Chapter Text
— Sirius' POV —
The quiet energy of the apartment was a stark contrast to the first time Sirius had met Remus. The first time the two had met it had been at a protest a few months prior and it felt insane but after only a few months of friendship the two were moving in together, sharing a small apartment in hopes university wouldn't send them as broke with rent split between two.
Remus had moved in the day before, the loungeroom still full of boxes while Sirius could move all his stuff into his room in the matter of an hour. That was one of the 'perks' of living in his car since the week following his 18th birthday. No longer a legal responsibility to his old foster family he ended up out on the street after the first fight. he hadn't been surprised so he made do with what he had, a car bought for his 17th, nothing special but it was decent enough to stay running for a few years. He got forced to leave in the middle of the night. He went back later that week and snuck in through his window to get his favourite clothes and whatever else he could carry.
But now he has freedom, his own apartment with a friend, a full scholarship to study literature and finally, friends. He had never had friends, not ones that lasted more than a few months anyway, except James of course. Now he had more than one friend and he was meeting even more people in a few days.
The two had their housewarming scheduled for Saturday night - only 3 days away. Sirius had been bringing in his stuff from the car, it had only taken about 15 minutes so far and he was almost done.
Part of Sirius was glad Remus had chosen to go out on a coffee run to re-fuel to start unpacking so he wouldn't see how little stuff Sirius had brought. Remus had filled almost half their loungeroom with boxes, only the furniture moved to his room. Most of it needed to be reassembled in the room and Remus was bringing Sirius back coffee so hopefully Sirius would help Remus re assemble everything.
Of course he would he just really needed some caffeine first. Sirius had convinced James to come over the next day to help his go buy his furniture and assemble it. Living in your car you don't really have furniture, something that was handy at the time but is now proving to be a slight issue. He didn't have a bed. At least not right now he didn't, he was planning on just sleeping on his floor tonight, he had the foam mat he had been using as a mattress in his car so he'd be fine.
James had plans with his other friends tonight so Sirius wasn't getting a bed tonight but he didn't mind all too much, it was nice enough to have a roof over his head without wheels under his feet.
He placed the last box from his car in his room, they covered barely a quarter of the floor. It was finally hitting him, this was his room. He had a place to make his own for the first time. Sirius grabbed his phone, opening the notes app and adding to his shopping list for the next day
' Bookshelf '
The front door creaked open, disrupting Sirius' quiet moment.
"I come bearing caffeine and information about a very hot barista" Remus shouted as he walked through the door, dropping his keys twice in the process.
Sirius walked down the hallway meeting Remus, only a few steps inside.
"Let me take my coffee off you before you drop that too," he reached a hand towards Remus. He grabbed the cup, reading the sticker on the side to double check it was all right. He had a pretty detailed order. The sticker read:
Order: 217
Name: Remus
1x Large iced caramel latte
2x xtra pumps caramel
1x pump vanilla
3x shots
Whipped cream
Caramel drizzle
Rainbow sprinkles
Yep. That was everything.
"I can't believe you made me order fucking rainbow sprinkles Sirius" Remus sighed sipping on his coffee as he sat down on their only assembled piece of furniture, a 4-seater black velvet couch. The sticker on his cup read:
Order: 217
Name: Remus
1x Regular black coffee
2x shots
Sirius thought that was insane. How could you just drink black coffee without hating yourself. He looked at Remus following his lead and sitting on the opposite end of their couch.
"Well tell me about the hot barista. Did you have to explain the rainbow sprinkles were not for you." Sirius prompted, hoping to start a conversation.
"Well he was really tall, he had tattoos and piercings and short curly brown hair." Remus finished, as if not sure what else to say.
"Oh very nice, did you get his number?"
Remus sighed "No i didn't, it was really busy. I suppose everyone's tired on move in day"
"Well hopefully you can next time you go" Sirius smiled at Remus, raising one eyebrow and looking his up and down, giggling a bit.
Remus smiled back, Sirius' expression making it impossible not to.
"We should start assembling things soon or we're gonna run out of time." Remus looked at Sirius, waiting for the words to register to Sirius. "Do you need any help?" Sirius felt his face twist at this, not enough to register to others, just enough to feel.
"Uh, i haven't actually got any furniture yet. So I'm okay. I've got James taking me out tomorrow to go buy some then im bribing him with dinner to help me assemble everything." Sirius diverted his eyes, hoping Remus wouldn't notice his panic.
"That sounds nice, are you guys gonna go out for dinner or are you gonna cook here?" Remus hoped shifting the subject would help.
"Do you mind if he comes here? I'm a bit too broke to pay for eating out at the moment."
"That's completely fine, would you like me to make myself scarce or bail for the night? I can go to the library."
"No you don't have to worry about that, besides it's not like it's a date James is my childhood best friend. I would rather gouge my own eyes out than ever date him." Sirius ended his sentence giggling.
"Oh yeah okay that's fair, sorry i didn't mean to sugg-" Remus was cut off mid sentence.
"No it's okay i know you weren't trying to suggest that at all, me and James have just always gotten a little defensive because people keep not asking us out all because they think me and James are together." Sirius' cheeks were flushed, feeling embarrassed at his sudden outburst.
Remus scooted closer, reaching his hand out to rest on Sirius' knee.
"You don't have to justify yourself it's okay." Sirius' expression softened, his eyes drifting to Remus' hand on his knee.
"Sorry i get a little overwhelmed and over-explain sometimes." Sirius sighed
"That's okay i do that sometimes too i get it you don't have to apologise." Remus moved his hand from Sirius' knee, reaching for his hand. "Now come with me we have furniture to build. Can't let this caffeine go to waste."
Remus dragged Sirius to his feet and down the hallway to Remus' room. The floor was covered in boxes of flat-packed furniture.
"Okay so, will we start with my bookshelf, then desk, then the wardrobe and then the bed" Remus looked at Sirius waiting for a nod or any sign of agreeance.
"Let's get this party started then" Sirius pulled out his phone, selecting spotify and scrolling through his playlists before selecting his favourite, it was called: 'The truest vibes'
Good old-fashioned lover boy started blaring through his phones speaker. He clicked the volume down button a few times lowering it to about half volume. He placed his phone on a box labelled 'HEADBOARD' on the side. It was scrawled with permanent marker and seemed to be the product of too many nights opening every box looking for the right piece.
Remus grabbed 3 boxes, all with a bookshelf label on them. He anchored his nail towards the tape, sliding it along using the sharp point of his acrylics to cut through it.
He pulled the long back piece of the bookshelf out followed by the 2 side pieces. Sirius grabbed one of the remaining boxes, grabbing his keys out of his pocket he cut the tape on the box in his hands.
They sat together, both opening boxes with various pieces of a bookshelf between them, the music the only background noise.
"Okay can you grab my drill out of the loungeroom i finally found all the screws in this mess." Remus gestured around to the mess of boxes and tape between them.
"Yeah ill be back in just a second" Sirius planted his hand on the wall next to him, dragging himself up onto his feet.
Sirius walked out of the room and into the hallway, turning the corner into the loungeroom. He stubbed his toe on a box almost immediately.
"OH MY FUCKING GODS OW!" Sirius jumped onto one foot, grabbing his other foot with both hands while he hopped on the other foot.
"What the fuck just happened?" Remus came down the hallway, almost jogging. He grabbed the corner of the wall between the hallway and the loungeroom, swinging his body around it.
"I STUBBED MY FUCKING TOE REMUS!" Sirius was shouting so loud he worried the downstairs neighbours may call in a noise complaint.
Remus started giggling, clearly trying to compose himself but failing. Miserably.
"DON'T LAUGH IT HURTS!" Sirius' face was twisted in pain, still hopping on his functional foot.
"Sirius sit down before you fall over and hurt a lot more than your toe!"
Sirius practically leaped onto the couch, burying his head in the pillows. Remus sat on the edge of the couch to avoid sitting on Sirius' un-injured foot.
"The fact you managed to get injured while building furniture before actually building the furniture is somehow hilarious an concerning at the same time i hope you know that."
Sirius lifted his head, "I know im just iconic right." He face planted into the pillows again.
"We need to get back to assembling it's been 10 minutes and we haven't done anything besides open boxes." Remus put his hand on Sirius' leg, shaking it gently.
Sirius' voice came out muffled, not lifting his head his time, "What if i lose my toe Remus? I'll never recover."
"You're not going to lose your toe Sirius. I'm gonna go out for a smoke and if you're not up by the time i get back i will pick you up and carry you to my room and i will lock you in there until every piece of furniture is assembled." Remus got up from the couch, turning down the hallway to go out to their small balcony
Sirius lifted his head, sitting up and looking around. He got up and headed towards the balcony, hoping to bum a smoke off Remus.
"Oh look at that you're magically healed." Remus said while pulling a smoke from his pack, not looking up.
Sirius' face flushed slightly, "Yeah it's obviously a miracle." He paused for a moment not wanting to sound desperate, "Can i possibly steal a smoke?"
Remus only then met Sirius' gaze, an extra smoke already in his hand.
"How did i know you'd ask me that?" Remus handed Sirius the cigarette.
"Because I'm incredibly broke and its how we met?" Sirius took the smoke from Remus and gave him a smirk, making Remus giggle slightly.
Remus put his smoke to his lips, moving his hands to shield the cigarette from the wind, lighting it first try. Sirius wasn't quite so lucky, taking a few attempts and eventually Remus' hand as well as his own to block it from the wind.
They stood on the balcony in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. The wind was blowing wildly all around them, bringing cold air with every gust. Sirius was shivering, not nearly as equipped for the cold weather as Remus seemed to be.
Remus' wardrobe seemed to consist of thick jumpers and coats. On the upside he was prepared for the cold, it didn't seem to bother him at all.
Sirius much preferred to wear ripped jeans and tank tops a majority of the time, although if he was going out he would always be accompanied by his leather jacket and platform boots. Sirius stood at only 5'3 while Remus stool at 5'11. Remus never quite seemed to match his height though, he had a signature slouch which he never seemed to abandon. Though that wasn't all that surprising, Remus was trans after all. Most trans men were familiar with that slump. The desperate efforts to hid any hint of a curve of their chest.
Remus passed exceptionally well, he had told Sirius about his journey. His medical transition had been especially difficult for him. He grew up in a foster home and they weren't especially keen on helping him get any non essential medication and he was already on enough medication they didn't wanna add any more.
Sirius wasn't quite sure what Remus' medications were for but he knew he took a lot. Remus had mentioned being chronically ill before so he wasn't all that surprised that he was on a lot of meds.
Sirius hadn't realised that his cigarette had burnt almost all the way down, he quickly drew it up to his lips and took a drag before it was gone.
"Did you get a little bit lost in thought there?" Remus smiled down at him, having put his cigarette out a minute earlier.
"Uh yeah im not great at staying focused on one thing for very long." Sirius blushed, embarrassed he had gotten so distracted.
"Come on we have to start building stuff before i end up having to sleep on the floor."
"I have a very comfy foam mat we can share, it's what im gonna have to sleep on tonight anyway." Sirius hoped the joke had landed the way he meant it and didn't make Remus feel awkward.
Remus laughed, the skin around his eyes creasing like each was a story and some part of Sirius wanted to learn every story Remus had.
"Come on inside we need to build," Remus poked Sirius' arm until Sirius put his cigarette butt out on their ash tray and threw it in. Sirius turned around and went inside, going inside Remus' room to realise his phone was still playing music. Now it was playing Somebody to love.
The two sat down on the floor, the music a quiet background to their building and occasional conversation. It only took them a few hours (and Remus having to get up and go find the drill once they realised Sirius had never brought it back) to get everything built.
After that they retrieved Remus' mattress from the loungeroom and after much pivoting they got into the room and onto his bed. They both just sat on the bed for a few minutes, talking about anything random they could think of. Neither of them wanted the conversation to end. They eventually settled into silence as the clock ticked over to 2am.
Remus was starting to drift off in-between sentences, snoring softly a few times. Eventually neither of them could justify staying up any longer. Sirius retreated to his room, rolling out his mat and finding the box with his blankets and pillows.
He set up his makeshift bed that he had known for so long but that night it felt safer and he wasn't dreading waking up the way he had for so many years. He was finally safe.