“How in the fuck did you talk us into doing this again?”
James Potter waved his hand lazily. “It’s for a good cause, Peter. It’s for Remus!”
“Okay, but I am Remus, and I don’t want to be involved in this,” a third voice chimed in, sounding rather dry and unimpressed. “And I would like an answer to Peter’s question? How did you two manage to rope us into this again?”
“It was difficult,” Sirius Black admitted with a shrug. “If Fabian and Gideon hadn’t gotten injured during rehearsal, we wouldn’t have needed you.”
“Injured?!” Peter asked in confusion. “James told us they had to babysit their nephews! Is this dangerous?”
James glared at Sirius, trying to silence him. “No, no, Pete, of course it’s not dangerous,” James said placatingly. “Not for someone like you! You, my friend, are absolutely the perfect specimen to perform this roll!”
“Why do I have to be Ginger Spice?” Peter whined. “Wouldn’t Lily be a better replacement as Ginger?”
“Lily cannot be Ginger Spice because Lily is not one of the Spice Boys. Now suck it up and pretend to be a soulless red-headed asshole!” Sirius said impatiently.
“You know, not all gingers are soulless,” James mused. “For example, my Lily has a beautiful, perfect soul.”
“I wasn’t saying gingers are soulless. I was saying the Prewetts are soulless.”
“Okay, so Peter and the Prewetts have no souls, which is why they originally qualified as Ginger Spice. And James is Sporty Spice because he’s athletic and captain of the football team. And Sirius is Posh Spice because… well, obviously. But why am I Scary Spice?” Remus asked, partially annoyed by the turn of events, partially amused, but mostly grateful.
“Because you’re a werewolf, Remus. Werewolves are scary,” James explained slowly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“I AM NOT A WEREWOLF!” Remus said sternly, for probably the hundredth time since his diagnosis.
Remus had been diagnosed about a year prior with Hairy Cell Leukemia. It had come as a shock, and he had definitely gone through a range of emotions finding out he, a normal 16 year old high school student, had what was basically a lifelong cancer.
His friends came through in unimaginable ways, from hospital visits to late night phone calls to sleepovers all cuddled together. They even organized a bone marrow donor drive, supporting the national bone marrow registry. James, Sirius, and Peter offered nothing but support and love.
And jokes. So many jokes. Apparently, Hairy Cell Leukemia is too funny a name, and for the past six months, he had been enduring countless, never-ending werewolf jokes. Remus loved how his friends made him feel normal again. Like the cancer while difficult, wasn’t the end of the world. It was just another part of Remus. James even went so far to call it is “Furry little problem.”
They were preparing a performance for a fund-raising event the school was putting on (completely organized by Remus’ friends) to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Remus pretended to be mad about getting roped into the performance, but he couldn’t be happier about how wonderful his friends were.
The four friends were joking around backstage, waiting for their turn to perform.
“But where’s Baby Spice?” Peter asked suddenly. “Who is Baby Spice, anyway?”
“He’ll be here,” Sirius replied confidently, nodding at the light pink tank top hanging on chair.
Remus had to admit, Sirius and James had gone all out on the costumes. James was wearing a cropped tank top emblazoned with a Union Jack, and a relaxed jogging pants, looking perfectly sporty and British. Sirius wore black leather, looking sinfully posh. Peter had somehow wriggled into Fabian’s red tank top and shorts, and finished his look with a ridiculous red wig. Remus was wearing leopard print (although it hung a bit loose on him, based on the size difference between him and Gideon), and topped it off with a wolf-eared headband.
A few minutes before they were set to go on, Remus was getting nervous. Baby Spice still hadn’t shown up. His worry was interrupted by angry swearing.
“Sirius, what the fuck? You said you broke your leg, what the hell is going on?”
It was Regulus Black, Sirius’ younger brother. He looked stressed and angry, apparently having rushed over from their house to help an “injured” Sirius.
“Nah, Reggie, you misunderstood. I said ‘I’m about to break a leg.’ As in, I’m going to have stellar performance!”
Regulus took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “I fucking hate you sometimes.”
Sirius simply shrugged. “Well, since you’re here, you might as well join us for our performance. You get to be Baby Spice. There’s your costume.”
He patted Regulus on the back, threw the tank top at him, and walked away, whistling. “Better hurry, little brother, we’re going on in 2 minutes.”
Grumbling, Regulus switched into the tank top and joined the others by the stage entrance. “What are we doing anyway?” he asked. Remus was only half surprised that Regulus decided to stay and join them. He was used to putting up with Sirius’ stunts. They all were.
“Sirius and I are doing most of the singing. You three just dance and look cute,” James said.
The group before them left the stage to a round of applause. Lily went on in front of the boys, and announced into her microphone:
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, the final act for our Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Fundraiser, The Spice Boys!”
The five boys entered the stage to cheers and whistles. Sirius and James stood up front, with Peter, Remus, and Regulus staying further back. Sirius turned and winked at Remus.
Remus was grateful he could blame his blush on the spotlight. The past year had seen the four friends becoming closer than ever, and Remus felt especially attached to Sirius. He had fallen into the cliched trope of falling in love with his best friend. Only, there was no way Sirius could return his feelings. Sure, Sirius may have gotten into the habit of casually throwing his arm over Remus’ shoulder, but Sirius was very tactile. And sure, maybe Sirius spent more time staring at Remus, but it was to be expected after getting a scare like his diagnosis.
Remus shook out his arms, hoping to get himself refocused.
Sirius began singing:
“Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want,”
And James responded: “So tell me what you want, what you really, really want”
“I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.”
“So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.”
“I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really, really, really wanna ziggazig ah.”
Sirius continued with most of the verse.
“If you want my future, forget my past.
If you want to get with me, better make it fast.
Now don’t go wasting, my precious time.
If you really love me then we’ll be just fine.”
Remus zoned out a bit, focusing on his dancing. (Yes, they had perfected their dance for "Wannabe" over the years of their friendship, in addition to many other songs. Don’t judge.) He ignored the back and forth between James and Sirius until Sirius started signing:
“If you wanna be my lover, you gotta be one of my best friends.
Make it last forever, friendship never ends.
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give.
Taking is too easy, but that’s the way it is.”
Huh. It was weird for Sirius to flub the lyrics like that. He was always willing to shout/sing “Wannabe” for anyone who asked (and many people who didn’t ask).
“So here’s the story from A to Z
You wanna' get with me, you gotta listen carefully,
We got Rem in the place, he’s got a cutie face.
You got James, and Pete, who don’t do it for me.
And Reggie looks a lot like me, he’s a really cutie
But as for me? Well, I want Re.”
Remus was fairly certain he had stopped dancing, but he couldn’t quite tell. His head was spinning- was this really happening? Or was he hallucinating.
“If you wanna be my lover, you gotta be one of my best friends.
Make it last forever, friendship never ends.”
Yeah. Remus was definitely hallucinating. Maybe he had a fever? He did get sick often. He felt his forehead with the back of his hand. It felt warm, but that could have been from the lights.
“Slam that cutie down, take him out around town.”
James piped in with a high falsetto. “Slam that cutie down, take him out around town.”
“I really, really, really want a date with Remus!”
The song finished, to loud applause and cheers. But Remus was still standing stock still. This couldn’t possibly be real, right?
Sirius came over to him, smiling hopefully. “Well?” He asked.
Remus blinked. “I… I think I must have fallen asleep and hallucinated or something. It seemed like you were… asking me out? On a date?”
Sirius rolled his. “Yeah, that, uh, was kind of the whole point. Feel free to tell me to fuck off, I know this is kind of a high pressure thing, and it’s not how we planned it- we really DID want Fab and Gid here, but-“
Remus cut him off by wrapping has arms around Sirius’ neck. He was nodding fiercely, finding himself unable to speak.
“Yeah?” Sirius asked, seemingly in disbelief. He turned to the crowd, Remus still wrapped around his neck. “He said yes!”
***
Remus and his friends had been the last group of the evening to perform. Shortly after they finished, the audience started shuffling out. They stayed behind to help Lily tidy up a bit.
“So, about that date,” Remus asked, side-eyeing Sirius. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, I know a great place to get pie,” Sirius responded with a smirk. “You up for it tonight?”
Remus was about to respond when Regulus popped between them. “Yes. You owe me, Sirius,” he said simply. “I will take my payment in pies. I’ll think of the rest of your punishment later.”
***
Sirius ended up treating everyone to pie at Rosmerta’s: Gideon and Fabian, mirror images with their broken arms in slings; James and Lily; Regulus; Peter. He sat next to Remus, and as had become his norm, casually slung his arm over the booth behind Remus. This time Remus allowed himself to indulge, snuggling into Sirius side, content as he could ever remember being.
“You know what I like best about you?” Remus asked, looking up at Sirius’ face. Sirius made a questioning noise, so Remus continued. “You really know how to spice things up.”