march 31st, 1986
march 31st, 1986
today was going to be a fun day, Remus decided. he had talked to James about his plans for today a bit ago, his plans that involved a zoo.
“so, lads?” Peter said, looking at them while finishing off folding up some of their clothes again. “what are we gonna do today?”
James and Remus looked at each other and nodded, Sirius and Pete looking at them in confusion.
“what’s your plan?” Sirius asked, helping Pete with the packing, which Peter shook his head at, unpacking what Sirius had packed, just to pack it again, but in a better, more organized way. “hey!”
“we were thinking of going to a zoo,” James said. “Moony saw some flyer laying around in the bakery, this morning. it’s not too far away.”
“a zoo? we’re not eight years old, James.” Peter said, smacking Sirius’s hand away once again.
James sighed, and looked at Remus, who rolled his eyes in response.
“uh? well maybe you’re not literally eight years old, but i’ve seen eight year olds, who are more mature than you.” Peter let out a loud gasp and dramatically grabbed his heart.
“that’s the most hurtful thing someone ever told me, Jamie.” Peter laughed out, seeing James get obviously annoyed by the (not so) lovely nickname.
“stop calling me that!” James smacked him quickly on the head.
“no one is ever gonna stop calling you that, Jamie,” Remus joined in, putting an arm around him and taking his glasses. “it’s way too much fun to mess with you.”
Sirius let out a laugh, to which James gasped.
“you too, pads?” James managed to grab his glasses back from Remus, who’s head was hurting because of the high prescription of the glasses. “give me those!”
“how bad is your eyesight, man?” James slapped his hand away while laughing.
“wait,” Sirius asked. “aren’t they like, -4.75, something?”
“how did you know that?”
“i don’t know, your mum said something about it once, i think.” James sighed.
“she keeps doing that!” Sirius barked out a laugh.
they packed up the last of their stuff and made their way onto the main road again, the zoo wasn’t that far, maybe about a twenty minute ride, so they arrived pretty fast.
the car was safely packed again, Sirius’s orders, once again. and they made their way into the park. Remus felt like his mum more than ever right now, holding the map of the zoo before his eyes, the other boys walking behind him.
first stop was penguins, much to Peter’s and Sirius’s delight. Sirius was running in front of the window, about four penguins following him closely.
“my god! look! they’re following me!” Sirius said happily. Peter next to him, trying to get the penguin in front of him to play some hand game with him; the penguin just stared at him in massive confusion.
Remus heard a click next to him, seeing that James had taken a nice picture of the boys in front of the window, he then turned the camera and ushered Remus to come closer to him.
“come on Moony! lets take a picture as well!” Remus smiled and took the picture, it was a nice one, much to his surprise. he had never thought he looked good on pictures, maybe it was James’s presence, he thought.
“oh Remus, you should smile more often,” James laughed. “someone could be falling in love with that smile!”
James gave him a not-so-very secretive look, while side eyeing Sirius, who was staring at the two of them now; a gentle touch of red charming his cheeks.
it was pretty warm after all, it was definitely nothing. Remus told himself.
after Pete and Sirius said their goodbyes to the penguins, they continued walking a little further into the park. it was a stunning piece of land, you could literally walk into the woods and see waterfalls, all while walking around with animals. so they did.
they were close to a waterfall, sitting down by the little lake. until they heard some heavy footsteps.
“oh god.” Remus said as he turned around, being met by some big horns attacked to a horse like body; a deer.
“no, no, no, no, stop. i do not wanna get near that—” it was almost like the animal could hear James’s panicked talking because it kept walking closer to him. he yelled.
“FUCKING HELL, GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME.” James yelled in a panic, Sirius was laughing his ass off at this point, he grabbed James’s camera and took a picture of the fiasco happening in front of him.
“here,” Peter attempted, bowing down to the deer’s eye level. “we don’t wanna harm you, come on.” he spoke in a voice he would also use to talk to a baby.
for some reason, the doe, stopped closely in front of Peter, who stroke its head with a certain caution. after some time, the deer walked away again happily, leaving the boys more confused than ever.
“didn't know you were a doe whisperer, Pete.” Remus said, as James threw himself dramatically at Peter and hugged him tightly.
“you saved my life, Petie.” Peter rolled his eyes.
“of course, Prongsie.” he laughed out, James immediately wriggling himself out of Peter’s grip.
“prongsie?” he said, with a certain offense in his voice both Remus and Sirius couldn’t help but to laugh at.
“see mate,” Sirius walked up to him and pat his back. “you sort of earned if yourself.” he laughed loudly and yelled—
“KARMA.” Sirius was laughing like a maniac. “thank the lord, or whoever, FOR KARMA.”
“karma actually doesn’t work like that.” James informed him, Sirius turned to him.
“huh? yes it does? you do something bad, AKA, giving me the nickname pads, and then you get something bad in return,” Remus finished the sentence for him.
“AKA, Pads calling you Prongs.” Peter snorted loudly, Remus laughed as well.
“well actually—” James started, but as he saw the boys biting their lips, trying not to laugh, he gave up. “you know what, just, just, well no.” James laughed as well.
“that was a highly traumatic experience, in my defense.” James pouted.
“sure it was, prongsie.”
that day had ended pretty well, they had some fun at the zoo, had some great dinner at a nice little restaurant and now they had found a nice, quiet place to park the car.
James had wanted to stay in an hotel again, or a motel, at least. but Remus insisted on not doing that, attempting to save some money. so they were, unlogical as it may seem, sleeping in the car.
after a bit of arguing, they had come to the conclusion that Pete was gonna ‘lay’ on the seat in the front, and James, Sirius and Remus would go in the back. since Pete liked to have his space, when sleeping. and they all knew that way too well to argue further.
Remus was siting in the middle seat, James and Sirius sitting by his sides. Pete had already fallen asleep, and it appeared to be as if James was going to fall asleep any second, as well.
“going to sleep, ‘night mates.”
“night.”
“sleep well.”
there was a silence, where the only background sounds were James and Peter’s snoring.
“moony?”
“yeah.”
“do you have a fag?”
Remus reached into his pocket and grabbed a cigarette from the package, lit it, took a drag and handed it to Sirius.
“thanks.”
they didn’t really talk, just sat and smoked for a bit. he actually wanted to go to sleep, but Remus knew Sirius was, just like him, wide awake.
“wanna walk for a bit?” Sirius asked.
“thank the lord, thought you’d never ask.”
Remus reached and grabbed the keys out of the contact, while Sirius grabbed another pack of fags and a lighter.
they were standing almost next to a big lake, James had found on the map, where they had decided to stay for the night.
Sirius took another drag from the cigarette, as he walked onto the beach-ish thing, it wasn’t a beach, more like a bit of sand next to a lake, but it was big enough to call it a beach, at least. Remus following closely behind him. the boys sat down on the sand, looking over the lake, sitting in comfortable silence for a bit.
“you miss your mum?” Sirius asked him suddenly, making Remus look at him in confusion.
“huh?”
“i know you do, you act a certain way when you miss her.”
“sorry ‘bout that.” Remus apologized, not really knowing what for. Sirius chuckled.
“don’t be, it’s not a bad thing to care.”
Sirius grinned at him, taking another drag from the fag, handing it back at Remus, who gladly accepted it.
“is it still you know, like that, with your mum?” Remus asked, he didn’t know if it was a bad thing to ask, but he wanted Sirius to feel comfortable enough to talk about things if he ever needed to.
“same as always,” Sirius scoffed. “she’s still mad at Reggie for leaving, since i’m at school anyways it doesn’t matter i guess.”
“sorry.” Remus said, genuinely feeling bad.
“‘tis not your fault.”
Remus nodded. they were sitting really close by now, probably closer than they should be.
“Sirius.” Remus tried, but he knew he didn’t want to even stop whatever was happening by now.
but Sirius was faster, he put his hands on the sides of the other boy’s face, kissing him softly, Remus immediately kissed back, not even thinking about it. it should feel wrong, but that sense of guilt never came.
it felt good?
and not just in the way of Sirius being a damn good kisser, in Remus’s opinion, the fact that the entire act didn’t feel weird.
Remus moved his hands to the boy’s shoulders, holding them there while he kissed him deeper. he didn’t want to seem desperate, he just couldn’t help it. luckily Sirius didn’t seem to mind.
after a couple of seconds they both pulled away, Remus’s hands still on his shoulders, Sirius’s hands on Remus’s face, just like they had been not even twenty seconds ago.
“sorry, i shouldn’t have—” Sirius breathed out, a bit out of breath, still.
“don’t be sorry.” Remus stared straight ahead of him for a little bit, he could feel Sirius’s eyes on him, he didn’t mind, though.
Remus took another drag of the cigarette and handed it back to Sirius. they were both smiling, like this was about to happen, or something.
neither of them said anything else that night, after all they were just stupid teenagers, yes, stupid, but so very happy.