A/N: Hello.
I missed these two so I wrote something - it's rudimentary and undeveloped but I had this idea in my head for a while - except How Soul Mates Are Found is written exclusively in James', Lily's and Severus' point of views so I couldn't put it there. So tah-dah. This is Marlene and Sirius' first "date".
As you may remember (or not), when Lily was in the hospital wing, Alice said Sirius and Marlene should jump on the Knight Bus and go out so... That's the meaning behind the title.
Anyway, enjoy and have a lovely day!
JUMP ON THE KNIGHT BUS
"Well this is fancy," Marlene remarked, smirking.
"Oh shut up."
When Sirius had said that he was taking her out to dinner, she hadn't known what to expect. She knew how it was between them, he'd made that painfully clear, yet here she was, dressed up, made up and a quivering wreck inside.
She'd spent hours trying to find the right dress – but none of them had really seemed appropriate. As much as Marlene didn't want to get her hopes up, she still, stupidly, thought that this might be a date. Did that mean that Sirius, the man who never kept a girl for more than a week, wanted to be something serious? Not that it bothered her, of course, not that it really mattered exactly… but if it did mean that, then she wanted to look like someone you'd take seriously. In the end, she's taken Lily's advice and worn the blue dress – it would bring out her eyes. At least Lily was being helpful, unlike Alice who was being absolutely unbearable about the whole affair.
She hadn't wanted to tell anyone about it, in case she was wrong and Sirius didn't want to be in a relationship or anything – she'd look a bit foolish if that happened and also, Marlene didn't think she could bear the knowing looks, the teasing, urgh – it was insufferable to even think about. Somehow, Lily had managed to get it out of her. It was a relief in a way; at least she had someone to offload all her apprehension onto. However, telling Lily had clearly meant telling Alice as well. Alice would simply not shut up about it - as though this maybe-date was a big deal anyway. It wasn't. No, Marlene thought, it's not a big deal at all.
So why was she so nervous?
Glancing at Sirius, as discreetly as she could, she saw that he didn't look too confident either. He was trying to hide it though, but she could tell. She could always tell.
He ordered drinks with cool indifference but he was tense and avoiding eye contact.
"You clean up nice," she said, to break the silence.
He grinned, his shoulders relaxing and he turned to meet her gaze.
"You too."
"So… why are we ordering overpriced drinks in a restaurant that clearly hasn't had any customers since the Stone Age?"
She looked around, the place was pretty bare and cold and for the most part, empty.
"Well… I wanted some privacy," he began, then paused, as though considering how to word his reply.
He'd practiced this a thousand times in front of the mirror, a thousand different combinations of the same speech. James had laughed and so had Remus – and he supposed it was funny. Here he was, after swearing never to commit to something even vaguely resembling a romantic relationship, fumbling over his words like a first year asking a girl he liked on a date.
It's just… there was something about Marlene that he couldn't get out of his head. She was gorgeous, everyone said so, but, no matter how hard he'd tried to convince himself otherwise, it was more than that. It was more than the way she looked, more than the way she kissed – more than any of that. Whether he liked it or not, he saw Marlene differently. He didn't know why or how it had happened; only that it had. And now that it had, he'd be an idiot to let her go, let her slip away from him now.
He wouldn't go as far as love, but it was certainly more than warm tolerance. She was worth more than that. She deserved more than that.
"Marlene, we've known each other a while, haven't we?"
"Yes."
"And… oh Merlin, I'm bad at this. I'm not good at these kinds of speeches – and I've watched about a million rom-coms with Prongs when he was pining really badly for Lily, so I know what the speeches are supposed to be like. I don't know how to say it… The point is, I like you, Marlene – as a person, not just as somebody who I like to –"
"Sirius," she said warningly, looking sideways at the waiter standing only a short distance away.
"Right. You know what I mean. I like you Marlene – a lot and I don't want you to think that you're just – I'm not using you, I don't want us to be casual like that. I know that it worked okay for us so far but I don't want it to be like that anymore – I'd like to be with you, hold your hand, kiss you, all the soppy, heart-warming stuff. I want to stay up all night with you, I want to take you to all my favourite places, I want to have a shot at being something more meaningful. If you want to, Marley, if you want to do that –"
She leaned forwards and kissed him like she never had done before, he pressed his mouth to hers and he knew that he didn't have to say anymore.