Maize Craze
Maybe it had something to do with being born in autumn, but Sirius Black bloody loved this time of year.
The October sky was a beautiful shade of cerulean, whipped mounds of clouds drifting by along with the red, orange, and burgundy-hued leaves floating past his window.
He’d thrown all of the windows to their flat open wide, the curtains billowing softly in the breeze. Remus always complained that he kept it too cold in there, but Sirius liked the cold—it was cozier that way, cuddled up against Remus’s warmth, under the covers… It wasn’t as if Remus had room to complain about the temperature—Sirius was sure that his temperature ran solidly feverish even on the coldest of days.
Sirius heard the kettle whistling and made his way out of bed and into the kitchen where Remus stood, moving eggs about in a pan. Remus loved to make a big breakfast on a Saturday morning, and Sirius enjoyed reaping the benefits. He pulled a piece of bacon off of the pan and nibbled at it, grinning when Remus smacked him lightly with the spatula.
“Oh, relax Moony, there’s a whole pan--- I just wanted a piece.”
“You can wait until it’s finished, just as I have to do,” Remus said, eyes focused on the three pans in front of him.
Sirius poured them each a cup of tea and stood, resting his socked foot against his calf as he watched Remus deep in his zone. A half smile played about his face, and Remus, sensing him watching, looked up, puzzled.
“What?” he asked.
Sirius shook his head.
“You’re just lovely, that’s all.”
Remus rolled his eyes to try to detract from the smirk spreading across his face.
As they sat eating breakfast—more of a brunch, really (Sirius felt that if you couldn’t spend the weekend lounging in bed, when could you?)—they talked about the weather. Not in the dull, “I’ve been forced to make small talk with a colleague and what on earth are we to discuss?” sort of way, but in a “we are both obsessed with the autumnal period and it’s finally beautiful outside” way. The air was crisp and cool, and Sirius had been finding every excuse possible to be outdoors basking in the sunlight streaming through the colorful leaves, cozied up with a book and a steaming mug of something warm.
“It’s almost bonfire weather,” Sirius sighed, happily.
“Don’t forget we’re going to that maize maze tonight,” Remus reminded him.
Sirius was thankful he’d just taken a large bite of toast the moment before and chewed to avoid responding.
They were going with some people Remus knew from work. Sirius had met them both before, of course, and he really enjoyed Mary’s company. She had invited Sirius and Remus to lunch or dinner a few times, and though she chatted quite a bit, both Remus and Sirius fell into easy conversation with her. She was authentic, and Sirius valued that in a person.
Christopher, on the other hand, was not Sirius’s brand of person. He was nice enough, and he and Remus got on quite well at work, but there was just something about him that Sirius didn’t like.
Remus seemed to gather what Sirius was leaving unsaid. That was the pro and con of knowing someone as well as they knew each other. He pursed his lips, looking at Sirius across the table, and Sirius shrugged, sweeping his hair out of his face and wearing an innocent expression.
“Sounds good, Moon. We’ll have fun,” he promised.
*****
This was most decidedly not fun, Sirius thought huffily.
He had been looking forward to this, at least somewhat, for weeks. He and Remus had done one other maze together, in the early days of their relationship, and it had been fun to puzzle through the tall husks of corn under a starry sky, laughing little puffs of breath into the night and trying to find their way through.
This wasn’t anything like that.
For one, when they’d arrived, Christopher hadn’t even said hi to Sirius—not that he ever did. Sirius felt like he might as well blend in to the scenery for all the notice Christopher gave him. Sirius had mentioned this before to Remus, who had dismissed him as being “too sensitive,” which Sirius thought was bollocks.
Christopher had immediately started prattling on about work, and Sirius stood, hands in the pockets of his jeans, taking in the sights.
“Fancy a caramel apple?” Mary had asked, sidling up to him.
Sirius had been dreaming about kettle corn and toffee-covered apples all season, and he happily trekked behind Mary, searching the food stalls for any of the aforementioned foods… and falling short.
“Not a single caramel apple to be found!” Mary exclaimed, astounded.
Sirius seethed. Leave it to Christopher to pick the worst place. He couldn’t even find a sodding can of cider around here, and he muttered as much to Mary before the two of them found Remus and Christopher standing alongside a petting area for farm animals.
Another thing that pissed Sirius off about the situation was their journey into the maze. They had been given a map—but everyone knew the maps were more of a suggestion than anything. And yet, of course, bloody Christopher was somehow an excellent navigator and decided to use his map to lead them through the first three checkpoints at a speedy pace. Sirius was able to keep up, using his map as well—he was not about to be outdone. Remus and Mary followed behind, chattering and laughing.
“Why don’t you take lead for a bit, love?” Remus prompted Sirius. Sirius knew he had been glaring as they punched their map cards at the checkpoint.
“No, no, ’s all right,” he said. “Wouldn’t want to bollocks it up or anything!”
He hated the forced cheeriness in his voice. Remus raised his eyebrows, recognizing the false heartiness as well.
“Right then,” Mary said evenly. “Shall we?”
Christopher was off, barely speaking, barely looking behind him to see if they were still following. Arrogant prick.
Sirius sensed Remus was no longer behind him and turned, chuckling as Remus stood behind a husk.
“Just wanted to see if you’d notice!” he laughed, and Sirius smiled.
“Of course I noticed, you prat.”
“You two are too close for that, Remus. Of course he knew you weren’t behind him,” Mary laughed, squeezing past the pair to catch up to Christopher.
Sirius seized the opportunity.
He leaned in, clutching Moony’s arm with long, slender fingers.
“Can we PLEASE get lost?” he whispered, urgently.
Remus smirked—a little half smile, as if he were amused at Sirius’s plight.
“All right,” he said, with a mischievous look at the pair that were trudging through the path ahead, unaware that Sirius and Remus were no longer following.
“C’mere,” Sirius said, pulling Remus by the hand and tugging him into the darkening path.
They could hear voices around them—people shouting, laughing, arguing, trying to find one another. Sirius led them further from the direction from whence they came, stumbling slightly over the uneven terrain rising up to meet the rubber soles of his Docs.
“Sirius, hang on!” Remus finally gasped.
Sirius turned to face him, grinning.
“There. Now we’re lost, good and proper.” He crossed his arms over his chest, still clutching the now-useless map.
Remus rolled his eyes.
“Okay, great, you’ve proven your point. Now let’s go,” Remus said.
“We will—but we paid to be here and that little toadstool is leading us through like he’s going for a bloody world record. He’s taking all the fun out of it!”
“Sirius…” Remus began. “You seemed like you two were laughing together a bit, there. I thought maybe you decided you liked him, that you were having fun.”
Sirius tossed his hair.
“No, I wasn’t having fun. I was pretending—for you, you silly sod.”
“Oh.”
Sirius felt a bit guilty at that. Ever since James and Lily had moved, he hadn’t had many people with whom he could interact (he wasn’t even going to think about Reggie). Remus met Christopher at work and thought he shared similar traits to the two of them—that he was sarcastic and witty and kind. Sirius hadn’t seen much of that in any of the times he’d met Christopher.
He was inclined to trust his judgment, too. He’d never liked that rat, Peter, but had tolerated him because James and Remus seemed to think he should, and there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for either of them. But when they’d caught Peter trying to make a pass at Lily (and it seemed as if they’d only just arrived in the nick of time), he hadn’t been surprised.
Since then, he was less willing to compromise his initial, instinctual reactions to people. In this instance, though, he knew it was important to Remus, and he was willing to give it a go for him. Sirius wasn’t going to like everyone he met—that he knew. Sometimes, it was just enough to be with Remus, to do something to make him happy.
*****
Sirius was doing his best to remember that as he and Remus wound in and out of rows and rows of tall, dried husks of corn. The crescent moon above offered little in the way of light, and a cool breeze lifted the ends of his hair as he puzzled over the map. In truth, Sirius was no great shakes at navigation. If he followed the map with a specific beginning and ending in mind, he did all right for himself, but he wasn’t able to look at a map and determine where he was and what path to take to get elsewhere.
He turned the map sideways, then tilted his head, hair swishing down behind him. Remus stood assessing, arms crossed and a rather unamused expression on his face.
“Not sure where we are, then?” Remus asked lightly, inspecting his cuticles.
“Well… no… but that’s half the fun, eh?” Sirius said.
“Sirius… we’ve been trudging about for half an hour at this point. I’ve followed you, you’ve followed me… I don’t know why you’re still looking at that map when you don’t know how to read it.”
Sirius felt his cheeks warm.
“Oh, I suppose perfect Saint Christopher could’ve led you out of the maze in a jiffy! Should’ve followed him, the great prat!”
“Sirius, be quiet!”
“Oh quiet yourself, Remus! I was just trying to make this a bit more fun for us!”
“Yes, this is loads of fun—standing here arguing with you in the middle of a maze because you have a problem with everybody!”
Sirius recoiled as if he’d been slapped.
“I do not,” he said, breathing heavily through his nose.
“Then what is it with him?” Remus asked, stepping closer. He’d softened, likely sensing Sirius’s emotions.
Sirius hated when Remus did that—the more wound up Sirius got, the calmer Remus would be. It made Sirius feel irascible, dramatic, and too befuddled to express his points.
“I don’t know,” he said, petulantly. “I think… it’s just… I feel a bit insecure, sometimes. I don’t want anyone to be more charming than I am… not to you, anyway.”
Remus chuckled, stepping forward and circling his hands around Sirius’s wrists.
“So, you’re jealous?” Remus’s voice was teasing.
Sirius rolled his eyes, pulling back with a huff.
“No! I certainly am not jealous of that little wanker. I just don’t care for him.”
“Fair.”
“And he never says hi to me.”
“Oh, no,” Remus said, still smirking, stepping towards Sirius.
“And I don’t like that he makes me feel so surly because of it all.”
“You? Surly? Never.” Remus murmured.
“Are you seriously turned on right now?” Sirius exclaimed.
“Maybe…” Remus nibbled on his ear.
“Wh—Moony…” Sirius moaned.
“It’s not often someone as lovely as you gets jealous over someone like me. It’s kind of nice,” Remus said, sliding his hands around Sirius’s waist and pulling him closer.
*****
There was nothing quite like a snog in a maze in the middle of a pumpkin patch under an October moon. Sirius was pressed up against Remus, fumbling with the loops of Remus’s trousers as he tried to get even closer. Remus’s hand was caught up in Sirius’s long hair, and neither of them had come up for breath in a while.
“There you are!” a voice exclaimed, warm as a cup of Earl Grey on a chilly morning.
Sirius turned, blushing slightly at having been caught out with Remus, having a cheeky snog in the middle of a public place like two teenagers. He felt a smirk bloom as he took in Christopher’s appalled expression.
“Thought we’d lost you,” Christopher said evenly.
“That was the idea,” Remus whispered, so low only Sirius could hear. “Sorry!” he said to the other two. “Took a bit of a detour.”
“I see that,” Mary grinned like the cat that ate the canary.
“Oh, go on then,” Sirius laughed.
*****
They made quick work of exiting the maze—Sirius was willing to follow Christopher’s lead, this time. The group split a funnel cake and made giant bubbles using ropes and buckets of dish soap.
They perused pumpkins, struggling to choose one that fit Sirius’s standards. He wanted an impossibly large, perfectly round pumpkin, and none seemed up to snuff. Remus, meanwhile, was bent on choosing the most absurdly shaped pumpkin, deeming it “a loveable misfit”.
As he stood tossing a bean bag at a corn hole board, watching Remus cheer as it landed in the hole and clenched their win against Mary and Christopher, he smiled softly and shook his head.
The things you do for love, he thought.
And he knew that for Remus, he was willing to do just about anything—including trudge through a maize maze with a total berk. It hadn’t been all bad, though. Just like the pumpkin he’d finally chosen: it was mostly perfect, apart from a little dent near the back. But he knew that if he turned it around so that the best part faced forward, in time he would forget that there had ever been any imperfections at all.