They had been on the road for three hours, and Remus Lupin's fascination with the countryside view had long since ceased. There was nothing interesting about a field of wheat when he had already seen hundreds of them in the last hour. He tried valiantly to maintain his interest, but it just was not to be. With a sigh, Remus turned back to the book he was rereading for the third time this trip.
Soon, he tired of reading what he could recite in his sleep. He set his book down and turned to look at his driving companion, Sirius Black. Sirius was his roommate at uni, and it was because of this they had the bright idea of driving home and then back to the university together. Now, Remus was beginning to regret this decision. Though they had been roommates for almost a year, and had even sort of enjoyed it for the first month or so, at this point all they did was get on each other's nerves. Like now, for instance, when it seemed Sirius' reckless nature refused to vanish even when he was driving twenty miles above the speed limit on a 60 mile per hour motorway. He never kept both hands on the wheel, choosing instead to let his right arm dangle out the window, and half the time he didn't even seem to be looking at the road. Remus sighed in frustration and rubbed his temples.
"What, am I going too fast for you? God, you're so uptight," Sirius scoffed. He turned to look at Remus, making sure Remus could see his face clearly when he rolled his eyes.
"LOOK OUT!" Remus yelled.
"What, am I going too far above the speed limit?" Sirius drawled. Remus reddened, embarrassed and angry. Before he could respond though, Sirius learned exactly "what," and it wasn't the speed limit. The whole vehicle jolted, and there was a loud crunch that sounded like the front of their car had been squashed. Sirius panicked and slammed on the brakes, and the car came screeching to a halt.
"You idiot! We're on the motorway. Get moving before someone hits us!" Remus cried.
"Okay, okay, I'm moving! What the hell just happened?" Sirius demanded, hitting the gas. As they started moving again, Remus heard the sound of something heavy dragging on the road, and it was coming from their car.
"We just hit some very heavy piece of road junk. You need to get off at the next exit, because I'm fairly certain the car is now missing some key ingredients. There's an exit in about a mile. Do try to keep your eyes on the road this time," Remus said, not bothering to hide his irritation. He pulled out his mobile to find a place they could stop once they got off the motorway. Neither spoke again until they reached the exit, with only the unknown dragging sound to break the silence.
"So where do we go now?" Sirius asked quietly as he rolled to a stop at the intersection.
"There's a Little Chef about a quarter of a mile down the road to the right. Pull in there. I'll assess the damage, you call your insurance," Remus replied.
They pulled into the nearly empty gas station parking lot and parked in the corner of the lot. Remus got out of the car and went around to the front to see what happened. The front right side was crumpled in, and far too many of the car's innards were out in the open for his liking. There were wires spilling out of the hole, and the car's computer was dangling from them. There was a puddle of thick reddish liquid on the ground. For a moment Remus panicked, thinking it was blood, but soon his mother's automotive care training kicked in and he realized it was just transmission fluid. This was still a problem, but it was a relief that the red fluid was coming from the car, and not either of them.
Sirius glanced up at Remus when he got back in the car. 'Insurance company' he mouthed, pointing to his mobile, which was at his ear. He covered the mouthpiece for a second. "What's the damage?"
"It's pretty bad. The computer sort of fell out, and there's transmission fluid leaking all over the place," Remus described. Sirius repeated his words into the phone.
"They'll be here in 15 minutes with a tow truck and a taxi," Sirius reported after he hung up the phone. Remus nodded. He couldn't help but be impressed at Sirius's efficiency. He had expected much more persuasion on his part, and much more whining on Sirius's. In fact, he had half expected to find Sirius sitting playing Flappy Bird when he returned, instead of making the call. After all, Sirius did have a track record of refusing to do things that were in his own best interests. Remus had lost track of the number of times he had come across his roommate sitting at his desk late at night, the night before a paper was due, coming up with plausible excuses for not having done the work. Today, though, Sirius had not been his usual obstructive self, instead just doing what needed to be done without question. Perhaps he really could change.
When the tow truck and taxi arrived, Sirius and Remus stuck around just long enough for Sirius to sign some paperwork and to see the car safely towed away, and then they departed in the taxi. They had no idea where they were, other than "the outskirts of York," so they decided to head into the city and explore a bit while they waited for news on the car. The ride took 15 minutes, and they spent the whole of it bickering over how they should spend their time in the city. Remus wanted to find a park and perhaps have a picnic lunch, but Sirius was all for a fancy restaurant and a shopping spree.
"Damn it, Remus, I have money for the trip! Why shouldn't we spend it?" Sirius exclaimed.
"We?" Remus asked.
"Yes, we. I know you're broke. Did you think I was just going to let you starve?" That was, indeed, what Remus had thought, not that he would say so now.
"I guess not," he muttered.
"So it's decided then. Fancy lunch, my treat, then we can go exploring." Sirius nodded decidedly, before leaning forward in his seat. "Excuse me, mister taxi driver? Would you please take us to Porter's Steakhouse?" Remus found himself once again shocked at his companion's polite behavior.
Lunch was a quiet affair. Remus had been apprehensive about ordering something expensive until Sirius ordered filet mignon, of all things. Two weeks ago, Remus would have said Sirius did it to flaunt his money, but now he had a peculiar feeling Sirius had done it to make him feel more comfortable. They enjoyed surprisingly pleasant conversation, and over the course of the meal discovered they actually had a lot more in common than either suspected. Though their differences were still prominent, they bonded over a love of automotives and Sherlock Holmes. When they left the restaurant, both were far less upset to be stranded in the other's company.
As they wandered the streets looking for something interesting to do, Remus pondered the situation. Classes started again in two days, which was certainly nerve-wracking enough in and of itself, but at that moment they had no clue when they would be able to get back to school. He was stuck with a man who had irritated him for months, and of whom he was only now beginning to discover the positives. Feeling himself beginning to sink into a rut of panicked anxiety, Remus instead made a snap decision to let the inevitable be inevitable and enjoy the present. They were stuck there for the time being, and no amount of worrying would change that, so he decided to just let go and enjoy the city.
They found a foot bridge in their wanderings, and Remus ran across it, laughing, arms spread wide as though he was trying to catch the wind. Such uncharacteristic behavior caused Sirius much confusion, but Remus was oblivious to that as he revelled in the feeling of freedom that standing in the open air over the rushing river gave him.
Remus was disappointed when he reached the other side of the bridge, missing the feeling of the swift motion in the open air with the wind on his fingertips, but he was too excited to see more of the city to let that bring him down. He calmly waited for Sirius, who was going at a more sedate pace for a change.
"What's gotten into you?" Sirius asked, bemused by his companion's excitement.
"I've never felt so free!" Remus exclaimed.
When they got out to the main road, Remus was delighted to discover little sets of metallic footprints inlaid in the pavement. The source of his delight was the patterns that the footprints displayed, which were the steps of some of his favorite ballroom dances. As a child he had been enrolled in a dancing class to satisfy his mother, but he had taken to it like a duck to water. Remus eagerly asked Sirius to try out one of the dances with him. After much begging, Sirius eventually agreed to the waltz, the one he disliked the least of the dances he had been forced to learn as a child. Before they began to dance, Remus declared that it would be incomplete without music. With a sigh, Sirius pulled out his phone and pulled up a sound clip of a waltz on YouTube. He stuck his phone back in his pocket and clasped Remus's hands gently as the music started.
As they danced, Remus became intimately aware of Sirius's presence, from his musky leather-and-coffee-grounds scent, to the slight roughness of his hands. He carefully avoided looking Sirius in the eyes, wondering about the other man's mystery. He had always seemed so unapproachable, untouchable in his strange paradox of flawed perfection. Everything he did had served to irritate Remus over the past seven months, yet he seemed to do it all with such casual, uncaring grace and elegance that it was impossible not to like him a little. Discovering this kinder side of Sirius left Remus reeling, and quite possibly caused his previous unwilling appreciation to morph into something a bit deeper. What was this feeling? It was as though his entire being had been wrapped in a warm layer of euphoria, and when he looked at Sirius he was seeing him in a completely new light, as if he were a different person.
Lost in his thoughts, Remus unwittingly allowed his eyes to roam up and meet Sirius's. he was shocked to discover Sirius staring at him intently, an unfathomable look in his eye. They stared into each other's eyes, no longer dancing but merely swaying to the music as they lost themselves in the moment.
Suddenly the music stopped, and it was replaced by the jarring melody of one of the iPhone's generic ringtones. Moment broken, Sirius dropped Remus's hands to answer the phone. Remus could not hear what was being said on the other side of the phone, but if Sirius's face was any indication, it was nothing good. When he hung up the phone, Remus's suspicions were confirmed.
"They totalled the car. We're stuck here at least until the morning, which is the next time a bus leaves for school," Sirius said glumly.
"Hey… it's not so bad. I bet your insurance will cover a new car. Look on the bright side. We have the whole evening to do whatever we want!" Remus said, trying to cheer Sirius up. His friend nodded. "You know, I saw this really neat looking shopping district on the other side of the river. What do you say we go on a bit of a shopping spree?" he was gratified to see Sirius perk up again at the mention of shopping.
"Yeah, okay. Let's go!" Sirius said. He turned and headed back in the direction of the bridge, grabbing Remus' hand and tugging on it impatiently when he felt they weren't moving fast enough. They ran all the way to the shopping district, not stopping until they were standing just inside a giant H&M. Sirius immediately pulled Remus over to a nearby display, chattering enthusiastically about how nice Remus would look in soft green jumper that was on display. Remus indulged Sirius for a few minutes, before pulling away slightly.
"You know, clothes shopping isn't really my thing. What do you say we split up? We can meet back here in an hour. I'm going to head to Barnes and Noble." Sirius looked crestfallen for a fleeting second, then it was gone.
"Okay, have fun with your books!" he said, grinning easily.
Twenty minutes later, Remus was perusing the science fiction section when the lights began to flicker. He glanced out the window and was startled to discover that it had begun storming since he arrived at the bookstore. He decided to go find Sirius early, not wanting to be separated from him during the inclement weather. Just as he was about to buy an umbrella and leave, the lights went out altogether. Remus abandoned the idea of trying to buy the umbrella and raced out into the rapidly worsening storm. In his panic he could not remember which store he had left Sirius in. All he remembered was that it was a big clothing store. He raced from store to store, panic mounting as he imagined Sirius stuck in one of those giant stores, alone and in the dark. he hoped Sirius wasn't as terrified as he felt.
"Excuse me, have you seen a tall man with long black hair wearing bright purple skinny jeans?" He asked desperately in each store he entered, but each time was given a negative response. After the fourth store, he began to get really worried. Sirius could be anywhere, and he was beginning to get lost!
At the fifth store, he hit the jackpot, or so he thought at first. Someone recognized his description. His victory wasn't to last, though.
"Yeah, I saw him, ran in here about five minutes ago, sopping wet just like yourself in fact, but he left about three seconds later! Seemed to be looking for something, he was, and ran right out when he didn't find it," the man said. A strange excitement passed through him when he realized that Sirius seemed to be looking just as desperately for him as he was for Sirius, but that was swiftly replaced once more by panic when he remembered the implications. He hurriedly thanked the man and dashed out again.
At the next few stores he had similar encounters; Sirius had been to each store, but had never stayed for more than a few moments. He was just beginning to lose hope when he suddenly remembered where they had split up in the first place. It was the giant H&M, the very store in front of which he was standing. He had little hope that Sirius would actually be there, considering he had proof he was out searching the city for him, but Remus still thought it was a better lead than any. He stopped inside the front door for a moment, water dripping from his soaked limbs, and pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket. He planned to use the advantage of the dryness to try to call Sirius, but was dismayed to discover that the mobile had become waterlogged and stopped working. Sighing heavily, he decided to wait inside the store and hope that Sirius would remember their meeting place.
Remus was close to giving up and was just about to head back out into the storm, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice shouting his name. He whirled around and was overjoyed to see Sirius standing by the door in all his sopping wet glory.
"Sirius!" Remus cried, thrilled and relieved to be reunited with his companion and friend. As Sirius raced towards him, smiling jubilantly, Remus found himself hoping that they could be something more. When Sirius embraced him, the euphoric feeling from earlier returned tenfold, and he knew in that moment that Sirius felt the same way. Remus melted into Sirius's embrace, content for now to simply enjoy the moment.