In just two days, Remus was allowed to go back to lessons, since the potions had taken their proper effects once he had awoken, he had healed well and was virtually back to normal. Sirius was, of course, overjoyed. Remus had spoken to James and Peter privately and they no longer hated him – and Snape hated him more than ever and carefully kept his distance – so all was good.
Until Remus got a girlfriend.
Sirius found out the worst way possible. He had been walking through the library, minding his own damn business and looking for Remus to give him the rest of the notes he had missed while he was in the hospital wing and had walked straight into a scene from what had recently become his worst nightmare.
Moony – his fucking Moonpie – with some slut (who Sirius recognised as Julie, the girl who Lily usually sat with during potions lessons), sitting on his lap, her hands in his gorgeous hair and kissing him. Sirius swore he saw tongues.
Once he had gotten over the shock of it, he stormed up to them, slammed down the pile of notes that he had stacked and sorted so meticulously just because Remus liked it that way and scowled at the pair of them.
"Your notes, Lupin." He snapped at a surprised Remus and an indignant Julie, before turning on his heel and stalking back out of the library. Sirius sort of hoped that Remus would come after him, like he usually did when he was in one of his moods, but with an attractive girl like Julie sat on him like that, there was no chance. He huffed to himself, shoving a second year out of his way as he made for the staircase on his right – he had planned to sit with Remus for a while in the library before lunch started, but now that plan had gone out of the window and he had nothing else to do but head up to the shop early.
Once he had walked past it three times, thinking hard of Wolf Wares, Sirius entered the Room of Requirement and dropped his bag behind the counter unceremoniously and tapped the till with his wand to unlock it before waving it again to lift the shutters over the shelves. He looked around the small room, at the shelves of mysteriously packaged items and tables set up for sampling and sighed.
"Potter, that you?"
Sirius stiffened and lifted aimed his wand at the door to the stock room, waiting. The door swung open and a pile of boxes floated through, followed by none other than Sweetie. Sirius stared at the blonde boy, lowering his wand.
"Oh, it's you." Sweetie said distastefully, letting the boxes down on the floor. He turned to prop his hip against the counter, his eyes narrowed. Sirius felt his temper flare.
"What do mean, it's me? It's my shop. What're you doing here, Sweetie?" he demanded.
"Dropping off some extra stuff." Sweetie shrugged, gesturing down at the boxes, "Potter got me in. Sure is useful knowing so many secret ways into the castle. Makes it easier to come and see Remus."
"I don't think that arrangement will be continuing for much longer." Sirius sneered, more vehemently than he had intended, "There's a girl involved now, who I don't think would be very happy about you."
"Who says this girl has to know?" Sweetie smirked sickeningly, winking. Sirius scowled and Sweetie's smile grew wider, "But of course, you want me out of the picture, don't you? One less contender to deal with, eh?"
"I don't know what you're on about." Sirius mumbled.
"Of course you do." the other boy murmured, stepping forwards, "I saw your face when you walked in on us that first night. I know you want him. It's not my problem you're too much of a coward to just go for it."
"You're not good enough for him." Sirius scorned. Sweetie took another step forward to trail a finger down his chest. Sirius grimaced and stepped away quickly.
"I might consider backing off in exchange for a night with you, Black." Sweetie drawled.
"You'll back off in exchange for a beating." Sirius barked, just as the door opened and Remus entered, slightly breathless as he met Sirius' guilty gaze.
"There you are, Pads! I was worried, I've been looking for you everywhere, why did you…Sweetie?" Remus frowned, approaching the counter. Sirius had been feeling all warm and fuzzy when Remus had called him 'Pads' with that Moony concern of his – until he had clocked Sweetie.
"Hey, Rem!" Sweetie chirped, "Potter let me in to drop of this stuff."
"Oh, right." Remus blinked, his eyes flitting to Sweetie's hand clenched around Sirius' robes. Sirius took a hasty step back and coughed awkwardly. Sweetie gave Remus a sideways grin.
"You want me back here tonight, babe?"
Sirius almost gagged at the endearment and fully expected Remus to tell Sweetie that he had found a girl he liked, so they wouldn't be seeing each other like that anymore. But, as cruel fate would have it, Remus glanced at Sirius for a moment, before resting a hand on the counter and reaching out to cup Sweetie's chin with the other and bring him forward, over the counter, and plant a kiss on his lips that seemed to go on forever. When Remus finally released him, Sweetie leant his elbows on the counter with a somewhat dazed and dreamy smile (Sirius would have given anything to see what Remus could do to create that expression), as he gazed up at Remus, who grinned back.
"I'll take that as a yes, then." Sweetie leered, stepping around the counter and making his way to the door, pausing to throw a wink to Sirius behind Remus' back before he left.
"So?" Remus asked, wiping his mouth as he dropped his bag over the back of the counter and leaned forward inquisitively, "What's wrong? Why did you storm off like that in the library?"
Sirius shrugged sheepishly, tracing invisible patterns on the wood, "I dunno, I saw you with that girl and…" He looked up to find Remus watching him closely, intently, and at that intense stare, Sirius looked away again and continued, "I'd just gotten a detention in Divination and I was pissed off, so I took it out on you, sorry."
Remus sighed and dropped his stare, ruffling his hands through his hair in the exact way Sirius wanted to do with his own hands.
"Sooo," Sirius said nonchalantly, "Julie…that serious?"
Remus shrugged, resting his cheek on his palm and looking up at Sirius, "Yeah, I guess. I like her."
"Right." Sirius said slowly around the lump that had formed in his throat, "When did this happen? How come you didn't tell us?" How come you didn't tell me?
"Couple of days ago, when I came out of the hospital wing." Remus smiled, "Said she'd noticed I was gone and was concerned. One thing led to another…"
"You shagged her yet?" Sirius asked, more harshly than he had intended. Remus gave him a sharp look and didn't answer. Sirius changed tactics, "Why are you still seeing Sweetie, then?"
"Fun. Not like I'm getting any from who I really like, so why not?" Remus replied, looking Sirius in the eye. Sirius nodded, stifling a nervous gulp and gestured to the stock Sweetie had left.
"We should probably unpack these and—"
"What's really your problem, Black?" Remus demanded suddenly, around the counter and in Sirius' face in a flash. Sirius balked at the use of his surname.
"I don't have a problem." He insisted, but Remus' expression darkened further. Sirius scowled and drew himself up. "Maybe I have a problem with your contact."
"Oh, really?" Remus asked in a soft voice that made Sirius take a step backwards, "James mentioned this to me. He seems to think you have a problem with me doing other boys."
Exactly, doing other boys, Sirius' brain provided unhelpfully. Remus stopped the distracting train of thought by shoving him back against the wall roughly. "If you've got a problem, tell me, Black. Not anyone else, not James, me."
Sirius snarled, enraged that Remus would ever think he was biased against him and twisted from under his grip, pushing him against the wall instead, pinning his arms and leaning close to hiss, "I don't have a problem with boys, Lupin."
Sirius wasn't sure what he had planned to say next – all he knew was that he was suddenly leaning very close to Remus' face, who was glaring across at him with incense in those delicious amber-tinted eyes and breathing heavily, his heaving chest brushing Sirius' with every intake of air. All it would take was for Sirius to close the hairs-breadth of a gap and touch his lips to—
"There you are, me and Wormtail have been looking…are you two okay?"
Sirius turned quickly to see James and Peter standing in the doorway, staring at him and Remus uncertainly. Sirius stepped away briskly, dropping Remus' arms.
"Just a little disagreement." Remus answered smoothly, without even a glance in Sirius' direction as he took his place on the stool at the counter, "Right, Sirius?"
"Right. Disagreement." Sirius muttered, wiping a hand over his face and avoiding the others' stares. James clapped his hands together and tapped the door with his wand, making the shop visible to those who were subscribed to their services and announced them open for another lunch time.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, everyone here knows what we sell, you don't need to creep around. The marijuana's over there. Fucking fifth years."
Remus' acerbic tones cut through the quiet atmosphere in the shop halfway through lunch, making a spotty fifth year jump and hurry to the corner to which the irritable shop keep had pointed. James glared across the room at Remus from where he was helping customers sample Dragon's Gin. Sirius glanced over from the condom stand where a girl was asking his advice.
"Which ones would you prefer?" the short blonde seventh year was asking, "Lubricated or ribbed?"
Sirius was too busy watching Remus to pay attention; the other boy was between transactions, so had time to shrug his robes off and pull his jumper over his head, which made his shirt hitch up and reveal a slither of tanned skin for a moment. After tossing his jumper and robes by his bag in the corner, Remus just fucking happened to look up and catch Sirius staring with his mouth open – he would have bet anything that he had a string of drool hanging from the corner – and cracked small smile, almost apologetically.
But Sirius didn't take the bait – Remus had been convinced that he had a problem with him and just went around telling everyone but Remus himself. If he thought that lowly of Sirius, well, he could just come and lick his boots personally. He wasn't going to fall for any of his crooked grins or two fingered salutes. When Sirius looked away pointedly, he saw Remus scowl from his peripheral and bend his head to start picking at his nails, his fringe falling across his eyes.
"Sorry, what?" Sirius asked the pretty blonde politely, who fluttered her lashes at him.
"I asked, the ribbed or the lubed?"
Sirius glanced down at the condoms in her hand and furrowed his brows, "Neither. There are lube charms that do the trick better and the ribbed ones make your dick feel weird."
The girl sighed, "Then which ones?"
Sirius was about to answer, when James caught his attention over her shoulder. He was pointing at her meaningfully, making a love heart with his fingers and then pointing at Sirius. Getting the drift, Sirius smiled charmingly down at her. This would show Lupin. He wasn't so hooked that he couldn't score a decent date. Not that Remus knew about his embarrassing infatuation. He hoped not. Merlin's hairy third nipple, he hoped not.
"Well, sweetheart, I'd go for the chocolate flavoured ones. Fancy trying one out later?"
"Prick!" the girl shrieked and Sirius' cheek stung from a slap he hadn't seen coming and didn't find at all fair; she'd been flirting, right? Okay, maybe suggesting a blowjob as a first date hadn't been the way to go about it, but having Remus right across the room blowing bubbles with that pink gum that let you spell out words was just downright distracting. Especially when the words sex god were floating innocently around his head. Sirius looked around, rubbing his sore face that was probably a throbbing red by now, ignoring the laughs from the other customers and James – the traitor – to see the girl now flirting with Remus over the till (who was flirting right back, the common whore), whilst purchasing the condoms Sirius had suggested.
The cheek of it.
Sirius slunk over to James, who was looking a little dopey as one usually did when they landed the samples shift, where the customers tried out their range of legal highs. At the moment, he was showing three seventh year boys their range of Veela's Breath, small pots that expelled wafts of arousal, ranging from 'Semi-Ready' to 'Raging and Rearing to Go'. He sat next to his best friend and narrowed his eyes over at Moony, who was making the blonde girl laugh.
"Saw you get shot down, man," James drawled, his eyelids drooping, "Sorry 'bout that?"
"Nah," Sirius shrugged, "I deserved it. Did you see Moony flirting with her, though?"
"Mad he stole your girl?"
"No," Sirius sighed impatiently, growing tired quickly of dealing with a high James, "I mean, he's been acting strange lately. First we find out about that Robin guy, then there's the whole affair with Sweetie, then I find him making out with Julie in the library and now he's coming on to busty seventh year Hufflepuffs—"
"Whoa!" James stuttered, holding up his hands dramatically and making the boys at the table opposite them laugh drowsily, "Hold the phone! When did Moonpie hook up with Julie?"
Sirius cocked a sceptically amused brow, "Do you even know what a phone is?"
"Heard Lily say it once. Do you?"
"No." Sirius admitted, trying not to notice the way James had called the redhead Lily instead of Evans – something that was becoming common after the Snape Incident. They had found out that Evans had known about Remus' furry little problem and she had found out that they knew when she had come to Sirius to rant about endangering Snivellus' life or something and James had stepped up to tell her that he had controlled the situation. Ever since they had been speaking more cordially, with first names (mostly) instead of surnames and there was a lot less hexing involved. Sirius tried to pretend the change didn't make him feel insecure, half certain that nothing would happen between them.
"Wait, wait, forget that! When did Moony and Julie get together?" James persisted.
"Coupla days ago apparently." Sirius shrugged. James giggled.
"Our little Remus is growing up. Turnin' into a playa, that'un."
"Mmm." Sirius hummed miserably as he watched Remus finally send the blonde girl off with one of his two fingered salutes. Maybe it was a good thing he hadn't gotten a date with the girl; the last time he was with one he had ended up imagining one of his best friend's tight arses.
