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It was 10 a.m. on a Monday morning and Sirius was looking for trouble. The ancient history class was just asking for it, to be honest. He didn’t have anything against the new teacher. She was alright, young and kind, though her soft voice and all the dates and names that came out of her mouth had an incredible power to make Sirius feel drowsy. He was especially bored that morning, being one of the first weeks of class in his last year, which was supposed to be more interesting than this, right?
“Excuse me?” he interrupted, raising his hand.
“Yes, Sirius?” said the teacher. She had a suspecting look on her eyes, so Sirius guessed she might have been warned about him by the other teachers. That just made him feel more rebellious.
“I have a question about the…” he squinted at the board, “this Zeus dude”
“Yes?”
“Is it true he turned himself into a bull and knocked up a girl?”
The teacher’s face turned red as most of the other students laughed. “I mean,” he continued, feeding off their laughter, “How would that even work? I’ve seen a bull before, they have really big…”
“Okay, Mr. Black, that’s detention”
“What!?” he yelled. He was looking for trouble, yes, but he wasn’t exactly intended on staying after hours on his third week of classes.
“I know I’m new,” the teacher said, a stern expression on her face and her cheeks still pink from the embarrassment, “but I have a firm policy. You disrespect me, you disrespect this class or your classmates, and you will face consequences”
“But I…”
“Detention, Black. I’ll see you today after class in room fifteen”
Sirius sighed, pushing his hands against his face. He hoped at least some other student had been looking for trouble.
At the end of his last period, he found himself in front of the door to room fifteen. He sighed and entered, aware that this was only his fault.
The room was already familiar, Sirius having spent the majority of his time after class throwing paper balls at those walls. The people there were familiar too, or at least most of them. He high-fived Jack on his way in, nodded his head at Julie and finally sat next to Emma. There was another lad at the back of the classroom, with clear intentions of being as separated from the rest of them as possible, so he didn’t bother to say hi.
Emma rolled her eyes at him when he sat down but didn’t say anything.
“Missed me?” He smirked. “I surely missed your pretty face”
“Fuck off, Black”
“Love it when you talk dirty to me, love” he pushed, trying to coax a reaction. He didn’t get one, and just when he was planning his next move the history teacher entered.
“Okay, guys.” She stood straight in front of them, and Sirius thought she tried too hard to appear older than she was. “You will be here for two hours…”
A collective groan.
“...but I want you to make the most out of this time. So, you will have an assignment”
Another groan and a few whispered curses.
She smiled somewhat devily at them, and for the first time in his life Sirius thought it must be fun to be a teacher sometimes. “You have to think about one thing you all have in common”
“B-but…” Jack stuttered, “No offense, but I don’t… What would we have in common? I mean, look at us!” He chuckled, as if to soften the tension that settled on the room.
Sirius cast a look around. Yes, he could see what Jack meant. Just starting off with Jack he could tell how different he was from the rest of the people in the room: a short, muscular guy with a broad back and a broader smile. He was your typical jock but nice, with emerald green eyes that seemed to always be looking for the truth when he asked how you were doing. Sirius knew him from a party. Jack had actually helped him when Sirius almost fell down the stairs with how smashed he was. He guessed he owed the lad one, but nice Jack hadn’t yet asked for anything.
Then there was Julie. Julie the Loony, people used to call her. She wasn’t actually crazy, or at least Sirius thought so, but she was… special. You know, bright clothes, skirt over jeans, bottle glasses and a careless attitude. She went through the school talking about the planets and the stars and how they told you the future, and no one really had the heart to point out to her that she wasn’t making any sense half of the time. Sirius liked her, knew her from previous detentions in which he found out that she usually got there for refusing to wear “ordinary” clothes to class. Which was obvious.
Emma was an entirely different case. Smart, beautiful, strong-minded. Long blond hair and a slim waist, but ready to set you on fire if you so much as peeped down her cleavage. A conclusion Sirius reached to after a not so nice incident involving a stapler. After asking around a bit, Sirius found out that Emma was definitely not into boys and very much into girls, which of course only made Sirius want to annoy her more. He wasn’t daft, didn’t think he could turn her straight or anything, just got off on the thrill of annoying her ass off. Truth is he wanted to be her friend, but didn’t know much about making friends and all that.
And then there was the guy at the back. Sirius didn’t know his name, had absolutely no recollection of having seen him around school. He was tall and lean, elegant in a way that didn’t seem to fit his young age. Sirius guessed he should probably be in the last year as well, but why hadn’t he shown up in any of Sirius’ classes?
“Earth to Black” Emma snapped her fingers in front of him, making him turn his head back towards her. The teacher had already left and the girl was staring at him with a knowing smile. “Woah, that dumb look of yours is even more noticeable today”
“What, mad you don’t have all my attention?” He raised his eyebrows.
“Actually, yes. I’ve been dying to try dick ever since I turned into a lesbian and I think yours is the perfect choice”
He snorted.
“Thought I should let you know,” she added, looking at her nails.
“Well, we could try but after all this time I don’t think it would fi…”
“Come on, guys” Jack interrupted. Emma stuck out his tongue to him. “Very mature,” he added.
The minutes seemed to pass by at a slower rate than normal, the only sounds in the room the ticking of the clock and Julie murmuring to herself. Sirius started to get restless, playing with the ring on his finger, turning it until his skin was all red from the friction.
“Stop that.” Emma slapped his hand and Sirius yelped. “You’re making me anxious”
He huffed. Turning around in his chair as discreetly as possible, he observed the boy at the back. He had leaned back on the chair and had his long legs stretched out in front of him, feet crossed at the end and face buried on a book. Sirius squinted, trying to make out the title of the book. At that moment, the boy emerged from behind the pages and their eyes met. Sirius turned back around swiftly, heat creeping up his neck.
He waited a second, then cleared his throat. Emma, who had been resting on her hand with her eyes closed, looked at him questionly. “What?”
“I was wondering…” he hesitated. “Who’s that lad at the back?”
Emma smirked. “Why?”
Sirius frowned at her and shrugged. “I don’t know, just curious”
“Sure,” she chuckled. “Um, he’s new, I think. Last year”
“Haven’t seen him around, though”
“Yeah… I don’t know, Black, why don’t you go ask him?”
Sirius hummed, pondering the idea. He didn’t know why he cared so much, but he guessed he was just bored out of his mind and the guy seemed interesting enough. Deciding he didn’t have anything better to do, he stood up and strolled towards the back of the classroom.
He stood in front of the boy, who seemed focused on his reading, eyebrows pulled together in concentration. Sirius cleared his throat. No response.
“Hey” he tried. Still no response.
Getting a bit annoyed, he reached out and snatched the book out of the boy’s hands. “I said, hey”
The boy stared directly and silently at him for a couple of seconds, but the seconds seemed like they weighed a hundred pounds. Sirius fidgeted, uncomfortable. Not able to stand it anymore, he offered the book to the boy, who stared at him some more before finally taking it, closing it and putting it aside on the desk.
“So, um” Sirius began. “Haven’t seen you around.” He mentally slapped himself. “I mean, have you… are you new around here?”
“Was that a pick-up line?” the boy smirked.
“I, um…” God, Sirius was bad at this friendship bullshit. “I just mean, Emma,” he pointed over his shoulder, “she told me you’re in last year, but you haven’t been to any of my classes”
“So you’ve been asking about me”
“What?” he laughed nervously. “I mean, yes, I just…” He looked around, then decided to pull up a chair from the desk on his right and sit down in front of the boy. He crossed his legs. Uncrossed them. “So, what’s your name?”
The boy seemed to consider his answer. “I don’t think you’ve earned that yet”
Sirius blushed. Why was he blushing? And what kind of answer was that?
“I’m Sirius,” he extended a hand. God, Sirius, what are you, a XIX century gentleman?
The boy, however, shook his hand without comment. Sirius just barely noticed the roughness of the boy’s skin against his before he let go. They stayed silent for some time, the boy looking at Sirius and Sirius pretending he didn’t feel the sweat on his palms. He passed a hand through his hair, which was falling over his face in an annoying way. The other boy followed the movement with his eyes.
“What were you reading?”
It was the right question. The boy’s face seemed to light up slightly. “It’s Camelot, do you know it?”
“Oh… not really.” Sirius’ stomach twisted when the boy looked disappointed. “Tell me about it?”
He smiled. “It’s the story of King Arthur…”
The boy continued speaking about Merlin, Guinevere and the Knights of the Round Table. He described the epic tale of the sword in the stone, the romance, the magic, the betrayal. Sirius thought he must be a writer, for the words he chose were lyrical and sounded like music to his ears, though the excitement in his voice was even more enticing. Sirius tried to make a question or two in order to keep him talking, but he didn’t know much about the story, so he merely sat there and wished he didn’t look like an unintellectual fool.
“Um, sorry,” interrupted a voice behind Sirius. They both turned to find Jack standing with an apologetic look on his face. “Don’t mean to interrupt you, guys, but it’s been more than forty minutes and I think we should come up with something for that assignment.” He pointed back towards the centre of the room, where Emma and Julie were sitting together and looking extremely out of place with each other. “Would you join us?”
Sirius looked at the mysterious boy, who shrugged and made to stand up. Sirius copied him. They walked behind Jack, who sat down next to Julie. The mysterious boy sat down in front of the other three. Sirius hesitated, until the boy looked at him and nodded at the chair on his right side. Feeling a twist in his stomach, Sirius sat down next to him. They were close enough for their knees to bump against each other.
“So… thoughts?” invited Jack.
"I like anime," proposed Julie, "Do you?"
"I do," agreed Emma.
"I don't," said the three boys.
"What about sports?" asked Jack.
The others shook their heads and he deflated.
"We're all students?" tried Sirius.
"Not sure that's strong enough," said the boy next to him.
They sat there, staring at their feet for a long time. Sirius' mind soon wandered off to the mysterious boy. It was weird: he was both absent and present at the same time. He felt detached from the moment, his thoughts scattered, trying to come up with guesses of who this boy was and what his name might be. Thomas? James? No, he didn't have the face for those. Yet, Sirius was more aware than ever of his own body, of the boy's knee slightly bumping against his own, of the heat emanating from the boy's body.
He suddenly stood up, too restless to remain sitting. "I'll be right back," he announced, and set off towards the door.
"You can't…" he heard Jack start saying, but his voice was promptly muffled by the classroom door.
Sirius strolled down the hallways, paying close attention at every turn in case he heard the janitor or some teacher that could get him in trouble. However, it seemed like he wasn't paying enough attention because, when a hand grabbed at his shoulder from behind, he jumped and yelled in surprise.
"Shh!" the boy said, pushing his hand against Sirius' mouth. He seemed to be trying to contain a laugh.
"Whr you dng?" he mumbled behind the hand, feeling his lips move against the calloused skin.
"Just wanted to see what you were up to," the boy replied, taking away his hand.
"Ah, well, nothing much"
"I can see that." There was a glint on the boy's eyes, and Sirius barely had time to think of what it meant before the boy took his hand and pulled him down the hall. "Come on!"
Sirius let himself be led by the boy, who took him through the hallways with a clear direction in mind. At a particular turn, they almost bumped into a teacher, who looked at them with surprise. The three of them froze, and then the teacher asked:
"What are you boys doing on the halls at this hour?"
Sirius had no time to answer. The boy tugged at his hand and suddenly they were running, taking a turn so quickly that Sirius slipped and landed with his knees on the floor. The mysterious boy barked a laugh, pushing Sirius to his feet and, with their fingers still intertwined, started off down the hall once more.
They finally arrived at what seemed to be their destination. The library. Sirius was strangely disappointed.
"But it's closed at this hour," he pointed out.
The boy smirked. He let go of Sirius' hand and fished inside the front pocket of his trousers until he pulled out a single key. He opened the door to the library, ignoring Sirius' "How the fuck...?"
They entered the library. Sirius wasn't very familiar with the place, so he was a bit lost in the darkness until he felt a hand on his lower back, gently pushing him forward, and a voice whispering in his ear: "Trust me"
Oh, he did. He didn't know where they were going or what for, but he trusted this guy as if he had known him for years. Also, he was extremely content with that hand on his back. Which ok, what was that about?
The boy led him forward, between the shelves filled with books. His finger pushed into Sirius' back as if to reassure him that he was there, and Sirius kept turning his head to the side, enthralled with the dark outline of the boy's face. He wanted to ask something, anything, and yet it seemed sinful to break the silence.
Suddenly, the boy's hand grabbed at Sirius' leather jacket, stopping him. They stood in front of a tall bookcase. The boy let go of his jacket and approached the bookcase from the side. Sirius squinted in the dark. The boy grabbed at the left edge of the bookcase and pulled.
"What the…?" Sirius mumbled. The boy finished his work and turned to him, smiling.
"Come on," he said. Then he slid through the crack and disappeared from view.
Sirius looked around him in the dark, as if someone would finally turn on the lights and laugh at his confused face, telling him how this was all an elaborate prank. When no one appeared, he approached the space behind the bookcase and slid inside.
As soon as he did so, the lights were turned on, and he found himself in the middle of another, smaller and quite obviously older library. There were huge, tall wooden bookcases in three of the four walls, filled to the top with old-looking books of all sizes and colours. In front of the fourth wall, near which the boy was standing, there was an old turntable and a pile of vinyl.
"Woah!" Sirius rushed forward, kneeling on the floor to inspect the records. Queen, Pink Floyd, Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac. He was in paradise. "Do these work?" He asked, eyes shining.
The other boy smiled at him and made a gesture towards the turntable, as if to say, why don't you try yourself?
Sirius did. He grabbed the record on top of the pile, Queen's A Day at the Races, and put it on. Soon, the first notes to "Tie Your Mother Down" filled the room and Sirius turned to look at the other boy as if he had just shown him the whole wide world.
"This is incredible..." He stopped, lacking the name to complete the compliment.
"Remus" replied the boy, cheeks turning slightly red.
"Remus," repeated Sirius. He said it again, "Remus," just to feel the shape of his lips around it. "Well, Remus, this is incredible"
"I know"
"How did you…?"
"Well, I…" he hesitated, eyes fixed on the wall behind Sirius' head. "My da used to come to this school, and he told me about this place. He said the books and the turntable seem to have been here for a really long time. The records are his, though"
"So is this where you've been all your school life? Is that why I haven't seen you before?" asked Sirius, half joking.
"I was homeschooled until this year. My dad, who used to teach me, died at the end of last year so…"
"Oh, I'm sorry"
"Yeah…" The boy tugged at his hair, then let his hand fall on his side. "So, my ma spoke with the headmaster and he let me finish my last year here. But I didn't really want to, so I've been telling my ma I was at school…"
"Well, you technically were, weren't you?"
The boy's smile returned, and Sirius mentally congratulated himself. "I was. I stole a key to the library and I've been hiding here every morning"
"Did they catch you? Is that why you are in detention?"
"They know I've not been coming to class, and they saw me on the hallway today as I was leaving, so they called my mom and put me in detention when I refused to tell them where I've been hiding"
Sirius laughed. "You're so cool," he let out. Then immediately blushed.
Remus stepped forward. He grabbed at the edge of Sirius' leather jacket and tugged a bit, making Sirius step closer. Sirius' breath caught in his throat.
"You're not cool, though" Remus said. Sirius pouted slightly. Then Remus added: "You're actually kind of hot"
Sirius stilled, heart jumping like crazy on his chest. Remus' fingers curled around his chin and, just as the first words of Take My Breath Away started sounding, the boy inclined his head and joined their lips together.
It was the first time Sirius kissed a boy, and it was by far the best kiss he'd ever had. Remus' lips, just like his hands, were rough against his, and the slow, tender kiss quickly turned more heated when a tongue pushed inside Sirius' mouth to start tasting every corner. Sirius soon followed Remus' game, swiping his tongue over the back of Remus' teeth, probing against the other boy's tongue in a dance that, quite like the song, soon took Sirius' breath away. Remus seemed to notice this. He let their mouth separate for a moment, but instead of letting go completely he kissed along the line of Sirius' jaw, down to his neck, where he sucked and bit gently. Sirius' mind was too far gone to worry about marks. Or, alternatively, too far gone to not think about this boy marking him.
"Remus," he whispered, tugging at the boy's sweater. Remus' hands, now on Sirius' hips, pushed until he forced Sirius to step back until he reached the wall next to the pile of vinyl. "Remus," he tried again, the name turning into a whimper when Remus pushed his hips against Sirius. Okay, so Sirius was not the only one enjoying this a lot.
"Mmm?" asked Remus, hands travelling around Sirius' body to settle just above where Sirius wanted them most.
"Don't you think we should…?" Sirius said, swallowing down his nerves.
"What?" Remus' eyes wandered down Sirius' body, making him shiver.
"They're probably looking for us," he explained.
Remus laughed. "No, I don't think they are." He raised his eyebrows. "And if they are, they can probably wait, what, two minutes?"
"Hey! I can last longer than… umph"
Remus shut him up with a kiss. They stayed like that for a while, lips sliding against each other and hands pressed under their t-shirts just to feel the heat of the other's skin. Sirius was just about to make a bolder move, like let his hands wander down the front of Remus' trousers, when the boy gave him one last chaste kiss on the lips and stepped back.
"We should probably turn off the record and go back"
Sirius stayed shocked and breathless against the wall. He looked at Remus as if the other boy was speaking a different language.
Remus smirked.
He took two long steps and pushed their lips together again.
Sirius moaned in delight. "Oh, thank God," he murmured, and Remus laughed against his mouth.
By the time they got back to classroom 15, they found only Jack sleeping in one of the chairs. Sirius shook him by the shoulder.
"Oh, hey!" He said, yawning.
"Where are the girls?" asked Sirius.
"Well… I" Jack hesitated. "The teacher came to check on us some fifteen minutes after you two left, so we told them you, Sirius, felt sick and that this lad over here," he pointed at Remus, "went to check on you when you stormed off towards the toilets. I think she didn't buy it, but she said she'd be back soon and went away. After that, Julie and Emma decided to go look for you two. And they haven't come back yet. Maybe they…"
Just at that moment, the door to the classroom opened and in entered Emma and Julie, giggling and whispering to each other.
"There you are!" exclaimed Julie.
"Yeah, we were…" she smirked at Julie, "you know, looking for you guys"
Sirius raised his eyebrows, noticing the darkening mark on Julie's neck but too aware that he must have one of his own to make any cheeky remark.
"Okay" said Jack, breaking the tension that had settled in the air. "We have about ten minutes to come up with a thing we all have in common"
"I have it"
They all turned to Remus.
"We're all different, aren't we?"
They all looked at each other for a bit, then shrugged at him.
"Well," he continued, "so that's what we have in common. We're all different in our own way"
The teacher not only accepted the answer to the assignment, she loved it. She gave a speech about finding equality in difference and how they were all just human beings, unique and lovely in their own ways and so on. She was so happy with their answer she didn't even notice Sirius looked anything but sick. He sat through the speech with a smile that was less due to said speech and more to the hand that kept finding his under the desk.
Once they were dismissed, they all strolled down the hallways together, Julie and Emma walking side by side at the front, hands swinging close together. Jack followed, hands on his pockets and humming a song that sounded way too similar to Take My Breath Away for Sirius' comfort, but not enough that it distracted him from Remus' hand on his.
They emerged outside, greeted by the sun shining on his eyes and the warmth of the lingering summer. The girls said their goodbyes and disappeared towards the right. Jack nodded at them and followed suit, which left only Remus and Sirius standing in front of the entrance, hands still intertwined.
"So…" Sirius cleared his throat, turning to face the other boy. "Remus"
"Yes, Sirius?"
He suddenly realized something. "I don't know your last name," he exclaimed in surprise.
Remus laughed. "Well, I certainly have heard yours"
"So?"
"So what?"
"Your last name," insisted Sirius. "What is it?"
Remus showed him that smirk Sirius was already too familiar and too keen on, for a boy that he'd only known for a couple of hours. Remus stepped forwards, leaning to whisper in Sirius' ears.
"I don't think you've earned it, yet"