Texting Key:
Sirius
Remus
Lily
James

Chapter One: A Mistake

Ping! Remus looked down at his phone, frowning when he didn't recognize the number. Curiosity overtaking his trepidation, he swiped across the screen. As the text opened he took a sip of his tea, nearly spitting it out at he saw what was on the screen.

(658) 328-9760

Hey Babe ;)

-dick pic-

Trying his best not to panic, Remus quickly picked up his phone, chewing on his lower lip before he started typing across the screen.

I'm sorry, but I think you have a wrong number.

There was a pause and dots scrolled across the bottom of his screen, letting Remus know that whoever had texted him was answering.

Are you saying you're not the hot blonde I met at the frat party last night?

And here I thought he really liked me :(

Remus sighed, debating whether he should answer or not. On one hand, he was curious as to whom this mysterious man was (which might have had something to do with the mouth-watering quality of the cock he had seen up close and personal). On the other, for all he knew this person lived half-way across the world or was a serial murderer. Finally he decided, fingers hesitantly tapping out a new message.

I'm afraid I'm not.

Frat party, you say? Where do you go to school?

Haggerty. Right outside London.

You're not a pedophile, are you?

After reading the mysterious person's last text, Remus almost choked. Haggerty. The university Remus was currently attending. Out of all the places… Fighting down the looming panic bubbling up in his chest, he screwed up enough courage to answer.

No, not a pedophile.

I actually go to Haggerty too.

Remus waited for an answer with bated breath… and continued waiting until almost a half an hour had passed. Shaking his head, Remus sighed. It looked like the mystery person wasn't going to answer him after all. Oh well, at least it had distracted him enough that he felt he could once again dive into his essay on Shakespeare's "Coriolanus". Of all the things to do on a Saturday night…

"You sent a picture of your dick to a complete stranger? How dumb are you?" James Potter laughed, cuffing his best friend over the top of his head. Huffing, Sirius Black batted away his hand, continuing their walk across the campus green.

"I didn't think it was a complete stranger, Jamie!" Sirius protested. "The bloke I met must have given me a phony number. But get this," he looked up at his friend, pulling out his phone so he could look at the texts from the previous night. "whoever it was goes here!" he groaned, rubbing his face with a free hand. "Do you know how embarrassing that is? I sent a picture of my dick to a complete stranger and it just so happened that they may or may not be in my morning lecture. What if they find out who I am?"

James rolled his eyes as his best friend started to freak out, placing a calming hand on Sirius's shoulder before he caught one of Sirius's hands, which had moved to tug on his long locks nervously. "How would they be able to find out who you are, Sirius? No one's going to identify you just from your cock unless they've seen it. And if they've seen it then I don't think you'd care if you sent them that text anyway." He paused, arching a curious eyebrow at the shorter boy. "So, are you going to continue texting them?"

Sirius's eyes went wide at James's question, having been too busy worrying the night before to even think about whether or not he would continue conversing with the mysterious stranger. "I…I don't know." He finally answered with a shrug, one hand sneaking up to tug a little on a couple strands of hair that had escaped from his low bun before it moved to shift his beanie lower on his head. "I haven't really thought about it."

"Well they clearly weren't scared off by your cock." James pointed out with a lighthearted grin. "Who knows, maybe they're ~the one~."

"Ah, yes." Sirius said ruefully. "Because I'm definitely going to find ~the one~ by accidentally texting someone a picture of my penis. Definitely ~the one~ material there."

James shrugged as they entered the on-campus coffee shop, holding the door open with a gallant gesture to Sirius, who flipped him off in return. "You never know." He looked around the room, taking note of the cozy atmosphere and mismatched furniture that were covered in what looked like very comfortable pillows. "I can't believe we've never come here before."

Studying their surroundings as well, Sirius nodded in agreement. The lights were dim, the type of industrial yet old-school light bulbs that harkened back to the old days of filament lighting when electricity was just starting to gain ground in society. The ceilings were fairly low and there were tables with chairs scattered around, though none of the chairs, nor the tables, seemed to match. Set into the far wall was a small fireplace, a fire already crackling in its hearth, and surrounding the fireplace was an odd assortment of couches and armchairs, strewn with pillows and even a couple of crocheted blankets. "I didn't even know it existed until Marlene mentioned it last week." Sirius admitted, looking around at the few students who occupied the place. "Not surprising really, with the location and lack of advertising." To get there they had to go through one of the many alleyways between class buildings and they would have missed it entirely if James hadn't spotted the sign above the small staircase leading down to the basement shop that read "The Three Broomsticks"

"If the coffee's good we might have to come more often." James smiled, stepping up to the counter as he tried to figure out what he wanted.

"Yeah." Sirius agreed, stepping up with him as he concentrated on the posted menus above and behind the counter.

"Welcome to The Three Broomsticks." A low voice asked them. "Can I help you?"

Sirius looked down, his mouth open to speak, and he froze, breath catching in his throat. For a second he couldn't even speak as he took in the absolute radiant beauty of the barista that stood before him. "Oh." He finally managed to croak out, one of his patented seductive expressions managing to slip onto his face. "I daresay you can."

"And then he just stopped texting." Remus complained to his coworker and best friend Dorcas Meadows. "I mean, I know it's a bit weird since he didn't mean to text me in the first place, but still…" he shrugged, chewing on his lower lip as he pulled his black apron on over his sweater, getting ready to take over his shift. "I dunno, I guess I was hoping I would at least get to learn who he was."

"Don't stress about it, dear." Dorcas smiled, patting Remus on the arm. "I bet he was just another one of those frat jocks wanting to get laid. You don't want to mix with those types anyway."

"Yeah, I know." Remus sighed, tugging gently on a curl that hung next to his face. "But it's just… hard. You don't understand, the picture he sent was…ugh. Beautiful."

Dorcas laughed, shaking her head a little as she gathered her hair into a ponytail. "You're right, I don't know. Never was a huge fan of cock, you know."

Remus rolled his eyes at that. "Never quite understood why, but it's your decision. Anyway, do you think I should text him again?" he paused, glancing at his phone. "I should text him again." He reached for the device but paused as he heard the small bell above the door chime the arrival of customers. "Shit." He swore softly, quickly pinning on his nametag. "I guess that'll have to wait. See you later." He smiled as Dorcas waved him off, and went out to the counter.

He stopped in his tracks the moment that he saw the young man standing on the other side of the counter, face tilted up as he focused on the menu located above the bar, taking in the features of the most beautiful bloke that Remus had ever seen. His eyes skimmed over long, dark hair, most of it pulled into a bun though some strands had escaped to frame his face, moving on to almond shaped eyes and a complexion darker than Remus's own but lighter than the tall, Indian man who stood by his side. After quickly checking to make sure that the pair was still engrossed in figuring out what to order, Remus's eyes darted down to take in a warn band t-shirt partially obscured by the large leather jacket that hung off the man's frame, ripped jeans splattered with paint and something tan and chalky, and a pair of black boots that Remus could only describe as "stompy". Gathering his wits, and realizing that he really had been standing there for far too long gawking at the bloke, Remus finally spoke. "Welcome to The Three Broomsticks." He said, cursing inside of his head as his voice came out low and rather throaty. "Can I help you?"

Remus tried to get his wits about him as the bloke looked at him, seeming to study him intensely for a moment before answering him. "Oh." A seductive smile curved at the corners of the man's lips and Remus tried his best not to blush. "I daresay you can."

The Indian man next to him rolled his eyes, elbowing him in the ribs. "Don't mind Sirius." He said to Remus, sounding apologetic. "He'll flirt with anything with two legs."

"Hey!" The man – Sirius, Remus corrected in his head – protested. "I do not! I was just being friendly." He huffed, shooting his friend a wounded look. The Indian man didn't look at all remorseful, turning back to Remus.

"I'll have a medium vanilla latte and he'll have a mocha." The man said, ignoring Sirius's continuing protests that he did, actually, have standards and that James shouldn't have ordered his drink for him.

"The names for the order?" Remus asked, pulling out two cups and picking up a Sharpe before looking at him expectantly.

"James for mine, Sirius for his." James answered with a grin and Remus quickly wrote the names down. He pulled out his wallet at Remus rang him up, his total coming to just under ten pounds. Sliding him a tenner, James winked at him. "Keep the change…for all the trouble my dear friend here has caused you." And with that he turned on his heel, dragging Sirius behind him over to a cushy looking couch with a table in front of it.

Taking a deep breath, Remus tore his eyes away from the stunning raven-haired beauty, quickly hurrying over to the espresso machine to make their drinks. Once they were finished Remus contemplated calling their names like he would for any other customer, but… even before he had made the decision his feet were already walking him over to the couch they sat on. "Here are your drinks." He smiled a little nervously, setting them down on the table. "Let me know if you need anything else." He smiled slightly again before quickly scurrying off behind the counter before either of the young men could answer.

James arched an eyebrow at Sirius before picking up the coffee cups. He laughed as he read what was written on Sirius's, passing it over. "Cute, isn't he."

Sirius rolled his eyes, unable to help chuckling softly as he read 'Serious' written on his cup, before he took a sip. His eyes widened a little before falling shut in bliss. "Man, this is the best coffee I have ever had the pleasure of drinking." He sighed happily. "We'll have to come back, and not just to see the cute barista." He quickly added, shooting James a look.

"Oh, so you admit you find him cute." James teased, taking a sip of his own drink and letting out a contented sigh. "I always knew you had a thing for bookworms in sweater vests."

"Your words, not mine." Sirius shot back, though he did take a quick glance back at the counter, slightly disappointed when Remus was nowhere to be seen. "We don't know he's a bookworm, he could just look like one. And the sweater vest is endearing, you have to admit."

James laughed, shaking his head a little in amusement. "Actually yes, I do know that he's a bookworm. He's studying English and Classical Literature. I thought I recognized him from somewhere, just realized it was from my poetry class last semester. You know, the one I took for a blow-off gen-ed credit. The one with the bloke I was telling you about who just so happened to write really amazing poetry…" he grinned over the top of his cup at Sirius. "That bloke was him."

Sirius's eyes widened as he recalled the conversation he had had with James the previous semester about that particular class. James had hated the class, despite its ease of lecture and lack of concrete homework or exams. He had ranted for hours about how half of the class was pretentious, using large words that no one else knew just to show off, and the other half wouldn't know what poetry was if it bit them in the arse, writing lines and lines about whales and balloons that were actually snakes in disguise. It was all "sanctimonious bullshit", as James put it. But at the end of his rant James had to admit that there was one bloke in the class who had a modicum of talent, writing poems that flowed with imagery and a rhythm that no one else had managed to attain. "So he's adorable and smart." Sirius sighed happily, gazing at the still empty bar. "I knew he'd be perfect."

Once again James let out a bark of laughter. "He's all fuzzy sweaters and puppies, Sirius. You're leather and tigers. Don't you think he'd mess up your image? And anyway, what about the bloke you were texting?"

Sirius shook his head, pulling out his phone and playing with it nervously. "I don't know… I've always had a soft spot for the book-ish types. And he's just so pretty…" he trailed off, flicking his screen on and pulling up the texts from the previous night. "Do you think I should text back?"

"Duh." James grinned at him, relaxing back against the couch. "Aren't you curious as to who they are?"

"A bit, yeah." Sirius admitted, staring at the screen for a moment as he thought. Chewing on his lip, he slowly began to type.

Remus started as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He glanced out to the rest of the shop, saw no one needed his immediate attention, and pulled it out.

You go to Haggerty too, huh? What major?

His phone buzzed in his hand as another message appeared, nearly making Remus choke on air.

Like what you saw last night?

Swallowing hard, Remus tried to figure out how he should respond to such a question. Should he be teasing? Coy? Just tell the truth? Or should he just ignore that question and answer the others? Hesitatingly, he tapped out a response.

Wow, that went zero to a hundred real quick.

I'm a Classics major, if you must know. You?

and yes. I really liked what I saw.

Remus flushed as a checkmark flashed next to the message, meaning that the other person had opened it, glad that he couldn't be seen. What was he thinking, flirting back? That wasn't like him at all. He jumped as the bell above the door tinkled merrily, quickly shoving his phone in his pocket as he hurried to help the newcomers. As he was getting their orders he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Resisting the temptation to pull it out, Remus made the coffees as efficiently as possible. He cursed mentally as he turned back to the counter only to see a line had already formed and more students were entering through the door. Glancing at his watch, Remus shook his head a little; it was 8:00 pm, meaning that the night classes just got out and students throughout campus would be flocking to the closest coffee shop to get the caffeine that would keep them going through the night as they finished up papers and assignments. There was no way he'd get to check his messages until things died down.

Ten minutes after sending his last message, Sirius sighed, brooding into the dregs of his almost finished coffee. The mystery stranger hadn't answered, and Sirius was almost sure it was because they had lost interest or Sirius had scared them off.

Across from his James huffed, rolling his eyes and knocking Sirius upside the head. "Stop looking like the world is ending, Sirius. Maybe they just had to go do homework or something." when Sirius scoffed in response to that, James cuffed him again. "Some people do have to do it, even if you don't have any Mr. Artist." he glanced at his watch and sighed, downing the rest of his coffee. "Speaking of which, I really need to get going on mine. There's some stuff I need to work on in the lab and I don't like being in there past midnight. It's creepy." he shivered a bit at the memory of the last time he'd spent a late night in that room, every creak and groan of the building around him sounding all too much like footsteps getting ever closer.

"Yes, yes, go do your bloody homework." Sirius waved him off as James stood and slung his backup over his shoulder. "You can build me a robot or something as payment for this abandonment."

James rolled his eyes again, shaking his head a little. "You know I don't work with electronics, Sirius. Have a good night, I'll see you at the apartment, yeah?" he arched an eyebrow at his friend.

"Yeah." Sirius nodded, leaning back against the couch and sighing. "I have some stuff I want to go through tonight, though, so I'll probably be late." he paused, a smirk decorating his lips. "Don't wait up, dear."

Flicking him off, James laughed, turning on his heel and heading out of the shop. "See you."

As his best friend left Sirius sighed, staring down at his empty mug with a frown. The shop had emptied out quite a bit since the mad rush at eight and he resisted the temptation to turn around and see if the cute barista was still working the counter.

"Can I get you a refill? On the house." Sirius jumped as a voice came from behind him, fairly close to his ear. He turned, looking up into the face of the barista in question. Up this close he could see the light brown freckles that littered his nose and the area under his eyes, and he could just barely make out the fine, silvery lines of scars around one eye and along his jaw.

Stuttering, his mouth having gone dry at the radiant beauty he saw before him, Sirius finally managed to nod after several moments of what he was sure was awkward staring. "Y-yeah. Thanks."

"Not a problem." Remus smiled, coming around the couch and taking Sirius's coffee, their fingers brushing lightly. Sirius inhaled sharply at the contact, tingles shooting up his arm from the point Remus had touched. Once the coffee cup was once again filled, Remus passed it back with a smile. "Careful, it's hot." he warned just as Sirius took a sip, scalding his tongue. He stifled a giggle behind his hand as the dark haired boy winced, making a face as he stuck out his tongue to try and cool it off.

"Thanks for the warning." Sirius muttered sarcastically once his tongue was sufficiently cooled. When he saw Remus's face fall and the boy start to shuffle away, he quickly gave him a dashing smile. "But the coffee's so good that I'll forgive you this once." he teased, happy to see the barista stop his backward motion. "How come I haven't seen you around campus before?"

After looking around to make sure that there were no other customers he should be attending to, Remus slowly sat down on the couch across from Sirius. "I tend to stay mainly in the Library and the English Building, if I'm not here, honestly." he admitted, feeling a bit silly. Great, now the hot guy will think I'm a nerd. Fantastic.

Sirius chuckled lightly at that, oblivious to Remus's embarrassment. "So you're a bookworm, huh? I like it." he stretched out, long legs tapping against Remus's under the table between them. "Have to admit I'm not much of a library goer." he gestured to his paint and clay-stained jeans. "I spend most of my time haunting the studio, sometimes the science labs if I'm visiting James." he indicated the seat next to him which his best friend had vacated. "I'll definitely have to come here more often." he stated with a playful wink to the other male.

A blush decorated Remus's cheeks and he cleared his throat, quickly standing as he saw a couple enter the door. "Well, thank you. I'm glad you like the coffee. Thank you for stopping in…" he trailed off with an arched brow, realizing he had already forgotten the bloke's name.

"Sirius." Sirius grinned. "Like the dog star." he added after seeing Remus's confused expression. The barista's expression morphed into one of dawning understanding and he threw Sirius a wry smile.

"I hope you stop back in soon, then… Sirius." Remus said over his shoulder with what he hoped was a seductive wink before he sauntered back behind the counter to await his newly arrived customers, leaving Sirius to stare after him in slack-jawed amazement.

It wouldn't be until later that night as he threw his fourth bowl of the evening that Sirius realized he never got the barista's name.

It wasn't until later that night that Remus remembered his phone and the unanswered message that awaited him on it. With trepidation he fished in out of his pocket, swiping over the screen to bring the message up.

Really? The piercing sometimes...irks people.

Remus flushed, chewing on his lower lip. Should he tell the stranger what he really thought? Should he tell him that he had always thought piercings and tattoos were exceptionally hot and that he wanted nothing more than to toy with that piece of metal with his teeth and tongue? Well, maybe he shouldn't tell that last part. Remus just did not have the self-confidence for that just yet. But everything else…

I...I think piercings are kinda hot, actually.

You do? What kinds do you have?

None, actually. I like them on other people,

But they're just not my thing for myself.

I understand that. What about tattoos?

Those I do have.

I like. Where?

And do you like your men with tattoos too?

I do. As to where… I'm not telling.

Awww, come on. :( Please?

I'll tell you where mine is.

Remus set his phone down, studying it for a moment before he turned back to the book he was working on for his poetry class. No, that topic of conversation was just too personal for him right now. He didn't even know who this bloke was! The phone vibrated and he ignored it, trying hard to focus on the words on the page. It vibrated again and he focused harder, reading the same sentence three times and still not gathering it's meaning. His phone vibrated a third time and he sighed, setting down his book and swiping at the screen to read the message.

I have one on my shoulder blade.

Another on my bicep.

The third wraps around my hip, right next to my...you know ;)

Remus rolled his eyes, typing back a quick reply.

You're quite trashy, you know that right?

There was a long pause compared to the time between their previous messages and for a few moments Remus was afraid that the other bloke was actually offended. Maybe adding an emoji would help make it clearer that he was teasing? Luckily before he could embarrass himself further by sending an emoji the bubble that meant the other bloke was texting appeared.

Eh, not usually.

You just caught me at my trashy-est and

Now I have a reputation to uphold.

You don't have a reputation to uphold, don't worry.

Not that I mind the trashy-ness.

But...like, you don't have to be if you don't want.

I dunno.

I'm not very good at this, in case you couldn't tell.

Not good at what, texting? I think you're doing just fine.

No, not texting. This whole… flirting over texting thing.

Oh...is that what we're doing?

I...I think? Aren't we?

Maybe? We don't have to be.

Oh, okay. Good. Well… it's late.

And I have an essay to write. So...goodnight, I guess?

Yeah, good idea. Prongs is yelling at me to sleep.

Goodnight! 3