Chapter 2

Remus finished his work quickly, excited and nervous about his meeting with Sirius. He was done an hour ahead of schedule and had nothing to do. He decided to alphabetize his boss's files and business cards. He organized the rather messy desk and dusted all the wooden furniture waiting for the blessed hour of 5:00 to come. He had been watching the door out of the corner of his eye for almost the whole hour but it was when he finally turned his back that Sirius snuck in the room. Remus turned back toward the door and jumped when he saw the black haired man standing there with a smug grin on his face.

"Did I scare you, Remus?" he asked coyly.

"Oui! You didn't even make a sound!" he exclaimed, still trying to calm his racing heart. He took in Sirius' outfit: a Sex Pistols t-shirt, black jeans, and black Adio skate shoes. There were a few piercing around his face and his fingers were incrusted in various silver rings. He also had on some black eyeliner which brought out his silver eyes.

"Well, I'm terribly sorry about that…not," Sirius said with a grin. Remus would've taken offence but the joking light in Sirius' eye told him that he wasn't serious (no pun intended). "Are you ready for a jaunt around London?"

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Sirius promptly took Remus to all of the tourist spots; Buckingham Palace and the Eye among other things. Remus, while interested, wasn't as enthused as Sirius had hoped. Then again, he did come from Paris, so the sheer size and complexity of London didn't fascinate him like it would if he were from the country. That's when Sirius decided to take him to underground London; the areas few tourists knew about. They first went to a small restaurant that was one of Sirius' favorites—Amore's, a small Italian hole in the wall. Sophie, the hostess, waved Sirius over to his usual table in the back corner near the kitchen.

"Sirius!" the owner Andre cried in welcome. "I haven't seen you ages. Benvenuto! Come, come, sit. Who is your handsome friend?"

"Hello Andre," Sirius laughed. "This is Remus, he's my father's new secretary."

"Bonjour," Remus said shyly.

"Ooh, French eh? Why are you taking your father's employees out for dinner Sirius?" he asked slyly.

"Remus seemed like a cool person and we hit it off at the office so I figured I'd show him around town. I just bored his brain right out of his skull with all the tourist traps. I knew you made the best food in London so I decided to take him here instead of some upscale restaurant filled with rich yuppies," Sirius told him defensively. "Or would you rather that I took him to one of those restaurants?"

Andre's eyes got big. "No, no, I'm glad you like my place enough to take a date here," he said quickly.

"Date? This iz not a date!" Remus said suddenly.

"Of course it isn't," Andre corrected himself. "Well your table is always ready here at Amore's, shall I take you back?"

"Yes, thank you," Sirius said, taking his seat. He could've sworn that Andre had said something like "I bet you wished it were a date," as he left, but then again he could just be hearing things. He smiled over at Remus who was looking around at the various patrons seated in the small, cozy eatery. "Most of these people are American Mafia hit-men here on 'business,'" Sirius said quietly.

"Oh," Remus said it understanding.

"Siri!" a man called out. Sirius winced and looked over to see Marco, a man he on occasion slept with, standing in the doorway. "I knew I'd seen you come in here!"

The handsome, yet highly annoying, Greek-looking man came over to the table. He promptly dropped himself into Sirius' lap and gave him a long, passionate kiss. Sirius looked over at Remus and saw he was almost completely neutral, almost as though he'd gone through this before.

"Hello Marco," Sirius said once his mouth had been released. "I'd like you to meet Remus. Remus, this is a friend of mine."

Marco looked over at Remus and glared at him. "New boyfriend, Sirius?" he asked with a sneer.

"No, Remus is just a friend. He's my father's new secretary," Sirius said coolly.

"Secretary? Since when have there been male secretaries?" Marco asked in an arrogant tone.

Sirius noticed that Remus hadn't made any attempt to make a comeback but there was a look in his eyes, as though he was starting to regret coming, reliving memories. Sirius then remembered his abusive ex-boyfriend. He was willing to bet that that guy and his friends walked all over Remus, making him feel like dirt, as though he were worthless. That's when he mentally put his foot down.

"Marco, if you don't mind, I'd greatly appreciate if you left so that we can eat in peace and that you'd quit putting down my friends," he growled, shoving the flamboyant man off of his lap.

Marco stopped and looked both offended and shocked at the fact that Sirius, his sweet Sirius, had spoken so harshly to him. Finally, he narrowed his eyes, gave Remus a final disdainful glare, and huffed off, getting odd looks from the other patrons. The nearest, an acquaintance of Sirius', Bobby "Basher" Giuliani, looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Jealous ex-boyfriend," he told him. Bobby nodded in understanding and turned back to his food.

Sirius turned back to Remus. "I'm terribly sorry about him. He's very rude and a tad annoying. Actually, no, he's really annoying," he apologized. "I try and avoid him whenever I can."

"I've met worse," Remus said quietly, his voice a bit haunted. "At least he didn't call me a slut and offer to pay for a night with me, right?"

"Is that what his friends did? Your ex-boyfriend's, I mean," Sirius asked with a frown. Remus' silence was more than enough to confirm that. "I'd never do that to you. I'd never let it happen, either. If anyone says something to you, anything negative at all, you let me know and I'll—I'll, well I don't know what I would do but it wouldn't be pretty."

"Really?" Remus asked with a small smile. At Sirius' nod he said in an incredulous voice, "Jimmy never would have done that for me. I think he invited his friends along just so that they could make fun of me and say stuff about me."

"Well, I can guarantee you right now that nothing of the sort will happen for as long as you know me. Which will be forever, you know that right?" Sirius said with a smile. Soon, the whole issue passed and they ate their meal, occasionally talking but just enjoying the other's company more. After dinner, Sirius took Remus to one of his favorite dance clubs. A few guys did try to hit on Remus but Sirius made sure they were quickly left behind.

Remus returned to his flat with the biggest smile he'd ever had. Never had he been allowed to be so…free. Sirius didn't care if other guys looked at him but he didn't let them do anything with him, especially not letting them take him into the back room like so many had offered to do. Sirius was protective, but only to a tolerable degree. He gave you the feeling that you were allowed to do anything you want, make your own choices, but that if someone were to threaten you, make you upset, he'd be there to make you feel better and kick their ass at the same time. London was going to be a wonderful place, especially if Sirius was around.

A/N: Ok guys, there it is, I'm finally done. It's taken me forever to get over this writer's block but now that it's gone, I'm writing like crazy. I think it's due to the fact that I got some new music which has inspired me. I've also been getting some great ideas from other fics. I just posted a new story on my livejournal, so if you guys would please go read it and leave a comment for me, I'd love you forever. You can find the address on my author's page. Please review. I deserve it, especially since I worked so hard to get over my writing problems. Pretty please…-puppy dog eyes-