9
As Monday morning rolled around and Sirius walked towards his desk, he decided that he was going to get over Rabastan this week. Only he has no idea how he’s going to go about getting over Rabastan.
He hadn't dated much, one boyfriend through 7th year and then the war happened, and then a few short relationships.
It was never particularly difficult to get over someone you weren’t invested in, but this feels different. He’d only been friends with Rabastan for a handful of months and had liked him for about half of that. That was barely any time in the grand scheme of things; how had he fallen so hard?
Somehow, considering how comfortable they had become with each other, it felt like a lot longer. It felt like they had actually been friends forever and losing his heart to Rabastan made sense.
Sirius sighed, "No it does not make sense to pine over a man that was soon to be married to someone else. Get it together man"
Now he was talking to himself? He needed reinforcements.
“Okay Prongs,” Sirius marched straight into James’ office instead of heading into his own; James was already at his desk. Sirius laughed. James could barely keep his eyes open, considering he hadn’t finished his first mug of coffee yet.
“Today we start operation get Pads over Rabs”
“Pads over Rabs?” James blinks at him, but he can tell when he finally figures it out
“We'll work on that name later. So what’s step one?”
“I’m just going to go with avoiding him until I’m over him; then he and I can just go back to being friends,” Sirius shrugs, sounding more confident than he feels. "hopefully, he'll just let me slip back into his life"
“Um," James blinks owlishly "Okay, I thought there'd be more to the plan; so what do you need from me?”
“Nothing other than your undying support”
James stands up very suddenly with a very serious look on his face “You can count on me, Pads”
Sirius is reminded of when they were younger; they’d gotten through other stuff together. He’d be fine. He’d get over his little/big crush on that beautiful, thoughtful, kind, funny, intelligent man…he shook his head. Okay fewer thoughts about his face and his body more thoughts about WORK!
“Okay, James, back to work!”
James throws him a fake salute as he practically collapses back into his chair and grabs at his coffee again.
Rabastan thought about what he and Esmae had discussed. In the end they thought they should stick with something tried and true. Being straightforward and honest by telling Sirius the truth. The best plans are often the most straightforward plans. So he was going to go about this week like any other week, sending multiple owls back and forth with Sirius, and when he saw him this weekend, he’d take him somewhere and set up some privacy wards and tell him the truth. Tell him that over the course of their friendship, he discovered that he is interested in pursuing something romantic with Sirius and he'd like the chance to earn Sirius' heart in return. He was still trying to figure out what to say. He figured simply shouting out: ‘Sirius, I’m halfway in love with you and would like to date you; by the way don’t worry about my fiancé she's gone. Can we start dating now?’ wouldn’t be a good way to start.
Maybe he should send him an owl professing his feelings? It’d be a good way to organize his thoughts and ensure he can say all he wants.
He shook his head; no he wanted to talk to Sirius in person, something much more personable. He needed to send an owl to Sirius to see how he was feeling and make plans for this weekend and then he needed to get to work. He was consulting on multiple projects this week and the sooner he finished the sooner he’d be done for the month.
Rabastan’s owl awaited Sirius when he got home.
“Hey Hermes, how long have you been here?” Sirius ruffled his feathers the way he liked “I’m glad you found the box of treats I left out for you, did you have a good rest”
He nuzzled against him in response.
He untied Rabastan’s letter.
Sirius,
Two questions:
How are you feeling today?
How do you feel about accompanying me to a restaurant opening in Italy this weekend? I met the chef two large contracts ago, he is brilliant, I think you’d enjoy it.
Sincerely,
Rabastan.
Italy?! With Rabastan?! Sirius groaned to himself; it sounded like a dream come true! Walking around the cobbled streets of Rome with his big strong man after a good meal looking for a good espresso to end the evening with before they headed out for some nightlife. He imagined getting hot and sweaty with Rabastan on the dance floor before heading back to their hotel room and…
Sirius stopped himself. They had never been overnight anywhere together ever for one, and two he was supposed to be getting over this man. Going to a restaurant while nursing fantasies about making a life with this man would be a terrible way to start Operation ‘Get Pads over Rabs’.
“Hermes, do you think you can wait a little before I send my response back with you? I have some dinner plans. Can you go hunt for a bit and then meet me back here soon?”
Hermes hooted and flew out the window; Sirius hoped he understood.
He needed some help drafting his response.
After a quick dinner with Moony and Kaitlyn, he’d decided what to say back to Rabastan so he wouldn’t hurt his feelings, and he’d be able to buy himself some time to start weaning down his affections.
Rabastan,
I have two responses for you!
First, I’m starting to feel much better, thanks to you and your potions. I appreciate it, Rabs.
Second, I’m going to have to say no. As much as I’d love to try a brand new place, I missed work today and already agreed to work for a while on Saturday to make up for it. I’ll be beat by the time I finish, so I’ll need a raincheck.
How was your dinner with your fiancé?
Yours,
Sirius
Sirius bit his lip and stared at the way he had signed it. Yours? Ugh, he scoffed. You’re so pathetic, Sirius. He sighed again and tied the letter to Hermes leg before he sent him off. He couldn’t help it; he was so desperate to ensure that he wouldn’t hurt Rabastan’s feelings he felt like he had to be extra nice and proper in his responses.
‘Wow’ Rabastan thought as he read Sirius’ response. He must be quite ill, this is one of the least ‘Sirius’-like responses the man had ever sent to him. Rabastan felt a little worried, he'd drop by and see Sirius at work this week. Maybe see for himself that Sirius was indeed feeling better. Perhaps he could bring him a coffee? Rabastan then made a quick mental note also to ask Sirius what a ‘rain check’ was. "It has to be something strange and muggle," he thought as he got ready for bed that night.