Roaring 20s Wolfstar AU
Based on the prompt: "Roaring 20s AU with [person A] as a singer in a jazz club" (blog: doctorroseprompts) (Yes, it's supposed to be Rose/The Doctor and it isn't and I'm sorry, but, c'mon, the prompt was just too good to pass up)
It was just another Saturday night for Remus: he worked the bar, made a lot of drinks, acted like a shoulder to cry on, and got several very generous tips as he worked yet another night shift at the Red Treble Speakeasy. Fortunately, they had a singer tonight, instead of just the jazz pianist they had most nights, so Remus got to listen to something interesting for if just thinking about it was a cue of some sort, a well dressed man climbed up onto stage and walked toward the microphone. The pianist started playing, something soft and slow and a little melancholy, and the singer swayed a little, obviously caught up in the beginning of the song, before he opened his mouth and started to sing.
His voice was husky and smooth, the way whiskey should be, but isn't, like warm honey, and it hit Remus like a ton of bricks. He was suddenly 20 again, barely making a living, and hopelessly in love. This voice brought back memories of laughter and dark rooms and cigarette smoke after sex. God, he hadn't heard that voice in so long. The last time he heard that voice, it was screaming at the cops that they had the wrong man. The last time he heard that voice, his best friends had just died. The last time he heard that voice, his heart had just broken. The last time he heard that voice, his world had just collapsed in on him.
Remus moved as though on autopilot for the rest of the night, messing up a few orders and sniping at a few patrons, but mostly going through the motions and trying not to fall apart right there on the spot, all to an accompanying soundtrack of Sirius singing the blues, voice husky and sweet and so hard to ignore. He wondered idly if Sirius could see him at the bar in the back of the room, wondered if Sirius recognized him after all these years, wondered how in the world Sirius was even here instead of in prison, wondered why he hadn't seeked Remus out. Wondered if he loved him just as much as Remus still loved him, even after all this time and everything that had happened.
It was approaching the end of the night, Remus still had another hour or so until his shift was over, but the musicians were packing up for the night, and Sirius was heading out the side door that lead into the alley outside. It's now or never, Remus, he thought to himself as he asked the waitress to cover the bar for a couple of minutes and weaved his way through the remaining people on his way to the alley door. He took a deep breath, reached for the handle, and opened to door to come face to face with Sirius leaning against the wall opposite the door, smoking a cigarette, calm as can be.
"Was wondering when you'd show," His voice was nearly the same as it'd been all those years ago, husky and soft like his singing voice, but a little rougher than Remus remembers, likely the result of age. Sirius is looking at him like nothing had changed, eyes all soft, small teasing smiles tugging up the corner of his lips, stance completely nonchalant.
"What are you doing here, Sirius?" Remus doesn't mean it to come out as harsh as it has, but his confusion over seeing someone who is supposed to be in prison, someone who he is still in love with but shouldn't be anymore, someone who he hasn't seen in years, show up out of the blue has thrown him for a loop and he's slightly bitter, extremely confused, and a little angry, if he's honest.
"What, can't see an old friend?" Sirius is still nonchalant, but his body is a little more tense, and Remus recognizes it for what it is- deflection and worry of being rejected.
"Nothing wrong with seeing an old friend, but you show up out of the blue after supposedly being thrown in prison for life for murder and we weren't exactly friends, Sirius. So, what are you doing here?" The edge is still in his voice, but it's softened the longer he looks at Sirius; he just can't help it, it's always how he's been, never able to stay mad at Sirius for very long.
"I got a retrial, Reggie, my little brother who's a lawyer now and out from under the Black family thumb, built up a solid case of my innocence, tracked Peter down and got him to confess to it and everything. We kept it quiet though, didn't want mother dearest catching wind and siccing the Black Mafia on either of us." He took a deep breath, after that, and looked like he was trying to work of the nerve to continue, "That was a couple of months ago, spent a lot of time trying to find you, singing at local clubs to make some money to travel around our old haunts hoping to find you. It's a real coincidence to find you here tonight, though, Remus." His soft eyes were back and the smile he wore then had changed from teasing to sad and sincere, and that's the moment something cracks in Remus's resolve to just brush this off as a one time thing, to go on pretending to not be in love with Sirius anymore.
"Missed you, Remy." His voice is quiet, Remus almost didn't hear it, and Sirius's hands twitched like they wanted to reach out and pull Remus to him like he used to, flush against each other right before he'd kiss the daylights out of him, but he was holding back, albeit just barely.
"Missed you too, Sirius." And Remus's voice is just as quiet and he is very aware that he absolutely should not reach out across the distance between them and pull Sirius in, that he should wait to get some more concrete answers and spend time getting to know this new, older Sirius, but that doesn't stop him from reaching out and pulling Sirius to him and kissing him right there in the dark alley outside the place where he works in the early hours of the morning.
Sirius takes less than a second to kiss back, lips soft and pliant against Remus's, and, strangely, his mouth still tastes the same, like cigarette smoke and coffee, and Remus didn't know how much he missed this, how he possibly went all this time without him, now that they're kissing again. It's new and old all at once, neither of them kissing each other clumsily in the dark but still the old passion from when they were young and first in love is still there. They keep kissing, arms wrapping around each other, pulling the other impossibly close, until they run out of air and reluctantly pull apart, resting their foreheads together and breathing harshly.
Remus is the first to speak, voice still soft and a little unsure, "I still love you, you know, never stopped. I couldn't quite convince myself you were guilty but I couldn't work up the nerve to visit you because I couldn't quite convince myself you were innocent either. I'm so sorry, Sirius, for not believing you." There are a couple of tears running down his face, as well as Sirius's, but neither one noticed, or cared, and then they were kissing again, trying to say I still love you and I'm sorry and it's alright all without words.
When they once again break apart, it's Remus who pulls away, sighing. "I have about another hour of work left, then I've got to lockup. You're welcome to stay?" Even though he doesn't mean to, he says it like a question, not entirely convinced that this is real and Sirius is actually here and this whole thing isn't just a fever dream. But then Sirius is nodding and leading him back inside and hopping onto a stool at the bar as Remus goes back behind it and goes back to making drinks for the few people who are still here, sneaking coy glances at Sirius the entire last hour of his shift.
That night, in his tiny apartment in his bed, Sirius tucked up against him just like old times, Remus thinks back to when he was 20 and in love, and it feels so similar, but he thinks that, perhaps, this might be better.