Remus
Meeting his new flatmates was a lot less stressful than he thought it was going to be. Lily, Marlene and Mary were some of the nicest people he’d ever met. When they all moved in that afternoon, and parents had come and gone, they all sat down for a cup of tea to get to know each other. Once Marlene brought up the topic of her girlfriend from back home and Lily and Mary were extremely enthusiastic and asking for pictures and details, he decided that now was a good a time as ever to tell them.
To Remus’ shock, the girls were completely surprised yet extremely supportive. It actually made him cry, which made them cry and Mary made the joke that now they’d seen each other ugly cry they ‘legally’ had to be best friends forever. Remus liked that idea. All of the girls promised never to say anything to anyone unless Remus wanted to, and he thanked them gratuitously.
After a few more hours of unpacking and introductory chit chat, the four of them heard a party coming from down the hall and decided to check it out. Well, Mary was desperate to meet fresh meet and the others sort of got dragged with her. Remus was tired and just wanted to crawl into his bed with a book, but he’d already taken a massive step today so he might as well take another one.
The busy flat had music pouring out of the front door and right through the hallway, and as they entered the kitchen Mary ran off to a group of boys that were involved in a very intense game of beer pong, flicking her dark brown curls as she went. Remus was just asking Marlene what her last name was so that he could write it down in his contacts, when Lily had asked him to grab them some drinks from the kitchen, since he was closest. He politely agreed and turned around to make his way past the island when his gaze locked onto the shiniest head of jet-black hair he had ever seen.
When he saw the face that was attached to said hair, he was pretty sure his heart actually pounded out of his chest and onto the floor. With eyes of glistening silvery blue, cheekbones that would cut glass and the roundest pair of soft pink lips, he was the most angelic human that Remus had ever seen. The boy looked up and Remus averted his stare, turning towards Lily again and asking her what drink she wanted, hoping the other hadn’t noticed him looking.
His hands shook as he walked through the kitchen and realised that the beautiful boy was exactly in the way of where he needed to grab some cups. He closed his eyes and put his hands what he believed would be either side of him, muttering an ‘excuse me’ that was so quiet that he knew it hadn’t been heard over the music. His previously pounding heart completely froze as his hand barely brushed past the absolute Adonis he was trying to get past, shyly grazing his fingertips over a sliver of exposed skin on his hip where his crop top (lord have mercy, Remus thought) had ridden up.
Once he’d stilled his breathing, he grabbed the drinks as quick as he could and made his way back over to Lily and Marlene who were now sat on a sofa in the middle of the living room. Handing the girls their cups and smiling, he sat down, casually stealing glances at the dark haired boy in the kitchen every so often when he wasn’t looking.
“He’s beautiful” Lily whispered into his ear.
“Yeah, he is” Remus replied instinctively, and then realised what he’d said. “Wait, what?”
Lily laughed and held onto his arm “Please, can we not do the whole ‘oh you fancy the incredibly hot boy in the kitchen? I had no idea it isn’t obvious at all”
Remus felt his cheeks heating up. “It’s that obvious huh?” he said defeatedly as he put his head in his hands.
“Oh no, not at all. Not like you physically moved his body out of the way to get to the drinks or anything” Lily smirked and took a sip of her drink.
“Hey! He was in the way!” He defended.
“Yeah, Remus he was, but so were about fifteen other people”. She raised her eyebrow at him. He looked back to the kitchen and realised she was right.
“Oh god, he is ridiculously hot, what do I do?”
“Here’s an idea” Marlene chimed in now. “Go and talk to him!”
Remus looked at her in genuine confusion “Are you joking? Look at him. He’s been carved out by the gods and I’m… I’m-“
“Incredibly handsome and cool?” Marlene offered up, before Lily added, “Not to mention you make a banging cup of tea”. That made Remus laugh, he squeezed her arm and sipped at his drink again, grimacing at the taste of the vodka.
At that moment, Mary stumbled back over, looking like she’d had two or three… or seven more drinks since they last saw her.
“Guys!” she said as she plopped herself on the couch between Remus and Lily. “I am starving. I didn’t eat since like this morning because of all the unpacking”. Remus presumed that Mary held her drink very well considering her perfect speech combatting how flushed and glazy eyed she looked.
“Oh thank god someone else said it, I’m so hungry, and this party is boring, can’t believe you made us come here and then ditched us for some boys Mary!” Marlene joked.
Remus looked at the girls who were now jokingly bickering about who left who and how drunk Mary actually was, he was in awe of how easily they’d settled into each other, having met less than eight hours ago. He smiled fondly before without realising, turning his eyes back to the boy in the kitchen- who was still stood in the exact same place, downing something out of a red cup, a bit of it spilling onto his lips as he darted his tongue out to get it.
“Ooh hello, maybe I’m hungrier than I thought” Mary purred as she also locked her eyes onto the same black-haired boy standing across the room.
Remus felt his stomach drop, and suddenly did not want to be there anymore. Of course, Mary fancied him, after all he was intoxicatingly beautiful. And he would most likely fancy her back, with her full lips and rich brown skin, curved figure and siren eyes. It was stupid that he was even looking at someone that attractive, he thought, when he looked like… like him.
“Leave him Mary, he belongs to Remus”. He heard Lily stage whisper to Mary from the side of him.
Mary laughed, licking her own lips. “Technically, he doesn’t belong to anyone”.
She was right. He knew she was right and yet it made a warm bile rise in his throat.
As he abruptly stood up from the sofa, trying to scan a passage to the door through the crowds of now drunk students, suddenly feeling extremely anxious, he caught Marlene giving Mary a scowling look and then looking to himself. “You okay, Remus?” she said as she set her drink down on the coffee table.
“Fine” he said over the lump in his throat. “Need to go and… put my phone on charge” and with that he bounded out of the flat and rushed back to their own, slamming the front door behind him before heading to their shared bathroom and locking himself in.
His breathing was erratic and his chest suddenly felt too tight, he pulled off his sweatshirt and splashed the cool tap water in his face. Slamming his fist against the countertop, he felt a wave of frustration and embarrassment pool inside of him. He always overreacted in situations like this, got himself into a state and now the girls who he was really starting to like were going to think he was a complete weirdo and not speak to him for the rest of the year. Mary would probably be furious with him, and he just hoped that the pretty boy hadn’t seen him staring, which would just make all this worse.
To top it all off, he had left his scarf in the random person’s flat, so he would likely never see it again because he sure as hell wasn’t going back there now, someone would probably spill beer on it or use it to mop up sick from the bathroom floor, mistaking it for a tea towel or something.
He allowed himself a quick cry in his room whilst he put his tartan pyjama pants and jumper on. Reaching for his phone, he had a text from his mum.
6:09pm
Mam: Home safe now Cariad, you moved in okay? Those girls seemed lovely, I trust that you will be safe with them. Me and Da love you so much. Call us tomorrow. Rwy'n dy garu di
He smiled and felt another tear run down his face, as the reality of his parents being nearly 5 hours away finally hit him. Wiping his face, he sent a reply.
10:54pm
Remus: Dwi'n iawn, Mam. They’re great. I will call you tomorrow, my love to Da. Rwy'n dy garu di
Just then, he heard the front door go and voices enter the living room. He paused by the hallway door to listen as the girls had obviously just come in.
“I know! I feel awful. God he’s going to hate me, isn’t he? I didn’t mean anything by it!” Mary was saying as she shut the door and locked it.
Marlene had responded to her “we know you didn’t Mary, Remus will know that too. It’s our first night, of course everyone’s ogling each other! He probably just got tired and didn’t want to make a fuss at the party”.
“It must be difficult for him”. Lily said, in a hushed voice as if she was worried Remus would hear, too late for that he thought.
His head throbbed as he pressed his ear to the door to hear what Lily was saying. The last thing he needed was someone taking pity on him and being friends with him because they felt sorry for him.
“I mean” she continued, “He clearly doesn’t have a very good self-image, which is ridiculous”
“I know!” Marlene had butted in “I mean, if I wasn’t a raging lesbian, I’d fuckin’ give him a go!” Remus blushed furiously from behind the door.
“Exactly, but you’ve got to put yourself in his shoes. In his eyes, he isn’t good enough for anyone, and he’s just met us, so clearly wants to make a good impression. He probably even thinks he has to make us feel ‘comfortable’ around him, based off what I imagine people have been like in his past. I know he hasn’t out right said anything, but I know what people in my school were like at least. Anyway, whilst Mary meant nothing by what she said and it was a bit of harmless flirting, he probably panicked that Mary thought he was trying to make it a competition or something. It’s my fault really, I never should’ve made that joke about the bloke being Remus’… although-”
“Jesus Lily, you’ve only known us all a few hours, how is it that you just… know everything?” Mary said in bewilderment.
“I’m very perceptive” she said in a mysterious tone, to which the other two girls giggled.
Remus made his way into the kitchen once the girls had stopped talking about the party. It had just gone 11pm and his stomach was growling at him now, realising he also hadn’t eaten since this morning.
“Hey guys” he said as he went over to the kettle to boil it
“Remus! Did you get your phone charged?” Lily said casually, not even looking up from her own phone. Thank God for Lily Evans and her ability to apparently read any situation. He loved her already.
“Oh, yeah, I did thanks. I meant to say before Mary, I absolutely love your jacket”. He nodded at the girl, who was still wearing her black denim jacket that had silver studs all over the hem. His stomach untwisted itself as her face visibly brightened, obviously easing any worries she had of him being upset with her.
“Really? Thank you! I’ve had it for ages, it was my big sisters first, guess it just reminds me of her” He nodded and flicked onto uber eats on his phone.
“I was thinking, if you’re all still hungry, we could order some takeaway. I mean, I don’t have any groceries yet and mum got me an uber eat voucher as a going away present, could be my treat?” He held his phone up on the kitchen counter where they were all sat, scrolling through the different restaurants.
“Well if it’s your treat, I’m going to be honest, I could eat a house right now” Lily chuckled, grabbing the phone eagerly, but slipping a £10 note into Remus’ hoodie pocket, which he did not realise until later.
Their food was to be delivered thirty minutes later, and in the meantime they set the TV up with various streaming services. Mary had Netflix, Lily had Disney Plus and Marlene had Prime Video, so between them all there was a lot of choice. Remus felt bad that all he had to offer was the old DVD player he had brought, with a couple of his favourite movies- it was rather outdated after all. The girls didn’t seem to mind though, flicking through the DVD boxes and chatting about who’d seen what.
They settled on watching old episodes of Taskmaster once their food arrived, and exchanged more about themselves as they ate and grew sleepy. Remus discovered that Marlene was also taking English Literature, Lily was on Law and Politics, and Mary was taking Acting and Theatre studies, which led them to various interesting conversations about classic poetry, political parties and how good Jodie Comer was in Killing Eve.
By the time it reached about 1am, they all simultaneously decided it was time for bed, Mary and Marlene used the bathroom first to brush their teeth and wash faces whilst Lily and Remus offered to clear the food boxes away. Lily rinsed a couple of forks whilst Remus fridged the leftovers and folded the rest of the Chinese takeout boxes into the recycling bin (it was an old mop bucket that was currently standing in until they got a proper one).
Remus wanted to break the silence but wasn’t sure how to word it for a while. He finally settled on “Thanks for, sticking up for me before. I heard you talking to the girls.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realise you could hear us. I hope I didn’t say anything out of line or put words in your mouth or anything, I can only imagine how hard things could be for you. But not in a pity way, I promise”. She said, with a kind look in her eyes. it was as if she could hear what Remus was thinking.
“No, not at all” he replied, putting away the forks that Lily had washed. “In fact, you hit the nail right on the head. I’m sure I’ll tell you and the girls more about things as soon as I can, but right now there is just a lot to get used to” He smiled shyly as he switched the overhead kitchen lights off, leaving the only light in the room being the small living room lamp that from where she was stood, was illuminating Lily’s face and making her auburn freckles dance around her round cheeks.
“Remus, you should only tell us what you want to, when you want to. We want to support you, especially since we’re living together, and being best friends- no takebacks you already said so!- for the next year, but we don’t need to know every detail to be able to do that. I mean, if you get any shit from anyone, I will personally knock them out, but other than that my lips are sealed” She pretended to swing her fist at someone and Remus laughed out loud.
He smiled fondly at her as he accidentally let out a loud yawn.
“Well, best get to bed. It’s been a mad day and I want to go get some groceries tomorrow. I heard there’s an Aldi not too far. You want to come?” She asked as they walked to the hallway which had their bedrooms off it.
Remus nodded at her as he opened his bedroom door. “Sounds good, I’ll see you in the morning”.
“See you in the morning”.
Immediately, he threw himself under his covers and turned off his table lamp, fighting to keep his eyes open. Everything’s going to be fine, he thought to himself, as he drifted off to sleep.
Strangely, as his eyelids closed over for the last time, he found silvery blue orbs looking back at him, along with swishes of silky, black hair.