Who’s even buying pizza?
“Lupin! Luuuupin! We need you in the kitchen!”
Remus rolled his eyes and followed the shouts into the kitchen, where he found Luca, the Head Chef, impatiently looking his way.
“Yes?” Remus replied, through a grimace.
“Delivery boy’s broken his ankle and he’s in hospital. We need you to deliver tonight.”
Remus seethed. “Who’s even buying pizza? It’s 10pm on a Tuesday! And it’s raining!”
He gestured angrily to the typical London downpour outside.
“No clue, boy, but go and get your helmet on.”
Remus stomped outside, slamming the door behind him so that Luca knew just how annoyed Remus was about being delegated to delivery boy.
The sat nav on the motorbike took him to one of the posh areas of the city, where all the houses were Georgian, and all the apartments were modern and flashy. He came to a stop in front of a fancy block of flats, and with a sigh, pressed flat number 14.
He was usually fairly good at speaking to customers, and enjoyed the hustle and bustle of working at the till, but delivery was an unknown territory, and he could feel himself growing nervous, as the buzzer beeped and a cheerful voice echoed through the machine.
“Hellooooo! Is that the pizza?”
Remus groaned internally. The customer was probably drunk. Why else would someone be happy on a Tuesday?
He grunted “yes” into the speaker, and the door opened with a beep.
He walked past the lift, favouring the stairs. Lifts had always made him uneasy. Plus, his long legs meant he could easily go up two at a time.
The flat was easy enough to find, and, resigned to his fate, he knocked on the door.
The door swung open, and Remus felt his breath catch in his throat for a second.
The man in front of him was beautiful. His face looked as though it had been expertly carved out of marble, all angles and cheekbones. He had shiny, dark hair that was tied back into a bun, and a piece of hair had escaped, casually hovering near his temple.
He had large blue eyes, rimmed with smudged black eyeliner, and he was wearing black and white pajama trousers, with an oversized black Stooges t-shirt, the words ‘I wanna be your dog’ written on it.
He was smaller than Remus, and looked up at him with wide eyes. They stood, staring, for a second, until Remus cleared his throat and handed the man the pile of pizza boxes.
“Oh, right. Yes. Pizza.” the man stammered.
Remus smiled a little at that. Maybe he hadn’t been the only one caught off guard.
The man smiled back ruefully. His face was lit alight by his smile; he looked mischievous, somehow. “H-hi, sorry about that. Um, how much is it?”
He went inside to get the cash, and Remus, who had always had good hearing, smiled as he heard someone loudly whisper “Cute pizza guy? I’ll go have a look!”, followed by a “Me too!”.
He wondered how many people were in the apartment, his question answered when four new people came to the door. There was a pretty redhead, who introduced herself as Lily, and then proceeded to point out: Mary, who had pretty dark curls and warm eyes; James, a man with glasses and messy hair and Peter, who was cute, blonde and had a friendly smile.
Remus politely chatted to them, shaking their hands and telling them his name. He normally hated small talk, but this group of people surprised him, with their infectious energy and welcoming personalities.
He found out that Sirius, who was the first, beautiful boy, lived in the apartment, with Peter and James, and that Mary and Lily lived in the apartment opposite, with their friend Marlene, who was apparently round at her girlfriend’s house.
Sirius came back with the money, wearing a shy smile, and his friends went into the apartment to open the pizza. Remus left, making his way down the corridor, and at the stairs, he turned around to look at the door once again, where Sirius was still waving goodbye, watching Remus leave.