Tonks
'You spend quite a lot of time with the girls,' he tells her as they're sitting side by side on the sidewalk facing Privet Drive. 'What do you even talk about?'
'I dunno,' she shrugs. 'Clothes, boys, hexing annoying exes, that sort of thing'~
He chuckles.
'Wasn't a joke,' she mentions casually, pointing out that annoying aunt of Harry's glaring out the window for what must have been the tenth time in only an hour since they had started their shift.
'So, you actually hex your exes? Remind me to never cross you!'
'Not all of them, just the shitty ones…Actually yeah, all three of them to be fair!' she smiles. She shouldn't go around bragging about her horrific taste in men, but Remus is cool, she likes that he doesn't judge her. Despite his very composed demeanour he's quite a rule breaker himself and she'd be lying if she'd say she didn't like that about him.
'Don't you have any exes you'd like help hexing?'
'I don't tend to have exes in general,' he mumbles, staring straight ahead.
'You married your first girlfriend or something?' she chuckles, only now realising she has no idea if he's married or engaged or taken in any romantical sense of the word. he hasn't mentioned it and they've talked quite a lot over the past few weeks. He should have mentioned it considering the fact that they had shared a room, even if it was in a purely platonically fashion.
'I change jobs and apartments fairly often. Wouldn't be exactly fair to drag anyone into all that. So, I tend to stray away from such…entanglements…' his voice is harsh, eyes fixed on Petunia Dursley glaring out the window for the eleventh time.
'I know I have no idea what all this is like for you, but I need to tell you that's bullshit!' she suddenly feels a surge of anger. She shouldn't have snaped at her, she sees him turn around with a shaken expression. 'That's just what you tell yourself because you're scared to deal with anything meaningful!'
'Anything-what?' he stammers, searching for words. 'Yes, I'm scared. I'm scared of fucking up someone's life, that seems like a pretty good reason, don't you think? What woman would even want to deal with….' He gestures around vaguely. 'all this!'
She feels an ache in her chest, seeing this wonderful, kind, smart, not at all unattractive man feel quite so low of himself, through no fault of his own.
'If you start out with that thought you wouldn't even notice any!'
'I'm perfectly content with that thought' she's starting to get angrier and angrier and maybe she should drop it. But that's not the kind of person she is.
'Are you though?'
He doesn't answer, only continues staring straight ahead. 'Poor Harry, these are by far the most boring Muggles I have ever seen and I've been around a lot of Muggle jobs.'
'Don't change the subject!'
'I don't know what you're shitting on me for, Tonks! You just said you hate all your exes! You're hardly one to talk!'
Her eyes start stinging, but she can't deny he's right. She's admitted it herself barely a few minutes ago. 'I do. That doesn't mean I allow myself to sit here and wallow in silence!'
'I'm not walling, you're the one who brought it up!'
She sighs in desperation and reaches into his pocket to grab the cigarettes.
Remus
'Hey!' he yells as she lights it up. 'You're really unbearable sometimes, you know?' he grumbles, snatching the pack back and pulling one out for himself. He looks around for the lighter, cigarette between his teeth. She inches forwards and light it for him.
Today her nose is smaller and her hair bright purple. It's her second favourite colour. Her eyes stay mahogany most of the time, but she likes them green too. The smile stays the same no matter how she changes. The flame rises up between them and he feels her breath on his, mixing in with the smoke. She's eaten hot chips and diet soda. He'd scold her for it, but yesterday all she had was a small side salad because she forgot the snack Molly had packed.
'I've been told!' she says and lies on her side, watching Privet Drive intensely. He stays besides her and they don't speak for a while. Eventually, Vernon Dursley pulls into the driveway, back from his day at the drill company. They both agree they really are the most boring Muggles to ever exist.