Chapter 2
James had eventually bought himself a pair of carhartt cargo trousers that the woman in the shop had assured him were ‘very trendy’
“Christ, you look like you’re from a nineties reeboks advert” Sirius said when James finally emerged from his bedroom. He was in a nike crewneck, the cargos and beat up trainers.
“You think it’s too casual?” James asked, clearly panicking.
“No, you look great,” Sirius assured him, and he did. Maybe not ‘Lily’s type’, but great nonetheless, which he left unsaid.
“Right. Let's go” Sirius said, clapping his hands together, grabbing the bottle of wine they were taking as a gift and ushering James out the door.
“It says the number three bus should take us almost to their door…” James said, staring at city mapper on his phone as he kept changing direction to find the right bust stop.
Sirius huffed and resigned himself to at least an hour of getting lost before they found the right house. James was shit at directions and navigations, but refused to admit to it and thus insisted he always be the route master whenever the two of them were going somewhere new.
--
Eventually, they found the right place, a nice upper-floor flat in a house somewhere between stockwell and Brixton.
The door was opened by a girl they didn't recognise, and light and the sounds of Supergrass’ ‘alright’ spilled into the corridor James and Sirius were standing in.
“Ah, you must be Lily’s boys” the girl said cryptically, and opened the door wider to let them in.
Lily spotted them from across the spacious living room they had been led into and called out to them, waving before excusing herself from her conversation and weaving through the considerable throng of people to reach them.
“You made it!” she said, clearly a few drinks in. she then- to Sirius’ shock and James’ evident delight- leant up on her tippy toes and gave them both a kiss on the cheek.
“Let me get you some drinks,” she said, turning and leading them to a wall where a table with various bottles and plastic cups was set up. James turned to Sirius, hand on the cheek Lily had kissed and squeaked. Just to be a bastard, Sirius smirked and said
“She did it to me too, you’re not special” and laughed when James honest-to-god pouted.
They pushed through the crowd to get to Lily at the drinks table, and both took bottles of a locally brewed IPA that neither of them had ever heard of.
Sirius took one sip and gagged
“Ugh, tastes like piss water,” he said, passing the rest to James. A deep booming laugh from behind startled him.
“God, I couldn’t agree more”
Sirius turned to see Remus standing there, holding a milky looking drink with ice cubes in his hand.
“I’m getting into the Christmas spirit early and drinking Baileys, you want?” Remus said, gesturing with his glass.
“Yeah, go on then” Sirius said, following Remus when he turned to go into the little kitchen of their flat.
“So what do you do, Remus?” Sirius asked, gratefully accepting his drink.
“I’m an english teacher at an all-girls secondary school,” Remus said.
“I bet you’re popular” Sirius said, before realising the implications and stammering “uh, i mean, you’re you know…”
“I’m what?” Remus said, bemusement written across his face.
“... tall” Sirius finished lamely.
“That I am,” Remus agreed. “So, what do you do, then?” he asked, leaning against the kitchen counter, utterly relaxed and at home.
“I’m a piercer” Sirius said, and Remus raised his eyebrows.
“You’ve not got any… that I can see?” Remus said, and Sirius laughed and shook his head.
“Nah. I have tattoos but the healing process never seemed worth it for piercings. I love doing them though, mainly because people are always so excited. My favourites are the little girls who get their firsts. They’re always so happy with them”
“That’s cute. I know the feeling. My girls always come in showing theirs off when they get them.” Remus said, smiling gently.
“So how do you know James?” Remus asked, and the two launched into small talk, chatting for hours without even noticing the time passing, just getting to know each other. Sirius found it so incredibly easy to talk to Remus. He learnt about Remus’ childhood, being born in Wales and living in Bristol from age 5, and visiting his family farm in Wales on holidays.
Sirius told him about boarding school escapades with James, and how he came face to face with boobs on a regular basis in his line of work, which made Remus laugh deeply, and god but Sirius always wanted to be the one to make him laugh like that.
“So, Sirius” Remus said when they hit a natural lull in conversation. “I’m sure by now you’ve gathered my rather niche taste in music. I take it your t-shirts are an indicator of yours?”
“I mean mainly, yeah, but actually I listen to all sorts. My vibe makes me come off as a music snob but that's relatively far from the truth. Also, living with James has forced me to broaden my horizons, as his favourite artist is MIKA.” Sirius said.
“I mean, in all honesty i was sceptical when Lily said you were a country singer, but seeing you perform definitely changed my mind on the whole genre”
“Coming from someone in a sex pistols t-shirt, I shall take that as the highest compliment. Anyway, tell me more about James and MIKA” Remus said, smiling his gentle smile.
“Why would I tell you, Remus my boy, when I could show you. Anyway I can access the speakers from your phone?” Sirius asked, accepting the phone with the sonos app open on it from Remus when he asked.
“Grace Kelly, really?” Remus asked when Sirius queued it to play next.
“Just watch,” Sirius said, smirking.
Soon, the opening chords played and a loud yell of “SIRIUS!!! IT’S MY SONG” came from the living room, and the two men made their way out of the kitchen.
James was ‘dancing’, in that he was flailing his limbs about vaguely in time with the rhythm of the song, and singing along.
“Wait for the chorus, he does the falsetto and everything” Sirius said, leaning into Remus as he did so, and trying not to get too distracted by the sandalwood scent of the other man.
“This I can't wait to see” Remus said back, leaning in and a bit down as well, bringing their faces dangerously close together. Before Sirius could get too nervous though, the chorus started.
“I could be brown, i could be blue
I could be violet sky
I could be hurtful, i could be purple
I could be anything you like
Gotta be green gotta be mean
Gotta be everything more
Why don't you like me? Why don't you like me?
Why don't you walk out the door?”
James sang, surprisingly in tune for how the song went, and Lily was doubled over with laughter watching him.
“She likes him,” Remus said to Sirius.
“He loves her,” Sirius said back. “He hasn't even looked at another girl since he set eyes on her. The past few months living with him have been utterly unbearable.”
“That's good to know. She’s insecure, you know? Even though you can’t tell. It’s good to know he's serious about her” Remus said, voice soft so as not to be heard.
“He’s 100% gone on her, I promise you” Sirius said as they watched James embarrass himself in the middle of the room.
--
At around midnight, most people started to leave for home, and soon only the six from the pub yesterday were left, and Marlene suggested they order takeout, as it was clear James wasn't leaving a minute before he absolutely was forced to.
By this point, they were all comfortably drunk, and were situated on sofas and various cushions on the floor, chatting amiably as a little group. They settled on pizza, and soon massive 18 inch margherita's were being devoured.
After they ate, they all naturally split into groups of two; Marlene and Dorcas had their legs intertwined on the sofa and were talking intimately; Lily and James were on the other sofa, chatting softly, with James smiling so widely his cheeks had to be aching, and Sirius and Remus were on the floor, backs against the wall and legs stretched out in front of them.
At some point, during a conversation about what Remus was currently teaching his gcse class, Marlene coughed and straightened up.
“Come on, guys. I want to get to know Lily’s boys a bit more” she said, clambering off the sofa and sitting on the floor, pulling Dorcas with her so they formed a sort of semi-circle with Remus and Sirius. James and Lily came and completed the circle, and it felt like a teenage sleepover.
“What do you want to know?” James said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I’m pretty much an open book.”
“Is boarding school as gay as my all-girls school was?” Marlene asked, giggling.
“It was for me, not so much for Prongsy over here” Sirius said, slinging an arm over James’ shoulder. Dorcas laughed.
“That being said though, many, many people thought we were dating” James continued.
“You do give off that vibe sometimes. It’s how well you know each other” Lily said.
“Yeah but that's because we’re basically brothers. Pads moved in with me when we were sixteen, and we’ve been in each other’s pockets ever since”
“Ah, like me and Lily,” Remus said, nodding and taking a swig of his beer.
“They just said they hadn’t had sex Rem” lily said giggling.
“For fucks sake, Lils. we were like fifteen, it barely counts” Remus said, laughing and going bright red in the face.
“Well that's new information” Sirius said, laughing but gently squeezing James' shoulder.
“Please, forget she ever said that” Remus said, still blushing.
“Yeah, like he said, it basically doesn't count. And it was ten years ago” Lily said, squeezing James’ knee, and Remus nudged Sirius and raised his eyebrows at it, mouthing ‘I told you’.
Remus then leaned in super super close to Sirius and whispered in his ear, “just watch. She’s regretting saying that so much she’s going to make an excuse to get him out of here and then she’ll finally kiss him”
“How do you know?” Sirius muttered under his breath.
“Trust me. I know Lily.” Remus said, before sitting down and moving the conversation onto how he and Marlene met at uni.
“Uh, James? I think we have some, um ice cream in the kitchen if you wanna help me get bowls and stuff?”
“You never have ic-” Dorcas started to say before Remus kicked her. “We bought some specifically for today, yeah?” he said, giving her a look.
“Oh, yeah ice cream sounds good” Marlene said quickly, cottoning on.
“You’re a psychic,” Sirius said, laughing.
“Nope, just well versed in all things Lily Evans” Remus replied, slouching further down the wall.
Time passed, and silence fell in between bouts of bets on what James and Lily were up to.
“Well, the past fifteen minutes have proved that there is no ice cream, so we’re going to head off” Dorcas said, and Sirius and Remus stood to hug the two women goodbye before collapsing onto the sofa the two women had just vacated.
When another twenty minutes passed and James and Lily still hadn't left the kitchen, Remus heaved himself upright.
“Look, I really don’t want to be here when those two emerge. Wanna hang in my room for a bit?”
Sirius tried to stop himself from yelling in delight, and instead settled for an incredibly restrained “yeah, sounds good.”
Remus’ room was clearly the room of a school teacher. A bookshelf where each shelf was filled with several copies of the same book occupied one wall alongside an old-fashioned stand-alone wardrobe and a chest of drawers. The bed was big and unmade, with a deep blue bed set covered in goldfish that was just too endearing.
Under the window was a large desk, on which sat a laptop, a novelty #1 teacher’s mug full of refillable fountain pens, and stacks of essays, some bare and some with Remus’ comments scrawled all over them.
“The fish are adorable,” Sirius said, sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed.
“The fish were a gift from my mother” Remus said, sitting in his desk chair and reclining, sticking his long legs all the way out until his feet were nudging Sirius’.
“Do you have to do all that marking by monday?” Sirius said, wandering over and reading the top essay on one of the stacks out loud, “Shakespeare’s Macbeth offers a unique insight into how Elizabethan society viewed women deemed improper. Themes of the supernatural, violence, power imbalances in marriage and mental illness demonstrate how the Elizabethans viewed women who fell outside of the ‘madonna/whore complex’...
Wow, heavy stuff.” he said, walking back to the bed and sitting down again.
“Yeah, that’s my A level class. I’ve tried to structure my course around more modern political concepts like race in Othello, women in macbeth, mental health in the yellow wallpaper and so on. The girls are really receptive to it, which is wonderful.” Remus said, lighting up at the chance to talk about his students.
“You really love what you do, huh?” Sirius asked, smiling fondly.
“God, yeah. I'm so lucky to love my job. Some of the other teachers seem to have had the life drained out of them, you know? It definitely has its ups and downs, though. Once a girl convinced herself that me giving her good essay marks was a ‘sign’ and she confessed her love to me. Embarrassing for everyone involved” Remus laughed, rubbing his neck sheepishly.
“I know the feeling. I was once giving a man a prince albert piercing and he got hard, even though i was sticking a needle through his bellend! I was shocked, and also extremely flattered. He asked me out for a drink after, but alas, I wasn't a free man at the time.” Sirius said.
“That means you are now?” Remus asked, with… something glinting in his eyes.
“Yeah, have been for a while. It's good though. It was a shit relationship, you know? It ended shit as well.” Sirius said, looking at his feet rather than the man sitting in front of him.
“Oh, I’m sorry, '' Remus said softly. “For what its worth, fuck them. You seem great”
“I regret fucking him, actually” Sirius said, laughing. Remus laughed too, and the atmosphere lifted a bit.
“What about you? Anyone special in your life?” Sirius asked, hesitantly, hoping his interest didn't shine through.
“Ah, nah. It's not the sort of thing I look for, you know? If someone good comes along, then I'm open minded to it, but I'm not actively putting myself out there.” Remus said, and Sirius' heart swelled at the information.
“Yeah, me too. Mainly because it took me a while to fix myself up after Josh, but also because I'm happy with my life as it is, you know? I don't massively feel like anything is missing, just that having someone would be a nice addition. Especially now James and Lily will be joined at the hip.”
“Yeah, I get the feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other” Remus said.
Before Sirius could reply, James poked his head through the door. His hair was more messy than usual, and his glasses were missing.
“Heyyyy Pads you know how you love and adore me so very very much? So uhhh I’m staying with Lily tonight if you don't mind heading home alone?”
“For fucks sake, Prongs” Sirius groaned from the bed.
“I know, I know I'm sorry I'll make it up to you, I pinkie promise. Anyway boys, paradise awaits.” James said, not looking sorry at all, before he left, shutting the door behind him.
“It’s like two in the fucking morning” Sirius groaned. “The buses have fucking stopped.”
“Stay here, mate, it's fine.” Remus said, standing up and going to his wardrobe.
“I have an air mattress for when my brother stays. I can make you up a bed on my floor. It’s not the most comfortable, but preferable to walking home at this time, yeah?”
“God, you’re a lifesaver.” Sirius groaned, getting up to help with the spare duvet and pillows.
“I didn't know you had a brother?”
“Yeah, he’s like fifteen. He was the mistake, as my aunt always says” Remus laughed. “He's a great kid. His name’s Lyall, after our dad. You can tell he was an accident, because they didn't even bother giving him his own name. Jokes aside though, I love him loads. He stays a lot during the holidays, he loves the size and bustle of London compared to the relatively small and quiet life in Bristol.”
“It’s nice you do that. I have a younger brother. We don’t really talk, though” Sirius said.
“Oh, I’m sorry. That must be hard. I don't know what I would do without Ly.” Remus said, rummaging in his chest of drawers before tossing Sirius a t-shirt.
“To sleep in. it might be a bit big but better than nothing, eh?” Remus said, getting one out for himself. “I’ll go to the bathroom first and dig out a spare toothbrush for you, yeah?” and he left, letting Sirius change in his bedroom. Sirius folded up his clothes and placed them on top of the chest of drawers, and perused the bookshelves whilst he waited for Remus to get back. He plucked ‘Ethan Frome’ from the shelf and flicked through it, seeing Remus’ annotations throughout.
Remus came in, and Sirius was struck by the sight of him in just boxers and a t-shirt that barely skimmed the top of his hip bones.
“Hey. I left towels out if you wanna shower in the morning, and the red toothbrush on the sink is for you. Let me know if you want any water to go to bed with?”
‘I want you to go to bed with’ Sirius thought, but roughly pushed it aside.
“No, no, it's fine. Thank you, so so much Remus. You really didn't have to do all this for me” Sirius said.
“Well if James and Lily go where I think they might, you’ll end up practically being my brother in law” Remus said, laughing. “And anyway. One, this is hardly a massive amount of effort, and two, I like you Sirius, and I'm not going to make anyone walk home when it's nearing three in the morning.”
“Seriously though, thank you” Sirius said as he left for the bathroom.
When he returned, he saw Remus was in bed, reading with the aid of a bedside lamp, having turned the main light off.
Sirius stooped low to get into his little bed, which was comfier than he expected.
“Night, Remus,” he said.
“Night, Sirius” Remus said, before turning his lamp off.
--
Sirius was vaguely aware of someone rustling about in the early morning, but whoever it was, they soon left and he fell straight back to sleep. A few hours later, the person was back and Sirius was awake enough to actually open his eyes. He panicked for a second at the unfamiliar room before remembering he was on Remus’ floor and James had spent all of last night getting lucky, leaving Sirius in the lurch. He groaned, and rolled over.
“Shit, sorry did I wake you?” Remus asked, pausing at his desk.
He did, but he looked so guilty, so Sirius shook his head. “Nah, I was up.”
“Oh good. I did a sainsbury’s run and bought breakfast. You can come and keep me company whilst I mark. I left some pyjama trousers out for you.” Remus said, scooping up a stack of essays and a few pens and padding down the hall to the living/dining room that the party had been in the night before.
Sirius looked and saw soft flannel pyjamas hung over the back of Remus’ desk chair and he grabbed them and tugged them on, grabbing his phone too and following Remus. He entered the living room to a table on which sat a french press releasing fragrant coffee steam, and a selection of croissants from the Sainsbury’s bakery. Remus was sat at the table, bent over his essay stack, brow furrowed in concentration, mouthing along to the words he was reading.
Sirius wordlessly took a seat and helped himself to a mug of black coffee and a chocolate hazelnut croissant, still warm. “God Remus, is this how you and Lily live? I can’t remember the last time I had a sit down breakfast.”
“This isn't a regular thing, don’t worry” Remus said, chuckling. “But I figured that James and Lils would need their energy back after last night, and you deserved a treat after James leaving you like that”
“You’re right. I do deserve a treat” Sirius replied, going for a second croissant. Checking his phone, Sirius saw it was only nine and groaned again.
“I’m sorry. I’m stuck on teacher times, you know? And my girls will be angry if I don't get these back to them for tomorrow’s lesson” Remus said, smiling sheepishly.
“It’s fine. I have work today, not until twelve though.”
“Do you know what piercings you’re doing?” Remus asked with genuine interest. Most people thought Sirius’ job was a cop-out career that he should abandon for something more illustrious. He wasn't used to being asked about it.
“Oh, yea. I have four ear appointments, two belly buttons and a couple noses I think” Sirius replied, pulling his booking spreadsheet up on his phone and double checking. “Which leaves a couple slots for walk ins as well”
“Oh cool. What’s your favourite thing to pierce? In terms of the actual piercing process rather than people's reactions, I know you said last night you liked the little kids getting their ears done for the first time.”
Taken aback again that Remus had paid enough attention to him to remember that little tidbit, Sirius thought for a while. “I think ear lobe is the easiest, but I would say my favourite to do would be nose piercings because the nose is easy like the ear in terms of the flesh, and I think aesthetically they look the best.”
“Mmm” replied Remus, taking a bite of his pain au chocolat.
“You a chocolate fan too?” Sirius asked.
“You have no idea, mate. I live off of it to be honest. My girls tease me about how I'm always snacking on it at school.”
“You really do love your job, huh?” Sirius said, surprised that Remus was still showing this much enthusiasm despite his Sunday ahead being filled with marking whilst slightly hung over.
“God yea, I do” Remus replied, smiling before returning to his marking.
Half an hour passed, Sirius tapping away on his phone and pottering about the kitchen whilst Remus worked, when James stumbled bleary eyed into the living room, collapsing onto a chair and groaning.
“Padfoot? My love? My life? Can you get more coffee?”
“I’m never doing anything for you ever again, James Fleamont Potter”
Remus snorted.
“Oof, the full name. Wait, why are you even here?”
“I slept on the fucking floor James. You owe me for life.” Sirius said stonily, shooting a wink to Remus behind James’ back so Remus knew he wasn't actually complaining about the air mattress.
“I’m sorry Pads,” said James, pouting.
“Yeah, you fucking better be” Sirius said, snatching the croissant out of James’ hand right before the man went to take a bite, and licking it before giving it back to James.
“Okay, I deserve that,” James said, laughing cheerfully.
Lily walked into the room, looking cosy in a red and green tartan dressing gown. She gave Remus a kiss on the cheek and dragged a chair right up to James, so she was sat snuggled into his side. He put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. Sirius mimed retching and Remus laughed, making Sirius’ heart tug.
“Right. I need to go because I’m working later. For revenge, James, I'm making you come with me.” Sirius said, giving James a look. He groaned, but got up nonetheless. Sirius went back to Remus’ room to get dressed, and tried his best to put the bed away properly in thanks. He scribbled a note on Remus desk thanking him profusely, and then the two of them set off.