold air crystallising the moment it left their mouths, Remus did briefly consider simply saying no.
Taking the long way back on his own and washing his hands of a debt he had (technically) already paid.
But as the silence stretched between them and Remus saw the other boy’s mouth wobble, the first and only sign of his nervousness, he felt a strange surge of fondness.
Once.
Just once, he would help. It couldn't hurt.
So Remus held up a hand as he ducked his head out of the alcove one last time, confirming that the man was gone, before turning back to Sirius.
“Have you got a pin?”
Sirius’ eyes lingered on his hand for a moment before snapping back up, head already shaking.
Remus quickly pushed the sleeve of his shirt back over his wrist, hoping the darkness would be enough to conceal his skin
“No. What for?”
Remus raised his brows, hoping he looked far more confident than he felt.
“You can’t go back out there. At least, not right now. He could be back any second.”
Sirius flushed, setting his jaw.
“I'll be fine. You’ve done enough - I can manage on my own from here on out.”
Arrogant bastard. He wouldn’t be fine, and they both knew it.
Remus rolled his eyes before reaching into his back pocket and bending over the lock.
“Look, go if you want to. But I’m staying. I didn’t come all this way just to leave the second I got here.”
Sirius exhaled behind him, the sound sending a prickle down Remus’s arms.
Remus could picture exactly what was going through his mind. As if.
People like him didn't associate with people like Remus. He fumbled with the cold metal between his fingers, hating himself for his nervousness.
It didn’t matter. He could do this on his own.
He had, before. Almost.
And Sirius had no reason to now. Nothing more to repay.
But to his surprise, he felt Sirius slump against the wall next to him, black hair glinting in the pale moonlight.
“If you tell me what you’re doing-”
The lock-in Remus’ hands gave a satisfying click and popped out of its place. Finally.
He tried the door handle, smiling as it swung open easily before turning to face the other boy, feeling his face drop.
This was it. The moment that Sirius bloody black came to his senses and realised he was certainly, clearly far too good to be hanging about with some lunatic who went around robbing businesses in the dead of night.
“How the bloody hell did you do that?”
Sirius whispered, no longer slumping but standing rigid with excitement. Remus let out a breath, praying it didn’t sound as shaky as it felt, and held up the mangled remains of his paperclip.
“Would have been better with a pin, but..”
Sirius laughed quietly, muffled by the quiet street surrounding them.
“You’re teaching me how to do that.”
Remus tensed, feeling the start of a blush creeping up his neck. “S’not that hard.”
Clearing his throat, he pushed past the other boy and into the cool air of the bakery, inhaling as the scents of sugar and pastry dough reached him.
“So what do we do?”
Remus managed to stop himself from jumping at the sound of Sirius’ voice next to his ear and turned to him, dark eyes shining wide amongst his enormous grin.
It would have been money. It was money, usually, that Remus was looking for.
He had to try to get out of this dead-end town somehow, and he certainly wasn’t going to get a job if he practically had a fluorescent sign spelling “troubled adolescent” hanging over his head.
But watching Sirius run his hands over the polished class of the pastry cases, staring in wonder at the empty store around them, he knew it would ruin it if he brought up something so low class as needing money. It was something a black could never dream of understanding as fiercely as Remus did.
So instead he slid one of the clear panels to the side, grabbing the first two things he reached.
“Here.”
He tossed something covered in chocolate to Sirius and bit into the other, cool custard filling his mouth, erasing the metallic tang of regret.
“Push that shut before you leave!” he mouthed around his bite as he walked back out, still facing the interior of the shop, before settling his attention back to the lock on the outside of the door.
He would try his best to make it seem like they had never been here. But the baker was bound to notice two of his brand-new pastries missing and blab to the coppers.
It would be harder, now. More alarms and bigger locks and higher stakes.
But as he and Sirius slunk along the dark side streets, their fingertips brushing as Remus passed him the paperclip from his pocket, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.
Not at all.