april fools
april 1st, 1986
Remus had absolutely no idea how they had made it back to the car yesterday, he had a very vivid image of falling asleep on the sand. strangely he was also the first to wake up, he wanted a cig, but seeing as it was super early morning’s, he didn’t wanna wake up anyone else yet.
James’s and Peter’s soft snoring was the only sound in the car, together with the radio on a very low volume. for some reason, as Remus had noticed in their first year at school, Sirius doesn’t snore; he sleeps like he’s dead, the only way you could tell that he actually wasn’t dead, was that his chest was moving up and down slowly.
Remus carefully managed to grab a cigarette from his pocket, he lighted it and took a long drag from it. he was honestly glad no one else was up yet, it gave him time to think without others intruding his thoughts.
what had happened last night was one big wonder to Remus as well, not only the fact that he had not seen it coming, but also the fact that he didn’t know what this meant, or what this was gonna mean. did that kiss change their friendship for good?
Remus threw his head back against the headrest in frustration, taking another drag from the fag. Sirius stirred around next to him, leaning his head on Remus’s shoulder. Remus froze, and didn’t dare to move for another minute, afraid Sirius might wake up.
what did this mean? had Sirius just been bored? maybe it hadn’t even happened, and it had all been a weird dream! yes, that must have been it. but what if it hadn’t been—
“morning Moony.” Peter yawned from the front seat, Remus groaned.
“God i feel like i’m hungover or something.” Peter laughed, sitting up by now, grabbing a bottle of water from the glove compartment.
“you’re probably just tired, why, are you feeling sick?” Remus grabbed the bottle Pete was handing to him.
“thanks,” he took a sip. “no i’m alright, just the feeling as if i’m hungover.”
“you need some Tylenol? there must be something in my bag.” Peter dug in his weekend bag, taking some stuff out and handing Remus the Tylenol a bit later. Remus thanked him for it and instantly took it.
“what are your plans for today?” Pete slapped himself in the face, something he did out of habit after waking up. (mostly to see if he was actually awake, and it wasn’t something happening in his dream)
Remus shrugged, carefully attempting to lift his shoulders.
“don’t know,” he looked at Sirius and James who were still fast asleep. “maybe they have plans.” Peter snuggled back into the seat, Remus wanted to, too. but there was a sleeping Sirius on his shoulder, who he didn’t want to wake up. the only times Sirius wasn’t talking, was when he was asleep or when he was mad (and on a very rare occasion, when he didn’t know what to say); he was quiet now and not mad, so Remus preferred to keep it that way.
“mornin’ Lads.” James murmured from his side of the car, rubbing his eyes.
“good morning, Prongsie.” Peter snickered from the front seat, James slapping his head.
“that was highly unnecessary.” James ignored his comment, carefully shaking Sirius awake. for a second,Remus was glad it was James who decided to wake him up.
“fuck off, James.” Sirius groaned eventually, snuggling into Remus’s shoulder even more than before, without realizing he was doing it. Remus froze entirely, he wanted to let Sirius know it was his shoulder, and that he didn’t know what he was even doing. on the other hand, however, Remus didn’t want Sirius to ever move again.
“fucking moody git, is what you are.”
they had to practically pull Sirius out of the car, James, who was the only one who was a morning person, had already set up their camping chairs outside of the car.
“tea?” Remus asked the group, not really aiming the question at anyone in particular.
“yep.” both James and Peter said in sync.
“coffee.” Sirius groaned. he was sitting with his knees all the way up to his face, leaning the side of his cheek on his bony knees. Remus mimicked his groan.
“you know we don’t have that.” Remus said, feeling like he was explaining something to a toddler.
“fucking get some, i don’t care.” Sirius still didn’t make eye contact, actually no, he was avoiding it.
“Jesus Christ, Sirius. what is up with you!” Peter spoke. sometimes Remus realized that he very much under appreciated Peter, without who, he would have no back up in most cases.
“tired.” Sirius grabbed a water bottle from his side and chugged the entire thing down in a matter of seconds.
“apparently he can drink something else than coffee, too.” James said, earning a side glare from Sirius.
they ate some crackers, bread and drank some tea. (Sirius obviously not, he instead drank the same plain water as before) Sirius was already waking up a bit more, turning into himself instead of the ‘monster night-Sirius’, a nickname the boys had collectively started giving him in their first year at school.
yet he was still avoiding eye contact.
Remus stared at the floor, he thought about last night again, it had felt so right, so ‘meant to be’, something Remus wasn’t even sure of he believed in. all he knew was that it felt better than with anyone he had ever kissed; blokes or babes.
he was scared. what if last night had been the silent end to their friendship? what if this would end up in them never speaking to each other again, only when forced to? what if Remus had just lost one of his best friends?
suddenly James started choking.
“fucking hell—” he coughed a couple of times, falling out of his chair onto the grass.
“James!!” the three of them yelled. Remus sprinting towards him, sitting him up, ready to do the Heimlich grip.
“what the fuck are you doing?!” Sirius yelled at him, panic, for sure.
“SAVING YOUR BEST FRIEND.” Sirius fell quiet. Remus went on, sitting James up against himself. he had luckily never had to do this before, but right now he wished he knew if he was doing it—
“GUYS STOP STOP STOP,” James suddenly yelled. Remus letting go of him immediately. “HAPPY APRIL FOOLS!!” he giggled at himself.
“oh, ha ha.” Peter stood back up again, sitting back in his chair. “hilarious, mate.”
“are you being fucking serious—” Remus let go of him immediately, James was still laughing, Sirius was still sitting on the ground, staring ahead of himself, and Pete was already back in his chair, unbothered.
“no, but i do know who wants to fuck Sirius.” James winked at him in a joking wat. still, Remus’s cheeks started heating up, he pinched himself in a (failed) attempt to stop the blushing. he didn’t mean to blush, but he could feel Sirius’s eyes on him.
“wait—” Peter started, once again Remus could feel another pair of eyes on him. fucking hell, James.
“so,” Remus broke the awkward setting. “what are the plans for today?” James laughed, but didn’t say anything else about his previous comment anymore; Sirius was, however, still quiet.
“don’t know,” James said, he was absolutely one hundred percent lying, Remus could tell. “OH I KNOW!” he pretended to suddenly have come up with something. oh god, please don’t let me die because of James Fleamont Potter’s stupid ideas today.
“ICE SKATING!” James practically squealed.
“no.”
“absolutely not.”
“i don’t think so.”
James sighed, and took a sip from his tea.
“oh come on you guys! it’ll be fun!” he said, Remus dropped his head, but he knew that once James was up to something, there was no stopping him.
“alright.” Remus said eventually, leaning his head on his fist.
“Moony!” Peter groaned, this was going to be one hell of a day.
luckily for them, the skating rink was almost empty, apart from two girls, who were giggling excitingly the entire time, but they didn’t even seem to notice them.
“Prongs, this is so stupid.” Sirius murmured as he put on the skates, pulling his trousers over them. “they don’t even look good!”
“in James’s defense,” Peter said. “they’re not meant to look good.”
Remus almost tripped over as he stood up, he blamed the skates and his lanky legs all at once.
naturally, Sirius and James were absolutely brilliant on the rink; skating away like this was their destiny in life, something they had trained for since they were kids. Pete and Remus stayed behind a bit, chattering away.
“how much i’d love a fag right now, you can’t smoke on the rink, Remus.” Pete told him, their arms locked so they wouldn’t fall over. sighing, Remus put the pack back into the pocket of his jacket, together with his lighter.
“Remus?” a girl’s voice sounded from behind them, making them turn around, once again almost falling over in the process. “i love your name!” Remus was honestly a bit flabbergasted; never before had someone complimented him about his name.
“thank you?” he said, awkwardly without intending to give off that impression.
“i’m Mary,” the girl pointed to herself, then pointed to the blonde girl next to her. “that’s Marlene.” the girl, Marlene, smiled and greeted the both of them. they all engaged in a conversation Remus couldn’t really remember what it was about, when Mary asked them if it would be okay if they’d sit down for a bit.
“thank god you asked,” Peter said. “if i had to skate around for any longer, i might have hung myself with these skates.” Remus and the girls laughed.
“we should have never gone in the first place.” Remus agreed.
“why? it was surely your own choices to come here?” Marlene asked, but Peter was already glaring in the direction of Sirius and James, who were still happily skating.
“oh, are they your friends?” Remus nodded, now looking at the two boys as well. his eyes met Sirius’s for a second, who just stared at him with an expression he couldn’t exactly explain.
why did it matter what Sirius thought, anyways? Sirius had ignored him all morning! after all, Remus wasn’t the one that had initiated the kiss, that was all Sirius.
but Remus had kissed him back.
Remus scoffed and turned to the three others sitting there again, Pete was already deep in conversation with Marlene, something about a movie that had recently came out.
“are you guys fighting?” Mary asked him suddenly. he turned to her, were they fighting?
“don’t know. it’s complicated.” it was true, things were always complicated with Sirius, but it never bothered him before.
“hit me,” she said. “i’m smart, i can solve complicated things.” Mary grinned, leaning back on the plastic chair. Remus doubted telling her, she could tell.
“gyall’s,” she spoke, turning to Marlene and Pete. “me and Remus gonna catch some air, be right back.” Mary grabbed his arm and dragged him outside of the rink, where no one was around.
“what’s up?” she sat down against the wooden wall, so did Remus, lighting a cigarette and taking a drag of it immediately. he shrugged.
“Sirius is being a dick, that’s all.” he didn’t know wether to tell her about the kiss or not, but it didn’t matter anyway, he didn’t even know her that well.
“Sirius? the one with the pretty hair?” Remus laughed, and nodded. “what is up with you lads and having such cool names? i am so jealous.” Mary pouted jokingly and accepted the cig Remus was handing to her.
“we kissed, last night.” he eventually said, taking the cigarette back from her and dropping his head back onto the wall.
“isn’t that a good thing? i mean,” Mary sat up a bit straighter. “i know i’ve only met you like an hour ago, but i can already tell you fancy him. it’s so obvious, Remus.” Remus let out a shaky laugh.
“don’t know if it is, he’s been ignoring me all day, not even looking at me when i talk to him! and it wasn’t even like Iwas the one who kissed him, he kissed me!” Remus took another drag of his cigarette. Mary was cool, he was glad he could talk about these issues to someone who didn’t care to listen to him rant.
“it’ll be alright, i mean you’re both good looking blokes; what could go wrong?” Mary laughed, making Remus laugh as well. “he probably thinks we’re off snogging in the restrooms, if he goes all jealous after this,” she said. “he definitely likes you, too!”
Remus wasn’t too sure of that, but went with it anyway.
“what about you? you wanna make Marlene jealous too, or something?” he laughed, so did Mary.
“ha! no,” she said grabbing some gum from the pocket of her jean jacket. “if this other girl was here it’d be another story entirely.”
“what other girl?” he put his cig out, taking some of the gum Mary was handing him.
“ugh, no one.” Mary pulled her knees up to her face. “Lily, my friend. it’s so stupid. ever since these guys showed up to her uncle’s house, where she was staying at the time—” she interrupted herself. “long story, anyway. these guys showed up there and she met this guy James? i think, something like that—” now it was Remus interrupting her.
“James? Lily? oh Mary…”