AN: Comps and Prompts down the bottom.

in hell (I need glory)

AlwaysPadfoot

Sirius Black had to admit, he was not familiar with the university library. He was a first year, he'd yet to even complete an essay that wasn't written in the twelve hours before the deadline. So the library was somewhere he either took shelter from the rain, or printed things when Remus wasn't about to give Sirius access to his personal printer. Therefore he didn't expect to be able to find Marlene since there was five floors to search.

His plan was to start logically though so once he stepped inside he headed over to the information desk. The women behind the desk had a long nose and sort of reminded Sirius of a vulture. Her ID badge read: Irma Pince. As he approached, she looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"Hi, I was wondering where I can find the Politics section."

"Fourth Floor, Croft Wing," she said, before going back to her computer without another word.

Sirius frowned and turned to walk towards the stairs. She wasn't exactly the nicest librarian but he didn't want to dwell on it; he wanted to find Marlene. He'd fucked up and he had to make it right — to save their friendship.

For late on a Friday night, the library was surprisingly busy. Sirius confessed himself mildly weirded out; this was not where he would want to be on a Friday night. That being said, he'd been trying all week to get in contact with Marls after what had happened last weekend. She'd ignored every text, every Facebook message, and every Snapchat he'd sent and secretly, Sirius felt lost without her. They'd talked every day since they'd been in Preparatory School together so this last week had been an utter disaster.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Sirius was out of breath when he reached the fourth floor. His eyes fell upon a quirky signpost at the top of the staircase and he followed the arrow labelled 'Croft Wing'. Walking fast, he checked down every aisle in case Marlene was down one of them.

Eventually he reached the archway into the Croft Wing, Sirius' eyes searched the first seating area. It was dotted with one or two students, none of whom were Marlene. Pressing his lips together, Sirius sighed and walked to the left hand side of the wing. He looked down each aisle of old, musty books, scanning the seating at the end until eventually he spotted a familiar shape, sat cross-legged in one of the hanging chairs. In grey tracksuit pants and a white crop top, Marlene was sat with her laptop illuminating her face, headphones in, and completely lost in whatever she was doing.

Sirius walked up the aisle and sat opposite her. "Marlene, we need to talk."

Whether she heard or not, she'd seen him. Pulling an earbud out, her face set in an expression that Sirius wasn't quite able to read, Marlene sighed. "I don't want to talk."

"We have to," Sirius said urgently. "I don't want to go another week without talking to you, Marls."

"You should have thought about that before—"

"—before what? Before I stopped a guy from taking advantage of you?"

"I didn't ask you to protect me!"

Someone shushed them from somewhere else in the Croft Wing and Marlene scowled, closing her laptop screen. Rubbing her face frustratedly, she leant forward keeping her face hidden for a long moment. Sirius stayed silent. He didn't want to force her into conversation if she really didn't want to talk. He was hoping that maybe, she missed his company just as much as he missed hers.

"I could have easily pushed him away; you just had to come in, fists flying, and get us all kicked out of the club," Marlene muttered.

"But Marls, he was—"

"I don't care, Sirius." Marlene flung her hands in the air in frustration and nearly dropped her laptop in the process. "Like I said, I don't need you to be constantly watching me."

"Okay, A, that made me sound like a stalker; B, I wasn't exactly sober so I realise I overdid it; and three—"

"—C, Sirius—"

"—and three, I care so much about you that I don't want you to get hurt," Sirius finished. "I'd hate myself if you ever got hurt and I could have prevented it some way."

Marlene sighed and didn't say anything as uncrossed her legs, leaning across to put her laptop on the table. She looked as though she was having some internal battle with herself. Sirius was wholly terrified that she was going to tell him to fuck off, that he had truly messed up their whole relationship. Slumping back in the chair so hard it swung back, she closed her eyes and exhaled softly.

"Sirius," she trailed.

"I'm sorry, Marlene," he said quickly.

She cracked an eye open and studied him carefully. Sirius knew the look; it was Marlene's I'm-trying-to-work-out-if-you're-serious look. She was good at it; she had to know that he cared more about her than he'd ever admitted. Holding her gaze, Sirius waited for her judgement he uncomfortable anticipation. His palms were sweaty and he ran his hands through his hair just to do something with them instead of fiddling.

"Okay. Okay, I forgive you. Just—just try think before you do things," Marlene said.

Relief flooded through him. He was forgiven; Marlene had forgiven him. He jumped to his feet in joy and pulled her to her feet for a hug. Sirius held her tight and she reciprocated, wrapping her arms around him. He was grateful for that. Eventually, Marlene pulled back and dropped back into her chair.

"What the fuck am I doing here on a Friday night?"

An idea hit Sirius like a train and a grin spread across his face.

Marlene frowned. "What? What's that look?"

"Let me take you out on a date," Sirius said simply.

"I don't know, Sirius," Marlene said uncomfortably. "We said, we said before that it wasn't a good idea for us to date."

It was a conversation they'd had before. When they had been in school and sixth-form together, people used to assume they were an item. They'd talked about just dating because they were so close, but neither of them had wanted to ruin the friendship. Sirius was done with that; he cared about her. He believed that if it didn't work then they could easily just go back to friends.

"Ah, but you forget, Miss McKinnon, I am the King of dates." Sirius grinned and Marlene rolled her eyes, still looking a little unsure. "If you don't want to I—"

"—I do. I'd love to go on a date."

Sirius was admittedly surprised. "Really?"

"If you don't want to," Marlene teased with a smirk on her face.

Sirius very pointedly, pushed her chair hard so it swung sharply from the beam above their heads, and she squealed in surprise. Another shush came from the depths of the library and Sirius and Marlene stifled their giggles.

Silently agreeing to leave after that, Sirius helped Marlene pack her things away and the two walked together towards the staircase.

"So, where are you taking me on this date?" Marlene asked.

Sirius took her hand and smiled. "Do you really think the King of dates spoils all the surprises? Don't be ridiculous, Marls. I can just promise that you will have an amazing night."

"You know it's nearly ten in the evening," she said pointedly as they left the library.

"Just you wait, Marls. It's going to be glorious."

And glorious it was.

Comps and Prompts

GGE 2018: For Danie [Sirius/Marlene, Muggle!AU, Library, "I didn't ask you to protect me."]

Holmes Challenge: (object) laptop

Dragon Breeding Club