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They were out at a bar for Lily. Recently broken up with her boyfriend and childhood best friend on not the best of terms, Remus, Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas whisked her off to a bar to blow off some steam and drunkenly dance the night away. She’d be fine, he knew she would. She was more angry than upset anyway, frustrated that she “wasted so much time” on someone who ended up not being who she thought he was. This wasn’t exactly Remus’ scene, he’d much prefer a quiet night in, but he was loyal to a fault. So he lingered at the table, watching their drinks, and watching the failed attempts at getting Lily to smile and laugh again.
Mary and Lily stumbled over after a while, leaving Marlene and Dorcas to cling to each other, sharing kisses and giggling happily. Mary grabbed her drink from the table, winking at Remus, and finished it off.
“What’s it going to take for you to get up and dance?” she asked with a smirk.
“You know the answer to that.”
Lily wrapped an arm around Remus’ waist and leaned against him, giving a big emotional sigh.
“I’m going to get a refill,” said Mary as she made it back to the bar.
Remus rubbed Lily’s back and rested his chin on her head. “How’re you holding up?”
“I’m fine,” she mumbled. “Thanks for coming. I know this isn’t exactly your ideal Friday night and all, but-”
“Excuse me.”
Remus and Lily both looked up to see a stranger smiling at them, drink in hand. He was tall, a bit shorter than Remus, with shoulder-length black hair with an outfit to match. His sleeves were long, but he could see tattoos peeking out over the hems. His gray eyes were on Lily and Remus had a feeling he knew where this was going.
“Are you two together?” the man asked.
“Er, no?” Lily answered hesitantly, looking up at Remus and back at the stranger.
“Oh, great,” he said and his eyes shifted to Remus; his smile widened. “You’re gorgeous.”
If Remus had been drinking, he would have spat it out. He choked a bit and blinked rapidly. “What?”
“I’ve been over at the bar with my friends all night and I couldn’t keep my eyes off you,” he continued. “I saw you were with her and I didn’t want to chat you up if you were taken.”
“You’re a bit bold, aren’t you?” Lily said with a laugh.
“Don’t get me wrong, you’re beautiful!” the man said to Lily. “Just not my type.” He winked at Remus.
Remus’ brain was offline, and could not compute. Lily was tugging at his shirt sleeve, suddenly taking on the role of wingman with full commitment.
“I’m Sirius, by the way.”
“R-Remus,” he stuttered, wishing the walls would swallow him up. He didn’t get hit on, he never got hit on. Christ, he hadn’t had any relationship for the last five years and even before that, they never lasted long, normally ending when Remus’ concrete emotional boundary walls refused to come down.
“Can I have your number?” Sirius asked with a smile, handing over his mobile.
“I-um, don’t have a phone.”
Sirius’ face fell. “Oh.”
Remus cleared his throat and tried again. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” he said, his tongue feeling swollen and the words just falling out of his mouth from pure adrenaline. “I’m just really broke and lost my phone on the train a couple months ago. Haven’t gotten around to replacing it.”
“I can give you my number,” Lily said quickly, taking Sirius’ phone from his outstretched hand. “We live together. You can reach him on my phone until he gets a new one.”
Sirius smiled and looked back at Remus. “If that’s okay-”
“Course it is!” said Lily, diligently punching in her number. She handed the phone back to him. Remus tried to swallow the lump in his throat, not completely sure what his face was doing, but his cheeks were on fire.
“Thanks,” Sirius replied, taking his phone back and stuffing it in his pocket. “I should get back to my friends and let you get back to your fun. See you around, Remus.”
When he walked away, it would take nothing but a puff of air to knock Remus over. Lily was bouncing around, excitedly filling in Mary on what happened when she came back with her drink. Remus tried not to stare at Sirius at the bar with his two friends, desperately willing his cheeks to stop burning.
Soon enough, the news spread to Marlene and Dorcas and they were all huddled around the table, teasing Remus mercilessly. And when a waitress brought over a drink for him and the table erupted into giggles, Remus caught those gray eyes staring at him again from across the bar, lighting up the whole room.