Chapter 7
Remus POV
The game continued, one boy and girl were dared to make out, a kid revealed he had a sex dream about McGonagall and a girl had to flash the group. Remus closed his eyes for that, not only because he was gay but because he had human decency.
Now someone was asking him again, "Remus, truth or dare?"
"Truth." Remus didn't hesitate with his answer, he hated dates, especially with people he didn't know well. He never trusted them.
"Who was your first kiss?" The girl asked.
Remus pauses thinking for a second, "That depends, a girl pecked me on the lips when I was 8 but my first snog was Lily when I was 14."
The girl's eyes widened comically, "You mean Lily Evans?" Remus nodded, "aren't you gay?"
What?
"Yes I'm fucking gay, that doesn't mean I wasn't confused for a bit." He said it a little defensively, people tended to assume that gay people just knew they were gay the minute they were born. That is far from true, Remus didn't realize or admit he was gay until he was 15.
The girl's face turned red from embarrassment, she nodded sheepishly. Remus felt bad so he quickly took his turn asking a girl he remembered the name of from the previous round. She picked the truth so he just asked who her crush is. It always seemed like a good question. It started with enough drama but wasn't too deep.
Then it was her turn, what he did not expect was her to choose him, "Remus truth or dare?"
Remus sighed, "Truth."
"Have you ever gotten in a fight before?"
"Yes."
Why did people care if he got in fights?
She continued, "What was the context?"
Remus snorted, "That depends, most of the time it was bullies at my old school,"
He felt someone punch his arm and turned to see the angry face of Sirius and James. Sirius, of course, was the one that punched him.
"What the hell was that for?"
"You never told us you know how to fight? Why didn't you tell us? I have so many questions." He glared at Remus as if he had truly done something wrong.
"I don't like talking about it. Their not my proudest moments."
Sirius glared harder, "How many fights have you been in? Did you ever get injured? Did you win? W-" Remus put his hand over his mouth before he could continue.
"If you must know, I have gotten into I believe 10 fights, and yes I've gotten injured but my worst injury was breaking my arm when I was 7." Sirius rolled his eyes at the last part.
He grabbed Remus's hand and removed it from his mouth, "Let me get this right. You not only didn't tell us you fight but you're also good at it."
Sirius was still glaring. He looked a little behind him to see James was as well.
What's the big deal?
"What's the big deal?" He repeated his thoughts.
"WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL!? This is huge. It means you can fight and you're strong. What bloody else are you hiding under those jumpers?" Sirius looked more hurt than angry now, but he wasn't exactly sure why.
So he decided to make it worse.
"A tattoo." He looked Sirius straight in the eye as he said it, making his face emotionless.
Sirius' eyes widened more if it was possible, "Are you joking?" Remus shook his head, smirking at Sirius's outrage. Sirius pretended to faint onto James with his hand on his forehead.
James looked at Remus, "you really have a tattoo?"
Remus nodded again, rolling his eyes. He jumped when someone asked, "Can you show it to us?" He forgot he was in the middle of a party.
Remus sighed, "Fine."
He stood up, causing Sirius to sit up, apparently not upset enough to forgo seeing the tattoo. He turned around so his back was to the group, and lifted the back of his shirt to his shoulders.
In between his shoulder blades was a tattoo of a vine with Irises growing out of them. It was detailed, but not in color.
"It's beautiful! Does it have a meaning?" Sirius and James had both scooted back so he could get a better view, it was James that spoke.
"I got it for my mother. Her name is Hope and Irises represents hope" Remus dropped his jumper back into place before sitting back down.
As he sat a boy across from him asked, "How did she react when she saw it?"
Remus snorted, "I don't know, she's dead."
Ugh, why does he have to have no filter when he's drunk. He never tells people things like this unless he's had alcohol, which again is not often.
No one spoke, they just stared at him with pity in their eyes like he was about to break, "It's fine, I was 5 when it happened. Let's get back to the game." Remus began picking at the hem of his jumper in discomfort.
Sensing his discomfort, Sirius switched the focus back to the game, "Okay, James truth or dare?"
He looked at Sirius who smiled at him, he smiled back hoping it conveyed his thanks.
No one questioned why Sirius went when it wasn't his turn thankfully, they all went back to the game.
He stopped paying attention, getting lost in his own thoughts. He tended to avoid thinking about that night. It never did good dwelling on something he could never change. But there was always that part of him that felt guilty. Maybe it was because of his father or maybe it was because he is guilty. He doesn't know. What he does know is that he can't change the past, no matter how much he wants to.
He blinked a few times refocusing his eyes. Once focused he looked next to him for his cup, which was thankfully full after Lily, surprisingly, brought him more. He knows he shouldn't be drinking, for multiple reasons, but he rarely does it and right now he needs it.
With that thought in mind, he grabbed his cup and chugged it in one go, savoring the burning in the back of his throat.
He looked around the group and room glad people have stopped focusing on him.
Or maybe he spoke too soon.
"Remus, truth or dare?" The boy that asked sat diagonally from him, he had an evil glint in his eye that told Remus to be careful.
Did he listen? no.
"Dare." He heard a few 'ooh's' go around, probably because he hasn't done a dare yet.
“I dare you to fight Jack, our offensive lineman.” Remus raised an eyebrow.
“I don't just fight people, I use it for defense.”
“What? Are you scared of Lupin?” Jack, seemingly up for the challenge, tries taunting him.
The guy that had dared him high fives him. They seemed to be friends and in this together.
Interesting.
"No, I just don't want to hurt you." He replied, raising an eyebrow.
"I'd like to see you try." Jack laughed, "You see Lupin, you're just lanky and boney, I'm all muscle, if anyone's gonna get hurt here, it's you" Jack's eyes narrowed.
“If you genuinely want to fight we can just till one of us taps out.” He conceded.
“Deal.”