best friends, right?
“So who is he, Moony?”
Sirius looked up from his porridge as Remus sat down across from him. James, annoyingly perky for so early in the morning, stared at him eagerly.
“What are you going on about, James?” Sirius asked.
“Why doesn’t Remus tell us?”
Sirius stared at Remus, still not understanding.
“Ollie is just a friend. I was helping him out with some Potions homework.”
James waggled his eyebrows. “Potions, huh? Does he want a private lesson?”
“Ollie- Oliver Knight?” Sirius asked incredulously.
“Yeah, what about it, Sirius?”
“You can’t possibly like Oliver Knight.”
“Why not? He’s fit.”
“Oh, so you noticed? I thought you were just friends.”
“We are.”
“You notice when your ‘just friends’ are fit?”
“I noticed you’re fi-” Remus stopped abruptly, looking down at his toast. Was Remus about to say that Sirius was fit? Sirius had the urge to ask him to finish his sentence, but from the way Remus was scowling, he could tell that was a bad idea. He had some self-preservational instincts, after all.
As James went on about a new Quidditch play he’d been dying to try, Sirius’s mind floated back to what Remus had said. Did Remus think he was attractive? He wasn’t sure why, but it mattered. It’s not like he didn’t know he was attractive - enough people had told him that for him to start to believe it, but Remus was different. For some reason, Remus’s judgement mattered a lot more than other people.
Settling down next to Marlene at first period Transfiguration, he turned to her, poking her on the shoulder.
“Marls, do you think I’m fit?”
“Good morning, Marlene. How are you? I’m great, Sirius, thanks for asking.”
Sirius rolled his eyes. “Good morning, Marls. Am I fit?”
“From my very reliable lesbian opinion, I’d say you're passably attractive.”
“Do you think Remus thinks I’m fit?”
Marlene smirked. “Why are you asking?”
“Well today at breakfast, Remus said he notices when his friends are fit, so I was wondering if that means he thinks I’m fit. Does he?”
“Why does it matter if Remus thinks you’re fit or not?” Marlene looked like she was trying to hold back a laugh.
“It doesn’t,” Sirius said quickly. “I was just curious.”
“Whatever you have to tell yourself, Sirius.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Sirius asked indignantly.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” Marlene patted Sirius’s hand as if he was 4 years old, asking for a cookie after dinner.
“I do not care about Remus’s opinion, nor do I care about yours. I didn’t realize it was such a crime to be curious. I could ask the same question of anybody.”
He searched around the room, spotting Dorcas Meadowes two rows ahead.
“Meadowes!”
She turned her head around tiredly.
“What do you want, Big Black?”
Shaking off the slightly insulting nickname (really, was Reggie the measuring stick for ‘standard Black’?), he let a conspiratorial smile spread across his face.
“Do you think McKinnon is fit?”
“Sirius!” Marlene hissed, her face growing red. Interesting…
Dorcas got a teasing glint in her eye.
“Yeah, she’s alright.” Shooting a wink at Marlene, she turned back around in her chair.
Marlene seemed at a loss for words, her mouth opening and closing in response.
“What was that about lying to yourself, McKinnon?”
“Go fuck yourself, Black.”
Later that afternoon, Sirius wandered into their dorm during his free period. He’d dropped Divination (finally) and taken an extra free to ‘study’. If studying meant smoking a cigarette in the dorm when James couldn’t yell at him. As he opened the door, he saw Remus, dangling off his bed with a book in his hands. Seeing Sirius, he quickly sat up.
“Whatcha doing, Moony?
“Reading,” Moony yawned, “I’m trying to finally finish this book I started this summer.”
“Oh, cool.” Sirius didn’t know what to say. They hadn’t spoken since their argument this morning - an argument Sirius knew was his fault.
“Moony-”
“Padfoot-”
“You go first.”
“So about this morning…”
“Remus, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have said anything about Oliver Knight. It’s not like you’d actually date the blok-”
“I’m dating Oliver Knight.”
Sirius just stared at him.
“Well, not dating. But he asked to Hogsmeade earlier and well, I said yes. I’m not sure if you have a problem with him or something, but I just wanted to tell you before everyone else.”
At that moment, Sirius knew he had two options. He could either be the arsehole who disapproved of his best mate’s boyfriend (but really, Oliver Wright? The man was a Quidditch player, for god’s sakes. Sirius was too, but that was different) or he could be a good friend. And even though the pair made no sense - really, Remus should be with someone he can listen to records with, and who’d understand his moods - Sirius realized he’d have to approve, for the sake of their friendship.
“If you’re happy, I’m happy for you.”
Remus seemed to deflate a little at that, which confused Sirius. Had he wanted Sirius to disapprove? Sirius must’ve been seeing things.
Remus smiled, but it felt like his heart wasn’t in it.
“Good, I’m glad.”
Sirius swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth.
“Yeah, me too.”