In the Name of Friendship
Remus had never really understood why muggles created strange things like 'amusement parks' and why they called this said park as such. It didn't make much sense to him how anyone could have the least bit of fun paying an exorbitant amount of money to go on machines that spin around so fast it makes one sick to their stomach, or to play senseless games that only serve to gobble up the rest of the spare change in your pocket.
And yet, here he found himself in one of those muggle parks anyway, standing in line to sit in a giant spinning tea cup; a ride in which he will most likely get very sick on and throw up every meal he's ever had the pleasure of eating the moment he gets off. And Remus tells Sirius this for the umpteenth time during the ten minutes they've been in line. Sirius, who had propped himself up on the divider rail, gave him a rather large sugar-crazed induced smile.
"It'll be good for you, Moony-mate."
"I hardly agree with you. I'm going to have my head in a toilet for at least a week," Remus argued, prodding Sirius in the leg when he noticed the line had moved up a bit. As Sirius slid himself over, the metal rail swayed precariously under him, and Remus could have sworn he saw the attendant running the ride have a slight battle with herself over whether or not she should yell at the rather large teenage boy to get the hell off. But in the end the attendant frowned and thought better of it. Sirius is a very unapproachable person at first glance, or so it seems. Perhaps it was the spiked dog collar. Or maybe it was the half insane grin he normally wore on his handsome features. Then again, as Remus thought better of it, it might have been the combination of the two that did the trick.
"But it'll be worth it," Sirius drawled, "It's not every day that you'll get the chance to spin around in big arse cups. And besides, how often will you get the chance to throw up bright colors?" He paused for a moment, dark eyes rolling upwards as something occurred to him, "Pink, blue? Or would it come up purple?" He waved that line of thought aside before coming back to the more important matter at hand, looking down his nose at him, daring Remus to argue with his rather demented logic.
"When I throw up - there is no doubt of it, after all - it won't be any of those pleasant colors since you had eaten the whole bloody bag of cotton candy I had bought."
Sirius grinned a bit at the mention of that. "Had I? Well then, I suppose there's no reason for you to be spewing pretty colors, now is there?" He looked entirely too pleased with himself, as if he was having the time of his life in this bloody amusement park. And he probably was, for Sirius was That Type of Boy. Muggles' odd imaginations and fantasies of riding giant caterpillars and whatnot would be the sort of thing Sirius would enjoy.
Remus sighed as they moved right up to the front of the line, gripping his bag to his chest as if it could somehow save him from the impending doom ahead of him. And perhaps it could, for he could always slip out of line at the last second, buy himself a hot chocolate and chain himself up to a bench so he could read the book he had stashed away in said bag. But somehow, as tempting as that idea seemed to him, Remus knew he could never do that. Especially with Sirius giving him The Look as he was right then (as if he could read his thoughts, for all Remus knew he probably could), which was a depressed sort of glance that didn't suit Sirius at all and Remus never liked seeing it on his fellow Marauder's face. When James had told Sirius he was going out with Evans today instead of the two's planned yearly muggle park romp, it had been that very same look that had roped him into this whole business in the first place.
"Lemme see that," Sirius blurted, and snatched Remus' bag from his grasp before the werewolf could protest. Before long he was rummaging through it, sticking Remus' last bar of chocolate in his mouth, balancing it between his teeth and bobbing the end of it up and down underneath his nose as he pulled a novel out of the bag's depths. There was a moment when a look of almost shocked horror crossed Sirius' face. "Moony... " he said disapprovingly, the word muffled and sounding a bit odd with the bar of chocolate still hanging out of his mouth. He bit off the chunk of it and swallowed hard, making a quick grab at the bit that had been tumbling toward the ground before waving the remaining candy in Remus' face. "Here, I can't even eat this I'm so disgusted."
Remus grabbed it delicately, partly because it was melting in the summer heat but mostly due to the fact it had remaining traces of Sirius slobber lingering on it. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with summer reading," he defended.
"Of course there is, mate. Homework in general is a very, very evil thing. And you, my friend, are just about the oddest bloke I know. Taking pride in doing your homework like some nancy when you could be doing much more important things."
Remus let out a soft sigh. Even after almost seven years of friendship, Sirius' lack of priority still somewhat amazed him. "I would hardly call blowing up the Slytherins' batch of mashed potatoes a thing of importance."
"Hence the reason why I call you odd. Those Slytherin bastards deserve their mashed potatoes up their noses. Besides, this --" Sirius muttered, trailing off as he held out the tome at arms length, as if he wanted it as far away from him as possible yet didn't chuck it across the park with the fear that Remus would dash out of line after it. "-- This," he repeated in the same disgruntled tone, "Is absolutely disgusting. I can't believe you brought a book to an amusement park."
Sirius shook his head in woe when his friend merely shrugged. Clearly he didn't see the blasphemy of the situation, which was a very sad and scary thing. "There is something seriously wrong with you," Sirius accused.
And Remus didn't doubt there was, so any retort he had been preparing for died and fell silent on his lips.
The park attendant opened up the gate for them to get on the ride, and Remus gave a resigned sigh before dumping his bag near the exit and pushing Sirius onward; the boy had been quite busy giving the attendant flirtatious winks and smiles and now the poor girl was an awful shade of white. Nodding to her as they passed, Remus noticed how relieved she looked when there was some distance between her and his fellow Marauder.
They quickly hopped in a bright red tea cup, the motion spinning them around just a bit. Remus groaned. Already he could feel his stomach protesting. But down he sat across from a grinning Sirius, and he couldn't help but flash him a small - although weak - smile in return.
It's silly really, the things he does in the name of friendship. Though later on that night after the rides had been ridden and games had been played, Remus couldn't help but think that the torment he put his stomach through had been worth it. Especially when Sirius made up for eating his cotton candy by treating him to a rather large hot chocolate. And as they sat in the ferris wheel, Remus finally got to read his novel by the blinking neon lights of the ride, sipping at his chocolaty drink.
Across from him, Sirius shook his head with a lazy smile. Remus was probably the only person he would let get away with doing such an unthinkable thing. If he were any other person, stranger or not, Sirius would've snatched that book away and threw it out of the compartment. Instead, before he fell into that temptation, he kicked his feet up on Remus' side and rested his arms behind his head. It's silly really, the things he puts up with in the name of friendship.