Chapter 3
Sirius couldn’t stop staring at Remus. He almost had a heart attack when he saw Remus walking towards him, looking all cuddly with soft hair and flushed cheeks.
James turned around when he realised Sirius wasn’t listening to him speak anymore.
“What’s Remus doing here?”
“…You know Remus?”
“Yeah. He’s friends with Lily.”
James had been with Lily since first year, where he’d fallen in love with her after she rejected him. The only girl who’s ever rejected mehe liked to say. Like Sirius, James had no problems with his love life and had subsequently developed an ego the size of Jupiter. Lily had brought him down to Earth and made him a lot more tolerable, in Sirius’s opinion.
He sometimes felt envious of his best friend and how the pieces seemed to all fall perfectly into place for him, be that friends, lovers or career. Whereas Sirius was wandering through life blind, hoping to figure out what it was he wanted to do and wanted to be as he went along.
“Sirius mate, you’re staring. Now I’m curious. Why is nice Remus walking towards us - or rather you - when I’ve no idea you guys even knew each other? And please stop looking at him like that, you’re going to scare him off with your ugly face.”
“Shut up, I’m beautiful. And although it’s very much none of your business, my dad has requested his services to improve my Bio grade.”
James nodded. His face had an indecipherable expression as he looked between Sirius and Remus.
“Ah right of course, the Bio grade. I see.”
Sirius rolled his eyes and focused his attention on Remus.
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The cafe was cosy, with warm hues of orange and yellow illuminated by the soft lamps on tables and walls. Comfy green seats were haphazardly arranged around a variety of different shaped tables, and the delicious aroma of freshly brewed coffee breezed in from the kitchen.
Remus wanted to live there. He stared up at the chandeliers on the ceiling and admired the colourful Post-Its left by customers littered about the walls. Sirius smirked as he watched the other boy admire the place.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s so cool. I’m coming here every day.”
Remus’s brain stopped at Sirius’s easy smile.
Oh no, he thought. This is going to be bad.
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“So each finger has three phalanges, the distal, the middle, and the proximal. See?”
Remus demonstrated by pointing at his fingers. He was trying his hardest to keep morale up. Once settled in their seats, Remus had discovered why Sirius could never keep a tutor. Sirius seemed interested in anything but Biology, and his dwindling interest had quickly made the session long and tedious.
“Distal, middle, proximal, got it.”
Sirius yawned his sixth yawn of the session.
“Let’s stop for today. I’ve learned loads and I’m hungry.”
“…It’s literally been twenty minutes, and it’s consisted of you repeating my words back to me and immediately proceeding to forget them.”
“That’s not true!”
“What are these called?”
Remus pointed to the segments of his index finger.
“…Top, middle, bottom?”
Remus sighed.
“At least you got one right. And I don’t think it was deliberate.”
Sirius laughed.
“And what about you?”
Remus blinked.
“What about me?”
“Top, middle - or rather, switch, or bottom?”
Remus willed the blood to stop rushing to his face. He shifted in his seat.
“That’s none of your business. Let’s keep learning terms.”
“Ah, but this is so much more fun, Remus! I’m a top, FYI. And a damn good one as well.”
Sirius’s voice lowered towards the end, and the deep sound caused heat to pool in the lower part of Remus’s stomach.
“That-that’s, um, great. Next, we’re moving on to muscles in the hand.”
Flustered, Remus quickly turned away from Sirius’s amused face and flipped through another textbook on the messy table.
Calm down, calm down, he’s just messing with you like he does with everyone.
Remus mentally facepalmed at how easily Sirius riled him up. He reminded himself of his grandma lying in that hospital bed surrounded by tubes, the long shifts, the sleepless nights, and the ever-growing mountain of bills piling up on his kitchen table.
Stop getting distracted. You are here to do a great job and hopefully earn a lot of money.
Remus continued to painstakingly teach Biology terms to Sirius.
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Sirius paid for everything despite Remus’s protests. Hell, it was worth it to see Remus enjoying a strawberry cheesecake. He was too thin, and Sirius vowed to feed him with treats every session in the future.
Sirius, admittedly, had not learnt anything. He normally couldn’t focus on what was being taught, much less when a beautiful boy was saying things like ‘denature when hot’.
Walking back, Sirius and Remus talked lightly, with Remus laughing at Sirius’s remarks and occasionally cracking the odd joke back.
“And then, James trips over the rope we set up, taking down an elaborate operation that took weeks of planning.”
“No! That’s terrible!”
“Right? McGonagall walks into the common room and sees me and Pete trying to pull a multicoloured Head Boy out of a remarkable feat of modern engineering, ropes and paint everywhere!”
Remus laughed harder imagining the younger James Potter.
Sirius stopped and stared at Remus. He was so pretty when he laughed, bright doe eyes crinkled at the corners and a big grin showing straight teeth.
I want to give him a hug.
“And then what happened? Did you guys get in trouble?”
“…Hmm? Oh yeah, I don’t think we were able to enjoy a break for two months after. Had to sit in McGonagall’s office reciting letters of apology and scrub the walls of the common room.”
“Serves you right.”
“Hey!”
Remus giggled. He sighed as they arrived at his flat. He turned to gaze up at Sirius.
“This is me. Next session a week from now?”
“Sure. Night Remus.”
Sirius replied softly.
“Night Sirius.”