about you

After a horrendously long day at the studio, Sirius found himself sitting on his bed, trying to relax by brainstorming lyrics and writing them in his journal. The stress from earlier that day made it easy to think of ideas for new songs

Remus and his new band announcing their album less than three days before the 1971's new album drops has made Sirius' life more stressful than he ever could have anticipated. He was extremely upset about dropping a single after everyone had agreed on not doing so. The single was doing fantastic, all thanks to Lily, but Sirius couldn't bring himself to be happy. Remus being active and present in the media brought up feelings and thoughts that he had buried deep within himself.

Sirius shook the thought as an attempt to save his relaxing evening. Before he could continue brainstorming, he heard his phone buzz from next to him on the bed. If his thoughts weren't going to ruin his night, whatever happened on his phone was going to ruin it.

"Can't even get an hour of peace anymore," Sirius grumbled to himself while he picked up his phone.

He saw a text from James to the 1971 group chat, which was unusual, but Sirius was intrigued. He quickly unlocked his phone to read it.

prongs: GUYYSSYSS
DID YOU SEE THE EMAIL

no nickname marlene: YES
ITS CRAZY LIKE WTF

Sirius typed out a quick reply and sent it.

padfoot: checking email rn

He opened his email inbox to see an email that had been forwarded to him by Lily.

Sirius already had a bad feeling in his stomach. Usually when Lily forwarded an email, he knew that it only meant trouble. Sirius took a deep breath as an attempt to prepare himself and opened the email.

Sirius groaned as soon as he saw the original sender. It was worse than he expected.

@thelovefools@mgmt: we would like to formally invite the 1971 to the listening party on october 20st at 10:30 pm. feel free to reply to this email with questions or concerns, thank you.

we hope to see you there!

xx, the lovefools

"Invitation must have gotten lost in the mail for us to get this email barely 24 hours before the event," Sirius said as he scanned through the email one more time to confirm that he wasn't seeing things. Once he had read the email enough to guarantee that he wasn't hallucinating, he opened the 1971 group chat back up to see new messages.

THE 1971 GROUPIE CHATIE (wtf is this name -lily)

wormy: oh yea remus told me about that

prongs: Traitor
Never forgiving u for going to their announcement party

wormy: woah okay easy tiger
lily went too why am i the only getting hate :(

no nickname marlene: I TRUSTED YOUUU :((((( @lilybeth

lilybeth: yeah No u guys made it clear on my tweet that u had been betrayed
And you're all going to this listening party
no excuses

Sirius cursed James for convincing him to allow Lily to be their manager.

padfoot: Lily I Cannot Go
Please

I will embarrass myself and i cannot do that in front of Remus

lilybeth: no you actually can go!
you'll be fine im sure he's seen u do a lot worse than something like crying idk what u mean by embarrass yourself PLUSSS remus replied to your tweet earlier so going to this event will help get sirius and the 1971 trending by making your little shippers believe u guys are cool again

Sirius raised his eyebrows. Remus replying to his tweet wasn't just a shock to the fans, but also to Sirius. Remus hasn't spoken to him since the day they broke up. Sirius needed to see the reply with his own eyes before believing anything said, so he hastily opened twitter. He went to the search tab to find Remus and Sirius' relationship name, WolfStar, trending.

"This cannot be real. I'm dreaming," Sirius affirmed to himself while checking his tweet that had been a reply to Lily's tweet.

@1971sirius: WHAT ABOUT US im heartbroken!!!!

@moonylupin: @1971sirius we can share <3

Sirius felt his jaw drop to the floor. For once in his life, Sirius was speechless. This listening party could be Sirius' chance to talk to Remus and explain what really happened on his birthday nearly two years ago. He liked the tweet before going back to the group chat.

padfoot: am i dreaming
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING
idk what to say or do someone please Hlp.
THE HEART?????
Guys we should go to the event!!! Imm good with that now!

prongs: SIRIUS U WERE SUPPOSED TO STAY STRONG AND SAY NO!!!!

wormy: he folded like a BOARD when he saw that reply
i just know it

padfoot: sorry james :-(
I DONT LIKE UR ATTITUDE PETER!!!!

lilybeth: great!! i'll let the band know u guys would love to come

Sirius powered off his phone despite new messages popping up. He fell back onto his bed with a huff.

It seems that Sirius has a listening party to attend in less than 24 hours.

--

Sirius was completely and utterly fucked.

He was in the back of a car with the rest of his bandmates, heading to the listening party.

"Is it too late to back out?" Sirius repeated for what felt like the hundredth time today as he glanced out the window.

"Yes," Everyone said in unison. James, Lily, Marlene, and Peter had already endured enough of Sirius' antics that morning.

The whole band met up at James' house with multiple outfits so they could each have opinions on each outfit.

Sirius carded through his six outfits, and he was displeased by all of the outfits he had previously picked out just hours ago.

"I have nothing to wear!" Sirius said as he plopped down angrily next to his outfits.

Everyone turned to look at his meltdown.

Lily looked at him with displease in her eyes and crossed her arms. "You picked out these outfits three hours ago. Surely your fashion sense hasn't drastically changed within those three hours."

James and Peter were at a loss for words as they just nodded in agreement to what Lily had said.

"You have so many good outfits here, just put something on," Marlene said while she looked through the different pieces of clothing to see why he was complaining.

"You guys don't understand," Sirius dramatically fell back onto the bed as he spoke. "This is the first time I've seen Remus since we broke up. It's a big deal!"

"I thought he had a new boyfriend..." Marlene said quietly, but not so quiet that Sirius could not hear.

Sirius reached to grab a pillow nearby on the bed and threw it at Marlene's head. "You're not helping. Now I can't go at all."

Everyone groaned.

Sirius anxious bounced his knee while he watched the car pull up to the entry of the event. After seeing everyone outside, he felt both under and overdressed in his leather jacket, plain white shirt, and flared leg jeans. He already saw cameras flashing that were most likely trying to cover their arrival.

"Hey, you'll be fine. Just smile and you'll be set until we get inside. James could see his anxiety, so he linked arms with Sirius as he spoke.

Someone opened the car doors before he could reply, so Sirius simply nodded in his direction as a thank you.

Lily was the first to leave the car, and the band followed her out. Sirius kept his arms linked with James as they walked inside. Paparazzi surrounded both sides of the entry, but Sirius couldn't make out any of their yells.

They made their way through the doors and they were then met by Mary MacDonald, who Sirius assumed was the manager of The Lovefools. Sirius had met Mary a few times because Lily would often bring her as her plus one to events.

Mary's eyes found them and her face lit up. "Hey! It's good to see you guys, I wasn't completely sure if you were going to come." She said while smiling brightly.

"It's good to see you too! It's been awhile, yeah?" James replied, just as excited as Mary it seemed, and grinned at her.

"It really has. Anyways, the bar is on the far right and the band is spread out everywhere, but I know they did want to see you guys eventually," Mary explained.

"Thank god there's a bar, I don't know if I could make it through this sober," Peter mumbled which resulted in Marlene elbowing him.

Lily nodded while looking at Mary, "Sounds great." She then turned to look back at the band. "You guys can go, I'm going to stay back and catch up with Mary for awhile."

The band nodded and headed to the bar.

"Hopefully this isn't better than what ours is gonna look like," James said softly when they sat down on bar stools.

"Agreed. This place is pretty cool though.." Marlene replied while glancing around.

Sirius felt like there was a cement block in his stomach. He hesitantly looked around the room, afraid to see anyone he knew. With his luck, he caught a glimpse of Remus whispering to guy who he didn't recognize. Remus looked up and caught his eyes almost immediately. Sirius saw the expression on his face change, unaware if that was a good or bad sign. Sirius watched as Remus said something else to the guy before making his way over.

"Shit, holy shit. Code red," Sirius whispered to everyone in a panic.

Everyone else in the band turned around from where they sat facing the bar, trying to see what Sirius was panicking over.

"Oh fuck, you're screwed," James said in awe, which didn't make Sirius feel any bit better.

"This is gonna be something," Marlene said under her breath.

"Dear God..." Peter whispered right before Remus was in front of them.

"Hey guys, I'm glad you came!" Remus said cheerfully. Sirius almost believed he sounded too happy to see them.

Peter simply just waved at him, as Peter had seen him at the announcement party just the night before.

James smiled immediately before jumping up to embrace Remus in a hug. "It's been so long, Moons! I almost forgot what your face looked like," James joked as he pulled back.

Sirius just sat and stared. Instead of Remus' usual grandpa sweater and pants, Remus was wearing a half-way tucked in white button down with most of the top buttons undone along with a belted pair of black pants. Sirius thought he even saw a tattoo on his chest.

"Yeah, uh, it's good to see you," Sirius slowly said, scared to mess up this small interaction.

"It's good to see you guys too," Remus responded while he looked directly at Sirius.

Sirius thought he was going to have a heart attack as Remus looked at him. He felt his heart beating out of his chest.

"I have someone I want you guys to meet before the rest of the band, but first I think you have someone to introduce to me," Remus continued on as he shifted his gaze to look at Marlene.

"Oh, right. Remus, this is Marlene McKinnon, our new bassist and female representation." James joked before continuing, "Marlene, this is Remus Lupin, our former bassist and uh, former or current best friend." James said, unsure of the last part.

"It's nice to meet you, I've heard a lot of good things about you." Marlene graciously smiled.

"Nice to meet you too," Remus returned the smile before turning back to motion for someone to come over. A woman with short, curly hair who was near the same height as Remus walked up to the group.

"Everyone, this is Dorcas Meadowes. She plays the bass. Dorcas already knows you guys because apparently, she's a huge fan." Remus explained.

Dorcas smiled at the group. "I'm so excited to meet you guys, I love your music."

Everyone nodded and said their thanks, except Marlene, who was staring at the girl like she was a goddess. Sirius glanced over at her and slightly elbowed her. Marlene seemed to snap out of it.

"Oh! Thank you so much, we appreciate it." Marlene nodded quickly. James groaned and hid his face in his hands. Peter looked over at Marlene with an amused look on her face.

"Ignore her, it's been a long day. She's usually not like this." Sirius said, embarrassed.

Marlene snapped her head to the side in order to send a life-threatening look to Sirius, "It's been a long day because of your fifteen different meltdowns, you have no room to talk."

"I did not have any meltdowns, thank you very much," Sirius huffed, looking away from Marlene.

"Keep telling yourself that.." Marlene grumbled.

"Hey!" Sirius quickly looked up to glare at Marlene.

He heard fits of laughter and Sirius as well as Marlene glanced to find Remus and Dorcas laughing at them. Sirius hadn't seen Remus this happy in ages.

"Oh god, now they're both doing it," James whispered.

"Anyways, we have to go in order to start this thing up," Remus said before he and Dorcas began to walk away. Remus didn't get too far before Sirius found himself getting up.

"Hey, Remus!" Sirius called out to him.

Remus looked back with a shocked look on his face, "Yeah?"

Sirius walked closer, "Can we talk after this is over?"

Remus started to shake his head, "Sirius I really don't think we should.."

Sirius lowered his voice down to a whisper so only Remus could hear, "Please, just hear me out. Five minutes is all I ask."

Remus looked at him and paused. "Alright. You get five minutes directly after this is over, and I'm not waiting for you to show up if you're late."

Sirius smiled and nodded before Remus turned back around and walked away. The rest of the band approached him.

"What was that about?" Peter was the only one brave enough to ask.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Sirius replied with a goofy look on his face.

"Okay then, should we go to our seats" Marlene asked after a few seconds of silence among the group.

Sirius nodded and they made their way to their seats. Under their seats were headphones, which Sirius assumed were going to be used to listen to the album.

"Please take your seats and put on the headphones that are directly under your seat." A voice, who Sirius assumed was Mary, said over the speakers.

Sirius put on his headphones and glanced at his phone to check the time. It was 10:29 PM, meaning they had one minute.

"Is it weird that I'm scared?" Sirius whispered to James, who was sitting next to him.

"No, most of these songs are probably about you," James joked as he whispered, but Sirius wasn't sure if it really was a joke.

A voice started speaking in the headphones. "Here's our album Midnights, we hope you enjoy."

Music began playing and Sirius was shocked to hear Remus singing. He assumed someone else would be singing, but now thinking back to the earlier conversation Remus did introduce Dorcas as the band's bass player.

After a few songs, Sirius definitely knew of these were about him. However, there was section in a song that Sirius vividly remembered.

Can I ask you a question?
Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room
And every single one of your friends was
Making fun of you
But 15 seconds latеr they were clapping too?
Thеn what did you do?

Sirius remembered the exact date. It was the first time he and Remus kissed.

Their whole friend group had been playing spin the bottle together in the common room. The whole night, Sirius had been hoping that the bottle would just land on Remus.

After watching Peter kiss Lily, which caused outrage with James, who had a massive crush on Lily at the time, it was Sirius' turn. He spun the bottle, his fingers crossed that it would land on Remus. It slowed down, and the odds weren't looking good. It skidded to a stop right in front of a terrified Remus, which made Sirius cheer.

"Come here!" Sirius said while grinning ear to ear. Remus scooted closer to Sirius, their noses almost touching. Sirius closed his eyes and pressed a quick peck to Remus' lips. When he peeled his eyes open, he saw a very stunned Remus Lupin.

"Look at him! He looks like he just had an out of body experience." Someone yelled out, which resulted in everyone laughing at Remus. At the time, Sirius had been too focused on himself and his own thoughts racing through his brain to speak up for Remus.

"Hey, that just means Sirius is the best kisser around." James said, still laughing, "Everyone give it up for Sirius!" James joked. Everyone started clapping. Sirius basked in the attention.

Sirius tore his headphones off and got up to leave. He made his way out the side door, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

"Holy fucking shit.." Sirius mumbled as he rubbed his face with his hand.

Someone opened the side door and walked out. "You're missing some of the best songs, you know."

Sirius assumed it was one of his band member who had come out after him. "Fuck off, I don't want to hear it," Sirius said before he looked up and saw Remus standing there.

"Wait, shit I didn't mean it like that." Sirius started to panic.

Remus laughed, "It's fine, really. I'll have the same reaction when your album comes out soon."

"So I guess we both wrote entire albums based on each other?" Sirius asked, still looking at Remus.

Remus sighed, "I guess so."

There was a moment of silence. The pair just stared at each other.

"Look Remus I'm so sorry for what I did, I promise you there is an explanation." Sirius began. Remus nodded as a gesture to keep going.

"Benjy and I never did anything, I promise. I honestly thought he was just trying to be my friend. He was using that as a way to pull information out of me. He found out I nearly died due to my cocaine addiction, and so he brought it to the apartment." Sirius paused to take a deep breath. Remus just watched him, trying to take in the information.

"I will admit, taking the coke was my own personal decision but I've been clean ever since, I swear. He was guilt tripping me into doing it, and I gave in. I don't remember anything else until you ran to our room. He was also the one to call the paparazzi." Sirius blinked and tried to keep the tears from falling.

They were both silent for a few minutes.

"Jesus Christ," Remus said under his breath. "I'm glad you're taking responsibility for actually taking the drugs yourself, but I'm sorry I didn't hear you out."

"Thank you," Sirius nodded.

"I would really like to be friends again, but it's gonna take time for both of us and I need to know if you're willing to do that." Remus stated.

Sirius perked up, "Oh, hell yeah. I genuinely would do whatever it takes to be your friend again, Remus."

"Alright Padfoot," Remus began to say with a smile on his face. "Let's get inside before people come out here." Remus said, walking inside.

Sirius happily followed him. Just like before their break up, Sirius would follow Remus to the end of the world if he had to.