Chapter Text
Remus Lupin loves his job. If he didn’t, it’d have been a big waste of a Master’s degree- and money for that matter. Working at the library was steady and calm. He’d label the new books, fix the old ones, and organise (and then reorganise) them all on the shelves. The repetition never got old.
And of course there was all the reading he got to do. Remus had probably read at least a third of the novels they had and he’d only been working there a couple of years (Mind you it was a midsized library and their collection was growing each year). He found solitude in the literature and found himself lucky to be a librarian, even if Peter made fun of him for it.
This day is like every other. He wakes up, takes the bus to the library, makes coffee in the librarian’s lounge (they have the newest Nespresso machine and Remus is in love), then grabs the recently returned books and puts them on his book cart and heads out to the floor.
He says hi to Emmeline, who’s working the front desk, then heads to the back of the library and starts reshelving the non-fiction.
He makes his way through the different genres, slowly but surely, and then one moment he’s placing self-help books (he’s definitely read all of those), and the next, a row of books at his legs topple over. One of their spines hit him right in the knee. He can tell they’re the cookbooks on the other side of the aisle based on how thick they are.
“Harry!” A voice hidden by the shelves says. “We don’t do that. We have to be kind to the books, remember?”
Bending down to look through the now empty space in the shelf, Remus notices a pale, long-haired man crouching down in front of a brown-faced child with unruly hair. The boy was clearly the culprit of the fallen books.
“I’m sorry, Padfoot. I was just trying to help.”
Remus smiles. He likes kids. Every Sunday and Wednesday he does storytime in the children’s section and loved to see their reactions. It sometimes (most of the time) gave him baby fever, but his perpetual single-ness and far too romantic ideals (blame the novels) always stopped him from thinking further.
“It’s alright, Prongslet.” The man says, ruffling the child’s- Harry’s - hair. “Let’s just clean them up, yeah?”
The boy nods and the man looks through the shelves and right at Remus. The man raises his eyebrows then flickers his attention to the book cart right beside Remus and seems to understand.
“Oh! Sorry, mate. My godson knocked over these books by accident, we’ll clean them up for you.” He reaches his hand between the shelves and for a second Remus is confused by the motion. Then he realises he’s asking for the books.
“Oh.” Remus begins to pick up the books and stacks them on the second row of his cart. “It’s alright, I can do it.”
He quickly rolls his cart to the other aisle where the man and the boy are. Face-to-face, Remus sees the man is wearing a vintage-looking graphic tee and a long black skirt, black boots peeking out underneath. It’s a totally different style from Remus’ own grandpa sweater and corduroy trousers.
“It’s the least we can do.” The man says, “And besides, Harry’s learning how to read so organising by letter might help him, right?”
Harry gives a toothy grin up at Remus, his green eyes shining, and Remus just can’t say no to that.
“Okay.” He smiles back.
Remus once again crouches down as they start placing the cookbooks back on the shelf, with Harry saying the titles out-loud and Remus helping guide them to the right place. When they finish, he gives Harry a high-five.
“Nice job!”
“Thank you Mister Librarian. I’m Harry. H-A-R-R-Y.”
“Nice to meet you, Harry. I’m Remus. R-E-M-U-S.”
Remus stands up and his eyes meet the man, who turns from looking at Harry proudly back to Remus.
“And I’m Sirius. S-I-R-I-U-S.” He grins- and winks? Remus clears his throat.
“Can I help you find anything today?” He asks, trying not to overthink about that wink.
“Well I was trying to find a good cookbook before Harry over here knocked them down.” Sirius says light-heartedly, gesturing towards the cooking section. Harry tugs at Sirius’ arm and the man looks down.
“I want book about dragons!”
“Yes, we will get you books about dragons. I need to get a cookbook first.” Harry’s big green eyes are pleading with Sirius, who also clearly can’t say no them. “Why don’t you go over to the children’s section and pick out the books you want and I’ll meet you there once I get my cookbook.”
“Okay!” Harry says excitedly and speedwalks out of the aisle. Remus appreciates that he follows the ‘No Running’ rule in the library.
Sirius turns back to Remus, his hair moving with him in an almost regal way. It reminds Remus of the men on the covers of those trashy fantasy romance novels: the way it’s perfectly framed around his face, no strand out of place. That’s where the comparison ends though. The rest of him- his cheekbones, eyes, mouth, hands -reminds him of Jane Austen’s love interests, which makes his heart flutter. He has to swallow to get himself back to earth.
“So, what kind of cookbook are you looking for?” Remus asks. Sirius runs a hand through his hair and it still looks perfect.
“One that’s got easy recipes. One that’s great for a bachelor trying to make healthy food for when his godson comes over.”
“I know just the one.” Remus smiles and turns his upper body towards the shelves and grabs a cookbook from a middle shelf. He turns back to Sirius and hands it to him. Sirius reads the title, flips open to a random page, scans it, then looks back up at Remus grinning.
“Thanks, Remus.”
“No problem.” Remus half-whispers. Until that point he didn’t fully understand when protagonists in books got so flustered by their love interest saying their name for the first time, but now he gets it. It is like they say: it sounds different coming from Sirius- almost familiar, and laced with honey.
“I’ll get Harry and we can check out with you, yeah?”
“Yeah, okay.”
Sirius exits the aisle and goes towards the children’s section while Remus grabs his cart and follows a few paces behind, still not completely in reality.
Of course he would fall for a guy he just met at the library. Of course he would.
A couple weeks later Remus is working at the front desk, looking at the accounts with overdue books and sending them reminder emails. He’s been doing it all morning and he just wants to get through all of them to go on his lunch break. If he were honest, it’s probably his least favourite part of the job. He breezes through a couple more when a certain account makes him stop completely.
Sirius Black
‘Delicious Meals (for Beginners)’ - OVERDUE
‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ - OVERDUE
‘I’m a Dragon’ - OVERDUE
‘Dragons are Real’ - OVERDUE
‘The Book Dragon’ - OVERDUE
‘Be a Good Dragon’ - OVERDUE
Remus hasn’t seen Sirius or Harry since their first encounter. The hopeless romantic that he was, Remus couldn’t stop thinking about Sirius; wondering if he’d made any of the recipes from the cookbook, what his favourite book was, if he had also felt the pull to one another that Remus certainly felt. Maybe these overdue books provide him a chance.
Now normally, the first reminder of overdue books is an email, then if that doesn’t work then they’d give the patron a call, but Remus decides to skip that first step. He dials in the phone number that’s attached to the account and waits. It takes 3 rings before someone picks up.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is Remus from the library…”
“Remus! R-E-M-U-S.” Sirius says.
Remus smiles to himself. “Yes, Sirius. S-I-R-I-U-S.” He hears Sirius chuckle from the other side and his stomach flutters. “I’m just calling because you have six overdue books from the library.”
“Oh Shit…” Remus can tell Sirius pulled the phone away from his face as his voice gets quieter. “Harry, you didn’t hear that! I’m sorry Remus,” he’s louder again, “we’ll come right away.”
“Oh! You don’t have to come right now, this is just a reminder-”
“We’re coming.” The phone call ends. Remus sits there, phone pressed against the side of his face, trying to take in the short conversation that he’s just had. He slowly puts the phone down and leans back in his chair. He gets to see Sirius today.
To Remus’ surprise, it doesn’t take long for him to see Sirius and Harry walking through the front doors of the library. Sirius is wearing a grey shirt with a black leather jacket over it and some black jeans. He’s got a tote bag over one shoulder while his other hand is being clutched by Harry. When Harry notices Remus at the front desk, he waves. Remus waves back.
When the pair reaches the front desk Harry looks up at Sirius. “Can I look now?”
“Yeah, go ahead.” Harry releases Sirius’ hand and skips to the children’s section. Sirius’ eyes follow him, and once he’s there turns his attention to Remus.
“Sorry again about the overdue books, Remus.” Sirius pulls out all the books from his tote bag and sets them on the desk.
“It’s fine, really. We wouldn’t have charged you until another week.” Remus assures, as he scans each book in and places them on a cart beside him. “How were they by the way?”
“Oh Harry loved the books. He’s into snakes now though, so that’s what he’s currently looking for. I’m sure next week it’ll be something else.”
“He’s curious is he?”
Sirius smiles. “Oh yeah, he gets that from his mum. It’s also the ADHD from his dad.” He chuckles and looks towards the children’s section. Remus looks too and sees a mess of black hair sticking up behind a shelf. “He’s so smart already. Always reading and asking me questions. Keeps me on my toes too. I know he's gonna go far.”
Sirius speaks of Harry so fondly that a string pulls at Remus’ heart. He could listen to him talk about Harry forever. It’s foolish of Remus to think, but he knows that that’s what he wants: a forever with Sirius. After two meetings, Remus knows it.
He’s a hopeless romantic surrounded by books. He’s read every genre there is- fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, historical, dystopian… -and yet the one he holds onto the most is romance. It’s cheesy and predictable and slightly unrealistic and Remus doesn’t care. He believes in love at first sight, in chance meetings, in soulmates- he can’t help it. The question is, does Sirius believe in those things too?
“And how about the cookbook?” Remus asks, trying to stay neutral all the while his mind is creating scenarios.
“Not half bad! Harry loved what I made him, and James- his dad, my best friend -said it wasn’t too bad either, just needed more spices. Probably gonna grab another one today too.”
“I’m glad.” Remus smiles as he puts his elbows on the desk and leans forward. Sirius looks down at him and his eyelashes flicker. His head turns quickly away from Remus, a small blush appearing on his cheeks. He takes a deep breath and licks his lips before facing Remus again.
“Actually… One of the recipes said it was perfect for a date night. And I um- I was wondering if I could make it for you. For us.”
It’s Remus’ turn to blink fast and turn red, his mouth open slightly. “A date?” He’s suddenly breathless despite not having moved at all.
“Yes. If- If you’d like that.”
“Yes! Yes. I would like that very much.” Remus replies, uncaring about his eagerness.
“Brilliant.” Sirius lets out a sigh of relief. “I know you already have my number cause of- you know. But I’m gonna write it down anyways. And my address.”
Sirius flips over a bookmark lying on the desk and grabs a blue pen from a cup. He scribbles his name, number, and address, which Remus agrees is a little silly because he already has all of that thanks to his library account, but he lets him do it because he thinks it’s romantic. When he’s done, Sirius offers the bookmark to Remus and he grabs it. Their fingers brush, and instead of pulling away, Sirius continues to hold it, keeping the connection.
“Uh-” Sirius moves his hand away and looks around nervously. “Sorry. You make me quite nervous actually.” He admits. “I don’t really get that way a lot.”
“You make me nervous too.” Remus blurts out, and Sirius’ eyebrows furrow and eyes widen. “In a good way!” Remus adds shortly after, realising how it might’ve sounded. Sirius lets out a breathy chuckle.
“Alright. Okay. Good.” Sirius smiles. There's an unspoken moment of fondness. “Is it too forward if I say I have a good feeling about this?”
And oh, Remus grins so wide, the freckles on his cheeks rise to new heights.
“No, not at all. I feel it too.”
A new chapter in Remus’ life begins.