Introductions
Remus sat in silence in the old upholstered armchair in the living room sipping from a cup of tepid black tea. He wore his usual work attire, white button down shirt under a maroon jumper with cream colored slacks. Brown loafers and silver framed reading glasses completed his unassumingly academic appearance. His outwardly calm appearance did nothing to sooth the witch pacing the floor in front of him, fiddling with the locket he’d given her on their first anniversary.
Her white long-sleeved blouse was not one of her usual choices, but it hid her tattoos which Remus guessed to be the reason for wearing it now. Her skinny jeans and black combat boots gave her a more casual appearance than his, but she had changed after work. He had not. The small pale-green gems she wore hanging from her ears matched the stone on the locket twisting between her fingertips.
“Are you-”
Remus cut her off before she could finish asking for the fourth time in the last hour, “Yes, Gem, I’m sure. Sirius is an old friend and a good man, if a bit prone to theatrics and tardiness.”
Gem tossed him a quick glare of her pale pink eyes over her shoulder as she continued to pace. Remus had seen others wither under such looks from his witch but he had built up an immunity over the years. He also knew when her apparent irritation was covering for fear and insecurity.
“We’ve talked about this, pet,” Remus continued, unperturbed, “You need an Alpha, your heat is going to start in two weeks.”
“I don’t NEED an Alpha to get me through this heat,” Gem interrupted, finally stopping her pacing to face him down from across the room. The kitchen light behind her made her silky hair glow, framing her face in amethyst waves. Remus sighed, it was difficult to keep himself from going to her and snogging her senseless like this.
“Maybe not this heat, or even the next, but you’ll need one soon. I’m a Beta, Gem, I can only do so much and your heats have been getting progressively more intense.” Remus set down his tea on the end table beside him and stood up. “You don’t have to choose this Alpha, but you already agreed to meet him. That’s all that is going to happen, Gem,” unless we want more to happen Remus thought, and given what he knew of Sirius and Gem he felt that was quite likely. The thought sat with him less well than he would have liked.
Gem’s lips twitched slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest, leaning away from him. “I don’t mind meeting an old friend of yours,” she admitted, “but this,” she waved one hand down, gesturing over herself and then the space between them before wrapping her arms around her chest again, “it complicates things.”
Remus nodded in acknowledgement. He wanted to go to her, hold her, kiss her metallic purple hair and reassure her that everything would be okay, but he knew better than to think she’d accept such advances now when she was still so defensive. He stayed where he was, “Yes, it does, and we’ve handled complications before.” Remus smiled a little as his eyes glazed over with nostalgia, “We’ve dealt with my lycanthropy, our struggling careers, meeting each other's parents, moving in together, and our pregnancy scare.”
Remus’s eyes refocused in time to see Gem drop her arms down to her sides. He opened his with a loving smile and she walked into them, snuggling against him affectionately. “We’ll be okay, little flame,” Remus whispered, dropping a kiss on top of her head.
“I love you, Moony,” Gem replied, voice muffled by his jumper.
There was a knock on the door before Remus could answer. Gem looked up at him, eyes wide before pulling away from him and scurrying to sit on the far end of the couch, forcing an air of nonchalance. The corner of his mouth quirked upward at the sight, no one else would be able to tell how nervous she was just to look at her, but the smell of her unease would be apparent to any Alpha, or to a werewolf.
Remus turned and walked to the door, opening it with an easy smile for his old friend, “Padfoot, it’s good to see you.” Sirius stood in the doorway with a wide grin on his face, leather jacket in hand. He wore a simple black t-shirt, jeans that Remus distantly recalled from their last pub night, and muggle converse sneakers. With his hair pulled back into a low messy ponytail the small claw dangling from his left earlobe was visible.
“Moony!” Sirius plowed into him for a fierce, warm hug. If it wasn’t for the difference in their heights, Sirius would have bowled him over. “It’s been ages. I can’t believe you found someone special and didn’t tell the rest of the Marauders!”
Remus hugged him back, pulling the shorter man into the apartment and shutting the door behind him. “Well with you out getting into trouble with your blasted motorbike and James and Lily having a baby and Peter getting married the topic didn’t seem to come up.”
Sirius finally released him, grinning up at his friend. “Uh huh, sure you weren’t worried I’d come steal her away?” The voice was light and teasing but the look in Sirius’ eyes was concerned.
Remus shook his head, “No Pads, of course not. But, on that subject…” He trailed off, blushing slightly. Fuck, he hadn’t really considered how to explain this part. Yes, he’d asked Sirius to come meet his girlfriend, but he hadn’t told him who or what his girlfriend was. Remus thought Sirius and Gem would get on well and he doubted chemistry would be a problem for them, that thought left him feeling a bit queasy, but how do you ask your mate to please have sex with your girlfriend several times a year?
A quiet cough sounded from behind him and Remus quickly stepped aside, allowing his friend and his love to see each other for the first time since Sirius had entered their apartment. “Sirius, this is Gem Livingstone, she was a couple years behind us at Hogwarts. Gem, this is Sirius Black, an old friend of mine from school.
Remus looked between the two of them in quiet amusement. Gem, being a former Slytherin, was doing a remarkable job looking unaffected by the introduction to his handsome Alpha friend. Her scent, however, was an entirely different story. Remus could smell her nervousness and her slight arousal even beneath the overwhelming scent of Alpha. Sirius had his mouth open in shock, nostrils flared, eyes wide, and his scent. Remus had always enjoyed the way Sirius smelled, like leather and petrichor, but now the smell was much stronger, intensified by the presence of a desirable omega.
“Pleasure to meet you, Black.” Gem spoke like she’d just been introduced to a colleague at a work function instead of a dear friend in the privacy of her own home and offered her hand to shake.
Sirius did not respond, apparently still in shock until Remus broke the silence stretching between them like Gem’s hand with a quiet chuckle.
“Oh. My. Godric. Gem !?” Sirius grabbed her outstretched hand in both of his. “The first muggleborn ever sorted into Slytherin! Moony, what the hell mate?”
Remus guffawed at Gem’s bewildered expression and Sirius’ look of betrayal.
“It’s not funny, Remus! Your girlfriend was the only Hogwarts student to ever get away with a facial piercing and permanently changing her eye color before graduating! How could you keep this from me!?”
Gem cleared her throat, dragging his attention away from the still snickering werewolf and to the now smirking former Slytherin, “Technically the eye color change wasn’t my fault, it was a potions accident .” She raised her eyebrow at Sirius, the right one with the infamous piercing through it.
Remus continued to snicker, trying to smother the sound beneath his hand so he wouldn’t interrupt the exchange. Yeah , he thought, an ‘accident’ she had orchestrated and sabotaged all efforts to fix.
“And,” Gem continued, “I had parental permission for the piercing. There was nothing in the school charter specifically prohibiting students from having facial piercings until after I got mine.”
Remus could smell the heavy musk of padfoot’s arousal and grinned, glad Gem didn’t have the olfactory sensitivity he and Sirius did. He knew that Gem’s reputation and body modifications would drive Sirius up the wall, but he doubted that Gem would appreciate those little kinks until she’d gotten to know Sirius better.
It had taken about half an hour and some tea and snacks but Remus finally had the Alpha and omega where he wanted them. Sirius was seated on the end of the couch furthest from the door, gesticulating animatedly as he told Gem a story from their school days. Gem sat near the center of the couch, listening to Sirius with a smile and amusement dancing in her pale pink eyes.
Remus watched from his armchair, closest to the door, turning his empty mug in his hands and wondering how to bring up the topic he’d brought his friend here to discuss.
“Padfoot,” Remus began as Sirius finished his story, “are you seeing anyone these days?”
Gem gave him a knowing look, but Sirius waved his question off with one hand.
“You know I can’t keep secrets from you, Moons, if I was seeing someone you’d already know.” Remus acknowledged the dig at him for not telling his friends about Gem sooner with a scowl.
“That’s good to hear.” Remus and Sirius both looked at Gem with surprise, whose Gem’s focus was on Sirius again.
“Flame-”
“Love, maybe best not to say things like that to an Alpha in front of your boyfriend, yeah?” Sirius’ gaze flicked quickly to Remus before looking back at Gem, a small nervous smile on his face. “Not that I’m not flattered, but-”
Gem turned to Remus quickly, face expressionless, “You didn’t tell him.” It wasn’t a question.
Remus shook his head, feeling a twinge of guilt, and looked back to Sirius who was looking at him curiously.
He sighed,“Sirius, there’s a reason I asked you over here today. Specifically you, not James or Peter.”
Sirius looked even more confused and Gem rolled her eyes. Remus watched her place her hand on Sirius’ knee with a pang in his chest. He told himself that this needed to happen, but maybe he could have done it a better way. Too late now.
“I’m an omega, Sirius. Remus is trying to find me an Alpha to help me through my heat.” Remus felt his breath catch in his throat. Leave it to Gem to be direct about such a personal thing. It was one of the things he liked best about her, and one of the things that drove him spare.
Sirius looked between the couple, eyes dilated yet calculating. “Is that true, Remus?”
Remus took a quick breath, “Essentially, yes. I was hoping to build up to it a bit more but that’s the gist of it.”
Sirius gave Remus a hard look before refocusing on Gem, “And is that what you want? An Alpha for your heat?”
“No.” Remus blinked, surprised. That’s what they’d talked about. He’d suggested getting her an alpha for months, showed her Alpha/omega match up apps and online dating sites. She’d only aquiested when he’d mentioned his friend from school. Remus had thought she wanted someone she could trust, not that she didn’t want an Alpha at all.
“I didn’t think so.” Sirius moved as if to stand but Gem’s left hand tightened on his knee while her right grabbed his hand. If her hold hadn’t stopped Sirius the intense look she gave him would have.
“I don’t want some stranger to fuck me when I’m vulnerable. I don’t want to have a relationship with Remus and a booty call on the side.”
Remus flinched at her words. Shit , he thought, we should have talked about this more. If that’s how she felt, God, Remus had been pushing the issue for months , ever since he’d noticed that each heat she had with him was lasting a little bit longer, her temperature getting a little higher, and her desperation getting a little worse.
“What I want,” Gem continued, still maintaining her intense eye contact with Sirius, “is an Alpha that can be a part of the relationship I already have with Remus.”
Gem kept her hands on Sirius, keeping him with her while she turned to face her boyfriend of two and a half years. “I know you care for him, Remus, and I know you want him. I can tell in the way you talk about him, in the way you look at him now that he’s here, in the way your whole body reacts to his scent.”
Gem released Sirius’ hand and reached for Remus who immediately moved to sit on her other side on the couch, letting the smaller witch lean back into him. Her body told him what her words hadn’t; she still loved and trusted him and was okay with his feelings for the Alpha in front of them. She locked eyes with Sirius again.
“I think you’d be good with us Sirius. It’d take some time, but if you’re interested, I’d like the three of us to try dating.” For the first time since Sirius had arrived, Gem blushed, “My-my heat isn’t for two weeks, so I’d like to see you a few times before then. And if that goes well…” she trailed off and stood abruptly. “Now that you know what I want, I’ll let you two sort out if our desires are compatible.”
Remus stared at Sirius as the bedroom door snapped shut while Sirius gaped at the space where Gem had just been.
“Did you know about this?” Sirius asked after a moment, looking awkwardly at his old friend.
“No. I knew something was off…” Remus was reeling, his thoughts rotating what Gem had just said, her response to his initial suggestion of finding an Alpha, and her behavior before Sirius’ arrival.
“What a witch,” Remus said suddenly as the thoughts began to click and make sense. If she was right, if it could work, they would have everything. He’d still be able to be with her during her heats, she’d be fully satisfied, Sirius would be a part of their lives, it could be great. Triads weren’t common, but they weren’t unheard of in the wizarding world. If it didn’t work, they risked so much. They could hurt each other, damage or destroy the relationships they’d built if they missed the mark completely, but Remus trusted his Gem. She would never risk so much if the most likely outcome wasn’t positive.
“Was she right?” Remus was pulled from his thoughts by Sirius’ voice. He opened his mouth to answer but the words died when he saw the look on his friend’s face. Remus had never seen that hot, hungry look directed at him before and it made him whine instead. Sirius’ eyes glinted as he leaned forward. “Do you want me, Moons?”
Remus nodded, opened his mouth, couldn’t speak, closed it and cleared his throat. He tried again. “Yes, Alpha,” he blushed from the tips of his ears to his collarbone at the unintentional use of Sirius’ title, “since fifth year.” Sirius groaned at the admission.
“You have no idea what that does to me, Remus, knowing you’ve wanted me for so long.” Sirius leaned in so his face hovered over Remus’ neck and took a deep breath through his nose. “You smell delicious, like amber and woodsmoke, but smelling the intoxicating note of arousal on you, and knowing it’s for me?” Sirius licked a patch at the base of Remus’ throat, making both of them shiver, “Amazing.”
Remus put a hand on Sirius’ chest, not pushing him away, he didn’t want to challenge the Alpha, but the suggestion is there. “Padfoot.” They needed to talk, he was in a relationship with the witch hiding in the adjacent room and there was no way he was going to leave his little flame out of this, whatever this was turning into.
Sirius sat back, giving them both some space. After a moment to catch his breath Padfoot barked out a laugh, “Your witch is something else, Remus.”
Remus grinned, still breathing heavily, “Yeah, she is.”
Sirius fell back against the couch with a dramatic moan, flinging an arm over his eyes. “How’d she figure this out, this attraction, before we did?”
“Slytherin” Moony replied with a smile, getting up and clearing the mugs and dishes from their snacks off the coffee table for something to do. Sirius barked another short laugh and stayed on the couch as Remus brought their dishes into the kitchen.
“So,” Remus licked his lips as he turned on the faucet, “you free Thursday night?”