3
Remus created a sort of routine. They have been filming for a couple weeks and he loves every second of it; he always has a laugh between takes, whether it is with his friends or any other cast member. They have a bond that Remus never saw on any other set, everyone is friendly and always help each other when someone is feeling down or needs help with their lines. The stylists are doing an amazing job with their outfits and Remus enjoys listening to them ramble on about the design choices: why this fabric over the other, why they put buttons instead of a zip up on a top.
Lily decided to make the hairdresser’s life easier by chopping off her long ginger hair in an adorable bob cut that makes her look like a red-haired Marylin Monroe, in Remus’ opinion. Regulus is now smiling when James is around which is something Remus’ wasn’t expecting for at least another three months. It’s not a bright toothy smile -Regulus never do one of those- but more of a slight quirk of his lips. Which is already a lot. James still gets flustered when Regulus is around and forgets his lines half the time, especially in fighting scenes. Lily and Remus find it hilarious, but Regulus isn’t so pleased.
Remus finally has a day off -he isn’t needed for today's scenes- and thought he would be able to get some rest. How foolish of him. His phone has been ringing for the last ten minutes non-stop and it's getting harder to ignore the infuriating ringtone. He answers on the twenty-third call.
“What do you bloody want?” He groans. “It’s 8:00am Mckinnon and I’m trying to sleep.”
“Pipe the fuck down John.” She snaps back. She is the only one who uses his middle name. “I’m having a… breakdown in the studio.” Remus is up and holds the phone between his shoulder and his cheek as he picks up a pair of black trousers.
“What happened? I thought Sirius was supposed to help you.” He grabs a stripped red sweater and runs a hand through his hair.
“He is high and useless.” She sniffles. “I have an album to finish by the end of the week and we’re already Thursday.”
“Are you crying?” He stops what he is doing for a second and waits for her answer.
“No, I’m not.” Typical. If Marlene is anything, it’s proud and stubborn. She would rather die than admit she is sad or hurt. “Can you hurry up please?”
“I’m about to leave the flat, I’ll be here soon. Hold on, cherry.” He hangs up and quickly grabs his bass case and his laptop before leaving the flat.
Remus isn’t a musician; sure, he writes silly love songs sometimes and taught himself how to play the bass and the guitar when he was younger, but he never wished to make a career out of it. Acting has always been his thing. But he will always offer help to a friend who needs it and, right now, Marlene is the one who needs it.
[To: Barty] 8:41am, London
Lupin: Are you free, like right now?
Barty: is this a booty call?
Barty: because I’m always free for you my dear remus ;)
Remus: Pervert
Remus: Marlene needs help with her album, and she is too stubborn to ask for yours so I’m doing it.
Remus: I’m bringing coffee.
Barty: omw
Barty: you better have weed on you
Remus is in the queue at a coffee shop and the sunglasses he found in his bag don’t make him invisible like he wished they would. The bartender immediately recognises him and seems to freeze for a moment. He smirks and she gets flustered. He orders the drinks and when he goes to pay, she stops him.
“The drinks are on me.” She kindly says.
“Thank you, that’s very sweet of you.” He takes a picture with her and leaves the coffee shop before someone else recognise him.
[From: Dorky] 9:03am, London
Dorky: Marlene called me.
Dorky: Be patient with her, she has been freaking out about the album for weeks.
Dorky: And thanks for the help.
Remus: You’re welcome.
Remus: I’ll try my best to help her out, I promise.
Dorky: Btw, tell Sirius I am going to throttle him for making my girlfriend cry.
Dorky: I’m serious (if you make the joke, i'll throttle you too).
Remus: Noted.
He enters the studio with three cups and his case in hands. He says hello to the receptionist who just dismiss him with a hand gesture, and he follows the long corridor of studios and conferences rooms. He opens the door to one of the studios with his elbow and is met with a pacing Marlene and a sleeping Sirius. Her electric red wolf cut has been pushed out of her eyes by a head band and her eyeliner is smudged by her tears. She discarded her platform boots and is walking around in her hello kitty socks.
“Hi.” He hands her a hot chocolate and throws a water bottle in Sirius’ direction. He doesn’t react.
The studio is light up with fairy lights and Sirius is sleeping on the velvet sofa, bundled up in a colourful blanket. The wooden coffee table is covered with energy drinks, discarded papers and butts. The floorboards are covered with rugs and multiple instruments are laying around.
Remus kicks off his shoes to imitate Marlene and quickly cleans the room. He puts his laptop and the drinks on the coffee table and lights up a cigarette. He steals a pillow under Sirius’ legs and sits on the floor. He looks up to Marlene and smiles. “We will finish this album by the end of the day.”
She puts her head on his shoulder and blows on the hot chocolate she's holding. Remus takes a drag of his cigarette. She shows him the lyrics she already scribbled and describes her final vision of the song.
“I like it.” He truthfully says.
“I don’t know, I feel like it misses something.” She sighs. “I’m not satisfied with the lyrics.”
He grabs one of the discarded pieces of paper and borrows the pen Marlene wedged behind her ear. “You can double the lyrics. It fills up empty spaces and makes the song catchier.”
“Cause I’m not sure if I’ve seen you before
You looked familiar when I saw you
We go together like the gum on my shoes
We make out, we make out when it’s too late
We go out, we go out on a Tuesday”
“That’s brilliant.” Marlene says excitedly while Remus writes down the changes.
They work on the lyrics for a bit, adding fillers and rhymes here and there. Remus doesn’t do much; when she has nothing, he gives her an idea and lets her finds fitting lyrics. When she is satisfied with the lyrics, she sings the entire song using Remus’ thigh to tap the rhythm.
He lights up a cigarette and hands it to her before lighting his own. Sirius suddenly wakes up and asks for one but fall back asleep as soon as he finishes his sentence. It’s more babbling than talking, but Remus caught what he was saying, nonetheless. Marlene chuckles and takes a drag.
The calm bubble they created pops as soon as the door bursts open and Barty walks in.
“Hello people.” He puts his sunglasses on his head and smirks.
“You’re late.” Remus dhands him his coffee without sparing him a glance.
He takes a sip of his -now, cold- coffee and winces. “I got caught up.” He nods in Sirius’ direction. “What’s up with him?”
Marlene sighs. “He’s sleeping, got too high.” Barty barks a laugh and pulls out his phone. He takes a picture of Sirius and sends it to Regulus, with the following text: “Your brother is a looser.”
If Remus had to describe Barty in one word, it would be messy. Barty always looks like shit, in some way or another. His clothes are always stained with coffee or paint and his hair is always sticking up. He also has a worryingly big amount of tattoos. His skin is a canvas and while Remus finds it attractive on Sirius, Barty’s tattoos are all done high or drunk, so the lines are rarely straight and some of them are not even finished. His fashion style could be summed up by blue jeans and funky shirts. He is currently wearing a “sex, bugs and rock&roll” white tee-shirt and a pair of blue jeans with multiple holes in them. He is a fucking menace and cannot concentrate longer than five minutes, but he is funny when he wants to be so Remus bears with him.
“This song will be a fucking banger when we finish it.” Barty claps, slumping down on a chair.
“We still need to work on the instrumental though.” Marlene sighs, lying on the floor.
“What’s your vision?” Remus asks.
“I want something catchy, like 90’s vibes. I don’t know, with some grunge influence maybe.” She says, leaning on her elbows.
She wiggles her feet and Barty just mimics her, smiling to himself. Remus has no idea what he is on, but it sure is strong. “I like that.” Barty replies.
“The drum bit is good. We just need to add the guitar and the bass.” Remus mutters, taking his bass out of the case. Barty grabs Sirius’ guitar and fiddles with it.
Marlene plays the drum recording and Barty starts to play along. Remus jumps in too and they play the whole song together, bouncing off each other. Marlene’s smile grows bigger with every passing second.
“I loved that.” She jumps around. “Can we do it again? I’ll sing this time.”
They both agree and the three of them end up in the recording room, headphones on their heads and guitars in hands.
“One, two, three.” Marlene says.
The first notes of the song play, and Marlene starts to sing after the first loop.
“Call you up on a Tuesday
Say, What’s up?
Babe, it’s too late
Why’d you have to be so complicated?
Complicated”
They are all bopping their head and Barty is jumping around, clearly having the time of his life. He launches in a solo after the second chorus ends and escalate to the bridge of the song. Marlene’s voice fits perfectly with it, smooth and edgy. Remus plays and follows the pace.
“We go together like the gum on my shoe
We make out, we make out when t’s too late
We go out, we go out on a Tuesday”
The song ends and there is a bit of silence before they are all jumping in each other’s arms. “That was amazing.” Marlene screams.
“I know!” Barty echoes.
They replay the song on the mixing console multiple times. “Should we blend the instrumentals a bit?” Marlene asks.
“I like it that way, it gives off a more edgy vibe.” Remus says, standing next to her.
“Yea, the instruments are loud and takes up a lot of space in the song, which is what we want.” Barty continues, as he rolls a joint.
“You’re right, my voice isn’t the centre of the song. I like it that way.”
They fiddle with the mixing console for a while, turning up and down the instrumentals so it works with Marlene’s voice. They add a few things, delete some more. Barty lights up the spliff and hands it to Marlene. “Consider this an award.” He says and Remus chuckles.
“You still need a title, Marls.” Remus says as he exhales the smoke.
“I have no idea. Can’t it stay nameless?” She grumbles. She got back to lying on the floor next to Barty who’s sitting cross-legged with what looks like maracas in hands. He isn’t playing or moving at all, for the matter. He’s just there, kind of.
“I would be sad if I had no name.” Remus wonders. He is sitting sideways on a desk chair, his head thrown back to be able to see Marlene.
“No name is better than being named Remus.” Barty blurts out.
Remus snorts. “As if Bartemius was a better name.”
Marlene laughs and points a finger at Remus. “You’re funny.”
[From: Reg] 16:38pm, London
Reg: Is Sirius good?
Reg: Barty sent me a picture earlier and hasn’t responded since.
Lupin: Fine.
Lupin: Still asleep.
Lupin: High though.
Reg: Who? You or him?
Lupin: Both
Lupin: but talking about me.
Lupin: finished Marlene’s song
Lupin: Celebrating.
Reg: I see that.
Reg: Could you please make full sentences.
Lupin: Nope.
Lupin: Can’t
Lupin: Funny
Lupin: High
Reg: Right, we’re picking you up.
Reg: I’m with Dorcas and Evan anyway.
Lupin: So not fun :(
Reg: Get it together.
Reg: All of you.