Small Corner in Paris

"Do you think dad made the bad decision on sending us here? I mean really, I don't see us actually getting any work done."

James Potter and Sirius Black were walking out of their very nice and very expensive hotel room in Paris. Fresh out of Uni and off a plane from London, they were quite the sight.

James was tall, maybe 6' with tanned, perfect skin. His dark curly hair, flew out from his head, unstyled and wild, exactly how he preferred it, and he pushed his dark rimmed glasses up his nose as they began to slip down. On his side, his second half, Sirius, walked with confidence. He was shorter than James, 5'10 (6' around attractive men) and had pale skin. His hair was just as dark but it was long, he pulled it into a bun before leaving the hotel room but already had small pieces tumbling out of it. He paired his trusty leather jacket with a pair of dark sunglasses, and together the two brothers caught every passerby's attention.

"How could it possibly be a bad decision? It's not like we actually have to do any real work."

Sirius bumped his shoulder against James', "Isn't that what he sent us here for?"

James smiled, a shadow of mischief on his lips, "He sent us here to find a potential business move or opportunity. He literally said we have to scrounge around Paris, which loosely translates to 'here's money and a flight and hotel paid for, go fuck around in Paris for a month.'"

Sirius grinned and popped the collar of his jacket, "Sounds right to me."

And fuck around they did. They went to bars and clubs and kissed lots of pretty french people in said bars and clubs. They shied away from doing basic tourist things to appear 'cooler to the locals' in Sirius' insistence, but even though the boys were set in making their business trip as much as a vacation as possible, they figured that they should at least help old Mr. Potter out and actually do what they were supposed to...at least for one day.

They had been walking through the city for hours looking for...something that would catch their eyes as a business move, with no luck so far.

James, at this point, was physically dragging Sirius down the road.

"jamesie, love, I cannot walk any further without getting food into my system." Sirius was (fake) swooning and gasping for air.

"Always with the fucking dramatics." But in all honesty, James himself, was feeling quite hungry. He pulled Sirius up, so that he was now standing straight, "Alright. Let's go get something to eat."

After a few long days in Paris, they knew where their favorite places to get food were, however, today must have been a big tourist day because all the places they wanted to go were completely packed. They walked and walked and walked until, James decided it was his turn to be the dramatic one.

He fell to the ground, right next to a bench, and tipped his head back against a wall, "I don't think I can walk anymore, mate. Tell mum I love her. And clear my search history."

Sirius was breathing like he had just finished a marathon, "No offense but uh- I don't necessarily want to see your search history." He took his sunglasses off and squinted down the path, "What about that place?"

James looked in the same direction, "Are you sure that's even a restaurant?" They were looking at a tiny corner building that had an even tinier sign out front. They couldn't read the sign from their distance, but it looked like the sort of sign that a restaurant would have.

"Worth a shot, don't you think?"

James stood up from the ground, "Yeah. Yeah let's go."

As they approached the building they were able to read the sign "Phoenix Cafe". The boys looked at each other and shrugged before entering the small building.

It was small indeed. Maybe 7 tables and from the front door you could see the small kitchen, which looked like it would only be able to fit one chef, but there wasn't one there. There were four doors total from what they could see, the front door, kitchen door, and a door on either side of the space, one labeled "restroom" the other "employees only" in French. Even though it was small, it was beautifully decorated with a cozy and friendly atmosphere- of course it would be friendly if there was anyone there.

Sirius, the better of the two at French called into the beautiful, empty space, "Allô?"

"Sois avec toi en un instant!" A kind, yet strong voice called out from somewhere in building. The source of the voice suddenly came out of the room labeled 'employees only'. He had his back turned to the other boys and was grabbing two menus from a podium, "N' hésitez pas à vous asseoir." The two boys sat down at a table close to where they were standing.

The waiter came over to them and placed two menus in front of them. Sirius looked down at the menu then up at the waiter, and they instantly locked eyes. He was tall and lanky, his limbs seemed to just awkwardly hang from his slim torso. He had dirty blonde curls, styled much nicer than James'. He also had light brown eyes and a slightly crooked nose. And holy shit was he attractive.

Sirius just stared at him. And he stared back, just for a moment before he attempted to compose himself. He blinked a few times and then cleared his throat and looked away but when he looked back at him, he seemed just as flustered as before, he croaked out a raspy, "Hi."

Sirius raised his eyebrows and spoke quietly, "Hi...you're not French." And no he wasn't, his 'hi' revealed that he was just as English as they were.

He smiled bashfully and laughed through his nose, "No, I'm not French." The they continued to just smile as each other, and James, feeling awkward with the tension brewing next to him cleared his throat. That broke the staring contest and both boys looked away. The waiter cleared his throat once more and jumped back into work mode, "I'm Remus, I'll be your server today."

But the professional mode didn't last long because Sirius looked up at him and softly smiled, "Remus...hi." putting a soft emphasis on his name and Remus blushed and when he spoke again, he sounded slightly out of breath.

"What can I get you two to drink?"

James smiled at the condition of both of them, "Water for both of us is fine."

Remus nodded, "Alright, I'll get those for you while you look over the menu." And walked away. He stopped at the door he had come out of earlier and yelled into it, "Peter, Lily! Customers!" then busied himself with their waters.

Sirius was quiet, which is something that never happens. When James looked over at him, he wasn't looking at the menu, rather at Remus who was placing their waters on a tray. "Alright there, Romeo?"

"Shove off. You don't know what you're talking about." They both looked up at Remus who smiled, only at Sirius, as he began to walk over with their waters.

"Don't I?" He smirked as Remus placed their waters in front of them. Sirius blushed as his fingers grazed across Remus' before he quickly walked away.

"Shove off anyway." He took a sip of his water and made eye contact once again with Remus who was tucking a rag into his belt, "I think I'd rather be Juliet."

The door opened and two people walked out, one, a boy around Sirius' height with short blonde hair and a chef's coat, who rushed into the kitchen immediately and started busying himself. The other, a girl with long red hair and green eyes wearing a professional looking outfit, she instantly turned to their table.

When James looked up from his glass to see her walking towards them he choked on his water. Sirius hit his back as he coughed into his napkin. "Now who's playing Romeo?"

"Piss off, Juliet."

She reached them and smiled hesitantly at the coughing James, "tout va bien ici?"

Sirius spoke to give James a second to better catch his breath, "Yes, everything's perfect."

She let out a small laugh, "Oh thank god! You're English! Talking in French all the time can really get exhausting."

Sirius raised his glass, "That we are."

"Well, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Lily-"

"I'm James." He rushed the words out quickly and they both looked at him questioningly.

It was quiet for a second as James tried to hide his embarrassment and Sirius tried to hold in his laughter. Remus came back over to the table and Sirius smiled and spoke to Lily, though all his attention was on Remus, "I'm Sirius." Remus was writing in his notepad but smiled softly when Sirius gave his name.

The two boys gave placed their orders with Remus, who gave them to the chef in the back (Peter, they deducted) and Lily politely excused herself.

Their experience was excellent. The food was amazing and the eye candy that was available for Sirius and James wasn't exactly dampening the mood.

They had finished up their food when Remus and Lily came over to them. Remus cleared their plates as Lily spoke, "How was everything?"

"Incredible." James said with 100% honesty.

"Agreed." Sirius said as he handed his plate to Remus, "We will definitely be back." and Remus smiled at him. Sirius realized he really enjoyed Remus' smile.

James gave his card to Lily to pay for the meal and when she walked away, he proceeded put a generous amount of cash on the table as a tip. He looked at Sirius and wordlessly asked, "This good?" to which Sirius gave him a quick nod back.

Lily walked back to them as they stood and she handed back the card. Sirius smiled at her, "Thank you again, this was truly amazing."

James blushed slightly as he looked at her, "Uh- it was um..it was lovely to meet you, Lily."

She smiled softly, "You too."

Remus was at a corner table helping an older couple and Sirius called out to him, "Remus." Remus looked at him bashfully, "It was great to meet you." Remus nodded mutely and blushed widely at him. Sirius smiled and walked out of the restaurant with James.

Lily watched them leave then moved to pick up the tip. She looked down completely bewildered at the amount of cash, "It's too much." she whispered to herself. She collected the money into her hands and ran out after them. "Excuse me!" The two boys turned to her slowly with raised brows, "You forgot some cash."

James shook his head, "No, that's the tip."

She shook her head more aggressively than he had, "It's too much. I- I can't accept this."

She held out the money for him to take but he just put his hands in his pockets. "It was the best meal experience we've had since we got here...keep it."

She opened her mouth to object then closed it seeing the genuine look on their faces. "Thank you." She had a thankful and heartfelt expression on her face and her voice slightly broke as she spoke.

"Don't thank us," James smiled, "you guys deserve it. We'll see you soon." And turned. Sirius saluted her and followed suit.

Back in the small dining room, Lily was counting the generous tip when Remus came to her side, "Was this the tip they left?"

"Generous isn't it?"

Remus let out a breathy laugh. Lily looked at the table where they had sat, "There was something strange about them, wasn't there?" She turned to Remus, who smirked and popped a mint into his mouth.

"Not that strange."