sirius' greatest downfall
Something had to be done, if it wasn't tense or unpleasant before…it definitely was now. The friend group was barely even talking to each other in fear of accidentally taking sides. If the name of the other boy was even mentioned in the same room that Sirius or Remus were in, the room wouldn't be occupied for much longer.
James and Lily were so over it. They couldn't even hang out anymore because Sirius was always with James and he didn't want to go over to Lily’s because Shari was there and Lily didn't want to really be around Sirius at the moment because she was sick of hearing a comment about “being kicked out so Remus could get a shag in with Shari” every time she was over there.
So together, James and Lily thought of a plan that would fix whatever the fuck was going on with the two boys, in the style of a good old-fashioned parent trap.
It was simple really. Lily would make sure that Shari was gone, and wouldn't be back for a while, and then she would invite Remus over to “give him his Christmas present before break”. She would take him into her room just to see James and Sirius already in there, James having told Sirius that he needed help sneaking a look at Lily’s gift to him. They would then push the two boys together and lock them in the room together until everything was okay between them.
It would work. They knew it would. Because frankly, there is nothing Sirius loved more than sneaking around and ruining Lily’s surprises.
Lily had promised him that Shari wouldn't be there, which was the only reason he had agreed to go over to her place to exchange gifts before the break.
He felt bad about what happened with Shari and had apologized profusely over text to her because he had no intentions of hurting her or leading her on but he just genuinely had no interest in her. She was cool about it, said she understood…but Remus still didn't feel comfortable being in the same room as her.
So with the knowledge that he would not have to run into his one time hookup partner, he walked over to Lily’s.
“Hey Remus!” Lily hugged him tightly, having missed him in the short time that she had not seen him, “How are you?”
“I’m fine. Really. Excited to go home, I think it will be good for me.” It would be. Being home with his family and away from all this drama would be exactly what Remus needed.
“I do too. Give my love to your mum when you see her, alright?”
He nodded and followed Lily to her room. When she opened her bedroom door she let him walk in first…and then he looked up, “What the hell?”
James and Sirius’ heads both shot over to where Remus was standing. James on Sirius’ shoulders as he looked through boxes on the top shelf of Lily’s closet. It was still and silent for a moment before there was a sudden struggle of James trying to get off of Sirius’ shoulders.
Sirius realized in that moment just what was happening. In all reality he should have known better, James was an idiot but he wasn't dumb enough to go snooping around in Lily’s closet for his gift while she was home. But Sirius would never turn down the opportunity to poke around Lily’s room…that was his greatest downfall.
James was able to get off of Sirius’ shoulders, despite Sirius’ tugging and pulling, and jumped across Lily’s bed, bound out of her room, and slammed the door behind him just as Sirius reached the door a fraction too late.
“James! What the fuck is this?”
“This is for you two to get your shit together!” Lily yelled from the other side of the door.
“Lily?” Remus sounded betrayed…yet honestly impressed, “You're in on this too?”
“It was her idea!” James pitched in, “Now talk!”
It was quiet for a second. Sirius stood squarely by the door biting his lip as Remus walked to the edge of Lily’s bed and plopped down onto it.
Seeing Sirius like this, so guarded, so hurt, made Remus’ heart hurt. Sirius should never be anything but happy, his Sirius should never have an ounce of misery in him.
“I'm sorry.” Remus started, “For- for Shari. It was a real dick move to shag her like that, on Lily’s couch nonetheless. You were right. It was too soon.”
Sirius took a deep breath and looked over at Remus. His first thought was to yell at him, and tell him how badly it had hurt to see that, but Remus was Remus and he had already been mad and upset for far too long. “I'm sorry too. For the way I acted afterwards. I treated you like you had just cheated on me or something and that's not- you didn't because well we are together anymore. It's your right to move on if you want.”
“I don't fancy Shari.”
“You don't?”
“No.”
“Then why did you-” Sirius shook his head as he turned to sit next to Remus on the bed, “It's just you're not really the type to just go around shagging people for the hell of it. I just assumed that-”
“I don't fancy Shari. I was sad and she was there and it was completely a spur of the moment thing. I'm not ready to date anyone right now.”
Sirius silently nodded his head, he didn't know what he preferred, Remus liking someone else or Remus shagging people (that wasn't him) just for the hell of it. They both seemed like pretty shit options but instead of dwelling on it, he decided to let it go. “We’re good then? We can go back to being friends? I know the two idiots out there are going mad.”
Remus let himself laugh, “Yeah. We’re good.”
“Good.”
They shared small, silent smiles, a moment that only lasted a few seconds before James yelled against the door, “Have you two blokes made up yet!”
Sirius rolled his eyes and walked over to the door, pulling it open causing James to almost fall from having been leaning against it.
“Yes. We made up and are friends again so you two can bugger off now.”
“Oh thank god.” Lily breathed a sigh of relief.