"This was NOT what I had in mind when I decided I wanted to open a bakery!" Remus exclaimed in despair as he walked in to the shop at three AM on a Tuesday morning only to find pastries all over the floor. "What happened? Why are you all here so early? You're never here this early? James, was this you? Because you're absolutely never this early, you're never even early for your own shift!" he was tired, confused and all around unsettled. He'd planned for a nice, productive morning, baking before everyone else got there and then they could start the day prepared. But, apparently not.

"Sorry Moony, mate. I had no idea you were going to be here this early," James replied, grimacing in apology, wincing a little under Remus's stare.

"It'll be fine," Remus sighed, giving into whatever the situation was. "But what happened? Were those —" he gestured to the mess on the floor, " — meant for today?" he asked, half knowing the answer already.

"Uh, yes, yes they were," came Peter, his voice high pitched and nervous.

Remus groaned and tilted his head back, eyes to the ceiling, half thinking of what to do, half wishing he had just come at 4:30 like he did most mornings. But no, of course this was the morning that he decided to be productive. He looked from side to side, surveying the mess that was the bakery's floor, and, and was that batter on the wall? "Alright, for the third time, what the hell happened here?" he knew he sounded exhausted now, but he wasn't going to do anything about that, there was too much more to even consider fixing his tone. "Dorcas? James? Peter? And why's Lily here? And, and who's that?" he asked desperately, motioning to the man standing quietly in the corner.

"Well, you see, it's almost Dorcas's birthday —"

"Oh shit, you're telling me you came to prepare for Dorcas's birthday?" he wanted to cry, "Dorcas, I love you, but WHY?"

"Well yeah, we wanted to prepare for Dorcas's birthday, then we didn't actually know if she had any real plans, so we got a little excited and called her, she wasn't too happy to be woken up so early. Then she realised that we were here and told us that we'd be bound to break something if it was just Pete and I. I tried to tell her Lily was here, but I guess we've told her that one too many times, so she came in a rush, all flustered and stuff. And then she knocked some bottles of water over while she came running in. Pete heard the crash and came running out to make sure everything was okay, and slipped over, dropping the pastries he was holding and pulling down the tray behind him, which I landed in when I followed him at a slower pace," James explained, finishing with a rather dramatic breath.

"Right then. Can I ask, were those the Christmas order pastries for that Gala?" he really was fighting to keep his voice under control now. He wanted to laugh, but he certainly couldn't do that and let them get away with it all. But he also wanted to cry a little bit, and he most definitely was not going to do that.

"Um —"

"Stop, just stop Peter. I'll take your um as a yes and great, that's just great. Who are you?" he spun around on his heel, eyes fierce as he remembered the man in the corner.

"Sorry darlings, I'll just be going then," the man said, his voice confident and somewhat, what was the word? Pompous? Posh? Or rather, none of those, but only a little bit Freddie Mercury.

"Really? Will you? Nope, I don't think so. Were you involved in this mess? Because if you were then you're going to stay and help clean it up. I don't care if you've been a customer. It's —" he looked down to check his watch, "twenty-seven past three in the morning and the customer is always right does not apply!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in despair as he realised that he'd almost yelled at a strange, exceedingly attractive man, and absolutely needed to get on with making double the amount of pastries he had planned on.

"Sorry, sorry dear" the man began, his voice a hundred times more hesitant after Remus's outbreak, "I, um, I don't think I was part of the mess? I was actually just, um, walking through the streets and saw lights and thought "awesome, there's a bakery open at three in the morning, that sounds brilliant" and so I went in. I walked in a little before you, and I've just been watching this scene unfold. There's been a lot of "Rem's going to kill us". I assume you're Rem?"

"Ah, okay. Well, sorry about the disappointment, the curtains really should've been closed if the lights were going to be on." He turned slightly to the group of guilty looking people behind him, "Yes, I'm Rem, well really, I'm Remus, but seeing as you've only just met me and have already seen me frustrated then I guess you can call me whatever the fuck you want to. I guess you probably want to leave now. But why were you wandering these streets at three in the morning? You don't look particularly wasted, and you definitely don't look homeless."

"Well, whatever the fuck you want to, I'm Sirius, and I honestly am the most amused I've been in a long time so I'm fairly happy here. But, I'll leave you to your baking. As for your question, no, I've not been drinking at all, though I sincerely wish I had been. As for homelessness, well, I think you'll be surprised. Because as of right now, it does appear that I'm homeless."

"Right, well, the morning has already had all it's plans thrown out the window so you're very welcome to stay. Otherwise we'll be open at 8:00, which is remarkably early for a bakery, which is why I got here early to prepare because it's Christmas and there are a lot of very large orders that come in around this time. If you do stay, I know that James has stashed alcohol around here somewhere —"

"Hey!"

"Don't lie to me James, I know you've got it here somewhere. So, Sirius, if you want a drink, alcoholic or otherwise, and a place to stay for a few hours, free of charge, then you're welcome. It might be quite loud though," he offered, trying to keep calm as he sorted through everything he would have to do. And trying to keep his gaze not quite on Sirius because that man was far, far, far too attractive for it to be healthy.

"Alright then, staying would be lovely. Also, this is rather personal, but I've been trying to work it out since you got here. How old are you?"

"Blunt, aren't you? Okay. I'm nineteen. Yeah, it's young to own a bakery, and I'd tell you, but it's a long story."

"Fair enough then. If you give me a broom, mop and cloth maybe? I can clean up this mess so you guys can get ready for the day."

"No, no, don't do that. It'll be fine."

"Moony, shut up. Let the man clean, I'll help him, as it was my fault. The rest of you need to bake, go on," Peter told him, already handing a broom to Sirius.

"Fine, alright then."

"Awesome, thanks Pete. Come on Rem, we didn't lose all of the pastries for the order. I'll handle the day to day things, James is best at icing, so he can do that. You can handle the order?" Dorcas suggested, walking over to her bench that she claimed when the bakery first opened.

"Yeah, alright Meadowes, sounds good," Remus agreed walking over to his own, grabbing stuff as he needed it, half watching as James did the same. "Lily? Are you staying or leaving?"

"I'll stay and help clean. They messed up the walls even. It'll make it easier later, if I clean the kitchen now, while they clean the actual bakery."

"Thanks flower," James called out. Remus only rolled his eyes and got to work.

This was absolutely not what he had planned for the morning. He had wanted something relaxing, methodic, calming, something to combat the huge amounts of pain he was in, but clearly that wasn't going to happen. It was going okay now though. Things were fitting into place. James's icing really was beautiful, and it was going well. Dorcas's memory was insanely good, and there were already rows and rows of identical, stunning pastries, buns, breads and more. Pete and Lily were basically finished with cleaning, and Sirius was still distractedly good looking, but surprisingly powering through the cleaning really well. It wasn't exactly relaxing, he certainly didn't get the quiet he had hoped for. Lily and James going between exchanging insults to having the most lovey dove conversations, Dorcas talking to Peter, slipping in slight insults that took him just a little too long to grasp, but it was all friendly. Sirius was jumping half comfortably into everyone's conversations, he had a surprisingly deep voice, one that Remus thought would be good for singing, but he wasn't going to ask a complete stranger if he sung. For the most part, he just kept to himself, doing his best to breathe through the pain and make the pastries to a Gala standard.

It was 7:00 by the time the last tray of pastries for the order was in the oven and Remus was unbelievably relieved. James had finished his finished his icing maybe an hour and a half earlier and had set to work making the bread which would be put in the oven in another few minutes, making whoever came into the bakery early happy with perfectly fresh bread for their morning coffee. Dorcas was just finished up a few last things, but soon she'd be putting the cakes in the oven, the cheesecakes for the afternoon in the fridge, and the biscuits in jars to go on the front counter. Lily had gone home a couple of hours earlier, with the promise that she'd be back later. Peter had been baking and icing and preparing things like crazy, it was the most energetic Remus had ever seen him, maybe it was to make up for the morning, he wasn't sure. And Sirius, well, at some point, he had wandered over to Remus's section of the kitchen and began a conversation that had led on to many, many others. He was easy to talk to, which only frustrated Remus more, there couldn't be a man who was so elegant, so attractive, so well spoken, so kind AND good at conversation. That wasn't fair at all. But he wasn't very well just going to turn him away, so he replied, and was somewhere between enjoying the conversation and resenting Sirius for it.

"Alright!" James exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air, "It's seven oh seven and I've finished all the icing!"

"Awesome James!" Dorcas and Peter shouted together, half impressed, half laughing.

"Good job," Remus agreed, shaking his head a little at James who was practically bouncing up and down.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" Sirius shouted, bounding over to James and grabbing him by the waist, swinging him around like someone would have done with a child.

"Wow, okay, that was something," James said when Sirius put him down, stumbling around dizzily.

"Oh, I wish Lily had been here to see that," Dorcas said, laughing so much she had to grab hold of the table.

"My god Sirius!" Remus had exclaimed, looking at the man in shock, grinning all the while. Peter had just stood there, struck dumb it seemed, before he burst out into loud laughter. It was crazy. All of this was crazy, Remus had decided. Maybe it was just a weird dream. He'd walked into the bakery expecting some quiet time, only to find a mess and an insanely attractive man, they'd all proceeded to do the most work they'd ever done as quickly as possible, then the insanely attractive man had literally picked up the man who Remus had known his entire life and spun him around. Everything and everyone had gone completely crazy.

"Well, that was, uh, unexpected," James muttered, looking at Sirius in shock. "You don't look like you'd be able to lift me at all. You're shorter than me, and basically a stick!" James exclaimed, and Remus agreed. Sirius was shorter than James, though the boots he was wearing made it look as if he was around the same height, and he certainly didn't look like he worked out as much as James did, though he must have done some sort of exercise because he was fit, which was utterly unfair, this man couldn't have everything could he? He was brought back to attention by laughter that he could only assume was Sirius's.

"Well, you know, hidden strengths and all that?" Sirius said, grinning at James who was spluttering out questions and making all sorts of noises as he looked up and down Sirius, trying to find how he could've done it. All in all, Remus found it very amusing. So he just leant back against his counter and watched as James continued his protestations, and Sirius kept up with his vague, but amusing answers. Dorcas was checking something in the oven, but even she wasn't pretending that she wasn't watching the two of them exchange whatever you could call what they were doing.

At some point in James's protests, Lily had come back in. Remus had only just realised, and he wondered how long she'd been standing there in the doorway, looking on oh so casually, biting her lip. To keep her from laughing, he knew. She'd done it ever since he'd met her, and clearly it hadn't changed. He just hoped that Sirius would do it again so Lily could see, because it really was something that everyone who knew James should see. Really, everyone in the world should see it, but Remus suspected that James would object to it being put up on the internet somewhere. The internet would probably love it thought.

"Fine, fine, don't tell me how. I'm impressed, in the weirdest way possible though," James conceded, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion.

Sirius only laughed as a reply and patted James on the back before walking back over to Remus. "So no one's picked him up in a long time, I take it?" he asked, leaning into Remus's ear.

"You'd be right," Remus whispered back, tilting his head in the direction of Lily with another whispered, "I think you need to reenact it."

"Right you are," he replied, grinning cheekily. Remus had never thought that grinning cheekily was something people did once they were an adult, but clearly not.

"This is for the beautiful flower in the room," Sirius announced, still grinning, and before James knew what was going on, once again he bounded over to James, picked him up and spun him around. The only difference was, this time when he set James down, he took his hand and began to dance with him, which only lasted until James regained control of his legs and pushed the other man away, but Lily's applause lasted long after that. She was bent over in laughter, but still her applause continued. Eventually, Dorcas, Peter and Remus joined in with the applause. Completely crazy, absolutely and completely crazy, Remus muttered under his breath, everything and everyone had gone mad. That was the only reasoning for all of this, they'd all gone insane, they were probably in an asylum somewhere and he was hallucinating. Everything was insane.

"Sirius!" James shouted at the same time Lily yelled, "That was brilliant!"

To which Sirius stepped to the side and took a bow, winking at Remus. Unfair, winking so unfair, but Remus had to admit even if this was all a hallucination, he didn't really mind because it was amazing.

"Sirius, if you do that one more time, I may just have to murder you," James announced, sitting on the floor and looking pleadingly at Lily.

"Sirius, if you do that again, I will absolutely take a video," Lily said, staring James in the eye, still shaking from the laughter.

"Sirius, that's incredible," Dorcas added, clinging onto Peter who was still laughing helplessly. "I wish Lene had been here to see that."

"Oh stop with all the Sirius's," Sirius said, shaking his head before pointing at Remus, "if Remus hadn't suggested it, I wouldn't have done it again."

"I felt bad that Lily missed out on seeing it the first time," Remus replied, avoiding James's eyes which were absolutely staring at him.

"Oh, I'm so glad that you told him to do it again!" Lily exclaiming, running over to hug him.

Ah, they were all mad, all so, so mad. And maybe this wasn't how the plan went, but it was oh so much better. So, so much better. They would all have to get back to work soon. It hadn't even been half an hour, but pastries were delicate and they couldn't over bake them or that would be another tray ruined and they couldn't really afford that.

"Sorry guys, but work?"

"Yeah Moony, you're right," Peter agreed, trying to keep his laughter under control while he walked over to his set of ovens. James did the same, and Dorcas went over to the fridge, checking all the cheesecakes. Remus took his own pastries out of the oven and set them up to cool. It was almost time to start packing the order.

One of them would need to go deliver it at some point this morning. Hopefully James, because he was the only one with a car. They used to use Peter's, but his had been run into a couple of weeks ago and he still hadn't gotten it fixed. Occasionally Dorcas could use Marlene's car, but she was away, or at least he thought she was. He most certainly did not have a car, and probably would not have one for quite some time, if ever. But they would sort that out when it came to it. James's car was almost always available, so that shouldn't be much of a problem. Worst comes to worst, they take a few extra people and take the train, he'd done that before, it wasn't too hard.

Right now though, the clock was ticking closer and to 8:00 and everyone was finishing up and beginning to set everything out for the day. Everything was clean, the cutlery, the tables, the benches, the glass over the counter and case. The breads were in the baskets, biscuits in jars, Cheesecakes still in the fridge, but even they would be taken out soon. They were all ready for the opening of the shop in five minutes. The curtains were opened again, hands were cleaned and neater aprons were put on. Everything looked rather professional. Except for Lily, who would stay as they opened for her morning coffee and danish.

And of course, Sirius, who would, well, Remus wasn't really sure what he'd do. He could stay of course, but if he was going to stay and not buy anything, he'd have to stay in the kitchen, which probably wouldn't be all that exciting. It'd be extraordinarily distracting as well. That's where Remus spent most of the day, and it really wouldn't help to have this insane, attractive stranger in there with him, but that would be alright. If he needed to stay, Remus would let him, but it wouldn't be particularly helpful. It would be fine though. Absolutely fine.

The shop opened and James was just making Lily's coffee, Peter was behind the counter and Dorcas and Remus were still in the kitchen, preparing the last few things. Remus for the order and Dorcas for the cheesecakes. There were a few customers in there already, Remus could hear, it was going to be a good morning. "Do you know if we can take James's car for the delivery?" Remus asked Dorcas, she always seemed to know random things like that.
"We can't, his mum has it, I think. I don't know, he was vague about it, but kind of upset. You know how he loves that car."

"Oh yes, I know how he loves that car."

"Train then?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Marl's away, yeah?"

"Yeah, she is. Sorry mate."

"No problem, the train isn't that hard."

"I've got a bike if you want that?" Sirius offered, glancing between Remus and Dorcas.

"Hm, I don't think it'll all fit."

"A motorbike, I mean. I'll drive and we can both carry the boxes and we can put some in the sidecar?" he suggested.

"That would actually be really awesome, Sirius. Are you sure?"

"No problem at all."

"Thank you so much. Would you mind very much if we went now?"

"Not at all. Come on, let's go. She's brilliant."

"She?"

"Absolutely."

"Alright. Don't go too fast."

"I can't guarantee that."