Remus wiped the counter he was standing behind for the fourth time before realizing it was heavily coated in coffee grinds. There was a throbbing in his forehead and he could hear James and Sirius's lecturing voices about how he should have called in sick. But he couldn't bear to sit around in bed all day, no distractions from what was plaguing his mind. His cell phone burned a hole in his apron.

It had been three days, and Remus had yet to text Lily back. It shouldn't be this complicated, he should have been able to tell her it was fine and he was sorry he missed her that night. But he found himself overthinking things, as he was prone to doing.

The second he laid eyes on Lily, he couldn't get her out of his head. And yes, she was beautiful, but Remus found himself more captivated by her laugh, or the tiny huffs of anger when she misspelled a word in her notes and had to decipher it. He had been working up the nerve to ask her out for two weeks, and as luck would have it, he knew about a party. And the way Lily glowed when he mentioned it had caught him off guard, in a good way.

He had driven the guys home and had three decent chugs of straight vodka mixed with what he now believed was expired orange juice before Sirius had snatched his phone from him. "It's for your own good, mate," he had said, and while Remus was profoundly grateful for this now, at the time it had left him to simmer in the worst scenarios. She had been humoring him, being nice because he was her friend's roommate. Or she had used him for his upperclassmen connections, and even that was really stupid. Sober Remus could think clearly, and it was highly likely he had tried too hard to be nonchalant about the whole thing and he hadn't asked her to go with him at all.

"Oi, earth to Moony." A screwed up napkin floated into his straw-colored hair. He crumpled it up and made a face at the offender, who smiled. "That washcloth is a direct health violation."

Remus blinked, the cloth was still in his hands and he was still wiping the counter with it. He scoffed and threw it in the laundry bin behind him. "It's really not been my day."

He didn't remember Sirius coming into the cafe, but he and James often hung around when they had free time during his shifts. At least Sirius had ordered something today, as evidenced by the jam he was licking off his thumb. "You want to skive off? You can chill at our place."

Remus shook his head, and the sudden motion dizzied him. "It's bad enough I was there all weekend." Sirius gave him a look, the one that was supposed to replace the reminder that he could stay over whenever he wanted. "And I don't want to fall behind this early in the term."

Sirius booed him. "Oh, remind me what time you're working tomorrow."

Remus furrowed his brow and checked his calendar. "Uh, noon to four, but I've got a study group meeting right after, so I won't be free until seven at the latest."

"Oh that's alright, I have a date."

"With your mystery boy?" Sirius hadn't given them a name. James had whined for a good while about the sacred bond of brotherhood or something or other, but Remus was relieved. Every time Sirius dated someone, he'd pull them into their lives immediately, just for them to be out the door in a month or two. Of course, now Remus was curious about this person that had Sirius changing his whole modus operandi, but he wasn't going to press.

Sirius nodded, pulling his phone from his pocket and tapping the screen. "Yeah he's coming around after his lectures, but if you're not gonna be here, five is perfect."

It was so matter of fact, Remus had to laugh. "I'll try not to take that personally. Just don't piss off Dorcas."

Sirius hummed something about how he had no control over that, his eyes still glued to his phone screen. Remus actually had customers to pay attention to now, and it was nearly half an hour before he had a spare moment to join Sirius on the bench.

"How's the not girlfriend situation going?"

Remus buried his head in his crossed arms on the counter and made an indistinct noise. "That's how it's going," he replied, his voice muffled. He hoisted himself upright. "I just don't know where I stand with her."

"Now this might sound radical, but have you tried….talking to her?" Sirius asked, grey eyes wide in earnest with a wide smirk suggesting otherwise. Remus made a face at him, and his smirk grew wider. He was right, of course, and Remus wasn't making things any better by strategically avoiding Lily.

His reverie was broken by a clattering of plates on marble. Sirius placed his dishware haphazardly onto the platform at the end of the counter and picked up a bag on the floor. "I gotta run, mate, but I'll see you tonight?"

Remus nodded, standing up to get back to work. "If this headache doesn't kill me. Have fun on your date."

"Text that girl back!" Sirius called over his shoulder from the door. Remus gave a sheepish smile to the patrons, the throbbing behind his eyes now spreading to his temples.

Sirius Black didn't get nervous about much, and certainly not over dates. So why was he obsessively checking the time and staring at the door every time the bell above it rang? Not to mention the occasional clap of thunder made him jump. He ran his nails lightly over the wooden tabletop. He had chosen a booth close to the back, far away from the sparse patrons. He hadn't even asked Severus if he liked coffee. Maybe he liked tea, it was always one of the two right? Unless it was both. Or neither, but if it was neither, well that just couldn't be. The bell above the door tinkled and Sirius popped his head up automatically. Dressed in a blue coat was Severus, closing an umbrella and shaking the water droplets on the doormat. Sirius waved and Severus made his way over to him, sweeping his damp fringe behind his ears.

"Sorry I'm late, the storm got significantly worse the moment I stepped outside, and at the risk of sounding dramatic, I really think I was airborne for a couple seconds," Severus said, sloughing off his coat. His cheeks were tinged pink against his pale complexion, only more noticeable with a quick swipe from his sleeve to absorb the more rain soaked spots.

Sirius grinned at the sight, the sweater Severus was wearing threatened to swallow his thin frame, and he had to roll the sleeves up to expose his hands. Not wanting to get caught staring right off the bat, he shook his head. "You're not that late. I didn't think the rain would be this bad," he added as a bolt of lightning raced across the window. "I was thinking we could just chill out for a bit before grabbing a bite, but we may have to adapt to life here."

Severus's thin lips curved ever so slightly and his eyes sparkled in a way that Sirius was quickly learning meant amusement. "It's a nice place to be stuck. I mean this cafe is really nice," he added quickly, twisting his fingers together. Sirius smiled and covered his hands with his own. Severus's twitchiness was endearing but he didn't want him to be uncomfortable.

"Do you want to order anything? I'm paying, and don't try to argue," he added, when Severus let out a noise of protest. "I am not above fighting for the check." He took the hand not on Severus's, which held his keys, and tapped them against Severus's chest. "Do you drink coffee?"

"I'll pay next time," Severus insisted, untwisting his hands to push the weaponized keys away with another charitable half smile, and then laying one back down to bump it against Sirius's. "Yes, but I don't really drink it in the evenings."

"Not even when you pull all nighters?" Sirius asked as he waved at the girl behind the register. She shuffled over, irritation that could only be achieved in customer service clear in her heavy footsteps.

Severus shook his head. "I don't really do all nighters, I'm more of a 'got this done a week in advance' kind of guy."

"Nerd," Sirius said affectionately, and he was pleased to see Severus scowl at him in a manner devoid of real offense. "Dorcas," he smiled at the bored girl in an apron approaching their table. "Could we get two mugs of hot chocolate? If that's alright with you?" he added to Severus, whose dark eyes lit up as he nodded.

"Do I have a choice?" Dorcas said in response, sighing and shuffling back to the machines behind the counter. Severus stared at her retreating form. "Is she always like this?"

"She's actually really friendly," Sirius said, unaffected. "But I'm not her favorite person." The day Dorcas was kind to him was the day he'd have to run for his life. "Am I pushing it if I ask her to bring us cake?"

Severus twisted his fingers again as he shook his head. "Oh no, you don't need to do that, the hot chocolate is more than enough."

"Well I'm getting a massive piece of cake, and if I somehow end up unable to finish it, well that's just a fortunate coincidence," Sirius said loftily as Dorcas returned and placed the mugs down, Severus's gently and Sirius's so roughly that whipped cream droplets fell, contrasting starkly against the mahogany wood. "Do you still have red velvet cake left?" he called to her when she was back at the counter. She glared daggers at him, ducking out of sight briefly before popping back up with a stainless steel plate.

"Yeah there's actually two pieces left," she said, her tone softer, as if she had briefly forgotten her role as the crabby barista. She caught Sirius's eye and glared at him for good measure as she dropped the plate with a metallic clatter between them. "The romanticism of it all's been bugging me for two hours, so no charge, just get it out of my sight."

"Such a sweetheart," Sirius grinned, and though Severus rolled his eyes at him, a smile was threatening to overpower his face as he stabbed a piece of cake into his mouth.

Severus insisted he would be able to walk home, and Sirius practically shoved him into the car, his argument falling on deaf ears. Quite literally, as the thunder drowned his voice out. The rain was torrential, so much so that Sirius, never one to turn down the opportunity to speed, was crawling at a snail's pace. The parking lot was flooded, the tires making cannonballs as Sirius pulled into the first available space.

Severus stared apprehensively out his window. "I don't think you should drive back until this calms down."

"Is that an invitation to come up with you?" Sirius asked with a grin, taking a bit of joy in the rosy flush that erupted from Severus's neck. "Don't worry, I'm kidding. I think we'd both drown."

"It was actually a self invitation to stay in your car and keep this night going for just a bit longer," Severus said, fiddling with the ends of his hair and not meeting Sirius's eyes. Sirius leaned over and brushed a thumb against Severus's cheek. "You can stay as long as you want."

The action struck Severus mute, Sirius hoped in a good way, but he couldn't be sure. They stayed like this for a while, the rain pounding rhythmically against the roof of the car. Severus brought a hand up to his face to clasp Sirius's and bring it back down, all the while biting his lip, as if steeling himself to speak. Sirius usually despised silence, often was incapable of staying quiet for very long, but this bubble he and Severus had created between themselves was so magically tranquil, he didn't want anything to burst it.

"You don't have to-" Sirius began in a whisper, and Severus made a shushing sound. Sirius was so preoccupied with being offended he beat him to it, he didn't notice that Severus's face had gotten considerably closer to his. "Hello," he murmured, choosing to ignore the waver in his voice because he did not get nervous about kissing. He could count every eyelash shading those dark eyes, eyes that blinked rapidly.

Severus' mouth tightened. "I had a really good time," he whispered emphatically, as if worried Sirius wouldn't believe him, and he wanted to laugh, but then Severus was kissing him and his brain shut down completely. He raked his fingers lightly across the back of Severus's neck with his free hand, the other still in Severus's vice. "I can tell," he whispered back when thoughts filtered back in, his mouth whispering against Severus's cheek. There was a soft scoff, and Severus leaned back to make a face at him. Flushed and hair askew, it had no effect, and Sirius kissed the tip of his nose in apology.

"The rain's let up," Severus said, staring behind Sirius, and indeed the downpour had become a gentle shower. He grabbed his umbrella from the backseat. "Do you have- sorry, do you want to maybe do this again?"

"This?" Sirius replied, gesturing between them with a wicked grin. "Anytime." Severus jabbed him in the stomach with the sharp end of the umbrella and he winced. "Yeah, I'll let you know, I'm probably gonna be swamped the rest of the week."

"Let me know when you get home," Severus said, and his face scrunched up in confusion as the words fell out. "I mean you don't have to, it's-"

He was too adorable, and Sirius grabbed a fistful of his shirt and smacked a kiss on his cheek. "I will. Goodnight."

Severus fumbled with his umbrella, managing a half-hearted wave as he made a beeline for the building on the other side of the lot. Even after Severus was out of sight, Sirius couldn't bring himself to leave. "Oh you've really got it bad this time, Padfoot," he muttered as he put the car in drive. He wore a soft smile the whole drive home.