Written for:
OT3 Challenge - Word: Confess
Scenario Challenge - OTP on Vacation
Cinema Competition Challenge - (dialogue) "You're late. Do you have no concept of time?"
Emotion Challenge - (either) Confused
Valentine Making Station - Ice Cream Cone: Write something set during the summer.
Hogwarts Monopoly - Include a full moon in your story but don't incorporate werewolf/werewolves
Lucky Duck Bi-Weekly Challenge "You're late."
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Ancient Runes - Task #1: Write about a twist of events that turn a situation upside down.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: August Event - Diving: 2 Somersault in Tuck Position (2.7) - Write about a proposal
Bad Movie Tuesday - Full Circle: [object] Sunglasses
Confess
James leaned back in his chair, his feet crossed as he stretched, feeling his bones click. "It's not so warm out now," he said, watching Remus through his sunglasses.
Remus smiled. "Thankfully," he offered. "There's no chance of burning now."
James grinned and rolled his eyes. "That's because you forget to put suncream on all the time. If you just let me put some on you, we wouldn't—"
"Oh no, I remember last time you put it on. You got carried away and we didn't leave the room," Remus replied, He snorted at James' proud look. "Yeah, that's the same look you gave me that day too."
"Can you blame me, just rubbing the cream into your skin made me think of—"
"Behave," Remus warned. He glanced around. "Should we order another drink whilst we wait."
James' smile dropped and he exhaled deeply. "Remus, I don't think Sirius is coming," he murmured.
"Of course he is. He wouldn't stand us up, we're his best mates," Remus retorted. "What are you drinking?"
James hesitated. "One more drink, but if he's not here in half an hour, we're ordering."
"He'll be here," Remus replied, smiling widely. He glanced down, fiddling with the sleeve of his—Sirius' favourite—grey cardigan. "He's never let us down before.
James smiled as he stood up and went to the bar for the next drinks. Remus was right, Sirius had never stood them up before.
But he had been acting strange since they had arrived two days before.
James knew he wasn't coming, and he didn't want to see the hurt look in Remus' eyes when he realised too. Remus would surely blame himself somehow, and James hated seeing Remus shrink into himself, thinking he had failed once more.
Sirius had a lot of explaining to do.
...oOo...
James wanted nothing more than to scrunch the note up in his fist and tell Remus there was nothing.
But that would cause Remus to worry about Sirius. That would allow Remus to think that something bad had happened.
That would mean lying to Remus about the note, and James wasn't going to start lying to him now. He had always told Remus the truth. (Well, except about Remus' cooking, but that was to save his feelings - it wasn't hurting anyone.)
He waited until Remus had finished looking in all the rooms, worried that Sirius wasn't in the rented hotel room, before passing over the note he had spotted on the sideboard upon arrival.
Gone out for a drink with the group we met at the bar last night. Sorry about dinner, don't wait up, Sirius.
Remus looked at the note for a long time, his face a flurry of emotions, before settling on a hurt expression.
"He said not to wait up, so I think I'll go to bed."
James nodded, saying nothing about the fact that it was only ten. He followed Remus from the room, stripping off his t-shirt on the way. He climbed into bed next to Remus, and allowed Remus to cuddle against him.
Remus had no intention of waiting up, but once Remus was asleep, James was going to make sure to have words with Sirius.
...oOo…
The sound of the key turning in the lock and the giggles woke James from where he had been sitting at the small table in the corner. He had been staring at the full-moon outside of the kitchen window, which only made him think of Remus' daft nickname. His eyes—drooping just moments ago—were suddenly wide and alert, and he turned his attention to the door.
Sirius fell through first, catching himself as he stumbled, key still in the door. A man followed, looking tipsy, but not the mess James knew Sirius was.
"Benny, just hurry up," Sirius began, as James stood from the table. He walked towards the man, blocking him from coming in. "Leave," he ordered.
Sirius spun around. "Jamie," he said, throwing his arms around James and cuddling into him. "Missed you"
"You, sit down on the sofa, and you—" he turned to the man at the door—"you need to leave now. He's not available."
"Not what he told me," the man grumbled, turning away.
James removed the key from the door, closing it behind him and locking it. The key was put on the table and he headed over to Sirius.
"You look beautiful today," Sirius murmured, almost swaying in place. "Where's my Moonpie?"
"In bed," James retorted, crossing his arms. There wasn't much point saying anything when Sirius was too drunk to even understand what was happening.
"Then why aren't you there keeping him company?" Sirius asked with a wink. "...'f I had a Moony in my bed, I wouldn't be out here talking to me." He swayed slightly, before his hand found the wall behind him. Satisfied, he leaned back against it. "Did you tire him out?"
James, having moments ago decided to wait until morning, snapped. "No," he stated coldly. "When we got back from dinner, he decided just to go to bed."
"Horny, was —"
"Upset that you broke your word and didn't bother to show," James interrupted. "He was hurt and no doubt blaming himself, so I hope you have a good explanation for doing what you did. If you didn't want to come to dinner, you should have refused, rather than hurt him."
"Well, you only invited me because you had no choice. S'not like you could leave me alone. I made other plans so you could be a couple. I stayed out so you'd have the place to yourselves. Can't be fun shagging with me in the next room."
James wanted to shake Sirius by his shoulders and explain that they didn't want him in the next room.
"It was an important dinner," he replied instead.
"Where… where did David go?" Sirius asked, looking around.
"I thought his name was Benny?"
"Whatever. Where is he? Was going to get lucky?"
James growled, moving forwards into Sirius' space. "Tomorrow, you're going to come out to dinner with us, and if you even think of bringing another man back here, I swear I'll…" he reigned in his anger at the thought of someone else touching their beautiful Sirius. "You're ours," he murmured. "We want to be the ones to touch you—"
He was cut off when Sirius' lips pressed against his, soft yet demanding. Before James could respond, arms wrapped around him, pulling him close. James pulled away.
"Sirius, I think you should go to bed. Remus will be wondering where I am."
A look of confusion took over Sirius, before panic. "James, wait, I'm… I'm… I'm going to be sick!"
James debated whether to go after Sirius as Sirius bolted from the room, or return to Remus, but upon looking into the room, Remus was stirring, his eyes barely open as he reached for James. Hearing Remus mutter his voice, James headed into the bedroom.
Remus was the one who was upset, and Sirius had brought it on himself, he told himself to relieve some of the guilt at not being there to sit with Sirius and rub his back.
...oOo…
When they got up the next morning, Sirius refused to come to breakfast, claiming he felt sick. They returned to find a letter saying he had gone for a walk to clear his head.
James grabbed a pen.
"Dinner tonight in the same place. Be there!"
He put it on the counter, before heading back out with a slightly subdued Remus. The holiday hadn't gone as expected at all.
...oOo…
"He'll be here," Remus muttered weakly. "He wouldn't do this to us twice."
James wanted Remus to be right, but the strange behaviour had thrown him. He glanced at the time. Half an hour. Mentally he decided on another thirty minutes before they ordered.
He didn't have to wait that long. Just ten minutes later, Sirius came walking into the quiet restaurant, his eyes seeking them out. Remus' face lit up at the sight of him, but Sirius didn't even attempt to hug Remus. He just pulled out an empty chair facing them.
"You're late. Do you have no concept of time?" James asked, still bitter over the day before.
"I don't think I should stay," he began. "Remus, I—"
"Why not?" Remus asked. "Sirius, just have this one dinner with us, then we'll—"
"Because you're going to hate me. Remus, I'm so sorry… I don't know why I… it was stupid of me, I was drunk, but that's no excuse, I know. I'll understand if you want me to get a train back to London tonight and go away from you both, but I… I kissed James last night."
Remus smiled. "I know," he admitted. "James told me. How was it?"
"How was… Remus, I kissed your boyfriend. Do you want to punch me? Are you in shock, do I need to get you a blanket? Can you do something, tell me what a bad person I am? Tell me to stay away from you both? I deserve it!"
"Sirius, do you fancy James?" Remus asked, leaning over. Seeing the hesitation, he smiled softly. "It's okay if you do, just tell me the truth."
"Moony, it's hard not to fancy the both of you," he admitted, not meeting either of their gazes. "You're both amazing."
"Last night was an important dinner," Remus continued. "We had something very important to discuss with you. We weren't sure... "
"We didn't know what you'd think about it, until your reaction last night and the things you were saying."
"Say...saying?"
James nodded. "Sirius, we both fancy you too. For a while now. It was just me at first, but I didn't do anything or say anything. It wasn't until Remus decided to confess his feelings that we discussed it."
"You both fancy me? Discussed? Discussed what?"
"Well, we already live together and do everything together. We invited you here so it'd just be the three of us. You said you feel like a third wheel… well, what if that wheel is needed for support or balance? What if that wheel is what makes the tricycle work?"
"You've lost me," Sirius replied, with a confused shake of his head. "What are you talking about?"
Remus glanced at James, and James nodded. He watched his usually shy boyfriend shift closer to Sirius.
And sucked in a deep breath as their lips touched. He watched, transfixed as Remus' soft lips coaxed Sirius to reciprocate. It was the most perfect thing he had ever seen.
Only too soon, Sirius pulled away, looking guiltily at James. "I'm… I'm sorry?" he said, clearly still unaware what is happening.
"Sirius, we both want to be with you," Remus murmured. "If you'll have us. We invited you on holiday so we could get away from our lives and make this about the tree of us. So we could have time to see if this is what you wanted."
"Wanted? I've wanted you both for so…" he took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I've dreamt about this, but I don't understand. Why me?"
"Because you're the only one we would ever share each other with," James insisted. "I would never allow anyone to touch Remus, yet when I think about you touching him…" he glanced obviously down at his lap. "I'm sure you get the idea."
"I'm just disappointed I didn't get to see you kiss James," Remus stated. He watched Sirius hopefully. "Do you think you could kiss him again?"
Sirius nodded, eyes wide in shock. "If you're sure? IS this really happening?"
"We're sure," James insisted.
"Right… uh, so.. Are you both hungry, or we could just pay the bill and head back to the apartment?"
The pair grinned at Sirius' enthusiasm. "I suggest eating now, so we don't have to leave the apartment for longer. You need to keep your energy up." He leaned over the table. "And Remus is waiting to see this,," he murmured. "It killed me to pull away last night, but I won't this time."