Chapter 19
If it wasn’t for the storm Sirius would have done far more Remus’s birthday than he had. Wouldn’t have settled for grocery store cake and balloons that he had found discarded and covered in dust in Remus’s attic. Would have gotten his Moony more than just an armful of books that he had snuck out and braved the hail and whipping wind for.
Gotten them at a shop directly across from the grocery store at which he had found the cake because he only dared to venture one trip out into the harsh winter weather—Remus vehemently wanting him safely inside where it was dry and warm, and not fond of Sirius’s refusal to at least let Remus drive him. But that would have ruined the surprise, Sirius hadn’t been able to reveal, because it wasn’t as if his Moony ever wanted him to go out of his way to do anything for his birthday anyway—even this scaled down of an approach. Likely would have said something along the lines of ‘I’m just happy spending my birthday with you’ like he had in the past.
Sweet, but not really a sentiment Sirius agreed with when it came to spoiling the man that took so much care and effort to spoil him every other day of the year. Sometimes he just wanted to push Remus’s stubborn arse into a chair and force him to stay there while he showered him in presents and fed him cake and sung him happy birthday in his sluttiest lingerie—which he had also bought specially for the occasion—and properly ban Remus from protesting or getting up to help Sirius with something like he always did because he could never just relax and let himself be taken care of.
And it was just grocery store cake that year, not the freshly baked triple fudge one from the German bakery Remus liked a town over with gooey chocolate fudge in the center of every slice that always ended up getting Remus grinning with fudge and frosting smeared all over his face—because the filling got everywhere as soon as you sliced it. Just previously dust covered balloons that Sirius had blown up and placed in the living room when he had feigned needing to pee at three in the morning. Only a well packaged pile of parcels with books in them that Remus may or may not have already read before instead of a big personalized present that Sirius knew was exactly right and cost more than he cared to admit but would inevitably bring a reluctantly large smile to his Moony’s face.
And it would only be the two of them instead of all Remus’s friends and family too, due to the shelter in place warning that had been issued two mornings before. A breakfast of toaster waffles and syrup because Sirius had burnt the bacon to a point of no return when he used the wrong setting on the stove. An old and finicky thing that only seemed to work just right when Remus was using it and otherwise turned with the tides and seemed to take advantage of Sirius’s poor culinary knowledge.
Made popping noises that Sirius swore could have sounded like laughter at that early hour. Still dark outside as the thing taunted Sirius and charred his bacon until it looked like broken apart logs turning into ashes burnt over a fire. The stove tinged in cheerful triumph right before Sirius turned it off to let him know that his food was ready. But it wasn’t ready, was it? It was well past that, Sirius thought pettily, because he was getting mad at inanimate objects now, before moving on to the far friendlier and easy to master toaster oven. Dumped the evidence of his burnt at the stake bacon down the disposal and washed it out with water with a final damning glare at the stove.
He had much better luck with the toaster waffles, just some Eggos from the behind the milk in Remus’s fridge, Sirius thought somewhat regretfully, but he decided to jazz them up with some fresh fruit that he had saved from the kind old woman who had helped him with Remus’s last surprise. A little whipped cream that he was sure Remus wouldn’t eat anyway but that helped with presentation before drizzling some syrup over it and calling it a day. Arranged a couple of plates atop of the coffee table by the fireplace because they never really ate there and nicked his special occasion tablecloth from its place tucked away in Remus’s closet to use there too.
Sirius considered setting up candles as well but decided it probably wasn’t a good idea with the balloons so close by—a bit of a fire hazard already so close to the hearth—and settled for a bouquet of dried herbs in a small vase because the grocery store had been out of flowers and some freshly made coffee. Made it nice and disgustingly unsweetened as well as hot enough to very nearly burn a tongue off just as Remus liked.
Only barely got everything done in time and was just about to put the cake down when Remus came down the stairs with a yawn and a gravelly early morning groan of,
“Didn’t come back ta’ bed, why’re you even up this early?” As he stretched his arms above his body and rubbed at his eyes before he made his way into the living room. Stood still in his pajama pants and sleep shirt with a hole in it as he was met with Sirius grinning in front of the sofa—his birthday breakfast concealed behind the furniture but not the balloons and his Moony slowly developed a smile too before asking,
“What’s all this for?” And raising a brow at the cake box in Sirius’s hands. Grocery store chocolate, but Remus wouldn’t care, and Sirius knew it. “You get that when I told you not to go out driving all by yourself, baby?”
Sirius nodded and put the cake down to bring Remus over to the real surprise, didn’t have to lean quite as far up in his heels as he usually did to kiss him and breathe, “Happy Birthday Moony.”
. . .
Remus:
There Sirius was, at Merlin only knows what time in the morning—(somewhere around the ass crack of dawn Remus estimated)—standing in front of a freshly made breakfast with his arms draped around Remus’s neck after kissing him like an absolute dream. Smiling like starlight personified and dressed in that vintage Vivienne something dress that his star had made a big deal of and Remus had to admit fit him like a second skin. That the draped champagne pink silk hung off of him in all the right places and made Remus feel quite underdressed in his sleep pants and the potentially dirty shirt that he had blindly picked up from the closet floor moments after getting up.
Sirius’s skin glistened from the sun slowly rising outside the window and Remus had almost forgotten that it was his birthday until he had noticed a card from his mum in his yet-to-be-dealt-with mail-stack then trudged downstairs to see Sirius all dressed up and holding cake for him.
His star was a little bashful when he admitted, “There was gonna be bacon but I- um…” the stove gave him trouble, Remus finished for him internally. He knew that Sirius always struggled with that thing. “But I made you coffee. I think I made it right,” Sirius continued. Seemed like he had more to say but decided against it, shaking his head almost unnoticeably to himself a bit.
“I’m sure it’s perfect,” Remus cut him off with a kiss, pulled Sirius in by his waist with both hands and took his time exploring his mouth. Slow and indulgent like the cake with the lid popped off of it behind them. Chocolate, Remus thought he had noticed. Sweet like the whipped cream on the waffles that he had gotten a glance at and he was glad his star had picked something easy so he didn’t go to too much trouble and accidently burn the whole house down trying to make him breakfast. Sultry when he slipped his tongue in and got a little too ahead of himself, squeezed Sirius’s waist with slightly too greedy hands and made him whine at his grip.
Pull away and gasp, “Moons,” like he wanted it to go farther but he also wanted to maybe eat first, a forlorn glance at his beautifully laid out breakfast. Not as beautiful as the boy that melted like butter in his hands, Remus thought distractedly before he got his head out of the gutter.
Chuckled, “feel like I should get changed for this, baby,” because Sirius was all dressed up. A pretty little princess that was his for the taking and Remus himself had a hole in his shirt.
“Don’t have to,” Sirius whined quietly and pulled at Remus’s shirt in protest, shaking his head and rustling his perfectly styled hair in doing so. But Remus shook his own right back and pecked Sirius once to say,
“Be right back, love,” before striding back upstairs to throw on some real clothes so he was at least slightly more worthy of celestial being beaming oh so radiantly in his living room.
Remus slipped on his ‘special occasion trousers’ that his Mum had bought him a few years back when she’d caught Remus looking at rings online and wondered if he should throw on a tie and proper blazer too but ultimately decided against it because he was sure that Sirius would get whipped cream and chocolate all over him anyway. Settling for a button down under a dressy-ish sweater in case Sirius got cold and wanted to steal it later, Remus decided he looked presentable enough to eat breakfast on the floor in his own house and headed back downstairs.
Or would have if he hadn’t gotten all the way to the staircase before remembering that he had hidden Sirius’s engagement ring underneath the slacks he had planned to wear when giving it to him and had to run back to hide it again. Find somewhere Sirius wouldn’t think to look for the ridiculously expensive diamond ring but along the way remembering how much Remus had wanted to give it to him. Got a little too wrapped up in how all those months of searching and saving and agonizing over the perfect one would all be worth it when he saw the look on his star’s face when he said yes.
How he had gotten a glimpse of that glee on that shitty trip to Vegas with only a dull silver ring that he had been lucky enough to find in the pocket of his suitcase, and how Remus had been so sure that Sirius would love the one Remus had specially picked out at home even more.
Remembered calling ahead to make a reservation at the palm court in the Plaza hotel in New York for after James and Lily’s wedding to surprise Sirius with because he had overheard a purposefully loud conversation Sirius had had with Effie about how ‘IT WOULD BE SO NICE TO GET ENGAGED THERE’. Not at all subtle because Sirius was not at all subtle, but Remus had made a reservation there anyway. Had been determined to do that proposal the right way, as sans Elvis impersonators and flashing neon signs as he could get, because Sirius deserved that much.
Remembered how he had called his parents directly afterwards to tell them and received a text no less than five minutes later from Effie in congratulations because his Mum had blabbed right away. Climbed back into bed with Sirius and told him they knew and listened to his star’s melodic laughter that completely eased the pain in his back thanks to the hotel’s crappy mattress. Then listened to Sirius try out Remus’s last name instead of his own in between kisses until he drifted off to sleep.
. . .
Two Years After Graduation, Las Vegas:
“Sirius Lupin sounds so much better than Sirius Black, don’t you think Moons?” Sirius had questioned rather wondrously as he slid the simple silver band onto his ring finger as if it was the real engagement ring. Gasped somewhat dramatically at the sight then pressed another question against Remus’s lips. Asked, “where do you think we’ll get married?”
To which Remus had slotted their lips together and responded, “Not Vegas,” right before a woman in bedazzled cone bra and a fluorescent green wig threw a heel at a man outside their window and screamed,
“Don’t make me get the gun Billy,” as if the universe knew Sirius was about to ask ‘why not?’ And determined that was why not. Sirius launched into a chorus of laughter with his head against Remus’s chest and choked out,
“What do you think he did?” As the woman continued screaming outside.
“Billy?” Remus pressed a kiss to his star’s brow and Sirius nodded his head to confirm.
“Probably cheated on her,” Remus hardly had to think about it, having had enough girl friends in school to be somewhat well versed in the ways of women—despite being a gay man himself.
“No,” Sirius gasped as they caught sight of the man storming back in only his shoes and underwear screaming,
“YOU SLASHED MY TIRES?!” To which the cone bra woman laughed maniacally and countered,
“I WISH,” while she took a cigarette out of her bra and twirled it between two fingers.
Remus muttering, “Oh he definitely cheated on her,” and Sirius responding, “who do you think slashed his tires?”
The woman craned her head back in the direction she had come from to yell, “CLAUDIA?” And shortly after a woman in a long silk and faux fur nightgown approached the two with a disgusted look on her face as soon as she saw the presumably cheating Billy and a martini in her hand.
They figured out in fairly short order that Claudia had slashed the man’s tires as soon as she arrived on the scene, the fancifully robed woman outright admitting it and going as far as dumping her martini on Billy’s head then complaining about the waste of good liquor and telling him to walk home. The coned bra woman seemed very appreciative of this as Claudia waited for Billy to leave in shame before revealing that he had slept with her without telling him that he had a fiancé and her revenge for being made the other woman was slashing his tires.
“Told you,” Remus had managed to murmur to Sirius before Claudia caught on to the two of them watching the scene play out and took to reprimanding them.
Rapping on their window to scold, “You gays wanna mind your own business?” To which Sirius pushed up from Remus to counter,
“You’re the ones screaming right outside our window!” Rather passionately but Remus had pulled him back down because both of them seemed to be looking for a fight and Claudia could definitely kick Sirius’s ass.
Apologized despite not necessarily having done anything wrong, waving his hand to say, “we will. Sorry!” Before closing the blinds and busting out into laughter.
Sirius laughed too when he asked, “Is it that obvious that we’re gay?” And Remus simply raised his brow and gave him a look as if to say ‘it’s that obvious you are’ before Sirius opened the blinds to brag,
“We’re engaged by the way!” Before slamming them closed again and getting one sarcastic and one sincere “congrats” from the girls outside, and less then ten minutes later Remus was making good on his promise to fuck Sirius in their room’s god forsaken heart shaped hot tub. Thinking that he might not actually mind at all if they got married in Vegas, as long as he was marrying Sirius.
And years later Remus wondered if it would have changed anything, if they had gotten married there. If Sirius wouldn’t have run away from him quite as easily if Remus hadn’t been so vehement about waiting. Wondered if Sirius would still want to marry him now and if that would keep his star from ruining his life all over again. Or if Remus proposing had been one of the very things that had prompted it. If a ring now would be as good as a nail in his own coffin.
Wished that he knew the answers as he tucked the ring box safely away in its previous spot with a new pair of pants on top of it and sighed heavily before heading downstairs to enjoy his birthday.
Or at least he hoped that he would.