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“Fuck fuck fuck, come on open up…” Soft little raps against the wooden door echoed in the empty dimly lit hallway. Lily Evans hopped around outside of the door, goose bumps crawling along her legs and her bare feet freezing against the cold floor.
The door opened with a small creak. Heat pouring out from inside, it curled around her legs briefly before the cold made it disappear again. Sirius Black stood inside of the doorway, sweatpants slung low on his hips, tank top rumpled from sleep and clinging almost too tightly to his chest. He frowned at his red-haired neighbor who he has only spoken to in passing, more often than not they only exchanged friendly banter if they happened to be at the mailbox at the same time.
She was shivering, her brows creased, hair still tangled and jumping from foot to foot almost nervously.
“Sorry. I’m sorry. I know it’s early and you don’t really know me but I need your help.” she rushed out. Before he even had a chance to open his mouth to properly respond, she spoke again.
“I have to get to work in ten minutes, but there is this goddamn huge fucking arse of a spider in our shower. Please could you… maybe just come kill it. Please?” Sirius snorted slightly but nodded and agreed to help out anyway.
“Alright.” He set the empty coffee cup in his hand down on the table next to his door before he stepped out into the freezing cold hallway. She looked relieved and swiftly turned around and motioned hm into her apartment after her. The door shut with a small click, his skin warming once more from the heat inside the small place.
It was the same size as his own apartment, with roughly the same layout as well, but none of the furniture in the place seemed to match. The place looked cozy and lived in, inviting and homey even with the wildly different chairs crammed around the small dining room table that was between the kitchen and living room.
“This way. I really am sorry I woke you. My roommate usually takes care of spiders but he’s still asleep and I didn’t want to wake him because he worked late last night.”
“And instead you decided to wake your neighbour?” she paled, stopping dead in her tracks as her eyes widened comically. Sirius couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction.
“I’m joking love, relax. I was already up. Prongs – James, my brother, goes for a run every day around six thirty and his bloody blender has become my alarm clock.”
“Oh. Oh good. I didn’t think – god I’m sorry. I just… really don’t like spiders.” She finished lamely, shrugging her shoulders and sheepishly looking down at the floor.
“Right, well where is the little bugger then?”
She pointed to the bathroom door, making no move to go inside and show him. He chuckled and lightly rolled his eyes.
“In the tub last time I saw it.”
He quickly slipped inside the room. The ugly and quite big thing was perched right on one of the taps. He quickly grabbed an empty little vase on the sink, scooped the spider up into it and dropped it out of the open bathroom window before it had time to crawl out. He shut the window firmly afterwards to make sure it didn’t just crawl back in. He never really liked spiders, but he couldn’t bring himself to kill them either. He rinsed out the vase before he left the bathroom.
“All done.”
“Oh thank you thank you thank you.” Sirius eyes widened, suddenly finding himself with an armful of red-head because she had flung herself at him with a hug. He gave her an awkward pat on the back, laughing softly at the vibrant energy rolling off her as she nearly bounced in his arms.
“You’re welcome.”
He heard a door open to his right and a small sound that made the girl – he was pretty sure she was named after some sort of plant – detached herself from him.
“Quite frankly. I’m too scared to ask.” He turned sharply towards the voice, and his jaw dropped.
The tall lanky guy with the honey brown curls that he had seen so often around the building, the one he had drawn multiple times in his sketch book, the one he might even have a huge bloody crush on was standing in front of him. Eyebrow raised in question. And if that wasn’t enough, the man was only wearing boxers.
Oh god…
“T-there was-” Sirius had to clear his throat, he sounded unusually flustered and breathless, his voice had embarrassingly gone all squeaky and high pitched.
“Spider.” The girl said simply and the guy’s expression cleared in an instant.
“Ah.” He smiled at Sirius and his mind blanked, heart thumping painfully in his throat at the sight of that smile aimed at him. There was a scar cutting through the man’s left eyebrow down his cheek all the way to the corner of his mouth. Somehow it made the man’s already attractive features so much more prominent. Sirius momentarily forgot how to breathe and golden amber eyes locked on him. Luckily the guy was too distracted to notice Sirius’ reaction. He was looking Sirius over too, eyes coming back to rest on his silver grey ones as Sirius continue to openly stare at him. The moment was interrupted as the girl pushed past them, knocking her shoulder into Sirius’ before letting herself into the bathroom with a loud “Thanks again!”, the door slammed shut behind her with a thud.
“So she woke you?”
Sirius cleared his throat, the apartment seeming far too hot all of a sudden as he flushed slightly under the man’s gaze.
“N-no.” he cleared his throat, forcing himself to calm down, to relax even with those golden eyes staring at him.
“No, my roommate woke me around six this morning.”
The guy nodded, running a hand over his face as he yawned cutely.
“It’s her own fault really. Lily always forgets to close the bathroom window at night. There’s a spider in there at least twice a week.” Sirius hummed, distracted by the scar that curled around the man’s hip.
He chewed on his bottom lip, tracing the mark with his eyes and feeling very disappointed that he couldn’t see where it ended because it disappeared underneath his boxers.
He looked up sharply when the guy cleared his throat.
“Sorry, what?” he asked while blinking up at the guy, a little breathless and embarrassed at being caught. His cheeks flushed when the guy chuckled and grinned at him.
“I asked if you wanted some coffee.”
“Oh. Oh sure… uh…” he trailed off, realizing he had no clue what the man’s name was either.
“Remus.” He smiled at Sirius and then purposefully brushed past him on the way to the kitchen. Sirius followed more slowly behind him, unable to stop himself from trailing his eyes down Remus’ back, eyes lingering just a tad too long on the dips at the bottom of his spine and the curve of his arse. He jerked his gaze away when he realized he was staring at the bloke, silently congratulating himself on not getting caught again when the man turned to him, cup in hand.
“Milk or sugar?”
“Milk yes. Please.”
Remus nodded, padding across the floor towards the fridge. He handed Sirius’ finished coffee to him carefully and then leaned back against the counter behind him, taking small noisy sips of his own drink.
“So you’re James’ …” Remus frowned, unsure of how to finish the sentence, but Sirius luckily interrupted him before he could fumble for words.
“Brother.”
“Oh. I didn’t know he had a brother.”
“Well, I mean, we aren’t exactly related by blood.”
Sirius inwardly sighed at the adorable way Remus’ forehead crinkled in slight confusion. Before either of them could continue with their conversation there was a shout from just outside the kitchen.
“So Rem, did you finally ask him out then?” Lily enquired loudly. Sirius watched as Remus’ eyes widened almost comically. Their eyes met for a moment before Remus looked down at his mismatched green and blue socks, a clear vivid blush blooming across his cheeks. Sirius had never seen a prettier shade of red than the blush on his cheeks.
“Remus? You did ask Sirius out right? Please tell me you did, I can’t listen to you mope around again for-” Lily stopped, abruptly trailing off then she entered the kitchen and saw Sirius standing there with one of their cups in hand. She flushed slightly, shooting an apologetic look at her roommate before she coughed awkwardly and snatched a pair of keys from the kitchen counter.
“I’ll just… I’ll see you later.” She practically ran from the room, their front door slamming shut with a loud noise, leaving only silence behind.
Sirius chewed on his bottom lip, unable to stop himself from smiling like an idiot because of the implication of her words. Remus, however, was having a small melt-down, fidgeting with the cup in his hands, wiggling his toes in his socks and worrying his bottom lip as he tried to come up with something to say to defuse the situation he now found himself in.
Remus sighed, tilting his head back and closing his eyes before he set his cup down on the counter loudly and looked at Sirius with a small shy smile on his lips.
“Cant exactly say anything now that the cat’s out of the bag I guess.” He shrugged, still looking a bit nervous as he waited for Sirius’ reaction.
“I’m glad. At least this means I haven’t been the only one whose been…” he trailed off, biting the inside of cheek, uncertain if he should actually just blurt out that he’s been talking James’ ear off about how cute Remus was too.
“Wait, you mean you… you’ve…” Remus tried to pretend not to be shocked but Sirius seemed to be implying that he wasn’t the only one with a crush. And that couldn’t be possible. No way in hell would someone like Sirius ever notice someone like him.
“You really don’t know how eye catching and interesting you are, do you?” Sirius smiled at him, stepping closer and placing his cup down as well. When he was in touching distance of Remus he chewed on his lip, tilting his head slightly as he stared at his neighbour.
“Now, are you going to properly ask me out so that I can finally say yes?” he asked with a small smirk stretching across his lips as he watched the way Remus’ breath hitched at his proximity. Remus slowly smiled back, his cheeks still that pretty red colour and his bottom lip caught between his teeth. He cleared his throat, golden eyes meeting silver ones as he spoke.
“Do you want to have dinner with me on Friday?”
Sirius beamed up at him, nodding his head and stepping closer into his space. He leaned forward and placed a tiny kiss on Remus’ warm cheek. Remus gasped at the sudden press of lips against his skin, the stubble on Sirius jaw scratching lightly against him before Sirius stepped back.
“Yes, definitely.” He all but whispered in answer. Remus’ face lit up, happiness sparkling in his eyes as he watched Sirius pick up his coffee and sit down at the dining room table. When Remus stared at him almost in question, he shrugged and nodded towards the chair across from him.
“Just because we have a date planned now doesn’t mean I’m leaving yet. That hallway is way too bloody cold… and I quite like the company I have in here.” A small chuckle left Remus’ lips as he joined the other man at the table.
“Fair enough, and it’s not like you’re going to hear me complaining. I mean, I’m clearly winning here, I have a cute guy in my apartment and a date to look forward to.” Remus said, blatantly looking Sirius over, a thrill climbing up his spine when Sirius actually blushed at his words and looked down at his hands as a distraction.
Yeah, Remus was definitely going to enjoy getting to know his new neighbour.
And well if Lily squealed excitedly when she got the update message from her roommate about his date, well then that was nobody else’s business but her own. After all, they didn’t need to know that she’s been planning this for months. Or that James Potter was equally as excited about their date when Lily called him to tell him that their plan had worked…