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Chapter Text

REMUS

Sirius Black was the catalyst, like he often was. 

It all started when they were 16 and he ran away from home, arriving on the Potter’s doorstep on a warm summer night. A few weeks later he suggested that they should start a band. They all knew some sort of instrument, so why not?

Remus had agreed. It was a good way to spend all that free time they had, when they weren’t at school, and a good way to make Sirius happy. He had thought it would just be a hobby of theirs, or a brief phase. 

One year later, and he had learned that he was very much mistaken. 

Remus knew they were planning to play more gigs this summer, that they were going to spend as much time together as possible until they all went to university. He wasn’t sure what James was planning, calling this impromptu meeting. 

“Moony!” someone yelled. Sirius stood in the entrance of James’ garage, grinning wildly and waving like he hadn’t seen him just a couple days ago. 

Sirius Black. One of the most complicated people Remus had ever met, like a hurricane in a human body. One of the angriest people he knew, but also one of the most caring. 

Remus realized he had fancied one of his best friends after yet another successful prank last year, when Sirius had laughed so hard and smiled so wide he looked like he was glowing from the inside. He had realized that he wanted to make Sirius smile like that. He had realized that he wanted to kiss those smiling lips. 

He realized that he had wanted to do that for a long time. After, he had to sit down. 

“Hey Padfoot,” he said, smiling at him. “Why’s James calling a meeting?” 

He shrugged, and the two of them walked into the garage together. “I have no idea. About half an hour ago he started yelling something at me and then texted you guys. Peter got here a few minutes ago.”

Peter Pettigrew, the smallest and quietest of their group, waved from the corner of the garage. 

“If it’s about Lily I’m leaving.” 

“You’re lucky mate. You don’t share a room with him all year long. It’s always Lily this, Lily that. I’m surprised she hasn’t killed him yet.”

“Well, we still have the summer.” 

Sirius laughed, bright and mischievous. “That’s true.” 

God, his laugh sometimes left Remus breathless. Lately, sometimes meant most of the time. 

“Good afternoon everyone!” a voice boomed out of nowhere. James Potter strolled through the door, with wide arms like he was greeting his subjects. He was their leader though, even if it was an unspoken fact. 

Sirius is rubbing off on him, he thought. 

“What is it, Prongs?” Sirius asked, sitting down and propping his feet up on a stool. Even in that lazy position, he still looked annoyingly good. “Some of us have places to be.” 

“You live here,” James shot back, with an impish grin. He stood in front of the three of them, almost glowing. “You didn’t even have any plans. Besides, I have huge news.” 

“Evans rejected you again? Believe me mate, that isn’t big.” 

This time he just ignored Sirius, pulling out his phone. “Look at this.” 

James handed his phone to Remus. He quickly scanned the Instagram post. 

Sirius raised one eyebrow. “How am I supposed to look at it if Remus has it?” 

“It’s a band competition,” Remus explained, handing James’ phone over to Peter. “What’s the big deal?” 

“It’s not just a band competition. The prize is getting signed by Ministry Records. Ministry Records!” 

The three of them just gave him a blank stare. James rolled his eyes. 

“They’ve signed Mad-Eye Moody, Emmeline Vance! God, how do you three know absolutely nothing about the music industry?” 

“We have better things to do,” Remus said dryly. Sirius laughed and held out his hand. The two high-fived. 

Although, he did have to admit, those two were quite famous. The kind of famous they wanted to be.  

“Do you want us to enter the competition?” Peter asked quietly. Sometimes, Remus worried about him. That he could be so quiet that he would disappear. 

James pointed at Peter. “Yes! It’s a great opportunity. If we win, we get to get signed to one of the best record labels in the country!” 

“Sounds like a great idea to me,” Sirius said, that fiery grin on his face.  

“Hold on. A lot of people are going to enter,” Remus said. “Our band is more than a hobby, but our lives aren’t devoted to it. Do you really think we can win?”  

“Remus has a point,” Peter added. 

James sighed, a glint appearing in his eye. They all knew that glint. It was pep talk time. In different circumstances, he could have been a great motivational speaker. 

“Of course we can win!” he said. “We’re the Marauders. We’ve been friends forever. We’ve been on countless adventures. We’ve gotten into lots of trouble. I know we never thought this band thing would get big, that it was just a hobby, but we work well together. We make great music together. One last hurrah before university. That’s all that I ask.”

When James talked, really talked, all fell silent. That silence followed when he stopped talking and they all started thinking.  

James was right. This was their last summer together before university. No matter how much Remus ignored it, no matter how much it terrified him, it was true. 

They probably wouldn’t win. But it was a good way to spend as much time with each other as they could before the fall came. A good way to make as much music as they could before they were separated. 

It sounded like a challenge. It sounded fun. 

“Okay,” Remus said, breaking the uncommon silence. “I’m in.” 

James beamed at him. “See, Remus has sense.” 

“Hey, I agreed with you from the start!” Sirius protested. James ignored him again. 

“Peter? Wormtail?” he asked. 

Peter bit his lip, but nodded anyway. “Okay. Let’s do it.” 

James cheered this time, pumping his fist in the air. “Yes! I told you guys you’d love it.” 

Remus glanced at Sirius, who had grabbed his guitar and started absentmindedly strumming it. 

Being in a band with someone you fancied was not a good idea. It had never ended well, in any example. 

But it was too late to go back now. 

Chapter Text

SIRIUS 

This was not James’ craziest idea (that honor belonged to the prank they didn’t speak of) but it was one of his craziest. 

Sirius was excited. 

Sure, they hadn’t been a band for very long, but they had been friends for much longer. They didn’t have that much experience, but they made great music together. When they performed, it was like nothing else. Everything else just fell away. That was one of the reasons he liked it so much. 

If they won, that would be awesome. If they didn’t, it would still be a good and fun experience for them (but he did want to win). 

It was a good way to get his mind off of the fact that they were splitting up in the fall. 

“So, how does the competition work?” Remus asked. He was always asking the smart questions, the ones that made sense. Without him, Sirius thought they would be in jail by then. 

God, Remus Lupin. Smart, funny, beautiful, the scent of chocolate always clinging to his jumpers. The whole goddamn package. People thought that his scars made him ugly, but he had always thought they just added to his appeal. 

Sirius had figured out he was heads over heels for one of his best friends a long time ago. Since then, the feelings had stubbornly refused to leave the building. If anything, they just grew. It was becoming a problem. 

He was pretty sure he was in love. He tried not to think about it too much. 

Still, he didn’t know how others didn’t like Remus. He was so kind, so strong. So good, even though when he was mad he could be the biggest asshole of all time. 

It was kind of hot. 

“Well, there are three stages,” James said, sitting down. “For the first, we need to put together one song, so that’s easy. For the second, we need a ten minute set, give or take like two minutes. For the third, it’s just a ten minute set again. It shouldn’t be too hard.” 

James was right. They already had enough songs for a ten minute set. 

“I was thinking of writing new songs for the competition though,” James added, like an afterthought. 

“What?” Sirius asked, sitting up and putting his guitar down. “Why? We already have the music for the sets.” 

“I mean, we were planning on writing new music for this summer,” Remus said. 

“Yeah, and that’s because our old music was getting stale and overused,” James added. “Plus, it was written just for the three of us. We still need a lead singer.” 

Sirius frowned. He had a point. They had been looking for a lead singer for the past few months, to no avail. They had a drummer (James), a bass player (Remus), a guitar player (him, of course), and someone to help them compose (Peter), but they still didn’t have a lead singer. All of them (except Peter) could sing, but they all knew they were better as background. 

“What about Tonks?” Peter suggested. “She’s nice, and funny.” 

“She’s Moony’s ex-girlfriend,” Sirius said, almost wincing at the memory of them dating. “Plus, we already know she can’t sing. Remember Halloween?” 

Peter paled at the memory. 

“Exactly,” he finished.  

“What about Marlene McKinnon? Or Frank Longbottom?” Remus asked. 

They had had this conversation a million times. The only difference this time was they were being serious. 

“Frank Longbottom’s great, but he’s too busy,” Sirius said. “We should ask Marlene though. What about Molly Prewett? She’s nice.” 

“She’s way older than us,” James objected. 

“I talked to Molly a week ago,” Peter said. “I’m like, 90% sure she's gonna get married this summer.” 

“Are you serious?” Sirius asked, leaning forward. He was invested now. “To Arthur Weasley?” 

“Do you think she’d marry anyone else?” Remus chimed in. “They’ve been together for forever.” 

Sirius shrugged. “To me, she’s always seemed a little out of his league.” 

“That’s so rude!” Remus said. 

“I mean, I can see his point,” Peter said. 

Remus shot him a good-natured glare. “Traitor.”

“Guys!” James yelled. “Focus. There’s one person we haven’t thought of yet.” 

Someone they haven’t thought of yet. Sirius was pretty sure that person didn’t exist. They had named almost everyone they knew over the last few months. 

Unless . . . 

“No,” Sirus said. “No. We are not asking Evans.” 

James visibly deflated. “Why not? We don’t even know if she can’t sing!” 

“Do you want to be rejected by her again?”

“We’d send Remus to ask her. They’re friends, aren’t you?” 

Both of them looked at Remus, who nodded flusteredly. It was actually really cute. “Yeah, we’re friends. But I don’t think we should ask her either. She’ll probably say no when she figures out James is involved in this.” 

“Yeah, I agree with Remus,” Peter added. “She’s just gonna reject you again.” 

“You’re outvoted,” Sirius said smugly. 

James sighed. “Fine. I admit defeat. So, who should we ask first?” 

---

About an hour later, Sirius was pretty sure they had asked everyone they knew. At school and outside of it. For the second time. 

“Alice says she’s not interested,” Remus said, turning off his phone. 

Sirius groaned, throwing his head back dramatically. “God, we’re never going to find a lead singer at this rate.” 

“We could have auditions,” Remus said. “Put up some flyers. Maybe that would work.”

“We don’t have enough time for that, Moony. Plus, we already asked like, everyone in this town,” Sirius replied. “We probably asked everyone who would see it.” 

“Good point.” 

“Is there anyone we haven’t asked?” Peter asked. 

“Hmmmm,” James said, flipping through the multiple papers on his desk to find the list. “We haven’t asked Marlene yet.” 

“We forgot Marlene?” Remus asked incredulously. 

“I’ll call her,” Sirius said, quickly turning on his phone and pulling up her contact. 

“Do you still have her number?” James teased. “After all this time?” 

Sirius responded by flipping him the bird. Remus snorted. 

The dial rang twice before she picked up. “Sirius? What’s up?” 

“Hey, Marlene,” he said. “Nothing much. Look, we had a question for you.”

“By we you mean the Mauraders right?” she asked. “Your little boy band?” 

“Yup. We were wondering if you wanted to join. We need a lead singer for this competition, and just in general.” 

“Yeah. I know,” he could practically hear the smirk in her voice. “Alice texted me about it.”

Sirius swore lightly under his breath “That snitch.”  

Marlene laughed, light and airy. “It sounds cool, but I have an internship this summer. And I have a lot of plans with Dorcas.” 

“Dorcas, huh? Have fun with that.” 

“Shut up, Sirius,” she said. “You should ask Lily though. She’s a great singer, and plays piano. I’m honestly surprised you haven’t asked her yet. I thought she’d be the first person James thought of.” 

Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me. 

“See you around,” Marlene said. 

“Yeah, see you,” he said, a little hollowly. She hung up. 

“What did she say?” Peter asked. 

Sirius had to tell them. No matter how much it infuriated him, that James was bloody right, he had to tell them. 

“She said no.”

The three of them groaned. 

“But,” he added. “She said to ask Lily, because she can sing and play piano.” 

Everyone went silent. And then. 

“I told you!” James exploded, standing up. He surprised Peter so much he fell off of his stool. James’ grin was triumphant and wide. “I bloody told you guys! We should ask Lily.” 

“That doesn’t mean she’ll say yes,” Remus said. 

“We still need to ask her,” James said. “And you have to ask her. She won’t say yes to me or Sirius, and she barely knows Peter.” 

Remus groaned, rubbing at his temples like an old man. “Fine. I’ll go to her house and ask her tomorrow. I have work soon.” 

He stood up, grabbing his stuff while James looked at him in surprise. “You know where she lives? And you didn’t tell me?” 

“I didn’t want to make you more of a stalker then you already are,” Remus said, with a small smile. Sirius wanted to bottle that smile, frame it and hang it on the wall. 

He had to make these feelings go away. Normally, he was great at destruction. But for some reason, the flutter in his chest refused to be destroyed. 

Sirius got the feeling that they’d only get stronger over the summer. 

Chapter Text

REMUS

Remus was not sure how he got there. 

Actually, no. He knew exactly why he was standing outside the Evans’ household. He just wasn’t sure how he had let James rope him into asking Lily. 

He originally just wanted to call Lily and ask her. Maybe text her and ask. But she had said to just come to her house after work, and so he did. 

You can just walk away right now, he reminded himself. The only thing stopping you is your conscience and that you wouldn’t be able to lie to Sirius or James or Peter. 

Well, he wouldn’t be letting down Sirius or Peter. They were pretty sure she would say no anyway. So was he. 

But James would be crushed. 

Bloody hell. 

Finally, he raised his hand and rang the doorbell. 

After a couple seconds, someone answered the door. A tight-lipped girl with brown hair, who he recognized as Petunia Evans. Lily’s younger sister, from the pictures she’d shown him. Her eyes almost bugged out of her head when she saw him. It was the normal response of people who didn’t know him, but it still hurt a little bit every time. 

“Petunia, right?” he asked. “Is Lily home?” 

She nodded curtly, leaning backward to face the inside of her house. “Lily! Your friend is here!” 

She said “friend” like it was an insult, contempt dripping from her voice. 

A couple moments later Lily Evans and her head of red hair came bounding into view, smiling wide. It wasn’t hard to imagine why James liked her, she had a good heart and was as fiery as her hair. 

“Remus,” she said. “Come on in.” 

The Evans house had the perfect amount of clutter, just enough to know it was loved and lived in but not enough to be messy. It was warmly lit, with multiple family pictures decorating the walls. It was a little bit like the Potter’s. 

Petunia disappeared around a corner, but not before giving them a strange look, almost disgusted. The one anomaly amongst the warmth. 

“What’s up?” Lily asked, sitting down on the couch. They had spent enough nights studying together at the school library to be comfortable in each other’s presence. That was how they became friends. 

He sat down next to her. “I had a question for you. Well, more like we.” 

She raised her eyebrows. “We?” 

“Yeah. Me, Sirius, Peter, and James,” Remus said, his voice almost catching on James’ name. “You know how we’re in a band?” 

“Yeah,” she replied. “Potter bragged to me about it about a million times. Why?” 

“Well, we’re looking for a lead singer. We’ve been looking for one for a while now, but now we’re joining this competition, and we need one.” 

“And you’re asking me if I want to be the lead singer?” Lily asked, with an incredulous laugh. “In a band with James Potter?” 

He sighed internally. Remus knew this was going to happen. “Yeah. Marlene said you could sing and play piano, and they thought we should ask. Just in case. You’re our last resort, everyone else said no.” 

He braced himself for a refusal, for her to laugh and say no. Why would she join a band with James, who had asked her out a million times over the last seven years?

Instead, she asked, “What’s the contest for?” 

He glanced up at her. Lily looked dead serious, like she was actually contemplating joining. 

Remus wondered if a pig would fly over his head next. 

“It’s to be signed by Ministry Records,” he said. 

Lily’s jaw dropped, eyes widening. He didn’t understand how that name meant something to people. 

“Ministry Records? They signed Emmeline Vance!” she said excitedly. 

He almost told her that that was exactly what James had said, but Remus was pretty sure that would ruin the mood. He really shouldn’t try to bring up James in general. 

“Yeah. There’s three stages. The first is just one song, the second is a ten minute set, and the third is another ten minute set,” Remus explained. “The first stage is in two weeks.” 

“Two weeks?” she asked. “That’s not very long.” 

“Yeah, it really isn’t,” he said. “But I think they think we already have songs ready. 

“Are you in?” 

She bit her lip, obviously thinking. It was a miracle she was thinking about it at all. Remus would have never thought she’d considered it for a second. 

“Okay,” she finally said, looking him in the eye. “I’ll join.” 

“Wait, really?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking. “You’re joining?” 

Lily shrugged. “Most of my friends are busy this summer. And I don't want to be stuck with my sister all summer. Just promise you’ll make sure Potter doesn’t flirt with me too much.” 

“Of course,” Remus said, smiling at her. She smiled back, her green eyes lighting up. 

Sirius and Peter would be thrilled. Stunned, but thrilled. It was perfect. It was a bloody miracle. 

James would probably have a heart attack from the shock of not getting rejected. 

“You can stay for longer, if you want,” she said almost casually, but something in her voice betrayed her. He couldn’t quite define it. “We have some food in the fridge.” 

“That sounds great, but I can’t,” he said. “My dad wants me home in time for dinner. I’m sorry.” 

“Oh, that’s fine,” Lily replied, a little strained. “When’s rehearsal?” 

“It’s . . . I don’t actually know. We haven’t scheduled one yet,” he admitted. God, they were unorganized. “I’ll text you once I know.” 

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll walk you out.” 

Remus could spot the sun setting behind the cars and trees, as the two of them walked out onto the perfectly manicured lawn. The whole neighborhood was like that, shining and pristine. 

“I’ll see you soon,” Lily said. 

“Yeah, definitely,” he replied. “And thanks. They’re gonna be thrilled.” 

“Hopefully not too thrilled.” 

He laughed, knowing exactly who she was talking about. 

Remus pulled out his phone from his bag as he walked to the bus stop. He wished that he could see his friends’ faces when they heard the news, but he couldn’t keep them waiting any longer. It had already been a day. 

The Maraders

Moony McMoon: Lily said yes

deadsirius: are you fucking serious 

Moony McMoon: Would I joke about this? 

pettygrew: wait so we have a lead singer? 

pettygrew: she actually said yes? 

Moony McMoon: Yeah, I’m as surprised as you 

deadsirius: Prongs is gonna flip

ceramics: AGHTJOPSAFGIURQWN

ceramics: SHE SAID YES??????

Moony McMoon: Yeah 

deadsirius: Prongs just screamed and then fell off the bed 

deadsirius: i think he fucking knocked himself out 

He was pretty sure they could hear Remus’ laugh from California. 

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

James had been driving him up the wall the entire bloody day. Sirius had to hide in the garage to escape it. 

It had been a few days since Remus recruited Evans for their band. At first, his best friend had just been excited. And shocked. Definitely shocked. Today, he had been nervous. It showed in the way he scarfed down breakfast and fiddled with his pencils and asked him for advice on outfits. He was gay, not a fashion expert. 

But Sirius did help him pick out the best outfit. A Queen t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He did have eyes. 

It was honestly worrying. James Potter barely ever got nervous. Not before football games, not before gigs, and definitely not before seeing Evans.  

He casually strummed his guitair. He was pretty excited for rehearsal, and to see what Evans could do. Hopefully she was as good as Marlene said she was. Even if she wasn’t, she was kind of their only hope. 

“Padfoot!” he heard James yell. “Where did you go?” 

There was a bang as he kicked the door to the garage open, looking slightly disheveled and very chaotic. 

“Why are you in the garage?” he asked. 

“I . . . was waiting for the others,” Sirus said. In return, James just shot him a look. He sighed. “Fine. I was bloody hiding from you.” 

James’ eyes widened, and he pressed a hand to his chest like he had been shot. “What? Why? I’m a joy to be around.” 

“When you’re not going crazy over Evans,” he replied. “She’s Evans! We went to school with her for years! You’ve asked her out a million times. She’s rejected you every time. You have literally nothing left to lose. What’s the big deal?”

He strummed his guitair one more time, for good measure. James sighed, and ran his hands through his hair. That was probably the fifth time he had done that that day. 

“It’s my last chance with her,” he muttered, so quietly Sirius could barely hear him. 

“What?” he asked. 

James sat down on his drum seat, grabbing his sticks to fiddle with. “Evans is going to a different college. We’ll probably never see each other again. I have to make the most of the time I have left with the love of my life.” 

The love of his life. 

Sirius had never thought that James was in love with Lily Evans. Sure, he liked her. He liked her a lot, enough to withstand years of pining and rejection. But James, in love? 

He thought of the look in his eye when he talked about Evans. How he smiled when he saw her, how he had doodled her name on all of his papers in school. 

Maybe James was in love. 

They didn’t normally talk about feelings like this. The Mauraders were jokers, pranksters, constantly laughing. Feelings just didn’t come up, and when they did, it was short. 

He had no idea what to do. 

Remus would know what to do, he found himself thinking. What would he do?

“Stop being so dramatic,” Sirius said. “That’s my job. You’ll see Evans again. It’s not like she’s leaving the bloody country. Phones exist. And maybe she’ll start liking you if she has more experience with you then just you asking her out and hating her friend.”

“Hey, Snivillus deserves to be hated,” James pointed out. “And I guess. I just don’t want to screw things up.” 

“You’re James Potter. Screwing up is in your nature.” 

Sirius barely dodged James’ drumstick. 

“No fighting, you two,” Remus said, as he walked into the garage. He was smiling anyway, his eyes bright with soft joy. Behind him were Peter and Evans. 

Evans. She wore black shorts and a green t-shirt, her red hair shining in the sunlight. He could see James staring at her out of the corner of his eye. 

“Hey Evans,” was all he said. 

“Potter,” she replied. “So, what’s the plan?” 

“Well, first we should rehearse some songs,” James said, going from lovesick fool back to band leader. “Ones that we all know. Just to get the feel of your voice and the dynamic. And then we can start writing our own song for the contest.” 

“Sounds good,” Remus said, grabbing his bass guitar from its place on the wall and starting to tune it. Sometimes he kept his instrument at James’ house, when he didn’t want to carry it home. 

“Is Peter in the band?” Evans suddenly asked. “I thought it was just Remus, Potter, and Black.” 

Sirius shook his head, almost wincing at getting called Black. He was getting more comfortable with his last name ever since he ran away and got disowned. Before he had hated it more than he hated Snivillus. “No. He helps us compose and he can play piano, but he isn’t officially in the band.” 

“I’m tonedeaf,” Peter piped up. “Can’t sing for shit.” 

Evans laughed. “I’m sure you're not that bad.” 

“Trust him, he is,” Sirius said. “Worse than Tonks.” 

“Worse than Tonks ?”

“We should probably start rehearsal,” Remus interjected. “But yeah, worse than Tonks.” 

Evans’ eyes widened. “I thought that was impossible. What are we starting with?” 

James bit his lip, thinking. “Do you know Somebody to Love? By Queen?” 

“Of course,” Evans scoffed. “Who doesn’t know Somebody to Love?” 

If James wasn’t in love with her before, then he definitely was then. “Okay. We’ll start with that. You’ve warmed up already?”

She nodded a little defiantly, like she had something to prove. He recognized that nod. He’d seen it in the mirror enough times. 

“Good,” James said. 

Sirius stood up, grabbing his guitar and his pick. James started the beat, and Remus slung his guitar strap over his shoulder. Evans took a deep breath. 

Hopefully she’s good , he thought. 

“Five, six, seven, eight,” James counted off, and they started the song. 

Sirius fucking loved performing. He liked it better in front of a crowd, but practice was great too. He forgot everything else, and it was just him and his guitar and his best friends and the music filling his ears. 

This time, there was something else. 

Evans' voice, standing out among them like a lead singer’s should. Slightly shaky, but she still stood her ground. 

She sounded great. More than great. She sounded amazing. 

She was definitely a soprano. Her voice was high, not in a pure way, but like it was made for belting. It blended perfectly with his and Remus’ bass, and James’ tenor. 

“Someday I’m gonna be free,” they sang together, a sound that made electricity go down Sirius’ spine. He could see James grinning like mad as he slammed out beats on his drums, Remus’ smile that felt like a prized secret behind his bass, Evans belting out the lyrics like her life depended on it. 

“Somebody toooooo,” she sang, hitting the high note beautifully as they went quiet. Her voice rang across the garage. 

And in that moment he knew. Together, they could be great. Together, they could win. 

The song ended with a bang, leaving all of them breathless. Sirius felt like he had run a mile in the short amount of time they had been playing. 

“Holy shit,” Peter said, standing up. “That was amazing!” 

“Yeah Evans,” Sirius added. “You’re really good.” 

James just stared, grinning like he had nothing else to say. 

“Oh, thank you,” she said, sounding a little surprised. “And just call me Lily. Besides you, Potter.” 

“What?” James asked incredulously. “Why not me?!” 

“Because you’re an arrogant ass.” 

Sirius cackled. This summer was going to be fun. 

They had found their lead singer. 

Chapter Text

REMUS

Lily was absolutely amazing. Her voice, high and powerful, left him breathless. She sounded like her voice was made for the stage, forged in high Cs and quarter notes instead of fire. 

She was perfect. Remus couldn’t imagine anyone else as their lead singer now that he had heard her sing with them. He could tell Sirius and James and Peter felt the same. 

James was staring at her like she had hung the moon and the stars, even though she had called him an arrogant ass just a few minutes ago. Peter was still gushing about how great she sounded. Sirius was grinning, and had a triumphant look in his eye that made Remus’ heart skip a beat. 

No, no. He couldn’t start thinking about that. 

“We should start writing our song for the competition,” Remus said. They needed to stay on track. If not, he would get sucked in to the addicting feeling of playing. 

“Oh yeah,” Sirius said. “That. Ideas, anyone?” 

“Maybe a love song?” James suggested, sneaking a look at the newest member of their band. “About unrequited love or something like that?” 

Remus wanted to slam his head into the wall. Lily wasn’t stupid and Prongs wasn’t doing himself any favors. 

“Well, what are your songs normally about?” Lily asked, sitting down on the sun-warmed concrete. 

“Like I said, love,” James said. “Friendship. Glory.” 

“Adventure,” Peter added. 

“Deer,” Sirius said. 

Remus almost got whiplash from whipping his head toward where Sirius was sitting. 

“We do not write songs about deer,” he said. 

“There was that one time where we wrote a song about our fursonas,” Sirius replied, looking all innocent. Oh, this was definitely to embarrass James. “And James’ is a deer-” 

“We were drunk!” James exclaimed, his face going a fantastic shade of red. “And we, we don’t have fursonas! It’s a joke!” 

“Well, what else am I supposed to call them?” Sirius asked. “The term spirit animal is offensive to Native Americans.” 

“I know that, just literally anything except fursona! We’re not furries!” 

“Does this happen often?” Lily asked, leaning over to talk to him as Sirius and James squabbled.

Remus shook his head. “No. Don’t tell Sirius I told you, but I think he’s just trying to embarrass James.” 

“It’s working,” she said, smirking. “His face looks like a tomato.” 

She was right. It was bright red. 

“We should probably stop them,” he said. “For the sake of productivity.” 

Lily nodded hesitantly. “We should.” 

Both of them stayed quiet for another minute before Remus stopped the arguing. Lily really was a perfect fit. He regretted not thinking of her earlier, but in his defense, the chances that she would say yes were very slim.  

“So what should our first song be about?” Peter asked timidly.

“Something that really represents us,” Sirius said, running a hand through his hair lazily. Remus’ mouth went dry. “As a group.”  

“Maybe our song should be about late night adventures,” James suggested. “Like what you imagine when you listen to Tongue Tied by Grouplove. Parties, getting tipsy, running down empty streets.” 

“Like Halloween,” Peter said. Remus wanted to smile and shudder at the memory. 

James snapped, pointing at Peter. “Exactly.” 

“How do we go about this?” Lily asked. “How do you guys write songs?” 

How did they write songs? Remus had never really thought about it before. It just . . . happened. 

“It starts with an idea,” he said. “Then we get ideas for snippets of lyrics.” 

“And chords,” Sirius interjected. “Beats. Stuff like that.” 

“And then we just make the song,” James finished. “Bring all of our ideas together. It’s hard to explain.”  

“What if we split up into groups to think of lyrics?” Remus suggested. “Bounce ideas of each other. It’s worked before.”   

James brightened, sitting up straighter, like his energy had a direction now. “Great idea, Moony. You should go with Sirius. I can be with Evans-” 

“And Peter,” Lily finished, smiling at his friend. Remus could see the smug triumph in her eyes, that she had thwarted James once again.  

“Exactly,” James said. “That’s what I was going to say.” 

“Right,” Sirius muttered. 

James clapped his hands together, grinning. “Let’s go, band!” 

Sirius stood up, his hair softly swaying, and strolled to where Remus was sitting. It was all he could do not to stare. 

“So Moony,” he said, plopping down in front of him. “Any ideas?” 

“We just started,” Remus retorted. “I can’t get ideas in two seconds.” 

Sirius shrugged, glancing up at him from under eyelashes as black as his name. “I guess. You’re really smart. If anyone could, it would be you.” 

Oh.  

Be still his beating heart. Remus repressed the urge to gulp, like a protaganist in a Wattpad book. He also felt the urge to grab Sirius’ coller and kiss him, to finally feel those soft lips against his, to thread his hands through Sirius’ hair and to see if it was as soft as he imagined it to be. 

He acted on neither urges, instead fiddling with his pick like an idiot. “T-Thanks.” 

“No problem,” Sirius said, grinning. “So, ideas. I was thinking that we should mention alcohol. It’s crucial for the late night adventures theme.”

“Depends on which late night adventure,” he said, but pulled out his notebook and jotted it down anyway. Alcohol. 

“Like, 90% of our adventures include alcohol,” Sirius replied. “Or weed. Remember that time where James got super high and thought he had transformed into a stag?”

He said it extra loud, probably just so Lily could hear it. He could hear her snicker from her place next to James’ drums. 

“What makes you think that I could ever forget that?” Remus asked. “He was higher than the Empire State. It’s where our nicknames come from. And why do you keep embarassing James? Not that it isn’t hilarious, but still.” 

Huh. That could be a lyric. He wrote it down, “ higher than the empire state.” 

“He’s my brother. It’s my job,” Sirius said. “Plus, he was a little nervous about Lily before. I’m trying to help.”

“I don’t think embarassing him in front of her is helping.” 

“Haven’t you learned anything from English class, Moony? It’s all about perspective.” 

He glanced up at Sirius, who was bouncing a ball (where did he get a ball?) against the wall. 

“I think perspective only counts if you’re paying attention,” Remus said dryly. “We’re supposed to be working on the song.” 

“Oh, I know,” he said. “I was thinking of a lyric. ‘Carry me home tonight.’ Would that work?”

Of course he had been paying attention. Sirius always was, even when it looked like it was impossible for him to. For all of his pretend laziness, his friend was quite observant. 

Remus suspected he wouldn’t like the reason behind it, if Sirius ever told him. If he ever told anyone.  

“Yeah, that’s good,” he replied, writing it down. “How’d you come up with it?” 

“I’m just that talented. And that incident with Peter.” 

It was hard to remember what incident Sirius was talking about. They had enough of those to fill the pacific ocean. 

“The one where we had to carry Peter to his dorm because James dared him to jump off the Whomping Willow and he knocked himself out?” Sirius continued. 

“Ohhh, that time,” Remus said, grinning at the memory. “I was so scared.” 

“That was before we corrupted you.” 

“Exactly. I’d still be innocent if not for you hooligans.” 

“Awwww, you love us anyway,” Sirius said, swinging an arm around his shoulders and pulling him in. He was close enough that he could feel his body heat, Remus’ cheek an inch from his.

Remus was going to die. He was going to murder Sirius, and then he was going to die. 

“Stop flirting, you two!” James yelled from across the garage, smirking. “We have a song to write!” 

He felt his face flush. Sirius flipped Prongs the bird, but casually detached his arm from his shoulders. 

“We should get back to writing,” he said, smiling at him. 

Remus nodded. “Yeah. Right.” 

Remus didn’t know it was possible to feel disappointed and relieved at the same time. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if Sirius had stayed so close. 

Still, as he watched Sirius start bouncing his ball again, he wished he would do it again. 

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

After hours of writing, erasing, and arguing, they finally had their first verse for their song. Sirius’ line had made it in, and so did Remus’. He actually really liked it. It really represented the group’s most chaotic experiences.

And Lily’s. Honestly, he didn’t know the girls got up to so much trouble. He really should’ve hung out with them more.  

Still, when he thought of the reharsal a few days ago, writing the song wasn’t what he thought about. 

He still remembered the feeling of pulling Remus close, so close that their faces were almost touching. He shouldn’t have done it, teased himself with something he couldn’t have. 

But Sirius just couldn’t help it. 

He was so screwed for rehearsal today. James and Peter had work, and Lily had a family thing (one she didn’t seem too excited about, something he could relate too). 

But Remus was free. So they were meeting up to work on the song, just the two of them. Alone. 

Like a date. 

No, not like a date. Because no matter what Sirius wished, they were not together. He really needed to stop thinking about the two of them hanging out like that. They were mates. Hanging out was normal. 

Normal things don’t speed up your heart rate, he thought as he spotted Remus walking up the sidewalk. He looked beautiful in just a t-shirt and cuffed jeans, hair ruffling in the wind. 

Sirius was so fucked. 

“Hey,” he said, doing his best to sound casual. 

“Hey,” Remus replied, dropping his bag and grabbing his bass. “Just the two of us today.”

“Yup. No buffer from me annoying the shit out of you.” 

“Please. I’ve gotten used to it. How do you think I’ve survived all these years?” he asked, smirking a little. 

“I thought it was the chocolate,” Sirius shot back. “That’s all you ever eat.” 

“Because it’s good!” 

“Still, you shouldn’t only eat chocolate. It’s unhealthy.” 

Remus pulled out his little notebook and pencil, tucking it behind his ear. “Are you, Sirius Black, trying to educate me on good life choices?” 

Well, he had him there. “That’s not the point. Can’t I just care about my mates without them calling me out?” 

Remus laughed, almost sounding a little . . . disappointed? No, he must have imagined it. “Calling you out is my job. Now, don’t we have a song to write?” 

“We do,” he said. “Is James really letting us write the chorus?” 

He nodded. “According to the group chat, yeah.” 

Sirius leaned back, grabbing his guitar. “It’s like, the most important part of the song!” 

“Well, it’s not like he isn’t going to critique it,” Remus said. “And Peter, and Lily. This is a democracy.” 

“We’re a disgrace to England,” he replied. “The queen would be ashamed.” 

“The queen has bigger things to worry about then the Mauraders. Now, the song. ”

Sirius sighed, sitting up. “Fine. So our common theme is late night adventures, right?”

Remus gave him a look. “No, it’s flying sex snakes. Yes, it’s late night adventures.” 

“God, I just asked you a question,” Sirius said. “And where the fuck did you come up with flying sex snakes?”

“It’s a Cards Against Humanity card.” 

His mouth dropped open incredulously. “A Cards Against - never mind. The song. I was thinking that we need to have the word ‘tonight’ in the chorus. Because it’s about late night adventures.” 

“That’s not very specific,” Remus said, writing it down anyway. “But it’s a good idea. You know, you should talk more when we’re writing songs. Your ideas are great.” 

Oh. Sirius had to work very hard not to keep his face from turning bright red. He feared his efforts were for naught, because his cheeks were still warm. 

“Awww, thanks Moony,” he said, filling his grin with fake bravado. “I always knew you loved me.” 

Maybe he shouldn’t have said that last bit. Remus’ face went pink, but he didn’t say anything. Sirius couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. 

“Please,” he finally said. What the hell did that mean? “So we’ll start it with ‘tonight.’ Tonight, we are . . .”

“Wasted?” Sirius suggested. “It would go with the first verse.” 

Remus bit his lip. God, Sirius would sell his bloody soul to kiss those lips. “No, it doesn’t really go with the vibe. How about young?” 

“Tonight we are young,” he repeated. “I like it. It’s simple, but has a good ring to it.” 

He wrote it down. “Thanks. We’ll start with ‘tonight we are young.’ What rhymes with young?”

“Tongue? Sung? Lung? Nah, none of those would work. We’re not writing a song about lung cancer.”

Lung cancer definitely wasn’t the first thing he thought of, but he didn’t mention that. 

“Tonight we are young,” Remus sang under his breath, drawing out the “i” in tonight. It sounded really good, his voice sweet and low. “So . . . so something.” 

“We really should write your voice into our songs more,” Sirius interjected, not even realizing he was speaking until the words were out of his mouth. “If I have to suggest ideas more, you have to sing more. You sond great.” 

Jesus Christ. 

Remus’ face burst into flame, but he smiled, and that made the embarassment worth it. “Thanks.” 

Huh. Burst into flame. That could work. 

“For the next line, would this work?” Sirius asked. “‘So let’s set the world on fire?’”

“Hmm,” he said, and he could see the gears turning in Remus’ brown eyes. “That’s great, but it doesn’t rhyme with young. It’s a great line though, so we have to put it in. I told you your ideas were great.”

“Hey, I didn’t deny it. And to make it work we should just make the next line rhyme with it. There’s gotta be a term for that.”

“If there is, I don’t know it,” Remus said, scribbling the line in his notebook. 

Sirius gasped dramatically, pressing his hand into his chest. “Moony?? Not knowing an obscure academic fact?? What have you done with my friend??”  

He snorted, grinning. “He’ll need to be saved, I suppose.” 

“I’d bravely carry his ass bridal style out of the line of fire,” he said. “Like this!” 

Sirius was probably about to do something very stupid. That was his thing, after all. His signature move.

He grabbed Remus, one arm around his back and one under his knees, and picked him up bridal style. Remus yelped, boucing a couple times in his arms before settling in. 

“You’ve been saved,” Sirius said, suddenly realizing what he had done. 

Picking up Remus. Bridal style. Bloody hell, he was an idiot. 

But he didn’t put him down immedietly either. 

“Thanks,” Remus said sarcastically, sounding a little out of breath. Then his eyes, warm brown and so close to him, widened. “We can burn brighter than the sun.” 

“What?” Sirius asked. Was that supposed to mean something?

“That should be the next line of our song,” Remus said. “Tonight we are young/So we’ll set the world on fire/We’ll burn brighter than the sun.” 

Whoa. It was catchy and it rhymed (mostly). Sirius could hear that as their chorus, like the lyrics begged to be sung. 

“That’s amazing,” he said. “Moony, you’re a genius!” 

Remus smiled, and it lit up his whole face. “Thanks. Again. We make a good team.” 

Team. Because they were best mates and nothing more. Sirius needed to drill that into his head, tattoo it onto his arm. 

“Yeah, we do,” Sirius replied. He gently put Remus back down onto the ground, sitting down next to him. 

“How thrilled do you think James is going to be when he hears that we finished the chorus?” Remus asked, sounding a little strange.  

“Oh, he’s going to flip his shit.”

Remus laughed, and the sound filled the whole garage.

Chapter Text

REMUS

Remus wanted to slam his head against the wall. Maybe that would make him forget, knock the memories out of his head. 

It had been a week since the rehearsal with Sirius. He still couldn’t get him out of his head, the feeling of being held in his arms, pressed against his chest. The thought made him almost feel feverish. 

At least it had helped him with the lyrics. The writing process was going more smoothly now, they were getting back into their groove. 

In fact, they were almost done with the song. Peter was working on the composition with Sirius as the rest of them worked on the last couple lyrics. 

“‘The angels never arrived,’” James repeated, tapping his pencil against his cheek. “We have to add something happy after that. What do angels do?” 

“But the angels never arrived,” Remus said. “Why would we need to know what they do if they never came?”  

“Well, what if they came but never showed themselves? We should add something that shows their presence,” he argued. Lily, sitting next to him, sighed. 

“James, this is our song,” he replied. “We don’t need what ifs. We’re writing it.” 

James' eyes widened slightly, like he had only just realized that. “Oh. Right.” 

“Is Remus the only one of you guys that has common sense?” Lily asked. 

“Pretty much,” James said. “We’d be dead without him. He’s our mom friend.” 

James lightly punched him in the arm, grinning. Remus bit back the retort that James, even though he was irresponsible as hell, could act like a mom as much as he could. He adopted him, Sirius, and Peter after all, and fussed over them constantly. 

“So about the angel bit,” he continued. “What’s a comment on angels we can make to prove that they’re there? Wings?” 

Lily shook her head. She was a natural at coming up with lyrics, just like she was a natural at singing. “Too obvious, and clumsy. Not lyrical enough.” 

“Maybe something like, ‘But I can see their halos?’” Remus suggested. He didn’t like it the minute it came out of his mouth. “No, that wouldn’t work either.” 

“Sirius, do angels sing?” James asked, leaning his head back to look at his friend. 

Lily gave him a weird look. “Why is he asking Sirius?” 

“He used to be Christian,” Remus said. 

“Duh,” Sirius replied, running a hand through his thick hair. Remus had to tear his eyes away. “In a choir. They sing when they welcome you to heaven, or something like that.” 

“He doesn’t remember much,” Remus added, turning to Lily. 

“Would, ‘But I can hear the choir’ work?” James asked, sitting back up. “It’s subtle, angelic, and hopeful. Plus, it could be interpreted as the singer being totally wasted.” 

“I like it,” Lily said, nodded. James’ eyes lit up, and he wrote it down. “But what is with you guys and alcohol?” 

“Hey, the girls got up to some crazy stuff at Hogwarts too,” James shot back. “Remember that party you guys threw when Hooch had to leave to see her wife? That was one of the worst hangovers I’ve had in my life!” 

Lily rolled her eyes. “That was Marlene’s idea, not me. And I remember the girls didn’t bring the firewhiskey.” 

The two of them continued to bicker. Remus smiled. No matter how much Lily denied it, her and James would make a great couple. They acted like they were married already. 

He glanced to the left, suddenly getting the strange feeling like someone was staring at him. No, he had to have imagined that. The only people that were to his left were Sirius and Peter, and they were working on the song.

Right. The song. 

“Guys, no matter how much I love to hear you argue, we have a song we’re supposed to be writing,” Remus said. “James, stopping being a bad influence on Lily.” 

James’ mouth dropped open as Lily grinned smugly. “Betrayed by my own best friend! What did I do?” 

“Should the next line have the line, ‘carry me home’ in it?” Lily asked, ignoring James. 

Remus nodded, barely holding back his smirk. “Definitely. How about, ‘will someone come and carry me home?’”

“We should add ‘so’ at the beginning so it’s smoother, but it’ll totally work.” 

Once again, he thanked whatever was out there that Lily agreed to become their lead singer. 

“Wow, my best friend is stealing my girl,” James complained. “Siriusssss, they’re doing me so dirty.” 

He flopped onto his garage floor, grabbing Sirius’ ankle and using it to drag himself closer to his friend. 

“I’m not your girl,” Lily said. “So, Remus. We have, ‘The angels never arrived/But I can hear the choir/So will someone come and carry me home.’ After, we’re gonna sing the chorus twice, right?”

“Right,” he said. “We just have to write the last three lines of the song, and somewhere in there we have to add the line, ‘carry me home tonight.’” 

“It should be the last line,” James called, from his position half in Sirius’ lap. 

Lily nodded. “For once in my life, I agree with Potter. It should be the last line. For the first line, maybe we should say something about the bar closing?” 

“Because it’s the end of the song?” James asked. Lily nodded, looking a little annoyed that he figured it out. 

“So if the bar closes?” Remus suggested. He could taste the excitement that came with finishing a song, it was on the tip of his tongue. 

“Something like that,” Lily agreed. 

“So if by the time the bar closes,” James said, almost absentmindedly. It was typical James, coming up with great lyrics even when he didn’t mean to, that accidental talent. He couldn’t figure out how he did it. “Would that work?”

She raised her eyebrows, but nodded. “Yeah, actually that’s great. It sets up the next line. The next line . . .”

“Should be, ‘And you feel like falling down,’” Sirius said, out of nowhere. “Because alcohol.”

Remus found himself wondering if Sirius was taking his advice, the advice he never meant to give. 

No, he probably was just sharing his ideas. He was outspoken. Plus, Sirius had probably forgotten his advice. Why would he remember it?

“I like it, but that wouldn’t fit with the last line,” James said.

“Then change it to, ‘I’ll carry you home tonight,’” Sirius replied. “It’s romantic. Tender.”

“What is your obsession with describing things as tender?” James asked. 

“Prongs, I’m gay. The only emotions I feel are tender, yearning, and horny.” 

“Guys,” Peter said. “The song.” 

James blinked. “Oh, right. Yeah, that’s great.” 

“So we finished it?” Remus asked. 

“Yeah. We finished writing our first song!” Lily said, sounding more thrilled by the second. 

Remus always loved finishing songs. The happiness that it was done, the excitement to play it, the thought of other projects. 

And the grin on Sirius Black’s face as he high-fived James, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. 

“Now that we finished writing it, I can break the news!” James said, standing up. 

“News?” Peter asked. 

James nodded. “You guys better be free Friday night, because we have a gig at the Three Broomsticks! Our first gig as a proper band.”  

The Three Broomsticks. The infamous local pub and the most popular place to hang out, especially for the students. Remus had been there multiple times, mostly to meet with the rest of the Marauders. 

And for less innocent reasons. 

They had never sang there, only at seedier pubs and a few other events. James had wanted to for a long time though, so it had been a goal of theirs for a couple months.  

And in a few days, their goal would be fulfilled. Remus grinned, and his cheeks almost hurt from how wide his grin was. Peter cheered, dropping his pencil onto the ground and abandoning his paper.  

Sirius’ grin was wild and untamed as he swung an arm around James. “The Three Broomsticks! Finally, mate. This is going to be awesome!” 

“Is anyone gonna tell them we have to finish composing the song?” Lily leaned toward him and whispered. 

At that moment, miraculously, Remus didn’t care. “Let us have this moment.”

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

The Three Broomsticks was packed, with teenagers and adults alike. The lights were dim and spirits were high. It was a Friday night after all, in the beginning of summer. 

“Pads! Get back in here,” James said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him out the doors. “We’re here to perform, not to hang out.” 

“Jesus, okay,” he replied. “Do we really have to wait outside?” 

“It’s not like they have a green room,” Remus asked. He was wearing jeans and a sweater, and Sirius would be annoyed (why was he wearing a sweater it was summer ) if he didn’t look so cute.  

“Should we practice our set again?” Lily asked. She was carefully applying mascara, doing it perfectly even though it was dark out. He still didn’t know how girls did that. 

After days of composing and practicing (Sirius was finally starting to master sight reading) it was finally Friday night. Their first performance as a real band, not missing any members. 

Sirius couldn’t wait. He could feel energy buzzing through him, his hands itching to strum his guitar, like an invisible pull toward the stage. Like his whole body was begging him to perform.  

“We’ve already practiced all day, and we just warmed up. We’ll be fine,” James said. “Why, are you nervous?” 

“No,” she said defensively. “I just want to make sure we sound good.” 

“She’s definitely nervous,” Sirius whispered to Remus a little too loudly. 

“Shut up, Black,” Lily shot back, flipping him the bird. He laughed. 

“It’s okay to be nervous, you know,” James said suddenly, casually ruffling Lily’s hair. “We all get nervous, even me. But you shouldn’t worry. You’re gonna sound amazing.” 

Whoa. Sirius shot Remus a look, trying to ask did he just say that with his eyes. He was pretty sure that Remus responded with yes. Or maybe shut up .

“We should probably go inside now,” James moved on faster than the speed of light. “We go on in like, five minutes. C’mon, the stage door is this way.” 

He strolled off into the night, just leaving them to follow. Lily looked stunned, stunned and confused. But she also looked . . . fond. Her cheeks were pink. 

Was she actually starting to like James? 

Sirius never thought he’d see the day. He also never thought she’d join the band. Maybe he was just bad at guessing, especially when it came to Lily Evans. 

“Sirius, c’mon,” Remus said, grabbing his arm and pulling him along. He hadn’t even noticed he was lagging behind. “We have a set to perform.” 

He let go of him when they entered the stage door. Sirius found himself wishing he had hung on for just a little longer, with those soft but still strong hands. 

He needed to stop thinking about Remus’ hands. 

The Three Broomsticks was slightly warmer than outside, and they were almost swept up in the chaos. 

“Okay, quick recap,” James said, turning to their band. “We’re starting off with We Will Rock You, then performing Livin on a Prayer, then Come on Eileen, then Shut up and Dance, then We Are Young.” 

“Yeah, we know,” Sirius replied with a smirk, adjusting his guitar. “We’ve gone over it like, a million times. Are you sure you’re not the nervous one?” 

Remus snickered, and James punched him in the arm. 

“I still think we should learn Mr. Brightside,” Lily said, her green eyes flashing definitely. Oh, this was definitely to piss off James “Everyone likes that song. And why are we singing so many eighties songs?” 

“Because they’re iconic and great,” James argued. “We’ve had this conversation.” 

“Plus, We Will Rock You is from the seventies,” Remus added. “1977.” 

“You’re such a nerd,” Sirius said, even though he was resisting the urge to smile at him. 

“Marauders, you’re up next,” said a random worker passing by. 

Sirius’ hands buzzed with anticipation as they approached the stage, James and Lily still squabbling. Finally. They were finally performing. 

“Oh, by the way, since you're lead singer you have to introduce us,” James added casually, just as they were about to walk onstage. 

“Excuse me, what?!” Lily exclaimed, somehow looking shocked, nervous, and murderous at the same time. 

Sirius would have laughed if they weren’t walking on stage. 

He took his place on Lily’s right, adjusting his microphone while everyone wasn’t paying attention. He could spot Peter in the audience, smiling up at them with a drink in his hand. He could also see two girls sitting together, one hooting at them. Marlene and Dorcas, their friends from school. He resisted the urge to wave, or flip them off. He couldn’t tell. 

He couldn’t stop his grin, wide and excited. James was also grinning, and Remus was too. 

Lily just looked nervous. She was good at hiding it, but Sirius was pretty good at knowing when people hid things. 

“Hey,” he whispered, making sure his microphone didn’t pick it up. “Lily.” 

She glanced over at him. He flashed her a subtle thumbs-up. 

“You’re gonna do great,” he said. 

“Thanks,” she whispered, smiling hesitantly. 

She gripped her mic tighter and stood up straighter. 

“Hey everyone,” Lily said, not sounding nervous at all even though she was getting everyone’s attention. “Good evening. I’m Lily, and we’re the Marauders. I would’ve had something nice written for this, but the dumbass on drums forgot to tell me I had to introduce us until right before we walked on stage. Definitely a coincidence.” 

That got more than a few laughs out of the crowd. Lily grinned. 

“So enjoy,” she finished. 

James started the count off

Sirius grabbed his guitar. Fucking finally. 

Lily started the stomp stomp clap. It slowly spread, through the band and the audience, before she started singing. 

It was ethereal. 

It was one thing to be practicing in his friend’s garage, with only the neighbors to hear them. It was another to be performing in front of a live audience onstage at his favorite pub, with and in front of his best friends. 

It was like Sirius was alone and surrounded all at once, in the best possible way. Before he knew it, he was performing his solo like there was no tomorrow. 

He finished his solo with a flourish and a smile as the audience started clapping. He could hear particularly loud cheers from Peter, Marlene, and Dorcas. 

They flew through their next three songs, somehow getting most of the patrons to sing along to Livin On A Prayer and Come On Eileen. Lily was practically dancing around the stage for Shut Up and Dance. His hands flew over his guitar like they were possessed, hitting every note. 

James was banging on his drums like a madman but still managed to look lovestruck at the same time, staring at Lily instead of his instrument.

Sirius really hoped he didn’t look like James. Still, he couldn’t manage to keep his eyes off of Remus for more than a couple minutes. 

He just looked so joyful, so carefree and so beautiful , strumming away on his bass with those pretty hands and crooning into the microphone. Normally, there was always something on Moony’s mind, something pulling at his features and his scars and making him worry. 

That something was gone tonight.  

Before Sirius knew it, it was almost the end of their set. Lily stepped up to the microphone again, not to sing but instead to speak. 

“The next song we’re gonna perform is an original, not just a cover,” she said, sounding a little breathless but still joyful. “Thank all of you for your support tonight, and I hope you like our song.” 

This was it. Their moment. The first time performing their song in front of people instead of empty air. 

Sirius was more ready then he had ever been. 

James started with his steady beat, as steady as he was. 

“Give me a second I need to get my story straight,” Lily started, gripping her mic. And it began. 

Sirius strummed his guitar, letting himself get swept up in the music. His music. Their music. 

He glanced over at Remus, who was looking at him. His hair was unruly and his eyes were bright with life. Sirius wondered how long those feelings would stay in his chest, wondered if it was possible for him to ever stop loving this perfect person. 

No, he couldn’t be thinking of Remus when he was performing. 

They shared a boyish grin before going back to looking at the crowd. 

“Tonight we are young. So let’s set the world on fire,” Lily sang, hitting the note perfectly. She was smiling, wider than he’d ever seen. “We can burn brighter than the sun!”

“So if by the time the bar closes and you feel like falling down I’ll carry you home,” she finished, voice getting softer and more personal, like she was singing to one person only and it could be you. “Tonight.” 

For a moment, the world was silent.

Then it exploded with applause and cheers, filling the space. Marlene was screaming something about Lily and Peter was standing on a table. Sirius almost felt like a king, surveying his subjects. 

A head of black hair flashed through his vision before getting swallowed up by the crowd. Sirius’ heart almost stopped in his chest. 

Is that . . . 

No, he must have been imagining it. It couldn’t be him. Not in a million years.

“Thank you guys so much!” Lily said, and Sirius banished the thought from his mind. “We’re The Marauders, and we hope you guys have a great night!”  

The four of them made it offstage and outside before they started screaming. 

“Evans you were so bloody good!” James shouted, pulling the smaller girl into a hug. Surprisingly, she didn’t pull away. She hugged him back. 

“Yeah, you were amazing,” Remus added. Sirius nodded in agreement. 

“Thanks,” she said. “But you guys were so great too! Did you hear Sirius’ solo?” 

“Oh my god, you’re right,” James said, giving him a fist bump. “That solo was so good! Brian May would be so proud.” 

He took a small bow, chuckling. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. But your drumming in Shut Up and Dance was better.” 

“Everyone was dancing,” Remus said. 

“And Remus in Come On Eileen,” Lily added. “You blend so well!” 

He smiled sheepishly, rubbing his neck with one hand. “Thanks. You really stole the show though.” 

James nodded eagerly. “He’s right. You’re-” 

“Can you guys stop with the compliments?” asked a different voice. Feminine. “We have some drinks to consume.” 

“Don’t be so mean,” another voice said. “You guys sounded so good.” 

Sirius twirled around. Marlene and Dorcas stood in front of them, holding hands and smiling. Lily immediately threw herself into their arms, the three women giggling. 

“Marlene! Dorcas!” James said, joining in the hug. Sirius did next, grabbing Remus and pulling him along with him. They hadn’t seen their friends since graduation. He had missed them, especially Marlene and her carefree attitude. 

“Long time no see,” Remus said, after they had all disconnected from each other. “We missed you two.” 

“We missed you guys too,” Marlene said, punching Sirius in the arm. “Our lives have never been the same after the Marauders stopped pranking us.” 

“So, what do you guys say?” Dorcas asked. “Drinks? Or do you guys have plans?” 

“Not me,” Sirius said. “Or James.” 

“I don’t either,” Remus added. 

“And I know Lily doesn’t, so come on,” Marlene groaned, grabbing Lily with her free hand. “We can have a night out. The girls and the Marauders. Like how it used to be. Peter’s waiting for us inside.” 

Sirius hated that phrase. How it used to be. Like it would never be the same again. 

But that didn’t matter. He had some alcohol to drink, a performance to celebrate, and some friends to hang out with. 

The six of them strolled back into the pub. 

Chapter Text

REMUS

Remus felt like he was walking on air. He couldn’t stop smiling, his cheeks starting to ache from it. He didn’t care. 

They had performed better than they had ever had that night. They hadn’t missed a single note, a single beat. The crowd had loved it. 

He loved it. This might have been one of the best nights of his life. 

That was the only reason Remus accepted the offer of drinks. He normally hated drinking, but an exception could be made. 

Now, one hour later, he felt lighter than he had ever been. Maybe he had drank a little too much. 

Still, he wasn’t as bad as Sirius, Marlene, or Peter. Marlene was on the table giving an angry speech about the patriarchy (as she should) and Sirius was crying in James’ arms about some dog. Peter had passed out thirty minutes ago. 

“It’s not my fault if men are distracted by my shoulders!” Marlene shouted, shaking her fist in the air. “I’m a lesbian and spent years in girls locker rooms and I never started staring inaproprietly at people!” 

“Preach!” someone in the crowd yelled. 

“Marls, maybe you should get down,” Dorcas said, her voice slurring. “Before they call the police.” 

“Fuck the police!” Marlene yelled, but let her girlfriend pull her down anyway. Remus smiled. They had finally got together after years of pining in their last year of school, to the relief of half the school. 

He was pretty sure the student population was still mad about Lily rejecting James for the 27th time. Maybe they’d be happier by the end of summer. He had spotted Lily glancing over at James several times that night, then shaking her head, like she was arguing with herself about him. 

Remus wondered if he was just as bad. He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off of Sirius when he was performing, and he couldn’t now. He had looked like a rock star from the seventies, with his leather jacket and his guitar and that long unruly hair. He had looked like he was in his element. 

Now, even weeping into his best friend’s arms, he still looked annoyingly beautiful. 

“He’s so soft,” Sirius said, taking another sip of his drink. “We should adopt him. He needs a home.” 

“We should,” James agreed, nodding very seriously. “Remus, how do you feel about getting a band dog?” 

“We already have Sirius,” Remus said, grinning. Lily laughed and high-fived him. 

“Remus and Peter are the only tolerable people in the Mauraders,” she announced. She might have been the most sober out of the group. Usually that title belonged to him.    

He sighed, and took another sip of his drink. Screw it. 

“Hey!” Sirius said. “I’m cool too. And you would like James more if he didn’t ask you out every week.” 

“That’s . . . true,” Lily admitted. 

James gasped dramatically. “I’m so hurt. I will never recover.” 

“You know what’ll help you?” Marlene asked, eyes flashing. “Alcohol! More drinks, for everyone!” 

“Besides Peter,” Dorcas called after her girlfriend as she stumbled to the counter. 

A few moments later, Marlene returned with an armful of drinks. She dumped them on the table, not spilling a drop with what must have been years of practice. 

“Damn,” Sirius said, grabbing one anyway. “Remus, are you sure you’re gonna be able to handle this? You’ve never drank this much. We won’t make fun of you if you tap out.” 

There was a mischievous, daring glint in his eye, like he thought Remus wouldn’t do it. Like he thought he would chicken out. 

Remus wasn’t going to prove him right. He wasn’t sure if this was stubbornness or just from the drinks.  

He grabbed a cup anyway, standing up on his chair and chugging the drink. 

That was not beer like he thought it was. It was something much harder, something that burned on the way down. He almost dropped his cup after finishing it, coughing. 

James whistled, raising his eyebrows. Sirius and Marlene started cheering his name wildly. Lily and Dorcas just looked disappointed and mildly horrified. Peter fell off his chair.  

“That’s my mate,” Sirius said, grinning and slapping him on the back. “The best bass player in Britain! In the whole world, you hear!” 

“Exactly!” James yelled, swinging an arm around his shoulders. “We love our Moony.” 

Remus blushed, but smiled. No matter how much shit he gave them, he loved them a lot. Maybe a little more than he should, in one case. 

“Potter!” Lily yelled, even though she was sitting right next to him. “Can you believe that Dorcas has never watched Star Wars?” 

“What?” he and Sirius exclaimed at the same time. 

Dorcas shrugged, her black hair falling out of her ponytail. “I just never saw it.” 

“You uncultured swine!” James said. “Star Wars is iconic. It’s a classic.” 

“It has gay icon Luke Skywalker,” Sirius added. “And Harrison Ford. Han Solo was like, my gay awakening.” 

“Natalie Portman was mine,” Marlene said, sighing. “She’s second only to Dorcas.” 

“Awwww, babe.” 

Dorcas kissed her girlfriend on the lips. Or maybe she kissed her on the cheek. The alcohol was starting to go into effect, and Remus was getting a little dizzy. 

“You still need to watch Star Wars with me though,” Marlene said. “We can have a movie night.” 

“You two are so cute,” Sirius said. “You know like, half of Hogwarts placed bets on when you guys would get together.” 

“Not as many people who placed bets on James and Lily,” Marlene replied, taking another drink. “Or for Siri-” 

Dorcas clapped a hand over her girlfriend’s mouth. “Sirius and Marlene. When everyone thought you guys were straight.” 

Remus snorted. Yeah, the room was definitely getting dizzy. He was pretty sure the lights weren’t supposed to be spinning. “I remember that.” 

“We don’t speak of that time,” Sirius said. “It was dark.” 

“Okay, okay,” Dorcas said. “Ignoring your short straight phase, you guys are going to kill it at the competition.” 

“Yeah, if you don’t win I’m suing,” Marlene added. “You guys are so good.” 

“Thanks,” James said. “We better win. Ministry Records won’t know what hit it.” 

Marlene raised her eyebrows. “What’s Ministry Records?” 

James looked positively scandalized. Remus didn’t understand, no one knew what Ministry Records was. Besides Lily. They really were soulmates. 

“Remus, you okay?” Lily interjected. “You look a little out of it. I don’t know.” 

He blinked, trying to clear his vision. Yeah, he definitely shouldn’t have chugged that cup. “I’m fine. Just need some fresh air.” 

Remus stood up, hoping he wasn’t hallucinating standing up or anything, and walked to the door. It was much harder than it looked. He kept bumping into chairs or people. 

Finally, he made it out the door and outside. The cool night air did clear his eyes, but not as much as he had hoped. The world was still spinning a little. 

God, what was it with Sirius Black getting him to do stupid shit? 

He leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath. He needed to get over him. It was a stupid crush that was growing every day, like a virus. 

He needed to stop thinking about Sirius. 

“Lookin at the moon, Moony?” a familiar voice asked. 

Great. This wasn’t going to help at all. 

Sirius Black strolled up to him, stumbling a little, and leaned against the wall right next to him. He was much drunker than he was. 

“Yeah,” Remus said. “I needed to clear my mind. I’m pretty drunk.” 

He laughed. “Same. I’m so drunk, I’m probably going to do something stupid soon.” 

“That’s the Sirius Black way.” 

“True that.” 

They just stood there for a few more moments, in comfortable silence. 

“You know,” Sirius started. “I know you don’t like the moon for trauma reasons. But you look breathtaking under it.” 

His heart skipped a beat. 

Remus glanced over at Sirius. The other boy was staring at him, his eyes wild and his pupils dilated. 

“What do you mean?” he asked, barely keeping himself from stuttering over the words. 

“You look beautiful,” Sirius said. “You always look so beautiful.” 

And then he kissed him. 

Sirius’ lips were soft and hot on his, and he tasted like beer and cigarette smoke. One of his hands was pressing his hip against the wall and one was on his cheek, thumbing one of his scars. The kiss was fierce and passionate and sloppy and overwhelming . 

It was what Remus had thought of for months. It was better than he had ever imagined. It was like a dream come true. 

When they broke apart, they were both panting. Remus’ hands had found their way onto Sirius’ back, pressing him closer against him. 

“Whoa,” he breathed. 

“Wanna go again?” Sirius asked, smirking lazily. 

Remus nodded. What else was he going to say? 

All of a sudden, he had Sirius’ tongue in his mouth and his thigh between his legs. He ground down, moaning into the other boy’s mouth. 

What was he doing? 

Making out with Sirius Black, he thought. 

Somehow they ended up flipped, like they had rolled over on the wall. Sirius grabbed Remus’ ass, making him gasp, and pulled him closer. 

“Sirius,” he whispered, lips less than a centimeter away from his. All he could see was Sirius Black. 

“Sirius!” someone else yelled. “Remus! Where’d you two go?” 

James. Shit. 

The two pulled away faster than the speed of light. Somehow, they had rolled into the shadows, where their friends couldn’t see them. 

He hoped he didn’t look too disheveled.

The group had all just appeared out of the pub. Peter was slung over James’ shoulder, Marlene was being partially held up by Dorcas, and Lily was still holding a cup. Unsurprisingly, she was the one who spotted them.  

“Guys, how did you get over here?” she asked. She was probably too drunk to notice how messy Sirius’ hair was. Thank god. 

“The . . . moon looks better from over here,” Sirius said, eyes wide. 

“Because it’s darker,” Remus added, nodding. 

“Oh. Okay,” Lily said. “Come on. We’re going home because we got kicked out.” 

“I fell on a table!” Marlene shouted giddily. 

“That’s nice babe,” Dorcas muttered. 

Someone save my friends.  

“Sirius, come on!” James yelled. “We gotta walk home and I’m not carrying Peter the whole way. Remus, you wanna come?”

He shook his head. “I’d love to, but my dad wants me back home. I’ll see you guys next rehearsal.” 

“Oh, gucci,” James said, grinning at him anyway. “Night mate. I’d hug you, but . . .” 

“Night Remus,” Dorcas said, pulling him into an awkward side hug. 

“Night,” Marlene murmured, looking dead on her feet. Maybe because she fell on a table. 

“Good night,” Lily added. 

The girls disappeared around the corner, giggling. James started off down the street, Peter softly bouncing against his back. Sirius turned, meeting his eye. His lips were still swollen from the kissing.

“Night Moony,” he said softly. 

“Good night,” Remus said, a little breathless for some reason. 

His fellow Marauders disappeared into the night. Once they were out of eye sight, Remus buried his face in his hands and made an inhuman noise.  

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

Sirius wondered what the fuck had gotten into him. 

Alcohol, he thought. A lot of alcohol. My hangover was proof of that. 

He had kissed Remus. For some reason, drunk him had decided to randomly kiss the love of his life. Not confessing or explaining in any way, he had just started snogging him. 

Sirius was pretty sure Remus had kissed back. They were both really drunk at that point, so maybe he had just imagined it. Or maybe Remus had been too drunk to realize what they were doing or if he wanted it. 

God, he was so stupid. 

It still was the best kiss he had ever had. Remus tasted like alcohol, and was somehow soft and firm at the same time. He could still remember how he pressed his hands onto Sirius’ back. He couldn’t get it out of his head, like it was a drug and he was already hooked. 

It had been a few days since the kissing incident (and the performance) and Sirius hadn’t talked to Remus. They had scheduled a rehearsal to write their next song and to practice We Are Young, and of course had sent some memes, but they hadn’t actually talked. 

But rehearsal was today. And Remus was coming, of course. 

What if Remus hated him? 

“Hey, earth to Padfoot,” James said, flipping his drumsticks. “What’s been up with you? You’ve been acting so weird lately.” 

He must have asked him that question five times over the past few days. Sirius just shrugged in response. He couldn’t tell James that he kissed Remus, not when he didn’t know what would happen because he kissed Remus.

“I’m fine,” he said, smiling cockily. “I was just thinking of song ideas. So we can beat everyone else at the competition.” 

James sighed. “Whatever you say, mate. What’s your idea?” 

What was his idea? What did he want to write a song about, what did he want to sing about? 

“Maybe unrequited love,” Sirius responded. “Like, being in love with someone but knowing that they’re too good for you.” 

“I’ll drink to that,” James said, laughing. “That’s a good idea though. We should tell the band when they get here.” 

“Are you blind?” Lily asked, halfway up the driveway. With Remus. His hair was combed for once and his smile was soft, but bright.  

Sirius’ throat suddenly got very dry. 

“We’re already here. God, it’s hot,” Lily continued. “Britain’s supposed to be rainy.” 

“Oh, my mom made lemonade earlier,” James said, brightening up. “It’ll be cold, I’ll go grab some.” 

“I’ll help,” Lily said, something strange in her green eyes. “I need to use the bathroom anyways.”

Before Sirius knew it, they had gone into James’ house. 

Leaving him and Remus in the garage. Alone. 

It was like a situation made specifically to torture him. 

“So,” Sirius started. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. 

“Yeah,” Remus said, running a hand through his hair, messing it up. Shit. He looked so much hotter that way. 

“About the kiss-”

“I’m sorry about-” 

They both laughed a little awkwardly. He hated this. Things were never awkward with Remus, before he had to go and mess it up. 

“You go first,” Sirius said. 

Remus nodded. “Okay. I’m sorry about the kiss. Or kissing you back I guess. It was a mistake, and I was drunk and didn’t know what I was doing. I’m so sorry.”  

He continued babbling apologies. Sirius couldn’t hear them. It was like he had suddenly been thrown underwater, to drown. He could feel his lungs straining, his heart cracking in two. 

Remus thought the kiss was a mistake. He was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing. 

Remus didn’t love him. 

Of course he didn’t. Who could love Sirius Black, ultimate fuck up? Even his parents didn’t love him, so why would his friend? 

“Moony,” he said, stopping his friend’s babbling. He was lucky his voice didn’t crack. “It’s fine. I was drunk too. It was just a mistake. It wasn’t like either of us meant it.” 

Saying the words felt like a betrayal, like he was Julius Caesar and the senators at the same time, stabbing himself with every sentence. 

Remus nodded, eyes lightening. “Right. Plus, we’re in the same band. Dating someone in the band you’re in never ends well.” 

“Exactly,” Sirius said. “So we’re cool?” 

“Of course. Even though it’s hotter than hell out here.” 

He laughed, hoping it sounded real. “We’re white, we can’t stand the heat.” 

“Trust me, you can stand anything with my mom’s lemonade,” James interjected, kicking the door open dramatically with three cups of lemonade in his hands, one in the crook of his elbow. Lily followed him, holding two cups. He handed him and Remus a cup. 

He took a sip. It was cool and sweet and refreshing, the perfect thing to clear his mind, so he could think of something other than Remus and his broken heart. 

“Your mom’s cooking is the best,” Remus said, taking a sip. Sirius looked away from where his adams’ apple was bobbing, looking anywhere else. 

He spotted Peter walking up the driveway, waving. He waved back. 

“Hey, Wormtail’s here,” Sirius said. James grinned, hurrying over to hand him a glass of lemonade. 

“Wormtail is not a good nickname,” Lily replied as the two boys entered the garage. “What is he, a rat?” 

“It’s an inside joke,” all four of them said at once. 

“You wouldn’t get it,” Peter added, gulping down his lemonade. “So, we’re thinking of ideas for our next song?” 

“Yeah,” James said, sitting down on his drum stool. “We might be able to skip that, because Sirius had an idea.” 

“Really? What is it?” Lily asked. 

“Unrequited love,” he answered, the words taking on new meaning now. “And like, when you like someone but they’re too good for you. Opinions?” 

He hoped Remus wouldn’t catch onto him. Sirius was pretty sure he wouldn’t. Even though he was really smart, he was hopeless with love. 

“I like it,” Peter said. 

“So do I,” Remus added, nodding. 

“I do too,” Lily finished. “So, that’s what our next song is going to be about?” 

James nodded. “Yup. And I thought of a line we can use in the chorus. ‘You are out of my league.’ The title can just be ‘Out of My League.’” 

He spread his arms while saying it, as if he was presenting the title. It looked kind of dumb, but Sirius didn’t mention that. 

“The line from the chorus would be too long for the title,” he added. 

Remus wrinkled his nose a little. “Isn’t that a little cliche?” 

“It’s good though,” Lily said, not even realizing she was siding with James. “It’s simple, not too flashy.” 

“Fair enough,” Remus admitted. “So, we should start working on that.” 

James sighed, standing up. “I swear, the only reason we ever finish any songs is because of Moony.” 

“Wrong,” Sirius said. “The only reason we start any songs is because of Moony.”

Remus laughed, head tilting back. “That’s true.” 

Sirius wondered if his feelings would die out now that he knew that Remus didn’t love him. Now that he knew his love couldn’t be returned, now that he could channel his feelings into this song. 

He hoped they would. They had to. 

Sirius knew they wouldn’t.

Chapter Text

REMUS

Remus was going to die. 

Not because the first stage was just two days away, not because they needed to perfect their first song so they could pass said stage, not because he was nervous or anything like that. 

It was because Sirius was standing in front of him, clad only in swim trunks, and Remus couldn’t tear his eyes away. 

He had pulled his hair into a low ponytail, and was laughing at a joke James had said. His chest, fair and toned, was on display for the whole world to see. His hands sat on his hips casually. 

Remus did not know what to do with himself. He wanted to stare and wanted to look away and wanted to combust. 

A few days ago, James had had a great idea (or so he said). That a couple days before the first stage, they should go to the Great Lake to swim and party and hang out. He had said it would be a bonding experience, and would relieve stress. And it would be fun. 

At the time, Remus had thought it was a great idea. Now, with his scars on full display and staring at a shirtless Sirius, he wasn’t so sure. 

He didn’t even deserve to stare at Sirius, not after he had blatantly lied to his face a week ago. 

“Moony, Padfoot, get into the water!” James yelled. He was lying on his back doing laps. “It’s really nice.” 

“It is,” Lily agreed. She was wearing a green bikini that matched her eyes. Remus was pretty sure James’ brain had overloaded when he saw her, because he hadn’t even commented on how she looked (respectfully, of course). 

“Okay, okay,” Sirius said, backing up with a mischievous smirk on his face. Oh god. This would not end well.  

He proceeded to run at top speed toward where James was floating, leaping into the air and throwing his arms and legs out. 

“Sirius, that’s not what I meant-” James sputtered out before Sirius landed on him, plunging them both under water. Peter, leaning against a root, yelped. Lily cackled loudly. 

 Remus just sighed, sliding into the water. It was nice, cool and clean. It also concealed the scars on his chest, an added bonus. He wasn’t worried about James or Sirius or Peter, they had all seen them before. Lily hadn’t, and even though she wasn’t staring or treating him any different, he still felt uncomfortable. 

“They’re never going to survive at university,” he said to Lily, treading water next to him. 

“I think they will,” she replied. “Barely. They’ll scrape by.” 

“I’m going to have to call them every week to make sure they’re still alive. At least I won’t have to call Peter.” 

“Thank god for Peter then.” 

Suddenly, James and Sirius resurfaced, both soaked and gasping. 

“When I said get in Sirius, I did not mean jump on me,” James said, punching his friend in the arm. “I meant just walk in, or jump where there isn’t anyone in the water.”

“That’s less fun,” Sirius replied. 

Remus’ problem had not been solved. Sirius looked just as good wet as he did dry, the sum gleaming off his face and shoulders. His hair had gotten loose in the water, brushing his shoulders. With that cocky grin, he was almost blinding. 

That was why he had lied to him, even though it had destroyed Remus. 

Sirius was blinding, larger than life. He didn’t do serious relationships, and moved on faster than you could flip a light switch. That wasn’t a bad thing, it was just a thing. A fact. 

But he didn’t kiss Remus because he had meant it. He kissed Remus because he was drunk and horny and Remus was the closest person around. After all, why would Sirius Black like him? With his disgusting scars and his issues? It was the only reasonable explanation. 

So he had to lie. Remus couldn’t take that kind of rejection. 

That didn’t get rid of his feelings though, how much he wanted Sirius’ lips on his again. But he would have to deal. 

Shirtless Sirius was not helping. 

“How have you two not killed each other yet?” Lily asked. 

James responded instantly. They had been asked that question multiple times before. “Remus and Peter. They’re our saviors.” 

“We owe everything to them,” Sirius said, smiling at Remus. Was he trying to kill him? 

“You can repay me in chocolate,” he replied. 

“What is with your obsession with chocolate?” Lily asked. “That’s all you would eat at school too.” 

“It’s his favorite food,” Peter piped up. “He eats it like, all the time.”  

“It’s very unhealthy,” James said. 

“We had to hide his stash around finals week,” Sirius added. “He would stress eat chocolate and wouldn’t eat anything else.” 

“I still haven’t forgiven you for that,” Remus said, shooting a half-hearted glare at Sirius. “Do you know how much I panicked when I couldn’t find it in second year?” 

“Yeah, of course I know,” Sirius said. “You woke up half the boys when you started screaming.” 

James snickered. “Flitwick was so mad.” 

“Not as mad when you and Sirius exploded five glitter bombs in his office,” he shot back. “At least Peter and I were calm most of the time.” 

“That was hilarious though,” Peter said. “Flitwick’s office still has glitter in the corners.” 

“Don’t you guys play pranks together though?” Lily asked. 

“Normally, yeah,” Sirius responded. “We had a prank war. Me and James versus Remus and Peter. It got crazy.” 

Her eyes widened. “Was that that one week in fifth year when someone stole all of the toilet seats off all the toilets and stacked them on the roof?” 

“We banded together at the end,” Remus said. That had been very fun, although he’d never admit it. 

“What did the girls get up too, Evans?” James asked, switching gears. “I knew you guys weren’t innocent all the time.” 

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Lily replied coolly. 

Peter’s face scrunched up. “But we’re in Britain?”

“Come on,” Sirius said, swimming over to her and swinging an arm around her shoulder. Something that had to be jealousy flared up in Remus’ chest, even though everyone knew Sirius didn’t like girls. “Tell us. At least one prank. I know Marlene got up to some stuff.” 

She sighed, pushing his arm off of her. “. . . fine. One thing. Remember that janitor everyone hated? Filch?” 

Sirius made a gagging sound. Peter made a face. He was pretty sure he was making one too. 

“Of course,” James said. “We hated him. He got us into trouble so many times. Plus, he was a huge bigot.” 

Lily nodded. “Right. Once, in sixth year, he told Marlene she was going to hell because she came out as a lesbian. She decided we should get back at him. Remember when he showed up to breakfast covered in bright pink paint?” 

Remus’ eyes widened. That prank was legendary. People wouldn’t stop talking about it for days, partially because it was hilarious and partially because everyone hated Filch. James had created a whole conspiracy theory about who did it, and they had never thought it was the girls. 

“You did not,” James said, grinning wildly. 

“We did,” Lily said, giggling. “And it was acrylics. We never got caught.” 

“Damn,” Sirius said, obviously impressed. “You guys are ruthless. In the best way.” 

“I’ll add you on my list of people to never piss off,” James added.  

“Please,” Remus said. “You’ve already pissed off Lily many times.” 

“That’s true,” Peter interjected. “Remember when-” 

James slapped his hand over Peter’s mouth, with a playful smile. “No snitching. We don’t need her even more mad at me.” 

“I don’t know, Potter,” Lily said. “Maybe I’m a little less mad now. Maybe.” 

She immediately submerged herself in the water a moment later, disappearing. 

“That girl confuses me,” James said quietly, like he was hoping she wouldn’t hear. “What was that supposed to mean?”  

Suddenly, he was yanked down into the water with a yelp and a splash. 

“What the fuck?” Sirius asked. “Loch Ness monster, is that you?” 

“We don’t need to know about your monster fetish, Padfoot,” Remus said. Peter laughed, and Sirius just looked offended.  

A couple moments later, Lily and James both popped up out of the water. 

“Why is everyone pulling me under water?” he complained, an evil look in his eye. “It’s on now.” 

He disappeared under the water, and right after Lily and Peter both got pulled in. Only Lily popped up. 

“Oh no,” Sirius said. Right after he was pulled under. 

Remus was definitely next. 

All of a sudden, hands latched around his thighs and pulled. He was barely able to breath before he got yanked under. Suddenly, he was underwater. 

It was clear as glass down there. Remus could see the green plants at the bottom of the lake, Peter’s wide eyes, Lily’s hair like a flame in the water.  

And Sirius. God, Sirius. 

His hair was floating around his face, his eyes bright with mischief and joy. He was smiling that Sirius smile, like the two of them had just gotten away with something thrilling and secretive. He looked like a water nymph floating like that, beautiful but just out of reach. 

It felt like an eternity before Remus broke the surface, gasping for air for more reasons than one.  

A few moments later, the rest of their band came up for air, pushing their hair out of their eyes and laughing. 

“You little devil,” James told Lily. 

“I am a ginger,” Lily said, smiling coyly. “It’s just my nature.” 

Wait. Were they . . . flirting? Was Lily flirting back? 

Remus shot Peter an incredulous look. Peter just looked confused. Sirius was smirking at James, but said boy didn’t notice. 

“Hey, I brought a rope,” James said suddenly. “If we tie it to that tree over there, we can make a rope swing!” 

“Oh my god James, no,” Remus said. They had done this before. This would not end well. 

It would definitely end hilariously, but that was beside the point. 

“James, hell yes,” Sirius said. The two immedietly began to run out of the lake and to their bags. 

“Why do I get a feeling this is a bad idea?” Lily asked him, swimming over to his side of the lake. 

“Because it is a bad idea,” he said gravely. 

James pulled out a rope that’s length was ungodly, scaling the nearest and tallest tree and tying the rope to a branch with the experience of someone who had done this multiple times. 

“Padfoot, go!” he yelled, waving his arm. 

Sirius, still holding his end of the rope, took off in a sprint toward the lake. He jumped right before the land met the water, soaring through the air like a bird. 

“Maybe it’ll work,” Peter said. 

That was when it all went wrong. 

The branch James chose was apparently too weak to withstand his and Sirius’ weight. It snapped, and Sirius went flying into the water with a startled shout. James fell head over heels into the lake screeching, barely missing a rock. 

Remus groaned as Lily rushed over to James. “This always happens.” 

They were idiots. But they were his idiots, and he wouldn’t trade them for the world.

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

After weeks of coming up with lyrics and composing the music and practicing the song and performing the song, it was here. 

The first stage was about to start. 

One of the places it was being held was a theatre in a town just thirty minutes from theirs. They had taken the bus there, guitars slung over shoulders and papers sticking out of folders. Lily had obsessively listened to a recording of the song while they had joked around. 

They weren’t joking around now. 

They had holed themself up in the corner of the bustling green room, just waiting to be called up. Remus was scanning the music over and over, muttering to himself and tuning his bass. Lily was warming up, still listening to the recording. James was tapping his drumsticks on the chair. Peter was biting his nails, even though he wasn’t performing. 

He was pacing. It felt wrong 

Sirius normally loved performing. He was always a little nervous at first, that had never gone away. But he was usually more excited, energy coursing through his veins like he had one too many Red Bulls. 

This time it was different. He was slightly more nervous than excited. Scratch that. A lot more nervous. 

Before they had just been performing for some people in town, people they probably knew. There was nothing at stake. The Marauders were there to have a good time and to play. They weren’t being watched by judges that were experts on music. 

If they couldn’t get through the first stage of the competition, what kind of band were they? What kind of music did they make? 

Stay calm Sirius, he told himself. You’re great at pretending. Just pretend now. You never get nervous. If you get nervous, they’ll get even more nervous. And that would be a disaster. 

“You excited, Prongs?” he asked, swinging an arm around his best friend’s shoulder and grinning. James rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway. “Got a fancy speech for us?”  

“I was just thinking of one,” James said. “Rehearsing it in my head.” 

“If it’s ‘fuck shit up out there and don’t mess up’ I will throw you off the stage,” Remus said, not taking an eye off his music. 

“He gets crabby when he’s nervous,” Sirius stage-whispered to Lily. Remus flipped him the bird. 

Crabby Remus was still gorgeous. He needed to stop thinking about Remus, but it was like he was constantly on his mind since the lake a couple days ago. He had looked amazing in his swim trunks, sun shining off his bare chest. Sirius had been very glad his friend couldn’t see his lower half. 

Still, thinking about him was still a little painful. 

“Did James actually say that once?” Lily asked. 

James nodded, brightening up. “Yup! It was very inspirational. If you’re wondering, we did in fact fuck shit up.” 

Remus buried his face into his hands. “This is why she won’t go out with you.” 

" Don’t mention that to her, mate,” he responded. “It doesn’t help my chances.” 

“I don’t think so,” she said. “Remember, Remus is the only reason I’m here. So far, he’s helped your chances.” 

“Have my chances been getting better?” 

“Maybe. Maybe not.” 

Yet another strange progression of the summer. James and Lily had started flirting. Sirius had no idea where that came from, but his friend had seemed happier because of it. More hopeful, after years of no hope. 

He hoped she wasn’t leading him on. Lily wasn’t the type to do that, but he worried anyway. She was very unpredictable. 

If she did, well. He wasn’t afraid to fight a girl. 

“What’s your speech?” Peter asked. 

James stood taller, clearing his throat dramatically even though he looked serious. “We’re the Marauders. We’ve known each other ever since we were snot-nosed eleven year olds. We know our instruments and our parts. We’re the best performers this side of London. So let's crush this thing and show those judges what we’re made of!”  

Sirius whooped (quietly). Lily and Peter both smiled, Lily raising a fist. Remus smiled, and it was somehow soft and bright at the same time. Like the moonlight he hated. 

Turns out, James’ timing was perfect. A person in all black with a letter M pin opened the door and spoke. 

“The Marauders?” she called. 

It was their turn. 

Lily ripped the earbuds from her ears and stuffed her phone into her bag. James’ grip on his drumsticks tightened. Remus stood up, holding his bass. 

Sirius grabbed his guitar, quickly making sure it was tuned. 

It was now or never. He couldn’t mess this up. He couldn’t let his friends down.  

They followed the woman through the door. Remus was fiddling with his pick, looking nervous. The only time he had seen Remus so stressed was finals week. 

“Hey,” he found himself saying, even though he shouldn’t have been focussing on Remus at all, bumping his crush’s shoulder with his own. “Don’t be scared. You’re gonna sound great. You always do.” 

“T-thanks,” Remus stuttered out, looking a little surprised. “You too.” 

Why did I do that why did I do that why did I do that? 

The four of them strolled onstage. The theatre was big, with opulent decorations and hundreds of chairs. Only three of them were occupied. 

In the first sat a heavy-set man with hair the color of corn. The second person was an older man with a mustache. The third person was a fierce-looking blonde woman, her hands folded in her lap.   

“Hello,” the first man greeted, smiling at them. “We’re the judges. Please tell us your names, your parts, your band’s name, and the name of the song you will be singing.” 

“I’m Lily Evans, and I’m the lead singer,” Lily started, smiling pleasantly. 

James raised his drumsticks. “I’m James Potter, and I’m on drums.” 

“I’m Sirius Black, and I’m on guitar,” he said. 

“And I’m Remus Lupin, I play bass.” 

“We’re the Marauders, and we will be singing our original song called We Are Young,” Lily finished. 

The man nodded, motioning for them to start.  

James started it again, like he always would, with that steady drumbeat.

Lily gripped the microphone stand and sang , looking like she was pouring her heart and soul into the song. “Give me a second I, need to get my story straight. My friends are in the bathroom getting higher than the Empire State.” 

Sirius started to play, gripping his pick tighter than ever as he pushed it over the strings. In spite of the stress and the nerves and the stakes, he smiled. There was nothing like performing with his best friends, performing a song they had painstakingly created. There weren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe it. 

“Tonight, we are young,” all of them sang, their voices filling the empty space of the theatre. The one adjustment they’d made, which he felt improved the song tenfold. “So let’s set the world on fire. We can burn brighter than the sun.” 

They could. They would. He felt like he was burning already, on fire from the feeling of performing. 

Sooner than he expected, they were on to the last couple verses of the song. Time was strange while performing. It either dragged out or didn’t exist. Sirius could still realize they sounded great, faintly.  

“So will someone come and carry me home,” Lily sang, dragging out the last word like it was the last thing she would ever say. She sounded ethereal and determined, two things that shouldn’t have blended so well. 

Before he knew it, the song was over. He let his arm go limp, almost dropping his pick. James stilled his drumsticks, and Lily dropped her arms to her sides. Remus let go of his bass, letting it hang from his neck. 

“Thank you, we’ll be emailing you with the results by tonight,” the woman said, taking notes. The two other judges were taking notes too, murmuring. Sirius wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. 

“Thanks,” Lily said. 

The same woman in black showed up, leading the four of them out another door and to the entrance. Peter was waiting there for them, hands shoved into his pockets. 

“How did it go?” he asked anxiously. 

How did it go? Sirius wasn’t quite sure. He hadn’t really gotten to thinking about that yet, it was like his brain was foggy. 

He mentally went over the performance in his head. Lily’s voice, James’ beat, Remus and his riffs. 

Sirius came to the realization that they had done fucking amazing. 

“We killed it,” James said breathlessly. “Like, we did really bloody well.”   

“They’re gonna email us later to tell us the results,” Remus told Peter. He was grinning, looking a little tired, and there was nothing more that Sirius wanted to do then to pull him into a hug and never let go. 

“We should get food while we wait,” Lily said. “I’m starving.”  

---

An hour later, they were back inside The Three Broomsticks. It was less lively than the night they performed, but still mostly packed. Remus had forbidden them from drinking this time. Sirius thought that was quite hypocritical of him, considering he had chugged firewhiskey the last time they were there. Apparently, Sirius’ opinion hadn’t mattered. 

“All I’m saying is that Robert Pattinson is definitely going into hiding,” James finished, taking a sip of his milkshake. “He hates Twilight. Have you seen his interviews?” 

“I have better things to do with my life then to watch Robert Pattinson interviews,” Lily shot back. 

His friend’s mouth dropped open. “How could you say that?”

Sirius had no idea how they started talking about the next Twilight book. It had just happened. He also had no idea why the conversation was so serious. Or why he was so invested. 

“Your life must be depressing, Lily,” Sirius said. “And I’ll bet ten bucks he’ll assassinate Stephanie Meyer.”

“How would he be able to assassinate Stephenie Meyer?” Remus asked. 

“He is going to be playing Batman in the future,” Peter added. 

Sirius slapped his hand on the table. “Exactly! They’ll have to train him, and then he’ll be able to assassinate her.” 

“Assassinations are political,” Remus said. “If he killed Stephenie, it would be manslaughter.”

“Shut up.” 

“We’re all gonna read Midnight Sun when it comes out, right?” Lily asked. 

The table was silent for a minute. 

“Of course,” Peter said. 

“Yeah,” Remus added. 

“Who do you think I am?” Sirius asked. 

“They sent an email!” James yelled suddenly, pulling out his phone.  

That took a second to process through his brain. Then. 

“What did they say?!” he half asked, half shouted, leaning across the table toward James. 

“Did we pass?” Lily asked. 

“Did we fail?” Remus asked. 

“I can’t answer until this dumb email loads!” James yelled, furiously tapping on his phone. 

“What does it say?” Peter asked anyway. 

“Wait a second!” James said, eyes scanning over his phone. Sirius felt like he was being held in limbo, just waiting, waiting, waiting. 

Then his face broke into a huge grin. 

“We passed!” he screamed, dropping his phone onto the table and throwing his arms into the air. 

Sirius yelled triumphantly, smiling widely. They passed. Ministry Records had liked their music. The Marauders weren’t done yet, they wouldn’t be for a long time.  

Peter cheered, pumping his fist. Lily let out an uncharacteristic shout. Remus’ reaction was much less loud then the others’, just a sigh of relief and a beautiful smile. 

Sirius would win every competition if it made Remus smile like that. 

Chapter Text

REMUS

Remus still couldn’t believe it sometimes. He would remember that they had passed the first stage, then mentally go over the day in his mind. Like he was making sure it was real. 

Before, the competition was just a way to pass the time. To spend time together, to make good music. Nothing was for sure, nothing was certain. 

Now, everything was certain. They had a song to write and to compose, for the next two stages. That song had to be great. 

That was why Remus was, yet again, walking down the sidewalk toward James’ house. They had to finish said song. 

“Moony!” Sirius yelled from James’ garage, with a cheerful wave. The rest of the band was there too, laying down on the stone floor. “You’re here!” 

Even though it was warm, Sirius was wearing his leather jacket. His guitar sat in his lap, the skin of his knees barely visible through his ripped jeans. Remus’ throat suddenly got very dry. 

“Sorry I’m late, work at Honeydukes ran a little late and I missed the bus,” he said, pulling his notebook and pencil from his bag and dropping his bag on the floor. 

“It’s fine,” James said, waving his hand in the air as if to wave away the apology. “What do you think of this as a first line? ‘I waited for a girl like you to come.’” 

“Something’s missing,” Remus replied, sitting down. They were writing a song about love, about someone being out of someone’s league. It would have been funnier if it wasn’t so ironic. 

“That’s what I thought,” Sirius said. 

“You also said it was too sexual,” Peter added. 

Padfoot frowned good-naturedly. “We didn’t need to know that part.” 

“For once I agree with Sirius,” Lily said. “We didn’t need to be reminded of that.” 

“Maybe we should put a line before that,” Remus told James. “And add something to the end.”

“Like always, you’re right. Maybe ‘and save my life?’ At the end.” 

“Yeah, that’s dramatic, but it works.” 

“We’re adding something before that, right?” Lily asked. He and James both nodded. “What rhymes with life?”

“Knife,” Peter suggested. “Wife? Strife?” 

“Wife might work,” James said, scribbling it down. “I was thinking we should mention time at the beginning. Because the person in the song had been waiting.”  

“Night sounds kind of like life,” Lily mentioned. 

Sirius snapped his fingers. “Forty days and forty nights. That should be the first line.” 

“What’s that mean?” Remus asked. 

“It’s a Bible thing. About Jesus ascending.” 

“I thought you forgot about most of the Bible stuff.” 

“Yeah, most of it. Some of that cult bullshit still sticks with me. It’s just part of the experience of being a former-Church kid.” 

“That’s rough, buddy,” James said sympathetically. “So the line will be, ‘Forty days and forty nights, I waited for a girl like you to come and save my life’ right?”  

“Yeah,” Remus said. 

“Did you just quote Avatar?” Sirius asked. Everyone ignored him. 

“The next line should be about the person waiting,” Lily said. “Maybe ‘All the days I waited for you?’” 

“That’s good,” James said, writing it down. “You picked up on this songwriting thing fast. Much faster than us.”  

Lily’s eyebrows knit together. “Really?” 

“Yeah. Our first songs . . . actually, no. It’s better if we never speak of those.” 

Remus agreed. Just thinking of them made him cringe. 

“I won’t bring them up,” she said. “And I had a little practice.” 

“Really?” James asked, grinning. “You holding out on me, Evans?” 

“Like you said, it’s better if we never speak of those,” she teased him.

He could feel Sirius shooting him a look, eyebrows raised. Remus raised his eyebrows back. He wondered when James and Lily would realize they were flirting. Considering that James was a dumbass and Lily would rather throw herself off a cliff then acknowledge that she liked James, probably never. 

Remus was pretty sure if Sirius started flirting with him, he would notice. Just his presence next to him was his personal elephant in the room. 

“Back to the song,” he interjected. “So we have the first three lines. What should the fourth be?”  

“Maybe something about the girl?” Peter suggested. “Because he waited so long for her, we should know more about her.” 

“Good idea,” James said. “But nothing too specific. This song is supposed to be relatable. We can’t add to many details.”  

“Waiting so long for a girl we know nothing about,” Sirius said, smirking. “God, that imaginary guy is lame.” 

He glanced over at Remus, an obvious hint in his eyes. 

“Everyone would tease him,” Remus said, wondering why he was playing into Sirius’ game. 

Probably because of that smirk, mischievous and irresistable. 

“We know from experience, don’t we Moony.” 

“We definitely do, Padfoot.” 

“When did you two start conspiring against me?” James complained. He took his notebook and smacked it against Sirius’ forearm. “Et tu, brute!” 

Lily’s eyes widened, and her face broke into a large grin. “We should use that for the next lyric!” 

The four boys froze, James’ notebook still pressed against Sirius’ arm. 

“Use what?” Remus asked. 

“The idea that everyone would tease him about the girl,” Lily said. “That people wouldn’t believe that he would find her or something.” 

“Yeah, that would work!” James said. “Something like, ‘The ones who said I’d never find someone like you.’ It rhymes too.”  

“I mean, the last word in both of the lines is ‘you,’” Remus argued, trying not to smile at the thought of annoying James. “That’s not really a rhyme.” 

“Shut up Remus.” 

“We got our first verse though,” Peter said. “That’s something!” 

“It is!” James exclaimed. “We should work some more on the song though.” 

“James Potter, actually working for once?” Lily asked, pressing a hand to her mouth as if she was shocked. “I never thought I would see the day.” 

He sighed, smiling faintly. “I know, surprising. My family is going to London for a few days to visit some family and friends, so we gotta work while we can.” 

“Is Sirius going?” Peter asked. 

James shook his head. “No, but we asked. He didn’t want to come.” 

“Alas, no matter how much a pretend, I’m not a Potter,” Sirius said, almost a little sadly. James glanced over at him, looking a little concerned. “Plus, I’ll get the house to myself for one night.” 

Remus raised his eyebrows. “Just one?” 

“Yeah. Mr. Potter’s worried that I won’t be safe for all three nights alone, so I’ll probably go to a friend’s house for the other two nights. I haven’t figured that part out yet.”  

“I’d say you could stay at my house, but my parents would never let you,” Lily said apologetically. “Plus, Petunia would throw a fit. She hates my friends.” 

“Reg hates mine,” Sirius agreed. The two fist bumped. 

Sirius didn’t have a place to stay for a few days. Remus’ dad was off on a business trip for the entire week. There was nothing stopping him from inviting his friend over. 

He wanted to. God, he wanted. And he should do it. They were friends, and it was something a friend would do. 

Remus wondered if he would survive it. 

“You can stay at my house,” he offered before he could think about it too much. “My dad’s on a business trip, so he won’t care.” 

The garage was silent for a few precious moments. Then Sirius grinned at him, wide and gratefully, and suddenly all of his doubts went quiet in his mind. 

“Thanks Moony!” he said cheerfully. “We’re gonna have a great time. I’ll text you the dates later.” 

“Awesome!” James said. “We got that settled.” 

Sirius was going to be staying at his house. For two days. Remus had to hold himself together for two days. 

How was he going to handle that? 

His eye caught on his song notebook, still in his hand. He thought of their songs, based on their experiences. He thought of the emotions they channeled into their songs. 

And Remus got an idea.

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

Sirius almost wished that he had taken up the Potter’s offer of going on vacation with them. 

Well, no. He didn’t wish that. He just wished he could be staying with Lily or Peter or maybe even Marlene instead of Remus. But he also wanted to be around Remus, drawn to him like there was a string tying them together. 

It was all very complicated, the wanting and not wanting. Sirius needed to not want, so he could survive the two days he was about to spend with the love of his life, who did not love him back. 

What he really needed to do was to knock on the door in front of him so Remus could let him in. 

Sirius didn’t know it was so hard to raise his fist. After what felt like an hour hyping himself up, he knocked on his friend’s door. 

A few moments later, the door opened. Remus stood in front of him, in slightly baggy jeans and a white sweater. He was smiling warmly, which lit up his whole face. 

God save me. 

“Hey,” Remus said. “Come on in.”   

Sirius nodded, hoping he wasn’t being too awkward, and walked into his house. 

The Marauders never came to Remus’ house much. His dad didn’t approve of his friends all that much, and it was small. Sirius couldn’t judge, not with the horrible relationship he had with his parents. Instead, they mostly hung out at James’. 

That being said, he had been to Remus’ house before. It was like if his house and James’ house had a baby, a strange mixture of home-y and cold. 

“We’re not working on the song, right?” Sirius asked, throwing his bags onto the couch and sitting down.   

“Nope,” Remus said, sitting down next to him. Their closeness almost made him shiver. “Just hanging out, I guess. Do you know how James is doing in London?” 

“Oh yeah. He sent a few photos to me that he didn’t send to the group chat,” he answered, pulling out his phone. Sirius pulled up some photos. 

One was of Kensington palace, crows lurking almost menacingly in the background. The second was the view off of the Shard. The third was much funnier, one of his cousins arguing with someone. Remus snorted. 

“Who are they?” he asked. 

“James' cousin Will and his best friend Jem. Apparently he’s so close he’s like, part of the family or something,” Sirius said, turning off his phone. 

“Like you.” 

“I guess.” 

He did feel like one of the Potters, especially after the last year. He still wondered if they saw him as family sometimes, no matter what they did to reassure him that they did. 

“James isn’t going to have as much fun if we go to London now,” Remus said. “He’s spoiled all the good sights for himself.”  

“It’s when we go to London, Moony,” Sirius replied. “And everyone’s been to London and seen the sights. You’ve been, right?”  

“Yeah, when I was ten. I can’t remember all that much.” 

Oh yeah. Sometimes Sirius forgot that not everyone went to London every spring break, not everyone got to have vacations. He needed to remember that more. 

“Then we’ll see all the sights,” he decided. “You’ll remember then this time. If James doesn’t want to, screw him.” 

Remus smiled, soft and small. Fuck . “Not literally, but London’ll be fun.” 

It took a moment for Sirius to realize what his friend meant, and he smacked him in the arm with a pillow. “Oh my god Remus, no! That’s bloody disgusting!” 

He laughed, grabbing the remote off the coffee table. “Do you want to watch Disney movies? I got Disney+ recently.” 

“Do you even know me?” Sirius asked, leaning back. “I always want to watch Disney movies. Especially if it’s Tangled.” 

“The Princess and the Frog is better,” Remus said. 

His head twisted so suddenly he thought he got whiplash. “What did you just say, heathen?” 

“You heard me,” he replied. “I think The Princess and the Frog is better than Tangled.” 

“I guess we’ll just have to watch both to see,” Sirius said. He didn’t have a problem with that. He loved both movies. Tangled was still better though.   

“I guess so. I’ll go pop some popcorn, so we can really have the best experience.” 

“I can help,” he offered. 

“No, it’s fine. You’re my guest, after all.” 

Remus got up and walked out of the room toward the kitchen, and Sirius was both sad and grateful that he left. It eased the feeling in his chest, the sheer longing that hadn’t gone away. 

He just had to focus on the movies for the next few hours. That shouldn’t be so hard. 

Over the next few hours, he learned that he was wrong. 

It was easy to focus on the movie, on Rapunzel letting down her hair and on Tiana making her beignets. But it was also easy to focus on Remus, the light from the screen illuminating his face as it got darker outside. It was too easy to notice how close their bodies were, Remus’ shoulder just an inch from his. It was too easy to glance over at him when he laughed or cracked a joke, like Sirius’ eyes were addicted to his face. He would go into withdrawal if he didn’t see it enough. 

The movies were over before he knew it (they had ended up watching more then two), and they were still arguing over which one was better. 

“I’m sorry, but Flynn Rider is better then Naveen. The nose jokes are iconic,” Sirius said, throwing his arms in the air. 

“Excuse me? Are we talking about the same Naveen?” Remus asked frustratedly. “If we’re playing that game, Tiana is better than Rapunzel. She was a working black woman in the 20s! In bloody America!” 

“They turned her into a frog for most of the movie!”

“She was still an icon.” 

“And Rapunzel had cool powers even when she didn’t have her hair. Flynn literally cut it off so she could be free! He’s the best.” 

Remus sighed, pressing his face into his hands. “We’re not getting anywhere with this argument, and we should probably get to bed.” 

“You’re just saying that because you know I’m right,” Sirius shot back, even though his friend was right. They should get to sleep. “And I can sleep on the couch.” 

He shook his head. “No, it’s too small to sleep on. You brought James’ sleeping bag, right?” 

Sirius nodded. 

“Then you can just sleep in my room. I can give you a pillow.” 

Sleeping in Remus’ room. Near Remus’ bed. With one of his pillows. This was a bad idea. 

“Okay,” he said anyway. He couldn’t act weird. “Thanks.” 

“It’s no problem. Come on,” Remus said, standing up. 

Sirius grabbed his stuff and followed Remus into his room. It was organized and neat, the bed made and his books organized on his shelf. A folder of music sat on his bedside table. It was all very Remus, a little unlike the rest of his house.   

He unzipped James’ sleeping bag and rolled it out on the floor. Remus threw a pillow at him with a grin. He grinned back, feeling a little sick with love. 

“We have to get changed and brush our teeth, genius,” he said. “No sleeping yet, Pads.” 

“I know Moony, I’m not an idiot,” Sirius replied, unzipping his bag. “Has it ever occured to your brilliant mind that I don’t know where your bathroom is?”  

Remus rolled his eyes, walking out his bedroom door. Annoyingly, he still looked great. “Let's go find the bathroom then.” 

---

It was dark. It was dark and gray and cold, and the door wasn’t there. Why wasn’t the door there? It had always been there before. 

He turned around, and barely kept in a scream. His mother stood in front of him, her face contorted in fury, her hands reaching for him. She was screaming his name, and it sounded like the bitter winter wind. 

And he ran. He ran and ran and ran, but the hall never ended. His breath was catching in his throat and his chest was burning. 

She was faster than him. She always was.  

She grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him backward, throwing him on the ground next to another boy. His hair was the same shade as his. 

Regulus. His brother. He was shaking. 

“There’s no way out,” his mother says, with a voice like a snake’s. “You will always be trapped here.” 

And then she slapped Regulus in the face, faster than he can see. His brother cries out, and falls to the floor. 

“No!” he screams, throwing himself in front of his brother. “Don’t hurt him!” 

His mother doesn’t care who she hurts. He knows this by now. She grins evilly and backhands him across the face. 

He tries not to scream. He fails. Tears burn in his eyes and start dripping down his cheeks, and he can’t tell if they’re from pain or fear. 

“Fucking fag,” she says, grabbing him by the chin and forcing him to look at her. Her eyes are like abysses. “Blacks don’t cry, Blacks aren’t weak. Stop crying, Sirius.” 

He tries. He tries so hard, but he can’t. He wonders if he’ll ever make his mother proud. 

“Sirius,” his mother continues. For some reason, her voice is changing, becoming softer but more urgent. “Sirius! Sirius, wake up!” 

He gasped awake, sitting up. His chest was heaving, and he could feel Remus’ hand still gripping his arm. That would have sent Sirius into a spiral of desire if he hadn’t just woken up from a nightmare. 

He had a nightmare. In front of Remus. 

Fuck. 

Remus flicked on his lamp, bathing them both in warm light. He looked concerned, and more than slightly panicked, but Sirius was grateful that there was no pity in those brown eyes. 

“Are you okay?” he asked softly, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles against his arm. “Do, do you need anything? I can get you a glass of water, if you want, and-” 

“Moony, I’m fine,” Sirius said, his voice coming out shaky. He tried to smile, even though he was definitely failing miserably. “I’m sorry for waking you up.”   

“It’s fine,” Remus said. He paused for a moment. “Do . . . do you want to talk about it?” 

Yes. No. I don’t know. 

What he did know was that if he started talking about it, he would start crying. Sirius couldn’t do that. Even after a year, his mother’s words echoed in his mind. Blacks don’t cry.  

“No,” he managed to get out. “Go back to sleep, Remus.”

Sirius tried to turn back around, to mash his face into the pillow and try to go back to sleep and fail. Unfortunately, Remus’ hand was still around his arm, lightly tugging. 

“C’mon,” he said, pulling him up. 

Sirius followed, confused, as Remus pulled him up to his bed. What was he doing?

“Lie down,” his friend almost ordered. He did that, sitting down on his bed and lying down. Even though he could practically still feel his mother’s hand on his face, it didn’t fully distract him that he was literally in his crush’s bed. 

Remus lied down next to him, his chest pressed against Sirius’ back as he wrapped his arms around his middle. That was very distracting, they were actually bloody cuddling. Sirius hoped he couldn’t feel his heart beating against his ribcage, hoped he couldn’t feel the tenseness in his muscles. 

“I know you’re not fine,” Remus said. All of the distracted thoughts in his head stopped. “And I know that you don’t want to talk about it, and that’s okay. But I didn’t want you to be alone, and I thought my bed would be comfier then the floor. 

“You can leave if you want,” he finished, like it was an afterthought.   

Sirius should have left. He shouldn’t have placed this burden on Remus, the burden that was only his to bear. He shouldn’t have let him start holding him without telling him he was in love with him. 

But Remus’ arms were so warm, and his bed was so soft. And he didn’t want to leave. 

“Thank you,” he murmured instead, closing his eyes and finally relaxing into Remus’ arms. 

Strangely, sleep came easy to him that night. 

Chapter Text

REMUS

The last week had come and gone in a blur. They had finished their song, composed it and practiced it. James had come back from vacation with stories and pictures and gifts. Peter had almost fallen off James' roof. Lily had fallen asleep with her head in James’ lap, and they had put a firewhiskey bottle in her arm to take photos. 

They were literally in the green room waiting for the second stage to start, in a different city, and still all Remus could think about was Sirius. 

Sirius Black, who he had spooned in his own bloody bed. Who, when Remus had woken up, had somehow turned around in his sleep. Their chests had been pressed together, and Sirius’ face was buried in his shoulder, snoring softly. He hadn’t been able to tell where he ended and where Sirius began. 

Remus had almost combusted. Then he got up to make tea.

“You okay, Moony?” Peter asked. “Your face is really red.” 

“I’m fine,” he answered. “It’s just really hot in here.” 

That wasn’t exactly a lie. It was warm, but him thinking about Sirius in his bed was not helping. Or just thinking about Sirius. 

“It’s getting hot in here,” Sirius sang under his breath as he went over their music one more time, smirking. 

“Nope,” Lily said, but she was smiling a little too. “Not today.”  

Sirius rolled his eyes good-naturedly. 

Remus was still a little worried about him. He had asked him if he was okay the morning after the incident, and a couple times in the week after, and he had always said yes. He could be lying though. He had said he was fine after he ran away, and he definitely wasn’t. 

He had experience with traumatic events. The scars on his body were a constant reminder of that, and his mother’s empty seat at the dining room table. Remus too had woken up shaking from nightmares ( carflippingscreamingburningpainhelpme ) on some nights, and he knew that he had never been fine after.  

He had tried to keep a closer eye on Sirius over the last few days. He seemed fine. Maybe nightmares were a normal thing. 

Remus hoped they weren’t. That would be horrible. 

He wondered if he should ask James. He might know. They did live together, and had dormed together at school. 

He probably shouldn’t pry. No matter how much he wanted to. 

Maybe thinking about Sirius was good, in this situation. It kept him from getting too nervous about the second stage. He was gripping his guitar pick to keep his hands from shaking, and he could feel himself getting crabby. 

He knew all his nervousness would go away when he walked onstage. It always had. But it didn’t help before the performance. 

James had said that only three bands would get through this stage, and them being one was mathematically not very likely. 

James still had hope. And Lily. They really were more alike than they thought. Sirius was a wildcard, and Peter was only there for emotional support. He was an honorary band member after all. 

“Okay, do you guys remember your notes?” James asked, as one of the staff called out another band name. 

“More breath support and better posture,” Lily said, without even looking at him. 

“Be faster,” Remus added. 

“Open my mouth more,” Sirius finished. “For singing and for other things.” 

He and James high-fived. 

“You guys are horrible,” Remus muttered. 

“And be more aggressive for my note,” James said. “Okay then. I think we’re good. We’re gonna kill this challenge. We can chill.” 

“Moony’s never chill,” Sirius said. 

“Don’t test me, Padfoot.” 

He laughed, brash and mischievous, and he couldn’t help but smile. They had practiced their set a million times, and performed it once. Remus could play his part in his sleep. They were going to kill it. 

“Lily?” 

The smile wiped off his face. 

Remus recognized that voice. He did not want to recognize that voice, and he didn’t want that voice anywhere near him, or his friends. 

He glanced up from his music. Lily’s eyes were almost comically wide. James and Sirius were both glaring. Peter was just looking down nervously. 

Severus Snape was standing in front of them. He was wearing all black, of course, and was staring at Lily. He looked as greasy as always. 

“Snivillus,” Sirius greeted. “You look as greasy as always.” 

Remus smirked. 

Snape looked like he ignored Sirius, but the flush in his cheeks said otherwise. “I didn’t know you would be here, Lily.” 

“Yeah, I’m performing with my friends,” she said, voice slightly strained. 

“You’re performing with . . . them ?” Snape asked. 

“Yes. Because they’re my friends.” 

He leaned in toward her, much too close for anyone’s comfort, and said something. Remus couldn’t hear. He hoped that Snape wasn’t being too creepy, although that was probably pointless. He had been creepy since they were 11. 

Remus could admit, James and Sirius had bullied him in their fifth year. But they had apologized (begrudgingly) and moved on. Snape never had moved on, especially not from Lily. And he definitely didn’t apologize for calling Sirius a slur last year, or for making fun of his scars for practically every year in school. 

He was pretty sure he was one of Sirius’ and James’ most hated people on the planet. Snape was one of his, after all. 

Snape reached for Lily’s hand, and she yanked it away. 

“For the last time, I’m not interested in going on a date with you,” she said. “Or performing with your band of bigots. Please, just leave me alone for once.” 

Her words rang across the room. Barely anyone else noticed her little speech though, considering it was a very loud room. Snape however, looked embarrassed. Remus didn’t normally draw his happiness from the suffering of others, but he grinned. 

“Yeah Snivillus,” James said. “Shoo.” 

He glared at Prongs. “You’ll regret this.” 

Then, he looked back at Lily. “My offer still stands.” 

He stalked off in a whirl of black. 

“I hate him,” Lily said, sitting back down. “He’s always bloody asking me out, even though I say no every time. I can’t believe I was ever friends with him.” 

“We all do stupid things when we’re 11,” James said. “But good job on telling him to piss off!” 

The two of them high-fived, smiling at each other. Remus shot Sirius a look. He grinned back, raising his eyebrows. 

Looking at Padfoot was a very bad idea. 

“Marauders?” one of the staff members called. 

It was their turn. 

Remus stood up, grabbing his bass. James stuck his drumsticks in his back pocket, and Sirius tossed his pick into the air. 

“We got this,” James said. “We’re gonna blow Snape’s band out of the water.” 

“This isn’t a Disney movie James,” Remus muttered. “Or Riverdale. Don’t say stuff like that.”  

Lily snorted. 

The four of them walked onstage. The same three judges from last time sat in front of them, with another man. He was dark haired, with a severe expression. 

They got themselves situated. James behind all of them, Lily at the front, Sirius to her right, and him to her left. It had felt natural since the beginning, but felt even more so now, after multiple gigs. 

Lily’s hair shone in the spotlight as they introduced themselves and she told them about their songs. Remus wished they asked her to join the band sooner. 

Nevermind whatever he wished, they were about to start.   

They started with We Are Young. James thought it would be good to start off with the song that the judges knew before performing their new one. Playing that song was like muscle memory to Remus, the lyrics lying on the tip of his tongue.  

It was still incredible, everytime they performed it. Like there was fire raging in his veins instead of blood. Like for a moment, he was more than just Remus Lupin. 

“Tonight we are young,” the four of them sang, their voices blending together. He poured his soul into the sound, leaving just enough of it left for the next song. 

Their first song ended before he knew it, like it had been five seconds instead of three minutes. Next was Out of My League. 

“More than just a dream,” he and Sirius started. Remus glanced over at his friend, who was staring at him. Sirius grinned, running a hand through his hair, and Remus suddenly wished he had his notebook. 

James started on drums. 

“Forty days and forty nights,” Lily sang, gripping the microphone. 

They had made the song simple but catchy, something that you’d listen to in summer. It had been stuck in Remus’ head for days, which did help him memorize the lyrics. 

Lily leaned forward just slightly, bobbing her head to the beat. “You are out of my league, all the things I believe.” 

Those lyrics hit hard. 

Remus tried not to think about anything else then the song as he strummed the strings on his base. It was pretty easy, in the heat of the spotlight, to not think. It was easier to just play.

“More than more then more,” he, James, and Sirius sang as they began to finish the song. Remus never wanted it to end. Never wanted to return to the outside world. “Ooh-ooh-ooh.” 

And because the song was inanimate and didn’t care what he wanted, it ended. Remus palmed his pick, slowly letting his bass hang from his neck. The judges were furiously taking notes. 

“Thank you, we will again be emailing you the results,” one of the judges said. “It should take less time then the first stage.” 

Like the first stage, a staff member in all black came to usher them out. 

“Thank you,” Lily said before they were guided off stage. 

Remus couldn’t stop grinning, almost like a child. They had done great. They had crushed it, again. 

“I bet we were so much better than Snape,” Sirius whispered to him, leaning in so close Remus could feel his breath against his ear. He sounded a little strange, but that might just have been because he was out of breath. He shouldn’t think too much about it. 

“We’ve never heard them, so we don’t know that,” he said. “But yeah, we were definitely better than them.” 

“That’s the spirit.” 

“I snuck in and saw the first part before they kicked me out,” Peter said when they got to the lobby. He was grinning and bouncing on his toes. “It was great! Are we gonna get emailed again?”

James nodded. “Yup. Do you guys want to get food again?” 

“I’d love to, but I can’t,” Remus said, frowning. “I have work. Feel free to go without me though.”

“I have a family dinner,” Lily added. “But same. You guys should go.”  

“It wouldn’t be the same,” James said. “I’ll text you guys the email. Remember, we have rehearsal in two days.” 

“Okay, dad,” Sirius said, smirking like he had said the smartest thing in the universe. It was annoyingly hot. 

“You literally live in my house.” 

Remus snorted. God, he loved his friends. 

The Marauders

ceramics: *screenshot.jpg*

ceramics: ADSJHTYNVSNGIORHGLNH GUYS WE PASSED

ceramics: WE’RE ON TO THE THIRD STAGE HELL YEAH

pettygrew: congrats guys!! 

deadsirius: FUCK YES

plant: Omg yay!! 

plant: Congrats guys! Except Potter 

ceramics: what did i do????

Moony McMoon: Y’all are disasters

Moony McMoon: But congrats everyone

deadsirius: omg it’s rare edition cowboy moony!

Moony McMoon: piss off

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

They had passed the second stage. 

They had passed the second stage. 

Sirius hadn’t been able to stop grinning for the past few days. They had passed not one, but two stages. They had gotten really good food after the competition (even if they were missing a couple people). 

They were one of the three bands that had passed the second stage. 

He really hoped that one of the other bands wasn’t Snape’s. That would really ruin the mood. 

Snape had kind of ruined the mood at the competition too, with his greasy hair and upturned nose and creepy attitude. Sirius didn’t like bullying, but sometimes it was necessary for certain people. Like Snape. 

He suddenly felt very bad for Lily. 

But there was another reason he had been thinking about Snape (who he made an effort not to think about). A more . . . familial reason. 

No. Sirius had asked Regulus if he had wanted to leave, and he had said no. He had said they weren’t brothers anymore. He needed to respect Regulus’ decision and not pry into his life. No matter how hard it was. 

Besides, Sirius had rehearsal. He couldn’t think about Regulus.

He’d probably end up thinking about someone else who’s name also started with the letter R instead, but one problem at a time. 

Sirius sat down on the ground. James was sitting behind his drums (like he always was), Peter was on a stool across from him, and Lily was lying on the floor. Remus was late, probably because the bus from where he worked at Honeydukes took at least ten minutes to get to the bus stop near James’ house. He would get there soon. 

He hated that he knew that. 

Well, actually he didn’t. He hated that he didn’t hate that he knew that. It was so stalker-y. 

James and Lily were having an argument over the most powerful Avenger. Sirius was pretty sure it was their tenth argument in the last week. And they were getting better . Jesus. 

“It’s obviously Wanda Maximoff,” Lily said. “She put the fear of god into Thanos. Did you even see Endgame?” 

“Of course I did, everyone did. I’m just saying the most powerful Avenger is either Thor or Captain Marvel.” 

“You just say that because you think Thor’s hot,” Sirius said. 

James flushed. “Everyone thinks Thor is hot,” he argued. “Sexuality has nothing on Chris Hemsworth.” 

“He has a point,” Remus said. He had shown up, in that quiet way that he always did. “He is really good looking.” 

He wondered if there was a way to make himself look like Chris Hemsworth. 

Sirius swore he was thinking more and more about Remus since the kiss. And the nightmare incident, which still mortified him. 

Even though Remus spooning him had felt very nice. 

He was just thankful that he hadn’t asked him that much about that. Sirius wasn’t sure what he would have said. 

“See Padfoot, Moony gets it.” 

Sirius laughed. “Okay, okay. I’m gay for Thor too.” 

“You’re gay, period,” James said. 

“I came here to have a good time, and I feel bloody attacked right now.” 

“Guys,” Remus sighed. “What’s the plan for the future? Isn’t that what we’re meeting up to talk about?”

James sighed even more dramatically then Remus, and raised his arms. “Okay, fine. Gather round, my children.

“So, we need to practice, obviously,” James started. “But we also need to save up money to go to London. Luckily, they’ll be providing drums, so I don’t have to haul mine over there. But we’ll have to buy train tickets there, back, and rooms at an inn or a hotel.” 

“Soooo we have to play a lot of gigs,” Peter said. 

He nodded. “Yeah. And use other money that we have. If we pay for most of it, I’m pretty sure my parents can help a little, but I’d rather us get to London with our money.” 

“My parents would probably be happy to help too,” Lily added. “They’ve been really excited about the whole band thing, which is really irritating my sister, but maybe it’ll help.”

“I have some extra money from work that I won’t need to use for college,” Remus said. 

“We can ask Lily’s parents if we really don’t have enough money,” James replied. “And Remus, we’re not asking you. You worked for that money. It’s yours.” 

“But-”

“I was thinking that we need to schedule a bunch of gigs,” he continued, ignoring his friend. Sirius giggled behind his hand. “The Three Broomsticks said that they’d be happy to have us last time we were there, after we finished performing.” 

“Even though Marlene fell on a table?” Lily asked. 

James shrugged. “Can’t hurt to ask. Plus, we’re dumb teenagers, they can’t hold that against us.” 

“There’s that other pub in town,” Peter said. “The Leaky Cauldron.” 

“Good idea,” he said, writing it down. 

“There’s the Hogs Head,” Sirius added. “It’s really seedy, but it might work.” 

“Frank Longbottom went there. He said you could get an STD from sitting at a table,” Remus argued, his eyebrows scrunched up in a way that made Sirius really want to kiss him. Again. 

“Why did Frank tell you that?” 

Remus ignored him. “What about that one club, the Shrieking Shack? I heard it’s cool.” 

“I went there with the girls once,” Lily said. “It was nice. A little weird, but in a good way.” 

James wrote it down anyway. 

“There’s not enough places in this tiny town to perform at,” Sirius groaned, leaning back and lying against the cool stone of the garage. His garage. Kind of. James’ house felt more like home then Grimmauld Place ever had. “All the pubs are seedy or places we’ve already performed at.” 

“There’s The Blind Pig in the next town over,” Lily suggested, ignoring him. “Mary likes it there. Says it’s very American.” 

“That’s not good,” Remus muttered. 

“Okay, so we have four options,” James said. “I’ll call the Three Broomsticks, Lily can call The Blind Pig, Peter can call The Leaky Cauldron, and Remus and Sirius can call the Shrieking Shack.” 

“It takes only one person to call someone, you know that right?” Lily asked teasingly. “It’s basic math, Potter.” 

“Yeah, but I have to split us up into groups somehow. Plus, Sirius and Remus make a good team.” 

James looked a little strange. Almost scheme-y. Although, he was James. He could just be planning another prank, or another way to ask out Lily. 

Sirius grinned and high-fived Remus, ignoring James’ face and trying to keep from blushing. Sirius Black didn’t blush. That’s what his friends thought anyway. 

“Okay, the Shrieking Shack,” he said, turning to his crush. “Is their number on Google?”

Remus nodded, typing away. “Yeah, everything’s on Google. Here, I’ll call them.”   

He was about to press the number on the screen with his thumb when he yawned, loud and sleepy and cute . 

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Work.” 

Of course. Remus did always work harder than the rest of them. He always had. 

“I can call them if you want,” Sirius offered. “And you can take a nap or something.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah. We’re supposed to be calling them together, remember? Here, gimme your phone.” 

Sirius snatched Remus’ phone out of his hand, smirking and pressing “call.” He tapped his lap with his other hand. He was slowly realizing that he had a habit of getting himself into bad situations. 

Well, not necessarily bad situations. Just bad for him. 

Remus, with pink cheeks, laid down on his thighs and closed his eyes. Sirius wondered if he was going to explode. 

He had to make a call first. 

He raised the phone to his ear. “Hello? Hi, this is Sirius Black . . .” 

Sirius hadn’t realized he had been carding his hand through Remus’ hair until he finished the call.

Chapter Text

REMUS

Remus brushed the hair out of his eyes, sighing. It was their third performance of the week, and no matter how much they all loved performing, they were all getting a little tired. 

“We’re on in five,” James said, leaning against the wall. “This place is cute. We should come here more often.” 

They were playing at The Leaky Cauldron, for the first time. They normally only went there when shopping for school supplies, because it was so close to the stores. The last two times they had been playing at The Three Broomsticks, because they loved them. Or at least, that was what Sirius told them. 

Sirius, who he had napped on. In his lap. Remus could feel his face reddening at the thought. He wished he had his notebook. He was almost done with his impromptu project, but maybe he could add in some lines. 

“The Three Broomsticks is better,” Sirius insisted. 

“You only say that because you’re really loyal,” Peter said. 

“There are worse things to be. And it’s not just because of that. The Three Broomsticks' atmosphere is better, and it’s closer to home and school. This place is subpar. At best.” 

“If you say that any louder, the people in the subpar place will hear you,” Remus pointed out, finishing tuning his bass. 

“Nothing wrong with hearing facts.” 

“Nothing wrong with practicing either,” James said. “Maybe you should do that, Padfoot.” 

Sirius flipped him off. Lily giggled. 

“How much money will we have to raise before we get to our total?” Remus asked. They had to raise at least 400 pounds to get to London and stay there for two nights. They had decided to get there a day earlier to explore the city. Sirius had suggested it, and grinned at him afterwards. He had felt surprisingly touched. 

“At least 300 pounds,” James said. “So we have some performing to do.” 

“Maybe we could pass a hat around and ask for money,” Lily suggested. 

“We don’t want to look stupid, Evans,” James teased.  

“You already do, Potter.” 

Sirius whistled. “She’s got you there, Prongs.” 

“While I love to watch you guys teasing James,” Remus said, checking his phone. “We’re on in like, a minute.” 

As if on cue, an employee from the pub leaned out the stage door. “You guys are on. Break a leg.” 

Luckily, Sirius or James didn’t say anything stupid. Yet. 

James sat down on the drum stool, casually twirling his drumsticks in his hands and winking at Lily. She sighed as she walked to the mic stand. 

“Get a room,” Sirius muttered, glancing at Remus. He smiled.

The pub wasn’t completely full, probably because it was in the afternoon, but still had a good amount of people in it. Not enough people to get properly nervous. Peter was sitting near the makeshift stage, grinning and sipping lemonade. 

“Hi everyone, I’m Lily,” Lily started casually. She had been getting much better at introducing them. “We’re The Marauders. We’ll be singing our two original songs We Are Young and Out of My League today, and We Will Rock You by Queen. We hope you enjoy it.” 

She glanced backward and nodded at James, who started the song with his steady drumbeat. 

Remus turned to the pub, gripping his guitar pick and smiling faintly as Lily started to sing. The adrenaline that only came from performing started to buzz in his veins. 

Here we go. 

---

“You guys did great!” Peter exclaimed. “You’re getting better. Not like you weren’t great before, but you’re just better now.” 

“We know what you mean, Pettigrew,” James said, swinging an arm around their shorter friend’s shoulders. “We’re getting better and raising money. Two birds with one stone.” 

“We still have a lot more to raise, you know,” Remus pointed out. 

“We know, we know,” Sirius said. He swung his arms and legs dramatically as he walked, almost like a puppet. It was adorable. “Lighten up, Moony. We’re celebrating, remember?” 

After their performance at The Leaky Cauldron, the owner had been so impressed with them he booked them to perform a few more times over the next week. He had also tipped them generously. James had declared that he would treat them to ice cream from Florean’s before they all went home. 

“I remember. Just doing my job being the voice of reason.” 

“We share that now!” Lily called from the front of the group. 

“We have two party poopers now, everyone!” James announced teasingly. 

“Be thankful,” Lily shot back. “You and Sirius would be in prison or something if it wasn’t for Remus. And now me.” 

“We wouldn’t be in prison!” 

“Jesus, when are those two gonna get a bloody room?” Sirius asked him again, leaning in. 

Remus gulped, trying to ignore how close they were. “Hopefully soon. Maybe they’ll finally get together because of the band.” 

“I hope so. If they’re not together by the end of summer, we should lock them in a closet together.” 

“Where’d you get that idea? Wattpad?” 

Sirius scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I don’t use Wattpad.” 

Remus gave him a look. 

“Fine. It was Tumblr,” he admitted. “But if I have to see them flirting one more time I will literally bloody perish on the spot. Plus I have like, twenty pounds riding on them getting together before the end of the year.” 

“Who did you even make that bet with?” Remus asked. 

“Marlene. We figured that since she’s one of Lily’s best friends, and I’m one of James’ best friends, one of us had to be right,” Sirius said. “She said it would take longer for Lily to admit her feelings to herself and James, I thought differently. 

“It was the night of our first performance,” he added. The night we kissed, Remus desperately wanted to say. He kept his mouth shut. “We were also really drunk.” 

“Of course.”   

“Hey, you got wasted that night too. Anyways, are you in?”

“You’re serious?”

Remus instantly regretted asking that.  

“I’m always Sirius, Moony,” Sirius said with an infuriating grin, sticking out his hand. “But yes. I am.” 

Remus sighed. On one hand, it was stupid. On the other hand, it would be bloody hilarious. 

He shook Sirius’ hand, trying to ignore the calluses on his palms. 

“Guys, we’re here!” James yelled. 

Florean Fortescue’s was the best ice cream shop in town. The owner was their friend Alice’s uncle, so he had been there a few times when he was hanging out with the girls. 

Remus really should have realized he was bisexual sooner.  

“What do you guys want?” James asked, pulling out his wallet. “Remus, I know you want chocolate.” 

“It’s all he ever gets,” Peter said to Lily. “I’ll have birthday cake.” 

“Rocky Road,” Sirius said. “Thanks.”

“Raspberry,” Lily said. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” he replied, quickly relaying their orders to Mr. Fortescue. 

A few minutes later, they all had cones of ice cream and were skipping down the street. The sun was setting and it was warm and they were laughing, loud and joyful. Remus forgot all thoughts about the competition or work or college or his scars or even his secret project, joining his best friends. 

He never wanted summer to end.

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

They were going to perform at The Three Broomsticks again. While Sirius did like The Leaky Cauldron, and the White Pig and the Shrieking Shack were definitely unique, The Three Broomsticks was definitely better. 

He was probably biased, but he couldn’t imagine anyone disagreeing. It was warm, home-y, was home to a lot of his favorite memories, and it had alcohol. Perfection. 

Except for the part where Sirius had drunkenly made out with Remus outside of said pub. But he tried not to think about that (or how amazing it was). 

He was just happy to be back, as cheesy as that sounded. 

“We’re staying afterward for drinks, right?” Sirius asked. They had found themselves leaning against the wall next to the stage door, again. Peter wasn’t there, because of some family thing.

“Of course,” James said. “Who do you think we are, Padfoot?” 

“Law-abiding citizens?” Lily murmured. “Smart people?”

“Hey, we’re all 18,” James said. “We’re not criminals. We’re just dumb.” 

“Not me,” Remus replied mindlessly, looking into some notebook pretty intensely. He had been carrying that around more recently, and he kind of wanted to know what was in there. “I hold the braincell in our group.”  

Sirius snorted. He was right. Lily cackled, doubling over. James just looked offended, but it didn’t reach his eyes. 

“Share it with me sometimes, okay?” Lily asked. 

Remus nodded, putting his notebook away with a small smile. “I would, but you definitely have at least one brain cell.” 

“So I have more then Potter?”

“Most definitely.” 

“Why do you guys love to gang up on me?” James complained, running a hand through his hair. It looked even messier now. 

“It’s payback for all those times you asked me out,” she said. 

“Rude. I’d be a joy to date.”  

Before Lily could say something definitely insulting back, one of the staff members Sirius recognized popped out of the stage door. “Hey again. You guys are up.”  

While performing was still exciting, it was becoming a lot more normal. Like a better version of going through the motions. They got onstage, got themselves situated while Lily introduced them. They would perform their songs, usually a couple covers, and then their original ones, then they would bow and leave. Sirius would sneak glances at Remus while performing, because he looked gorgeous when he was playing. 

It was still exciting though. He had been performing in front of audiences for almost a year, and the adrenaline and slight nerves never went away. 

Still, the performance was over before he knew it. It was strange, how they could go by so fast. 

The audience was cheering, and Sirius made sure to bow as dramatically as he possibly could. 

“We’ve almost raised enough money to afford the trip,” James said as they exited by the stage door. He was grinning, in the way that he only did after a performance. Big and wild and a little bit breathless. If he wasn’t head over heels for Remus, he might have had a thing for James. 

That thought was really weird. 

Sirius totally caught Lily staring though. 

“Just a few more pounds and boom!” his friend added. “We did it!”

“That’s bloody awesome,” Sirius said. “You know how we should celebrate?” 

They shared a mischievous grin. 

Remus rolled his eyes. “We literally agreed that we were gonna drink afterwards, guys. It’s not a surprise.” 

“Let us have our fun Moony,” he said. “We’re gonna get totally wasted! So you’re also going to get totally wasted. And you, Lily. For bonding.” 

“Getting wasted is not bonding,” she argued. 

“It isn’t,” Remus agreed. “But I’m definitely drinking tonight. Like Sirius said, we’re celebrating.” 

The four of them walked back in through the main entrance. It smelled like chips and sausages and lightly like alcohol.  

“Come on, Evans,” James said, as they found a table that would fit all of them. “Pleaseeeee? Get shitfaced with us?” 

She sighed, but smiled eventually. “No promises. But I am drinking.” 

The three of them cheered, the noise blending in with the rest of the noises in the pub. 

“Oh, I invited some friends, if that’s okay,” Lily added. She waved some people over enthusiastically. Some very familiar people. 

“Frank! Alice!” James said, grinning widely. He stood up, hugging the other guy. “It’s so great to see you, mate!” 

Frank Longbottom and Alice Fortescue. Their friends from school, and gross lovebirds extraordinaire. Sirius hadn’t seen them since the parties after graduation. 

He quickly got up to hug Frank while Lily and Remus hugged Alice. It was good to see their friends. He didn’t know the next time they would see them, with everyone going off to college. 

“You guys were great!” Alice said, sitting down. “You guys are definitely going to win this competition thing.” 

Lily smiled, and James stared unabashedly. God, he was so whipped. “Awwww, thanks.”

“You know, you guys are getting kind of popular,” Frank mentioned. “I was hanging out with Gideon Prewett yesterday, and he mentioned seeing you guys at some club.” 

“The Shrieking Shack?” James asked. Frank nodded. 

“That’s good to hear,” Sirius said. “We’re finally getting the fame we deserved.” 

“Sirius, we’ve been performing for only a couple months,” Remus pointed out.  

“No, technically we’ve been performing for almost a year now.” 

“Well, the few performances we had during the school year were very spaced out. So really, only a couple of months. And a year is also a short amount of time.” 

Sirius rolled his eyes. “But it was still a year.” 

“Well, nothing’s changed with you guys,” Alice said, a strange glint in her eye. “Still arguing.”  

“Always,” Lily said. 

“Sorry if I’m wrong, but I got the impression we’d be drinking tonight,” Frank interrupted. 

“You are not wrong, my friend,” Sirius said, smirking. Finally. “I’ll go get the drinks. Lets get properly trashed!”

Getting drinks should have been easy. He just had to walk over to the bar, ask for six firewhiskeys, pick them up, and walk back to his table. And that part was easy. Sirius had done it before. 

He had almost gotten to his table when he saw a familiar head of hair, standing by the loo. Their eyes met. It was brief, but it still happened. 

Sirius almost tripped. 

The boy turned around and went into the loo. For a moment he just stood there, staring at the door. Then he hurried back to his table, dropping off the drinks and heading to the bathroom.  

He had to talk to him. 

“Hey, Sirius! Where are you going?” James asked. 

“Bathroom,” he said, a little shakily. He had to keep himself from running as he strolled to the door. 

Sirius took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and walked in. 

Regulus Arcturus Black was leaning on one of the sinks. His hair was perfectly combed, his black clothes perfectly pressed, his dark eyes sharp. He looked exactly the same, as if nothing had changed. 

That was where he was wrong. Everything had changed. 

“Regulus,” Sirius said.  

“Sirius.” 

The silence was deafening. 

“I thought mother didn’t want you talking to me anymore,” he finally said. 

“Mother isn’t right about everything.” 

“I thought you didn’t want to talk to me anymore.” 

Regulus had also said they weren’t brothers anymore that day. Needless to say, he hadn’t forgotten. 

“Things change,” he replied. “I was wrong. I heard you and your friends were performing here tonight. I wanted to see. You guys are good.” 

“Thanks,” Sirius said. “How are things at home?” 

“The same as when you left. The house is a lot quieter without you. Mother and father are calmer.” 

“That’s good.” 

The whole conversation felt so strange. He hadn’t spoken to his brother in months. Sirius wanted to wrap him in a bone-crushing hug and never let go. He also wanted to run away, so far that his brother could never find him.  

“How are you?” Regulus asked clumsily, like the words didn’t fit in his mouth correctly. 

“Fine.” 

“Are you happy?” 

He was. Sirius was happier then he had ever been, in a way that he had never thought was possible. 

“Yes,” he just said. 

And Regulus smiled. It was small, but it lit up his entire face. Like when they were small, and things were simpler. 

“Good. That’s all I wanted to know.” 

His brother walked past him, to the bathroom door. Just before he was about to leave, he stopped. 

“Watch out, okay?” Regulus said. He sounded strangely serious. 

“For what?” Sirius asked. 

He paused for a moment, and then shook his head. “Nothing. Just for normal stuff. 

“It was good to see you, big brother. I missed you,” Regulus finished, smiling at him again and leaving. 

Big brother. 

Sirius almost collapsed against the sink.  

He hadn’t been called that in a very long time. 

There was something cool and wet on his face, definitely tears, but he was smiling. 

They were brothers again. 

He quickly wiped his face and took a minute to compose himself. Sirius was still smiling giddily. His brother didn’t hate him. His brother missed him . He never had allowed himself to think that would happen. 

Sirius walked out of the bathroom to join his best friends in the world, a new skip in his step. 

Everything was looking up.

Chapter Text

REMUS

It was finally happening. 

After hours of thinking and writing and composing and practicing, after performing day after day, after counting every pound, they were on their way. 

The Marauders were headed to London. 

Remus stared out at the English countryside. Even he couldn’t stop grinning. He was finally going back to London, on a trip that he would actually remember, with his best friends. They were going to perform their songs (they felt like children to him) to people in the music industry. They had a shot at getting into the music industry, and he wasn’t going to miss it.  

Life was good. 

“Whatcha lookin at, Moony?” Sirius asked. 

“The countryside,” he said, trying to ignore how close they were. And the leather jacket and tight pants he was wearing. And his hair, poofy and unruly in a really hot way. “It’s pretty.”

Like you.  

“I guess. After a while, it all looks the same. Just green.” 

Annoyingly, he had a good point. It was all just green. 

The five of them had been crammed in a train car together for a couple hours, laughing and chatting and on their way to two days in the city. There were crumbs and wrappers all over the floor, and paint on Peter’s face. Remus wasn't sure how it got there, because they didn’t bring any paint. 

“We should probably clean up,” Lily said. Her head was in Peter’s lap, which was not making James happy “We’ll be arriving soon, and I don’t want to leave this mess for the workers.” 

James nodded, dramatically leaning down to pick up a chocolate wrapper. 

“If you do the bend and snap from Legally Blonde I’m going to throw you out the window,” Sirius warned. 

“I was not going to do the bend and snap!” 

“He doesn’t have anything to bend and snap,” Remus stage-whispered. Lily cackled, high-fiving him. 

Even though they made fun of James, they still picked up all the wrappers, doing their best to sweep the crumbs into a corner with their feet. By the time they were done (Peter with even more paint on his face, even though that was impossible) their train had arrived in King’s Cross Station. 

“C’mon!” Sirius said, holding his duffel bag in one hand and grabbing Remus’ in the other. He pulled him through the train and out onto the platform, almost falling over a couple times while doing that. James, Lily, and Peter were hot on their heels. Remus was simultaneously glad and disappointed when his crush let go of his hand. 

The platform was packed with people, walking about and getting on and leaving trains. As they walked out, he saw cafes and shops, like it was an airport. It was so different from the train stations back home. 

“Welcome to London,” James announced when they got outside, throwing out his arms and grinning. “The best city in the world.” 

The station was surrounded with buildings and even more people. There were so many people, more than he’d ever remembered seeing. 

“Are we going to our hotel first, to drop off our bags?” Lily asked.  

James nodded. “Yeah. We should probably get a cab.” 

“Are we all going to fit in one?” Remus asked. “There are five of us.” 

“We could put Peter in a bag,” Sirius said, smirking. He had to tear his eyes away from those lips, pink and full and something he should not have been thinking about. 

“I’m sure the driver won’t mind,” James said. “It’s just one extra person.”   

He sighed. This was not going to go well. 

Remus’ friends had the city thing down. In a few minutes, Sirius had flagged down a cab and they had all piled in the car. Luckily, the driver hadn’t minded the issue, especially because Peter sat on James’ lap and he pulled the seatbelt over both of them. 

His friends were so goddamn weird. 

It took way too long to get to their hotel (especially because Sirius’ thigh was pressed against his and he couldn’t stop thinking about it) but they got there eventually. 

“Two rooms on the fifth floor,” the lady at the desk said, handing them key cards with a polite smile. “Have a good day.”   

“Who’s rooming with who?” Peter asked as they packed into an elevator, giggling and shoving each other. He looked weirdly jumpy. Probably because he had never been to London before.

“I don’t know,” James said with a shrug. “I didn’t think about that, actually.” 

“Boys,” Lily muttered under her breath. 

“Would you mind rooming with a boy?” 

“As long as it’s not you.” 

The two kept bickering like a bloody married couple until they got to their floor. 

“How about this,” Remus suggested, getting off the elevator and suppressing the urge to tell Lily and James to room together. “James, Sirius, and Peter can share one room. I can be with Lily in the other one. If she doesn’t mind.” 

“I’m fine with that,” she said. 

“It’s cuddle time with the boysssss!” Sirius yelled, way too loud for the hotel, and swung both his arms around Peter and James. 

Remus sighed. 

---

For some reason, it had taken them forever to stash their bags in their hotel rooms and leave, but they had finally done it. They were in London proper now, and probably annoying everyone that passed them. 

“So should we go to Big Ben or the London Eye first?” Sirius asked. “Because they’re both iconic. We won’t be able to go into the clock, but it’s still cool to look at.”  

And they hadn’t made plans beforehand. Partially because they were too busy practicing and performing and doing other things, and partially because James and Sirius had insisted that it would be more fun to go with the flow and “see how we feel” on the day they went. 

Remus was never listening to them again. 

“What about the Victoria and Albert Museum?” Lily suggested. “Or the dungeons? They have rides there.”

Sirius gave her a look. “The dungeons are great, but a museum? Are you serious? We’re not old people.”

“Or the Shard,” James added, before Lily could kill their friend. “It’s very tall. Or the Piccadilly Circus. Or Kensington Palace. I took a nap on the grass out there once, you know.” 

“Of course you did,” Remus muttered. 

“We only have one day,” Peter said. “We should make a list.” 

“I got it,” he said, pulling out his notebook from his bag. He wasn’t exactly sure why he brought it. Just that he felt like he had too, like what was written inside of it was a part of him, so Remus just . . . did. 

He scribbled down the options on a blank page.

“Okay, we have the Big Ben, the London Eye, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Westminster Abbey, the Shard, Piccadilly Circus, and Kensington Palace,” Remus said. “Plus lunch and dinner. And the time we’ll spend on the train.” 

“And pictures for Instagram,” Sirius added. “We have to brag about this trip. And show off how hot we all look.” 

He rolled his eyes, trying to fight off the bloody rising to his cheeks. It wasn’t working. “Fine. And that.” 

“We don’t have to go to Kensington Palace,” James said. Remus crossed it off the list. 

“I mean, Piccadilly is really close to SoHo, so we can just cram that in with lunch,” Sirius pointed out. 

“Do we have to go to the London Eye?” Lily asked. “It’s cool, but it’s thirty minutes long. And the lines are murder.” 

“We’ll go if we have time,” Peter said. Remus wrote it down. 

“Oh, add Kew Gardens to the list,” she said. “It’s really pretty. And it won’t take too long if we run out of time.” 

“Okay, now we have the Big Ben, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the dungeons, the Shard, Piccadilly, Kew Gardens, and the London Eye if we have time,” he said. “Does that work for everyone?” 

“Hell yes it does,” James said, a spark in his eye. “Now let's get on the train! We have places to visit, people!” 

It wasn’t too hard to decipher the London train system. Soon enough, they were getting off the station closest to the iconic clock tower. Remus was lying if he said he wasn’t excited.  

“Look!” Sirius yelled, pointing. “A big-ass clock!” 

He snorted. “I would say to have some respect, but you’re right.” 

“Please, Moony. I’m always right.” 

Remus pulled out his phone, snapping a picture of the clock. 

“James, take a photo of me in front of the clock,” Lily said, handing her phone to James and posing in front of Big Ben. 

“Yesss, daaahhhling,” James yelled, taking photos. 

Sirius put his hands on his hips. It was so annoying, how he could look so handsome accidentally. “Prongs, you know the nickname ‘darling’ belongs to the gays.”   

“Daaahhhling and darling are two very different things, Padfoot.” 

Next, they got on the train to go to the V&A Museum. Remus actually knew what the museum was, partially because he had done some research on London when they bought the tickets and partially because Lily knew a lot about it. 

“I like museums,” Lily said as they walked up to the museum. “And art history, stuff like that. It's one of my minors, actually.” 

“That’s so cool,” James replied genuinely. Lily smiled at him, and he stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk. 

They paid the fee, walking into the museum. There were so many exhibits it almost made Remus’ head spin. Books and architecture and fashion and history. He didn’t know where to start. 

Until Sirius slid his arm through his, linking them at the elbows, and pulled him along for the second time that day. 

“Where should we go first?” he asked. “Books? Jewelry? That sounds shiny. Ooooh, maybe fashion.” 

“Fashion sounds good,” Remus said. He could tell his face was turning pink. “Where did the others go?” 

“Lily wanted to look at the architecture exhibit, and James followed her. Peter’s looking at the jewelry, I think. Fashion’s this way.”  

The exhibit was way more interesting than he thought it would be. It had clothing from hundreds of years back. Some of them looked cool, and some looked downright stupid. 

“Moony, look at this,” Sirius said. He pointed at a hot pink dress from the 50s. “Someone actually wore this.”  

“The color is disgusting, but the actual design is nice,” he said. “Did you see that dress from England in the 1700s?” 

“Oh totally. We should bring those back. It would make it so much easier to steal TVs that way.” 

Remus gave him a look, raising his eyebrows. “Is that seriously the first thing you thought of when you saw the dress? Stealing TVs?”

“What can I say,” Sirius answered. “Thievery is sexy.” 

What was really sexy was the way Sirius stared at the artwork, at the fashion pieces in the museum, like they were all that mattered to him. Like there was nothing else in the world that existed besides him and the piece. 

Remus didn’t say anything. It was a museum, after all. He was supposed to keep quiet. 

“You know, I was surprised that you wanted to go to the fashion exhibit,” Sirius said, an hour later, as they walked out of the museum. James, Lily, and Peter had joined up with them in a manuscript exhibit. “It didn’t seem like something you would be interested in.” 

“It isn’t,” he said. “But you were really interested in it, so I wanted to see it.”  

Wait. Was that too much? Did he accidentally expose himself?

“Oh,” Sirius replied, blinking almost owlishly. “. . . okay.” 

So he didn’t. Good. 

Sometimes Remus wondered if it would be better if he just told Sirius he liked him. At least then he could get it off his chest, not have to worry about it anymore. But he couldn’t risk losing their friendship, or Sirius hating him. It was too horrible to even think about. 

“So, where are we going next?” Lily asked. “The dungeons, right?”  

He quickly checked his notebook. “Yeah.” 

“But I’m hungryyyy,” James whined playfully. 

“It is past lunchtime,” Peter said. “We could get lunch in the circus place and go to the dungeons after.” 

“That’s a good idea,” Lily said, glancing at the train map on her phone. “We’ll just have to take the red line to get to Piccadilly.”

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” Sirius asked. “Lets go! We don’t have any time to waste!” 

“You weren’t saying that when you were ogling the bloody jewelry,” Remus muttered under his breath, but he ran after him. 

They got strange looks as they ran toward the train station. With James and Sirius, it was probably pretty obvious they were tourists. 

A few minutes later, they were stepping off the train in Piccadilly. 

“I don’t understand why it’s called Piccadilly Circus,” Peter said, as they found their way back above ground. “Where’s the circus? And why is it called Soho?”   

“I don’t think there is one,” he replied. “And Soho represents South of Houston Street.” 

“You’ve never been to London before, how did you know that?” James asked. “I’ve been like, a bloody lot of times, and I didn’t know that.”  

“I did a little research.” 

“Nerd,” Sirius said. “Always and forever. Where are we eating? I’ve seen a million cafes since we got here, and that was five seconds ago.” 

“Drama queen.” 

“You know it, honey.” 

Remus almost tripped, his face flushing. Honey . Shit. 

They eventually decided on a cute little cafe in the heart of Piccadilly. It was mainly Italian (because there were a lot of Italian places there, weirdly) but did sell the classic English fish and chips. That was the reason James and Lily insisted on going there. It was a miracle that they agreed on something, so they just went with it. 

“We should do this more often,” James said, digging into his fried fish. 

“Spend all our money in London and go broke?” Sirius asked, smirking. 

“No. We should just go to London more often, to hang out. It isn’t that far, and it’s really fun.” 

He had a good point. Going to London with his best friends had been amazing. Being able to run around the city like the teenagers they were, seeing the sights, having so much fun Remus couldn’t wrap his head around it. 

“We really should,” he agreed. “We’ll all be near London for university. We can hang out on the weekends. Make a little mischief.” 

“Our Remus, suggesting mischief making? Sirius, I think we broke him,” James said. 

“Nah,” Sirius replied. “He’s always been this way. Just too good at hiding it.” 

“Life’s easier when you’re not hiding,” Peter said quietly.  

James, that same spark still glowing in his hazel eyes, held up his drink. “To life!”  

Sirius, getting the message, did the same. “To our adventures. May they never end.” 

Peter was next. “To our friendship.” 

“To making mischief,” Remus said, the feeling of camaraderie sweeping him off his feet. He raised his chocolate milkshake. “The world is better for it.” 

All four of them turned to Lily, who was grinning. 

“To music, which brought us together,” she said, raising her glass. “And to winning that competition tomorrow!” 

The five of them clinked their glasses together, laughing and cheering. He couldn’t stop smiling.  

This had to have been the best day of Remus’ life.

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

This was the best day of Sirius’ bloody life. 

All day, he had been running through the streets of London with his best friends. They had gone to the Big Ben, visited a museum that he had surprisingly liked, and annoyed pretty much everyone they came across. They talked and laughed and made a strangely sentimental sort-of speech. They had fun . 

The last time he had made a proper trip to London, he had been with his birth-givers. It had been a week of uncomfortable clothes and going to places he hated and repressed anger. It wasn’t a good time. This was. 

The only thing that was bad about that day was how he couldn’t stop thinking about Remus. His leg pressed against his in the cab, him telling Sirius he was interested in the fashion exhibit because he was, his eyes lighting up when James cracked a joke. Remus, Remus, Remus. 

Don’t think about him, he thought. It doesn’t help you. 

After lunch, they had headed straight for the London dungeons, which was now one of Sirius’ favorite places. It was a little spooky, the drop ride had made Sirius cheer and Peter shriek, and Remus had liked that he learned stuff about London’s history while there. Plus, now he had a plague doll plushie, which had become one of the best things he owned. 

“I know I’ve only had Pest for a couple minutes, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself,” he had announced. James had punched him in the arm. 

They had then decided to skip the Shard (because the only things it had going for it was that it was tall) and head off to Kew Gardens instead. They had taken about a million pictures in the colorful flowers, and a certain person had looked so beautiful Sirius’ heart threatened to burst out of his chest. Then they had gotten kicked out because they were being too loud. He still thought that was stupid (it was a garden and they were outside, how in the bloody world were they being too loud) but they hadn’t pressed it.  

After a ride on the London Eye, which they had agreed was fun but they wouldn’t do it again, they had headed off to dinner. 

“No drinking,” James had said. “If any of you have a hangover tomorrow, I will steal your knees. Besides Peter.” 

“Prongs’ being responsible for once,” Sirius had stage whispered behind his hand to Lily. She snorted. 

They had gotten dinner at a restaurant near their hotel, luckily not getting kicked out, and got dessert at a cute little bakery on the same street. Despite James’ words, they had all gotten slightly tipsy. Not enough to have a horrible hangover or do anything stupid, but enough that Sirius felt a little of the pleasant buzz that alcohol brung. 

“We really should do this again,” he said, flopping onto his bed dramatically. The whole band had crammed into his, James’, and Peter’s hotel room. “It was bloody great.” 

“I already said that,” James replied. He was definitely a little tipsy too. “Hey, it’s only nine. If I connect my phone to the TV, we can watch something before we go to bed.” 

“Stranger Things season three!” Lily suggested a little loudly. 

“Why season three?” Remus asked. 

“The summer vibes.” 

“We should watch The Princess and the Frog,” Remus added. His Disney movie addiction was showing. “Or Mulan. Or Big Hero Six!”  

“Big Hero Six is amazing,” James said.

“What about Guardians of the Galaxy?” Sirius suggested. “It’s the best Marvel movie, after all.” 

“No it’s not,” Remus replied. “The best Marvel movie is First Avenger. Everyone knows that.” 

“You are both wrong,” James said. “The best Marvel movie is Thor Ragnarok. It’s hilarious, and everyone in that movie is hot.” 

“This is Captain Marvel erasure,” Lily argued. “Peter, what do you think?” 

“I have something to tell you,” he blurted out. 

The mood in the room immediately shifted. James put down his phone, and they all turned to Peter. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at his feet. His hands were balled into fists in his lap. 

He had been acting a little weird that day, but he was Peter. Sometimes he just did that. 

“What is it?” Remus asked. 

“I . . . I.” 

Okay, this definitely wasn’t Peter being Peter. 

James sat down. “You okay, Wormtail?”

“We’ll be fine with whatever you tell us,” Lily said. 

“I sold our songs!” 

There was a pause. For a few precious seconds, nobody spoke. Peter’s words hung heavy in the air as everyone tried to process them.

Then. 

“You did WHAT!!??” Sirius yelled, shooting up from the bed. He could feel that familiar fire of anger, the one that haunted him throughout his childhood and adolescent years, spark back to life in his chest. 

“Which ones?” James asked. His voice was smooth but deadly, rage lurking behind it. “And to who?” 

“And why?” Lily added. 

“We Are Young and Out of My League,” Peter said, his words tumbling together as he spoke. Of course it was the songs they wrote for the competition. Of fucking course. “I-I didn’t want to, but Bellatrix Lestrange’s parents own my apartment building, and, and they were raising the rent because she asked them to, and we couldn’t afford it, so I had to. I had to. I’m so sorry.” 

“We could’ve helped with your rent!” Lily yelled. 

“Why would my cousin ask you?” Sirius asked. He wanted to destroy something, anything . 

“Because Snape asked her,” Peter answered. He faintly recognized how small his friend sounded, but nothing tangible could stay in his head for long at the point. Just anger. “Because he wanted our songs because he didn’t get Lily.”

“You sold our competition songs to SNAPE?!” James roared. Lily grabbed his arm, but she looked pissed too. 

“When?” Remus asked. The first time he had spoken since Peter had told them the infuriating news. He sounded perfectly calm. Sirius knew him too well to think that he was. 

“A week ago. I, I was g-going to tell you, but I was so, so a-ashamed.” 

“Are you telling me,” Sirius started, his voice a low growl. He hadn’t felt this angry in years, the kind that makes the blood boil in your veins and your chest feel like it’s going to explode. “That you sold the songs we wrote for the competition that is tomorrow to Severus fucking Snape last week, and we’ll have to pay him for everytime we’ve used them for the last week and we won’t be able to use them tomorrow, and you didn’t tell us until now?” 

Peter nodded. 

Sirius punched him in the face. 

It was sloppy and uncoordinated with rage, but it was vicious , and that’s what counted. Peter yelped, bringing his hand up to his now bloody nose.

“Sirius!” James yelled, grabbing him around the waist and yanking him back. Probably to keep him from doing anything else. He didn’t have to worry about that.   

“Get the fuck out,” he said. 

Peter nodded, grabbing his bag and scurrying out like the rat that he was. The room was silent after he left, Peter’s betrayal sucking the words from their mouths. 

“What are we going to do?” James asked. 

Sirius didn’t have the answer to that question. He didn’t want to answer that question. He wanted to punch a wall and destroy something and scream until the rage in his system disappeared. 

He didn’t want to know what would be left when that happened. 

But getting shitfaced would help. 

Sirius ripped away from James and stalked out the door, slamming it behind him. He stormed down all five flights of stairs. He definitely didn’t have the patience for the bloody elevator.  

He had just tasted the night air and started down the sidewalk when he heard someone yelling his name. 

“Sirius! Sirius, wait!” Remus yelled. 

“Leave me alone,” he said, trying his best to ignore him. Even now, he couldn’t. 

“No,” he said breathlessly. He had caught up with him, grabbing his arm. Sirius tore it away. “I’m not leaving you to go get drunk or get in a fight or something like that. No.”

He raised his arms, laughing self-deprecatingly in Remus’ face. “Why not?”  

“What do you mean?”

“Why aren’t you going to leave me, huh?!” Sirius asked. He shouldn’t have been making this all about him, they were all hurt by Peter, but he couldn’t stop the words from spewing out of his mouth. He took a step backward, grinning in a way he knew didn’t meet his eyes. “Everyone does. Everyone leaves me or hurts me or fucking betrays me, and I can never stop them. Never. No matter how much I care about them. Not my parents, not Peter, so why not you?!” 

“Because I’m in love with you!”  

Sirius froze in his tracks. 

“W-What?”

It couldn’t be true. It was too good to be true. 

Was it true?

Remus’ looked shell shocked, like he didn’t believe what he just said, but he pressed on anyway. “I’m in love with you. I love the way your eyes crinkle when you smile, really smile, and I love how you wear your stupid leather jacket even in the summer and I love your little sarcastic comments. I love how much you care about everyone else even though you seem to want to never show it and I love how you’re so dramatic all the time and I love your determination and I love your strength. And I hate how people have hurt you, because you didn’t deserve it, you never have, because you deserve the whole world, and I’m so in love with you it hurts , Sirius.” 

Oh. 

Oh.    

For a moment, the world was quiet. 

And then Sirius was kissing Remus. He had tears on his cheek and had no idea where to put his hands, but none of that matters, because he was kissing Remus . 

And if he thought their drunk kiss was amazing, it didn’t hold a bloody candle to this one. 

Remus tasted like chocolate and beer and tea. His lips were soft and warm, and the kiss was so much better than Sirius could have ever imagined. It made every single nerve in his body come alive. 

After what felt like an eternity and yet not enough time, they broke apart gasping. 

“W-What?” Remus asked. 

“I love you too, Remus,” Sirius said. “I’ve been in love with you for fucking years.” 

“Really?” He sounded so shocked it hurt to hear. “Even with my scars?” 

“I don’t give a shit about your scars. You’re so fucking beautiful I can’t stand it,” he said. “That’s why I kissed you that one night. Why else would I kiss you?” 

“I thought you were just drunk and I was the nearest person around,” Remus confessed. “That’s why I said it was a mistake. I didn’t want you to say it first. Guess I fucked that one up, huh?” 

“A little,” Sirius said. He smiled playfully. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t fix it.”  

And then his lips were on Remus’ again, and his tongue was in his mouth, and Remus was grabbing his ass and Sirius was moaning and grinding against his thigh, and everything else just fell away and he was so hot . 

“If we’re going to continue we should go back inside,” Remus gasped. 

“Yeah probably. I don’t want to stop.” 

“Me . . . neither.”  

Eventually, they stumbled through the lobby of the hotel and into the elevator together, holding hands and snogging when they could. Kissing Remus, which he could now do. Sirius never wanted to stop. 

The two of them, giggling a little, tumbled into Remus’ room and into his bed. He yanked off his shirt, not caring if he ripped it. 

“Get that off,” Sirius growled at Remus, who was still clothed.

“Your wish is my command,” he whispered, pulling off his shirt. Sirius ran his hands down his chest, pulling him down to suck hickeys across his collarbone. The skin was hot, and Remus moaned, and he wanted to bottle the sound.

He kept his lips against Remus’ collarbone and neck, but moved his hands further down, until they undid the button and zipper of his tented jeans. 

He suddenly growled and flipped them over, Sirius now straddling his hips. Whoa.  

Remus looked up at him, a question in his brown eyes.

“Can I-“

“Yes,” Sirius said. “Take them off .” 

He nodded, quickly undoing his button and pulling down his zipper, pressing his hand to the front of his boxers. 

Sirius gasped at the feeling. “Oh, fuck. Remus, please, touch me.” The words would be embarrassing with anybody else, but not with him. Never with him. 

He immediately pulled down the front of his and Sirius’ boxers, taking them both in his hand. Fuck.  

“Oh yes, Remus, god,”’ he whimpered, burying his face in his shoulder and rocking into his hand. The other boy was making similar noises, which turned Sirius on beyond belief. “I’m not gonna -ah- last.” 

“Neither am I,” Remus gasped, twisting his wrist in a way that had them both crying out. His hand got faster and faster and tightened and-

Sirius saw stars, arching into him and moaning through his orgasm. Remus followed him, his hips stilling after a few seconds.

When he was strong enough to move, he flopped down onto the bed beside him. Remus through an arm over him, and he was so full of love he thought he would burst.

“Was that good?” he asked, voice still soft. 

“Good? That was great,” Sirius said. He leaned into Remus and pulled the front of his boxers back up, eyes drooping.  

“Are you going to sleep?” He couldn’t see him, but his voice was very amused. “It’s pretty early.” 

“Today was tiring,” he murmured. “And you are very good at sex. G’night. Love you.” 

It still thrilled him that he could just tell Remus that. It wasn’t impossible anymore. 

“I love you too, Sirius. Sweet dreams.” 

Today might not have been the best day of Sirius’ life after all. But it was one of the best, and that was what mattered. 

Chapter Text

REMUS

When Remus woke up, his face was buried in Sirus’ shoulder. This time, he didn’t move away. This time, he snuggled in deeper, because he could do that now. 

He told Sirius he loved him. And Sirius somehow loved him back, and they had kissed. And then they had gone further than kissing. Much further. 

Peter’s betrayal, and not being sure of what they were going to do for the competition, put a little bit of a dampen on Remus’ mood, but he still felt lighter than he had for a while. 

Sirius loved him. 

He couldn’t stop smiling. 

After a few more minutes of bliss, he glanced at the clock. Eight in the morning. Four hours before the competition started. 

They had to get up. 

“Sirius,” he murmured. “We have to get up.” 

“Don’t wanna,” Sirius groaned, burying himself deeper into Remus’ arms. He could feel blood rushing to his cheeks. “You’re warm. Like a heater.”

“I didn’t know you were a cuddler.”

“Well, I am. Deal with it.” 

“It’s not a bad thing, I think it's cute,” he said, pulling him closer. “I love it. I love you.”

“Oh,” Sirius said, his voice muffled against his shoulder. “I love you too.” 

Remus wondered if he had ever been this happy. 

Then there was a knock at the door. 

“Remus?” someone asked. James. Fuck. “Is Sirius with you? He didn’t come back to our room last night, and I’m really worried about him.” 

Sirius immediately sat up, eyes wide. They were both wearing their boxers, so at least they weren’t completely naked, but they were both showing a lot of skin. And he had very prominent hickies on his collarbone and neck. They both had. 

They were screwed. 

“Yeah!” Remus said, trying to keep his voice steady. “Yeah, he slept in my room last night.” 

“What do I do?” Sirius whispered furiously. 

“Act natural,” he whispered back. “Say something.” 

Sirius nodded. “Yeah Prongs, I’m fine! No need to worry!” His voice was slightly higher-pitched with nervousness. 

“Oh, okay,” James said. He still sounded a little uncertain. “Come into our room after you guys get ready. We gotta figure out what to do.”  

“We will!” Remus yelled. 

The two of them stayed quiet until they heard footsteps getting fainter every second. They both breathed a sigh of relief.  

“We are going to tell them, right?” Sirius asked, a little quietly. “About us?”

“Of course,” Remus said. “Are we . . . do you want to . . .?” 

He wasn’t sure why he was nervous. They had literally had sex last night, and confessed their love for each other. Asking him about their relationship status shouldn't be as scary after that.

“What?”

He took a deep breath. Screw it. “Are we boyfriends? Do you want to be boyfriends?”

All his worries dissipated when Sirius smiled, lighting up his entire face, like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. He casually straddled Remus, like it was no big deal and didn’t make his brain short circuit. “Of course I want us to be boyfriends. You think I would make those sounds last night for just any other person?” 

“You did sound pretty last night,” he said, gently grabbing his boyfriend’s hips and kissing him. His boyfriend . 

He was dating Sirius Black. 

Sirius pressed closer to him, deepening the kiss and sticking his tongue in Remus’ mouth. Turns out his boyfriend was a horny little shit. He wasn’t very surprised. 

What did surprise him was locking eyes with someone who was not Sirius Black. Someone holding a key card in his hand, who was looking very very surprised. Someone who was not supposed to be there. 

James. 

Fuck.

He shoved Sirius off of him frantically. 

“What’re you-JAMES!?” Sirius shouted, getting tangled in the sheets and then falling off the bed with a thump. 

“Lily wanted me to get her headphones. . .” James said, still gaping. “You two, you, you guys SHAGGED?! You’re together?”

“Are you trying to tell everyone in the bloody hotel?!” Sirius asked, standing up.  

“But yeah,” Remus said. He wondered if he could still salvage the situation. Probably not. “We’re dating.” 

The room was silent for a moment. 

Then James’ face broke out into a huge grin. 

“FUCKING FINALLY,” he yelled. He sounded ecstatic, ecstatic and relieved. 

Sirius froze. “What?”  

“I’ve been waiting for this day for bloody years!” James said, still grinning. “Do you know what it was like, watching you two skirt around each other? It was so painfully obvious that you two liked each other, it was bloody torture for everyone!” 

“It wasn’t that obvious,” Remus protested. 

James shot him a look. “Trust me, it was worse than Marlene and Dorcas. It was bad . Who confessed first?” 

“Remus,” Sirius said. James’ smile got wider, which he didn’t think was possible. 

“Lily, you owe me 40 pounds!” he yelled giddily, leaning out the door of their room. 

“You were betting on us?!” Sirius asked furiously. 

“The whole school was,” James said delightedly. “I’m going to be rich after this. Like, everyone owes me money. Lily, c’mon!”  

“What?” she asked, stomping into their room. She immediately shrieked, slapping her hands over her eyes. Remus suddenly remembered neither he or Sirius were wearing shirts or pants. 

“Sirius and Remus finally got their shit together and had sex,” James said, as Remus quickly got dressed. Sirius did the same. “Remus confessed first, so you owe me money.” 

Lily’s eyes widened as she uncovered them. “Are you serious? Finally? I’m not even upset about the money if they’re finally together.” 

“Stop talking about us like we’re not right here,” Sirius said. “We were that obvious?”

Lily nodded. “So obvious. I knew since last year, and I didn’t even join the band until a month ago. Dorcas and Alice both owe me money.” 

“The whole school’s gonna be so relieved.” 

“No duh, James.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be talking about what we’re going to do for the competition?” Remus asked. He really didn’t want to hear about how apparently the whole school knew he was in love with his boyfriend before they did. Although talking about what they were going to do now that Peter had sold their songs wasn’t that much better. 

“Oh yeah,” James said. “What are we going to do?” 

“We could use our old songs,” Sirius suggested. “They’re not that hard to learn.” 

“None of them are as good as Out of My League or We Are Young though.” 

“It’s the only choice we have, unless we can pull a song out of our asses.” 

Uh oh. 

Remus really didn’t want to show them. The song was incorrect, after all. He knew that now. He just didn’t know that when he was writing it. 

But he had to. They were his friends, and he would be a horrible friend and bandmate if he didn’t at least bring it up. 

“We might be able to,” Remus said. 

All three of them looked over at him. 

“What do you mean?” Lily asked. 

“I . . . kind of wrote a song. We can use it, if it’s good enough. We own this one.”

He pulled his notebook out of his bag and handed it to James, who flipped it open and started to read. 

Remus wasn’t sure if he wanted them to use the song. It was personal, so personal, but he kind of . . . wanted to sing it with his band. Wanted to see how the lyrics sounded sang by Lily, how Sirius would strum the chords on his guitar. How it would sound on stage, under the bright lights. 

James closed the notebook and looked up at him. 

“This is pretty personal,” he said. “But it’s really good. Are you sure you want us to sing it?”

Remus looked around him, at his bandmates, his best friends, his boyfriend. James, their steadfast leader, always ready with a helping hand and a joyful laugh. Lily Evans, her hair like a battle flag behind her, funny and brave and glowing with purpose. 

And Sirius. Sirius, with his witty remarks and cocky grin and leather jackets. Sirius, who burned with a passion that you could never put out. Sirius, who had snogged him like there was no tomorrow. Sirius, who he loved . 

Remus nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I want us to sing it.” 

James smiled, wide and determined. “Okay. Let's get ready to practice, people!” 

Chapter Text

SIRIUS

They had been practicing for hours. 

Sirius tried not to think about how they wouldn’t need to have practiced desperately if Peter hadn’t stabbed them in the back and sold their songs. He was failing. It was a little hard to not be petty when the wound was still so fresh. 

But they had salvaged the situation. Sort of. They were using one of their old songs (which wasn’t that great, but it was all that they had) and Remus’ song. 

Remus’ song. God. It was beautiful. It wasn’t something that they would have written together, but that was what made it so amazing. It was new, and it was different. 

But that didn’t make it any less hard, even a little painful, to hear. The lyrics still rang in his ear, hours after he first read them scribbled into Remus’ notebook.

Still, they were going to sing it. All of them loved it, and it was better than any of their old stuff. And Sirius was still impressed with his boyfriend that he wrote it and composed it that fast, all on his own. He wasn’t surprised though. Remus was just that amazing. 

“Sirius, c’mon!” James yelled, waving him over to the cab. He followed, getting in and sitting next to Remus. Their guitars sat on their laps. This time, he grabbed his hand, and Remus smiled at him. 

God, he was so in love. 

“Lily, I think they’re gonna get bloody worse now that they’re together,” James said, an infuriating smile on his face. “They’re staring into each other’s eyes and getting all gooey.”  

“Fuck off,” he replied, kissing his boyfriend on the mouth. “I waited a long time for this.”

“We know,” Lily and James said. 

Soon enough, they got to the theater where they were going to be performing. It was big, bigger than the ones they’d already performed in. Bigger than anywhere they’d performed in. 

He hated how nervous he already was. He hated that he didn’t know why he was so nervous. 

“Hi, we’re here for the band competition,” James said to the worker in the front. “We’re the Marauders.” 

“Hello,” she said pleasantly, in the way Sirius remembered Remus talking to customers when he visited him at work once. She stood up, leading them into the theater. “The green room is just this way. Stay in there and do whatever you like. The bathrooms are over there. Good luck!” 

“Thanks,” James replied. 

Being in this green room was a little strange. For the first two stages, they were packed with people, noise in every corner of the room. It was still a little noisy, but definitely not as noisy as before, and there weren’t that many people in the room. 

They got themselves seated in one corner. Sirius quickly scoped out the competition. A dark-skinned man who looked like he was in his 20s with some others his age, and an all girl band that looked slightly frightening. He sighed in relief. 

“Great news,” he said. “Snape’s bitch-ass isn’t here.”

“Good,” Lily replied, a new fire in her eyes. “If he was I’d get kicked out for beating the bloody shit out of him.”  

The look that James gave her after she said that was a look Sirius had never seen him give anyone.  

Lily pulled out her phone and headphones to listen to some recording (which he never saw her take) like she had done the previous two times. This time, she handed an earbud to James, who took it. 

He looked at Remus, hoping his boyfriend knew what he was thinking. From the glint in Remus’ eye, he probably did.   

“Should we bet on them too?” Sirius asked. 

“It would only be fair,” he replied, smiling. No matter how many times he saw that smile, it would always sweep him off his feet. 

Someone opened the door to the green room, a worker in black uniform. “The Gossips? It’s your turn.”

The girl band stood up, all of them following her through the door. The competition was starting. They would have to go up soon. 

Remus’ expression changed, from soft and sweet to more . . . concerned. Uh oh. “Are you okay? You’ve been acting weird. And don’t lie. I’ll know if you do.” 

Well, he had to scrap that plan. 

“I just . . . I don’t know,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Everything feels weird. Not using our songs. But it’s more than that. Like something’s missing.” 

Wow. Maybe sharing your feelings did help. Sirius felt like a weight, even though it was small, was lifted off of his chest. 

He still didn’t like it though. 

“Is it Peter?” Remus asked gently. 

Sirius’ eyes widened, and he nodded. No matter how much he didn’t want to think about him, it was Peter. “Yeah. It’s weird, not having him around. How we’re not friends anymore, I guess.” 

“We have all been best friends since we were eleven,” he said. “It would be weird to not feel weird about it. Like we’re missing a limb.” 

“I miss him,” Sirius confessed. “Even though I shouldn’t. It was the same thing with my birth-givers.” 

Remus grabbed his hand. “So do I. It’s not a bad thing, I don’t think. It’s just weird. We’ll probably get over it, or most of it, with time.” 

“How are you so good with words?” he asked, leaning against him. “I’m sorry to dump all this on you. You aren’t my therapist.” 

“I’m your boyfriend. I want to help.” 

Sirius wondered how red his face was. Probably very very red. 

“Can I ask you a question then?” 

Remus nodded. 

“It’s about the song,” Sirius said. “Did I really make you feel like that? Because you said you wrote it recently.” 

It was a few seconds before Remus spoke again. He would be lying if that didn’t make him nervous. He would never forgive himself if he made the love of his life feel like that. Never.

“Not really,” he finally answered. “The lyrics were a lot more dramatic then I felt. But it was after the whole drunk kiss fiasco, which was still my fault, and I was yearning and a little bitter. Especially because I thought you only wanted me because you were drunk. But I was never as bitter as the song makes it out to be, I promise. I’m sorry that it made you nervous.”  

Goddamnit, how did he know? 

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Sirius said, kissing Remus again. “Besides, you wrote a bloody good song out of the pain.” 

“Thanks?” 

He winked at him. “You’re welcome.” 

“The Marauders?” the same worker asked, hanging out the door. “You guys are up.” 

It was time. 

Lily and James stood up, him handing her the earbud back. Remus, still holding his hand, stood up next and pulled him up with him. 

“I would give a motivational speech, but we don’t have the time,” James said, his tone mischievous. “So I’ll just say this.” 

Remus’ eyes widened. “No. Don’t you DARE say it James-” 

“Fuck shit up out there and don’t mess up,” James said, darting off to the drum set before Remus could actually throw him off the stage. 

Because they were on the stage now. 

Sirius quickly got himself situated on Lily’s right, frowning as he had to pull away from Remus. He grabbed his pick from his pocket, gripping it tight. 

Don’t fail me now. 

He glanced at the judges as Lily introduced them and their new songs. The same four people from the second stage. They had liked their band before. Hopefully they would like them again. 

James started the song with his drum beat, as steady as always. Sirius strummed his guitar, and Lily started to sing, and he threw himself into the music.

Lily’s voice had definitely improved the song (he still wasn’t sure how she memorized it and sang it perfectly just hours after first learning it), but even so, it was just okay. Not like the songs they had actually planned to sing. Not like the song they were going to sing next. 

Their mediocre song was over before he knew it. 

Lily stepped away from the mic stand and went over to the piano in the corner of the stage. 

Wait, what? He thought. What is she doing?    

Then Remus stepped up to the mic stand, the one Lily used to be using. That wasn’t planned. Or at least, if they planned it, he wasn’t in on it. 

His boyfriend glanced back at him and smiled mischievously. Sirius tried to ignore how hot that was. They definitely planned whatever this was in secret. 

Lily started off on the piano, and he carefully strummed his guitar. 

And then Remus started to sing. 

“Love of my life, you’ve hurt me,” he sang, and it was the best thing Sirius had ever fucking heard. “You’ve broken my heart and now you leave me.” 

It was gentle and sweet and so so tender, like even on stage Remus was still holding him. Sirius was so stunned by him that he almost forgot to play his guitar. He felt the words in his bones, weaving into his muscles and finding their way into his lungs, until it was like he was breathing the song. Until he didn’t know where he ended and it began. 

He remembered saying that they should have Remus sing more in their songs, when just the two of them were writing the chorus for We Are Young together, and wondered if he had brought this onto himself. 

Remus continued singing. “When I grow older I will be there at your side to remind you how I still love you.” 

“I still love you,” James and Sirius echoed. 

He was never going to recover from this. 

“Love of my life,” Remus sang, and he glanced back at Sirius. The look in his eyes was so raw , and if Sirius had any doubts before, he didn’t have any now. His legs almost gave out from the weight of the feeling, from being so in love it hurt. “Love of my life.” 

The song ended softly, just like how it began.  

“Thank you,” one of the judges said, the one with corn hair. “We’ll be announcing the winner here soon, so please go wait in the audience.”

A worker led them offstage. None of them talked until they reached the normal entrance to the theater, when the worker left them. 

Sirius stared at Remus, trying to find the words. He stared back. 

“Y-You, you, you,” he started, filled with anger and joy and so much love . “You motherfucker !” 

And then he grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him in and snogging him. 

“You were right, James,” he could hear Lily say. “They’re definitely worse now.” 

Sirius broke away from Remus, still holding his hands. “This is revenge for betting on us.” 

“You’re one to talk, Padfoot,” James said. “I know you got 50 pounds out of betting on Frank and Alice. And Lily, you’re lucky. You didn’t have to walk in on them snogging. Sirius was straddling Remus. It was bad.” 

“You walked in on us,” Remus protested. “You didn’t even knock.” 

“I didn’t know you guys were one step away from fucking!” 

“Guys!” Lily said. “We have to go into the theater. James, please stop talking about their sex life.” 

Sirius snorted. “Lily, I love you. I love Remus more though.” 

“We know,” James and Lily said. 

---

The last band (he was pretty sure they were called Kingsley and the Shacklebolts) had stopped playing fifteen minutes ago. They had been really good, a mixture of soul and classic rock, and had gotten seated with the rest of them. 

The judges still hadn’t said anything about who won. It was making all of them very jittery. 

Remus was playing with his pick in one hand, the other was in Sirius’ lap. Lily was listening to music, and James was talking to her. Probably just to talk, because she definitely wasn’t listening. 

“Do you think we’re going to win?” Remus asked him, out of the blue. 

Sirius thought about it. “I don’t know. I hope so.” 

Finally, all four of the judges came out on stage. Lily ripped the earbuds out of her ear. James and Remus sat up straighter. Sirius found himself gripping Remus’ hand tighter. 

He hadn’t known how much he wanted to win until that moment. 

“After a lot of deliberation,” the corn haired man started, his voice loud and clear. “And I mean a lot, we have decided upon a winner.” 

The theater buzzed with anticipation. 

“The winner of the Ministry Band Competition is Kingsley and the Shacklebolts!” the man announced. 

Oh. 

Sirius wasn’t surprised. They had been good, really good. And they were older, more experienced. 

But he would be bloody lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed. 

This was their chance. He wasn’t sure when another one like this one would come around. 

The winning band was shouting and hugging each other. Sirius wasn’t quite sure what to do, besides sit there and hold Remus’ hand. 

“We should probably go,” James said, quieter than he had been in a while. “Everyone is leaving.” 

The four of them got up and started walking out of the theater, like zombies or puppets or something equally bad. Sirius didn’t want to go back home, to disappointment and normal life and something other than this.  

“Well,” Lily said. “We gave it our all. That’s all that we can do.” 

“That’s true,” Remus said. “I still feel like we could have done something else.” 

“So do I ,” she admitted. “Let's just go home.” 

They had just exited the theater when they heard someone. 

“Excuse me!” someone from behind them called. Sirius turned around, and so did the rest of them. “Excuse me! You guys are the Marauders, correct?”

It was an older man. His beard was long and white, and his clothes looked strange, but there was a twinkle in his eye that made Sirius want to trust him. Strange. He didn’t normally trust adults. He was followed by an older, stern looking woman. 

“That’s us,” James said. 

“It’s wonderful to meet you,” the man said. “Sorry to stop you on your way out, but I just had to say I loved your sound. And, what was that thing the kids these days say, Minerva?” 

“Vibe, sir,” the woman said, sounding very exasperated. 

“Yes, that’s it! I loved your vibe,” he continued. “You all truly care about each other, and it shows. It’s wonderful, just wonderful. I was wondering if you would like to stay in London for a couple more days.”  

“Thank you, but why?” Lily asked. 

“Oh, of course, I forgot to tell you. My name is Albus Dumbledore, and this is my co-worker Minerva McGonagall. I run a record company called The Order. I really would like to hear more of you guys,” Dumbledore explained. James’ and Lily’s eyes widened, almost comically. They probably knew what that meant. Sirius did not. 

He fished something out of his pocket and handed it to James. A business card. “Here. Think about it, and call us later about your decision. We’ll pay for any train tickets and hotel rooms, of course. 

“I do hope you call though,” he continued. “Your last song was beautiful. But I shouldn’t be holding you up any more. Thank you so much for your time.” 

“It, it was no problem, sir,” James said. “Thank you.” 

Dumbledore and McGonagall were gone faster then they had appeared. 

“What was that?” Sirius asked. 

In response, James screamed loud enough to wake the bloody dead. He was jumping up and down giddily, like a child. Lily joined him, laughing and cheering.  

“Was that good?” Remus asked. 

“Was that good?” James repeated. “ Albus Dumbledore just told us to call him! Albus fucking Dumbledore!” 

“From The Order Records!” Lily added. “They’ve signed Newt Scamander! Nicholas Flamel!” 

Those artists were famous. Really famous, with great music. 

“Albus Dumbledore used to be really famous in the 70s,” James said. “Don’t you get it, guys? They’re so much better the Ministry Records it’s crazy. This is our chance!” 

Another chance. A chance to make music, be a proper band. 

Maybe they weren’t screwed after all. 

“So we’re staying in London for one more day?” Sirius asked. He was trying not to get his hopes up, and failing miserably. 

James nodded, grinning wide. “Yeah. Maybe longer. C’mon, we gotta celebrate. Let’s get lunch!” 

He and Lily started down the street, probably chatting about record labels and other nerdy music things. They really were perfect for each other. 

“So all hope isn’t lost?” Remus asked. His voice was playful, but there was something under it. Desire. Wanting. 

“I guess not,” Sirius said. “Besides, I could never be truly disappointed. I have you now, remember? Love of my life?” 

Remus flushed scarlet, but nodded. “Of course I do, love of my life.” 

Sirius reached out, and Remus took his hand. Together, they started down the street after James and Lily. 

Everything’s gonna be okay , Sirius thought, and for one of the first times in his life he believed himself. Everything’s going to be just fine. 

Chapter Text

REMUS

ONE YEAR LATER

Sirius Black was the catalyst, as he often was. 

He had made an innocent suggestion on a warm summer night, two years ago, to start a band. They all knew some sort of instrument, so why not?

What they hadn’t known two years ago was that Sirius’ suggestion would change their lives. Remus sometimes wondered what his life would be like if he hadn’t made it. 

Definitely not as good. 

“Sirius!” he yelled, leaning into the bathroom. “We’re gonna be late.” 

“If James thinks we’re gonna be on time, he doesn’t know me very well,” Sirius said, carefully finishing styling his hair. “How do I look?” 

He was wearing tight black jeans, his Queen t-shirt tucked into it, and his hair was very intentionally ruffled. He really wanted to snog the living daylights out of him, but that would mess up the whole look. 

“You look stunning,” Remus answered honestly. “You always do. Now c’mon. We have a party to go to, and the cab’s waiting outside.” 

He grabbed his boyfriend’s hand and they walked out of Sirius’ apartment together, piling into the cab. Boyfriend. They had been dating for almost a year now, and Remus still never got tired of that wonderful word. 

It had been a little bit of a struggle, dating when they were going to different schools and busy with schoolwork. Luckily, they were both in London or very close to it, and they were very committed to the relationship, so it had worked out. It was still the best year of his life, even with the struggles. 

Plus, they had seen each other for work. 

And Remus was moving in with him soon. He would be able to see his smile every morning, kiss him every night before they went to sleep. He couldn’t bloody wait. 

“What’re you thinking about?” Sirius asked him, voice low and a little flirty. 

“You,” he said. “Us. How happy I am. I never thought this would be possible.” 

“Neither did I. We were both wrong, huh?” 

“I’ve never been so happy to be wrong.” 

“Same,” he said, leaning over and softly kissing him on the lips. “I love you. So much.” 

“I love you too, love of my life.” 

Sirius smiled against his lips at the nickname, kissing him again. And again. And again.

“Hey, lovebirds in the back,” their driver said. Oops. They had forgotten about him. “We’re here.” 

Sure enough, they were parked in front of The Order Records. The two of them got out of the taxi, and Remus tipped their driver extra. Hearing their declarations of love and then hearing them make out probably wasn’t pleasant. 

“Let’s go,” Sirius said, tugging on his hand and walking toward the building. “We have a party to go to, remember? James is already texting me to ask where we are.” 

“We wouldn’t be late if you weren’t busy styling your hair,” he teased, following him in. 

“Hey, this hair is a gift from bloody god. I have to take care of it. Plus, I know you think I look hot right now.” 

“I always think you look hot,” Remus whispered, grabbing his ass. Sirius blushed, but smirked. Another perk of them dating. And moving in.  

“Oh, hullo Remus! Hullo Sirius,” greeted one of the workers, Rubeus Hagrid. He still wasn’t quite sure what his job was, except that he was always around and he was always kind. And he was tall as fuck. “I guess you guys are here for the party?” 

“Yup,” Sirius said. “Top floor right?” 

Hagrid nodded, smiling at them. Remus had learned that Dumbledore had personally hired almost every worker there, and apparently he had impeccable judgement, because all of the people who worked at The Order were great at their jobs and great human beings. Besides that dumbass Gilderoy Lockhart, but he was pretty sure that was a one time thing. 

“Are you coming?” Remus asked. 

“Later. I have some work to finish up. Have fun, and congratulations!” 

“Thanks,” they both said, getting into the elevator together. Hagrid waved to them until the doors closed. 

Remus didn’t usually love big parties, they weren’t his thing like they were Sirius’ and James’, but he was actually excited for this one. They did have a lot to celebrate, after all. 

Finally, the elevator doors opened to the top floor, revealing closed double doors. 

Sirius glanced at him, gray eyes bright with happiness. “You ready?”

He nodded.  

His boyfriend strolled forward and threw the doors open. 

Inside, a party was in full swing. Streamers and confetti were strewn across the floor and tables. Delicious-looking food sat on tables, and people danced to music coming out of speakers. There was even a bloody bar. 

A banner hanging from the ceiling said, “Happy Album Launch Day!!” 

“Dumbledore really went all out on this,” Sirius said. 

“We did work really hard on it.”  

“Padfoot! Moony!” James yelled from across the room, hopping over a chair to meet them. He had actually dressed up a bit for the party, wearing a button-down with dark jeans. “You’re finally here! Isn’t this party amazing?” 

Sirius nodded. “Finally, people are appreciating our brilliance like they always should have been.” 

For the past year, after they were signed by The Order, they had been working on an album. It had been hours of hard work, commuting and practicing and coming up with lyrics and composing it and recording it. But it was finally finished. 

When the clock struck midnight, The Marauders Map would be out in the world. 

God, Sirius was rubbing off on him. Remus was getting more dramatic by the day. 

“Hey guys!” Lily said. Her hair was pulled up, shining in the light, and she wore a green dress that really brought out her eyes. James still looked at her like she hung the moon and the stars, even more so when they finally started dating last December. Even though their closet idea hadn’t panned out, both him and Sirius had gotten a lot of money that day. “Everyone’s here.” 

“Everyone?” Sirius asked softly. 

She nodded, smiling at him. They had really bonded over family issues over the past year, even though none of them had known about her problems with her sister for a while. “Everyone. Your brother’s on the balcony.”   

His boyfriend’s face lit up, and Remus’ heart skipped a beat. “Can I-”   

“Of course,” he said. “Go.” 

Sirius smiled, letting go of his hand and running out to the balcony. He had barely been able to see Regulus over the last year, with school and the album, so he had to cherish every moment. 

Remus had been a little wary of Regulus at first. He was a friend of Severus Snape’s, their sworn enemy, and had hurt Sirius before. But his boyfriend had said he was improving, and time had shown he was right. He was moving out of Grimmauld Place soon to go to university, which Sirius was thankful for. That place was horrible. 

James looped his arm through Remus’, leading him farther into the party. “You excited about the album?” 

“What do you think?” he answered dryly. His friend rolled his eyes good-naturedly.   

“How did all of our teachers think you were the innocent one? You did just as much shit as the rest of us,” he said. “But it was all, ‘little scarred Remus Lupin, could neeevah pull a prank.’”

“It wasn’t my fault you guys got blamed for my pranks,” Remus replied. “You guys didn’t deny it either. And you have to admit, some of them were really funny.”  

“Oh totally. They were bloody legendary. You’re my and Sirius’ prank prodigy. How did the soap one on the last day of school go?”

“Amazingly. You should have seen my professor’s face. He was so angry.” 

“Oh, I can imagine.”

Remus loved university, he really did, and he didn’t miss their old school much. He did miss going to the same school as all of his friends though, and seeing them everyday. They texted and called and met up all the time, but it wasn’t the same.

When he focused on the real world again, he noticed that James had brought him over to their employers. Remus didn’t even think about that word with disdain anymore. Strange.   

“Hello Remus,” said Dumbledore. He was wearing what could only be described as robes. Over the past year they all had learned how eccentric he was, but how he was also a genius and very kind. “Congratulations on the album.” 

“It’s all thanks to you, sir,” he replied honestly.

“And Minnie,” James added his nickname for Dumbledore’s co-worker and their boss Minerva McGonagal teasingly. Remus was still surprised that she hadn’t killed him for that yet. She was frightening, but they all loved her anyway. 

“You’re welcome,” said McGonagall, appearing out of nowhere. James flinched, and she smiled. “Now go have a good time with your friends. You’ve earned it.” 

“Hey, Remus!” someone yelled. A blonde girl hanging off a couch, champagne glass in hand. Marlene, and Dorcas right next to her. Mary MacDonald was there too, and Frank and Alice and Tonks and the Prewett brothers. All of their oldest friends. 

He mentally thanked Lily Evans’ organizational skills before joining them on the couch. James and Lily followed.

“Hey guys,” he said. “How’s it going?” 

Everyone answered at the same time, so he couldn’t hear anyone’s answers. He snorted. Dumbasses. 

He wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“Are you sure you should be drinking?” Remus asked Marlene. “Remember the last time?”

“I do, thank you very much,” she said. “And I just won’t drink as much tonight.” 

Fabian Prewett sat up, raising his eyebrows. “But what happened the last time she drank? I haven’t heard this story.”

Marlene shot him a dirty look. “Don’t you dare tell him.” 

“She got up on a table and made a speech about women's rights, said fuck the police, and then got on the table again for some reason. And then she fell off,” Dorcas said. “Onto another table.” 

Fabian cackled, rolling off the sofa onto the floor. Mary and Alice just shook their heads. They were probably used to this. 

Marlene gasped dramatically, pressing her hand to her chest. “Betrayed by my own girlfriend! No kisses for you tonight.” 

“Sure.” 

“What did we miss?” Sirius asked, plopping down next to Remus on the sofa and leaning into him. Regulus followed him, sitting down a little awkwardly beside Sirius. 

“Just the story about how Marlene got drunk and fell on a table,” James said. “Remember that night? It was our first performance as a band.” 

Sirius smirked, grabbing Remus’ hand. That night had meant something totally different for them. “How could I forget that?”

“Man, we had some good times,” Lily said. Her head was in James’ lap, and he was playing with her hair. “Remember the lake before the first stage?” 

“Of course, I almost bloody died,” James announced. 

“You did not almost die. You did something stupid and almost got injured.” 

“He and Sirius decided to make a rope swing,” Remus explained to the people that weren’t there. “But the branch James chose wasn’t strong enough, so it broke. Sirius went flying and James almost hit a rock when he fell.” 

“How are you two even still alive without Remus?” Frank asked. 

“It’s been very hard,” James said. “But we have made it so far.” 

“I’ll be surprised if you survive for another year,” Remus replied. “Sirius will, but only because I’m moving in with him.” 

“You two are moving in together?” Marlene asked-shouted, standing up and barely stopping her champagne from getting everywhere. 

Oh. They hadn’t told anyone besides James and Lily that yet. Right. 

“Yeah,” Sirius said. Remus glanced at him. He didn’t seem bothered that he had accidentally spilled the beans. “In two weeks.” 

“Congrats!” Tonks said. That was the proper response. 

The not proper response was some of their friends fishing money out of their pockets and handing it to others. 

Remus was going to commit bloody murder. 

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Sirius said. “Again??” 

“It wasn’t me this time,” James said. 

“I’m sorry, but one night we got together and got drunk and maybe made a few bets,” Dorcas said, pocketing a 20 pound bill. “You guys weren’t the only ones we bet on, if it helps.” 

“Why does this always happen,” Remus groaned. 

“Because you two are so sappy.” 

And it wasn’t James who said it, or Lily, or even Marlene. It was Regulus, who had only seen them together twice. Maybe three times. 

“You’re always holding hands or kissing,” he continued, seemingly not noticing how everyone in their little group was staring at him. “Or staring into each other’s eyes. People can spot you two from a mile away.” 

When he stopped talking, their little group was quiet and were all still staring at him. Regulus turned bright red, staring down at his hands. 

“Sirius’ brother is right!” James announced, raising his champagne glass. When did he get a champagne glass? “They’re obvious as fuck.” 

“Hell yeah,” Tonks added. 

And just like that, Regulus joined their group. He still looked a little guarded, but he was smiling, and Remus was surprised at how happy that made him feel. 

Maybe because when Regulus was happy, Sirius was happy. Maybe because he was actually starting to like Regulus. That was a thought for another time. 

They continued with the stories from school, and something like a mixture of nostalgia and happiness settled in Remus’ stomach as they told the tales. About when Frank almost fell off the roof on a dare in first year (because he wanted to prove he wasn’t chicken). About when Marlene had grabbed Dorcas on the field and snogged her while the whole school watched after they won a football game, and the following exchange of money. About when Mary and Gideon almost got arrested for drunkenly pushing each other in a shopping cart at three in the morning. About the chaos of Halloween. They had so many stories, so many times they did dumb shit just for the sake of doing it. 

That’s what being a teenager was all about.  

Remus missed those golden days, but he also couldn’t wait to see what the future held. 

“Hey, it’s almost midnight,” Alice pointed out. “Your album is almost out!” 

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Marlene said. 

Dorcas gave her a look. “It’s literally the reason we’re here.” 

“I’m sorry, I drank dumb bitch juice this morning.”

Sirius laughed, loud and overjoyed and a little bit tipsy. His cheeks were pink and his hair had gotten messed up somewhere in there, but he still looked breathtaking. He always had, and he always would. “I’ll drink to that.” 

“A toast!” James exclaimed, standing up and raising his drink. This wasn’t to their little group of university students, this was to everyone at the party. 

Everyone fell silent, like they always did when James spoke.  

“To friends, old and new,” he said. He always had a way with words. “May we be connected always.” 

“To friends!” everyone repeated, raising their glasses and drinking. It reminded Remus a little of a different day and different circumstances, in a small cafe in the heart of London. Some of the same people had been there, the same flaming hair and laughing hazel eyes and the hands that ended up in his own more times than not, but also someone else. 

He had checked on Peter after a few months, when he had some time to accept the betrayal. Getting used to the fact that his friend of seven years suddenly wasn’t his friend anymore hadn’t been easy, but knowing that his ex-friend was happy helped.   

Maybe that wound would always ache a little bit, just like his scars. It was something he could live with. 

Big Ben struck twelve in the distance, the people at the party cheered, and Remus let Peter Pettigrew go. 

Someone had started playing their album over the speakers, their first song (I Solemnly Swear I am Up to No Good) blasting through the room. He loved that song, it was his baby, but he had heard it a million times. He needed some air. 

The balcony was empty, and Remus stared up at the moon. Breathed in the cool night air.  

“Lookin at the moon, Moony?” 

He smiled in spite of himself at the memory, turning around to face Sirius Black. 

His boyfriend walked up next to him, taking his hand. “You okay?” 

Remus nodded. “Yeah. The toast brought up some memories, and I needed some air. But I’m okay, I promise.” 

“Good,” Sirius replied, kissing him on the cheek. “I hate to sound this bloody cheesy, but are you ready for the new chapter of our lives?” 

Remus had known he was in love with Sirius for a while now, but sometimes the sheer feeling still swept him off his feet. 

“With you, love of my life? Always.” 

He leaned over, kissing his boyfriend on the lips. 

“Love of my life,” Sirius murmured, wrapping his arms around his waist and kissing him again. 

“Oh, are we interrupting a moment?”

Remus turned to see Lily and James, hand in hand, watching them. James looked deeply scarred. Lily looked like she was desperately trying to keep a straight face. 

“We can always continue this later,” Sirius said, shooting him a flirty grin. 

“Gross,” James said, him and Lily joining them on the balcony. 

“You’ve seen us doing worse, Prongs.” 

“That doesn’t mean I enjoy seeing the more PG rated stuff.” 

“I am not PG,” Sirius gasped. “You take that back.”  

“You two are idiots,” Lily said. “But you’re our idiots. Isn’t that right, Remus?” 

“She’s right,” he agreed, because she was. Their connection was unbreakable, he knew that now. “You’re never getting rid of us.” 

“We don’t plan to,” Sirius said. 

This time, Remus took the love of his life’s hand. The four of them stood on the balcony, looking out on the city of London, as the party raged on behind them. They had put an album out into the world. Somewhere in there, someone would come looking for them, for one reason or another. They had sales to worry about, streaming and concerts. They definitely had a strange future ahead of them.  

But for now, it was just the four of them in the night, and all was well.