A/N: Hello, hello. I know, long wait. I've been moving so I beg your forgiveness! Heh. Phrases like that amuse me.
Immortal Fear
Chapter 10
"And then, POW! She hit me!" Charlie exclaimed, leaning back on Sirius' bed where he sat in cross-legged comfort while relating the story. Sirius listened with only half an ear as he tried to balance a quill on the tip of his nose. "Can you believe it?" the red-head continued. "It wasn't even a slap, like a normal girl would do. She just balled up her fist and hit. It was a fist-slap!" Then he sighed. "Merlin, I love that woman."
Sirius rolled his eyes, silently applauding himself as the quill stayed upright on his nose for a full ten seconds before falling to the side. "You attempted to kiss the girl, in front of God and everybody, including her fiancé, at her own anniversary party," he said and tossed the feather aside. "Were you expecting her to grab your shoulders and say 'Take me, I'm yours'? Bit of wishful thinking, that."
"Hey, it's been known to happen!" Charlie said, leaning forward and grabbing his feet. Sirius still hadn't managed to figure out how the other man had taken the bed and left him with the uncomfortable chair. "Well, not to me, but to someone, I'm sure. And anyway," he continued, waving off his own failure, "how're things between you and your furry friend?"
Sirius shrugged and dropped the quill on the table as he stood. He walked to the closet, pulling his shirt off as he went. "Same as usual," he said and reached for the tee he always wore to work.
He was pulling it over his head when he heard Charlie say, "There's no use hiding it, old man. I talked to the kid. He told me what happened."
Sirius yanked the shirt the rest of the way down, pulling a bit more hardly than necessary, and said, "Yeah, right. Harry wouldn't say anything."
"Nice that you trust your little friends so much," Charlie said, as if commenting on the weather. It was with a careful eye that he watched Sirius, and the other man knew it, so he maintained his casual attitude as he pulled a blue button up shirt from the closet. "And you're right. The kid wouldn't tell me anything." Charlie stood from the bed and stretched his arms over his head as he yawned. "But I have to wonder, why would you want to keep your little interludes with Remy from your dear partner in crime, hm?"
Sirius stopped moving, his hands frozen in the process of buttoning his second button as he met Charlie's eyes, trying to determine if the red-head was bluffing. He decided there was just a bit too much smugness in that gaze to be bullshit and sighed before continuing dressing. "Apparently, I put a bit too much trust in them," he muttered.
Charlie grinned triumphantly. "Listen, I can understand wanting to keep it to yourself," he said, "but if things are going well, I need to know." He pulled out the desk chair and sat in it backwards, resting his arms on the back of the seat and turning his full attention to Sirius. "Spill," he commanded.
Sirius shrugged and moved to stand in front of the mirror. He still wasn't used to seeing himself with short hair. It just looked too… muggle. He ran his hand through the black strands, making them stand on end. "We kissed," he confessed. "And I was going to tell you before you came running in here, taking over my bed and going on and on about your fist-slap."
Charlie clapped, a grin spread wide across his freckled face. "Good job," he said, and Sirius could tell he meant it. He had to respect the younger man for it too. Merlin knew, if the situation was reversed and Charlie was getting somewhere with Tonks while he stood off in the background without even a glance from Remus, Sirius wouldn't have been able to congratulate him.
"This does present a problem, though," the red head continued. Sirius glanced at him, brow raised in a silent command to go on. "If Tonks finds out about it, the effect on her would be the same as if Remus had left her."
"So?" Sirius shrugged, smoothing his hair back and glancing at his watch. Harry had given it to him, saying that all muggles wore them, and Sirius had gotten into the habit of checking the thing for the time, even when he carried a perfectly good wand, without ministry knowledge of course.
"So?" Charlie huffed. "Have you forgotten the deal? Tonks has to be the one to leave, not the other way around!" He shook he head and jumped up from the bed to pace through the room. "If she finds out about you and Lupin, it'd break her heart!"
Sirius turned a careful gaze to the other man. "What are you saying?" he asked, measuring his tone as a chef would flour. "Are you telling me to back off? To leave Remus alone just because you can't succeed on your end?" That wasn't right, and it certainly wasn't fair. With each word, Sirius forced his anger a little more under control, but it wasn't easy by any means.
Charlie shook his head. "No," he answered, watching Sirius with eyes that said he understood perfectly how he was feeling. "No, that wouldn't help anyone. You just need to be more careful. If I could find out about it, imagine how easy it would be for Tonks to."
Sirius forced himself to calm down and grabbed his jacket. He had to be at work for the night shift in thirty minutes. He stalked across the room, brushing by Charlie as he did and opened the door. He looked back at the red-head and nodded out, indicating that he should leave. Charlie shrugged and headed out, leaning back in just outside the door. "By the way," he commented easily, "before you go off on Harry again, Draco was the kid." With that as his parting shot, Charlie left.
Sirius stood quietly for a few minutes before following the other man down the hall. He understood what Charlie meant, of course, and the Marauder that still lived in him wouldn't allow him not to plan his revenge.
Several hours later found Sirius standing behind the counter, pulling bills from the register as he made change for a customer. He smiled politely as she thanked him and waved her out the door. A soft chuckle alerted his attention to another's presence and he turned, salesman's smile in place to see Harry and Draco standing near the magazine rack. "What I don't understand," Draco observed as he swept a disdainful glance over the selection, "is why you still work here when you've already reached your goal."
"What I don't understand is how you could bring yourself down from your throne long enough to set foot in here," he shot back and crossed his arms as he studied the screen showing images from the store's security cameras.
"As if I'd come here of my own will. Harry insisted and I wasn't about to let him go alone." Draco said and picked up a magazine to flip through the pages, apparently giving the two former Gryffindors time alone.
Sirius looked down at Harry and couldn't help the small smile at Harry's apologetic grin. "Actually," he confessed, "I was sort of wondering about that too. Why are you still working here?" he asked, running his hand along the counter. "We none of us need the extra money, and you've already got Remus' present. I don't see a reason to continue."
Sirius shrugged. "I don't hate it here. It's better than sitting in that house all day with nothing to do but think about the old days." He smiled at a customer who walked up to the counter, rang up the purchase and sent the portly man on his way before continuing. "Besides, it's rather fulfilling to be earning something for a change."
Draco snorted. "But this?" he asked and Sirius could hear the barely disguised laughter in his voice.
Harry sent him a quelling glare. "Forgive him, Sirius. He hasn't quite learned to behave in public."
"You have fun teaching me though, don't you, Harry, my pet," Draco winked at him and laughed at Harry's blush before turning back to his magazine.
Sirius rolled his eyes and he and Harry chatted for a time before Draco decided it was time to go home, nearly dragging the shorter boy away. Only the hum of the florescent light filled the silence in the store and Sirius busied himself with restocking the coolers. When he heard the bell over the door ring, he turned to greet the customer, not expecting to see Tonks wave cheerily in his direction.
"Wotcher, Sirius," she called and walked around the store a bit as he stood from his crouch and dusted off his knees. "So this is what you've been doing with all your time then. I'll admit I was curious." She continued to wander around the store, poking at some items, rubbing her hand over others, all the while making little comments that made him remember that, before she'd set her sights of Remus, she was someone whose company he genuinely enjoyed.
He didn't expect it when she turned suddenly to face him. The darkness inside that flared each time he saw her with Remus stirred a little, insisting that he say something spiteful and cruel, something to send her off, out of sight and mind, for the moment at least. He fought it and settled for a simple question.
"What?" he said cautiously after having endured several minutes of her close and silent scrutiny. It was like she was trying to read his mind. He hoped to Merlin that she couldn't. She'd find some memories that would be very hard to explain away.
"I've been thinking," she started slowly, dropping her gaze to her hands. Sirius fought off the strong urge to be a smartass. He might enjoy the show, but there were others who wouldn't, he reminded himself. "I know a wolf mates for life and everything." Sirius grimaced at the mention of Remus' other half and looked around, glad the store was its usual empty midnight self and Tonks continued, oblivious, of course. "So I thought that you, being his best mate since school and all, would know for sure. Did Remus ever meet the wolf's mate?"
Sirius could feel his jaw drop and his mind go blank as he stared at the woman. Her eyes, blue at the moment, were pleading with him, begging for an answer. More than anything in the world, he wanted to tell her that he was Remus' mate, that they were meant to be together and to leave the werewolf alone, but something kept him from doing it.
It was true that Remus had never actually confirmed that Sirius was the wolf's mate, though that hadn't stopped Sirius from believing it to be true, but that wasn't what was bothering him. An image of Charlie, congratulating him on his success, floated across his mind and he sighed, squashing beneath the toe of his honesty that dark bit inside him that urged him to lie, to take care of his own end and screw what Charlie wanted. "Remus always kept that part of his life from the rest of us, so I don't know," he confessed and ran his hand through his hair as Tonks sighed.
"Well, damn. I though you would if anyone did." She smiled, though it lacked a little of the brightness that usually seemed to pop out. "It's just sometimes, I feel like its not me he's thinking about when we're together. Like he's gone off somewhere that I can't reach. If there's someone else he's supposed to be with, I don't want to get in the way of that, but I love him, you know?" She scratched at her head a little and smiled up at Sirius, who stood speechless behind the counter.
"Then again," she said brightly, "if there was someone else, you would know about it, hmm?" She clapped her hands together and grinned wider. "Well, then I just need to figure out what's bothering my Remy. You're a really good listener! I'll have to remember that. Thanks for the ear, mate!" she called as she left the store.
Sirius watched her leave. It couldn't be true. God, such that he was, couldn't be so cruel. Which meant that this definitely had not just happened. He absolutely refused to believe it had. He had not just become a confidant to the rival for his love. Nope, wasn't true. He shook his head and walked back to the coolers to finish stocking.
Denial is a powerful thing.
A/N: Right, then. That's all for now. Thanks to muumuu122, PaddyWaddy, Claire2007, and Jupiter 13 for the reviews. I really appreciate the support, guys!