Chapter Text
Remus was in awe.
Sirius Black stood in front of him, swaying his hips to the sweet rhythm of his guitar as the rest of the crowd swooned with him. Under the stage lights he glistened, and not just because of the strain of performing, but because he was a star. It all made sense to him in that moment- why so many people had morphed fanatical over the band. It wasn’t just Sirius who glowed with the strobe lights, but also the rest of the members; a James Potter, Marlene Mckinnon and ‘Petey’ Pettigrew. All moving in synchrony, complimenting eachother with a chemistry that was palpable. Remus decided then that he might just have to join the fans. He had thought their music was good before, but now… Tediously researching a band for work versus actually seeing them live in all their glory were two very different things. It also didn’t help that they were clearly talented musicians who unfairly, also happened to be as attractive in real life as they were online. When looking them up Remus had initially supposed it was just social media being social media, painfully unaware of the rude awakening he had in store. Because there he was, mouth ajar and unable to concentrate on anything but the spectacle that was Sirius Black in the flesh.
Suddenly, from where he was standing in the ‘guest’ viewing pit he remembered that he was on a job and hastily scribbled in his notepad about the expert plucking and harmonies that had every audience member in a trance. Remus Lupin, lead journalist of the renowned music magazine ‘MUSE’ surely couldn’t just write that he now had an itch for a long, black-haired hookup, that would be very unprofessional indeed. So, instead he wrote about the band’s immense stage presence and the music. Yes, that was what he was here to write about, so he gathered his wits and tried to focus with a clearer criterion this time around.
As the final song on the track list came to an end, the lead singer, that he had been trying not to watch like a hawk after the epiphany, stepped forward to the mic again. Remus found himself leaning forward for no reason.
“You guys have been just… amazing. Seriously, all of us on this stage wouldn’t be where we are today without you all.”
Some whoops came from the crowd and the other members all stood together with arms serpentine around Sirius as they teared up at the sight of their audience.
“And we uh… have another song we want to play for you guys if you don’t mind?”
Screams everywhere.
James then spoke too, “This one is special because it’s a demo that you guys won’t have heard written by our one and only brightest star in the sky.”
Sirius chuckled as he lifted an acoustic guitar around his head before dipping a perfect finger against James' chin. “He’s such a flirt guys.”
Pete chimed in, “See what we have to deal with?”
Marlene rolled her eyes with a smirk, “They all love it, look at them.”
James smiled back and glanced out at the crowd again, “Wait do you all love me and Sirius, or my charm?”
The fans cheered in agreement to both.
Sirius’ revealed song was gentle, touching on the subject of being scared of falling behind and Remus’ eyes welled up at the vulnerability of the lyrics and the expression on Sirius’ face. He kept looking up as if speaking to a higher power when the melody intensified with the words and the crowd were equally enamoured as they stayed silent and open to receiving the gift from their beloved. When the show finally closed up, Remus grabbed his satchel and was lead down some stairs into a hallway backstage and told to wait outside of a door. He looked down at what he had written from the performance and decided he'd have to find some videos and recall from memory to round off that section of the article, mentally cursing himself for not actively writing more notes. That was his usual process and he was nothing if not a tried perfectionist.
Remus jumped at the sudden sound of the door being flung open and he turned to see a head popping out, looking the other way at first before settling its grey eyes on him. His heart thrummed violently in his chest. The man before him was no corporeal thing, he had to have been a figment sculpted a millennia before when artists were still being graced with the skill of the Gods. Because in front of him was Sirius Black's pointlessly perfect face staring up at him with wide eyes. He opened his mouth, struggling for the words to introduce himself.
"I- um,"
Sirius stepped out of the door and smiled towards Remus. In these closer quarters, he could see now that the man before him was shorter in stature than he anticipated. Although, Remus was always told that he was freakishly tall, so most people were. Besides, he was in no means befuddled or complaining about it either. In fact he was quietly enjoying the way Sirius had to slightly angle his head to meet eyes.
"You're the journalist, right?"
"Yes, yes that's me. Sorry for the timing of the interview, I'm sure you're worn out from the show." Remus offered a soft smile in return.
Sirius' eyes darted away and he shook his head,
"No! It's fine honestly, it takes a lot more than that to wear me out." As soon as the words escaped his mouth he slapped a hand over it dramatically and Remus had to feign to hide his smirk.
"I didn't mean for that to sound as-"
Remus chuckled slightly and reassured him that it was fine, "Don't worry about it, but an interesting Freudian slip nonetheless." And unconsciously he winked down at him, a very quick flit of his eyelid, but still a wink. He hadn't even processed it and yet he still felt as though time slowed down in the moment to torment him of his body's natural inclination to be a little shit and he tried to play it off by acting as casual as possible afterwards. Like he didn't just throw a line and wink at Sirius Black. Gods, he wouldn't be surprised if he refused to do the interview now. What kind of professional flirted straight off the bat? Remus was probably being grouped with the 'never-gonna-happens' in Sirius Black's life. In fact he could see it now, him complaining to the other band members and their manager and-
Suddenly, by some miracle the sound of light laughter erupted and Sirius visibly relaxed, “You’re quite funny, Mr. Hotshot Journalist. You’re not gonna make me out to be some sex-crazed rockstar though, are you?”
Remus let out the breath he was holding and rolled his eyes at the comment, “Oh I’m the hotshot when you’re a literal rockstar? Also no, I don’t do tabloid gossip. I write for 'MUSE'.”
"Thank God, but hey! You are a hotshot if you're with them. As for the rockstar thing, I just got lucky. Helps that I look good mucking about on stage though." Sirius waited for a reply with expectant eyes.
“Well, I can’t disagree with that. You guys put on a great show, but I would argue that talent is also in your favour.”
Remus then found himself on the receiving end of a very pretty, albeit surprised smile at the compliment. And good lord Remus hadn’t been this flustered in a long time, but he was comforted with the thought that the man had surely been told how attractive and talented he was many times before and grounded himself with the knowledge that he probably showed that smile to everyone.
The sound of Sirius' name being called brought the two out of their reverie and they both looked down the hallway to see his PR assistant walking toward them and telling them to get inside doggedly from the end of it, apologising for being late. Sirius finally realised that they were still stood out in the hallway and invited Remus inside,
"Well, looks like the fun is over. Come in, come in."
In the room there was a dressing table against the wall with makeup, makeup remover and clothes that Remus recognised as outfits from the show strewn over the desk and chair. On the other side was a sofa and chaise longue that had recently housed Sirius, evident by an imprint of his body and a mussed up blanket. Sirius went ahead and plonked himself right back as his PR assistant waltzed in, clearly stressed out.
Remus sat on the sofa and waited for Sirius to drink his water before beginning, making a point of not looking at his throat as he did so, even though Sirius was so lavishly allowing much explicit viewing for him. His pale neck was stretched upwards as he skived the bottle and Remus could see how strands of hair had stuck down from sweat. If he wasn't more self-aware, he'd have said the way he drank the water was purposeful. And only when Sirius turned back to look at him with a sly smile did he realise how he had done the exact opposite of not-looking at him. He usually was more composed around people he found... intriguing, but he seemed to have some sort of effect on Remus that rendered him delirious. So when his PR assistant, whose name was Mary he discovered, offered a bottle to him with an outstretched hand he didn't decline. Though he didn't make a show out of drinking it. He would've liked to, just to see Sirius' reaction- if there was one, but the rules in this industry were strict. No getting involved or flirting with celebrities you interview and especially not during the interview with their assistant right there. He wasn't even sure how much time they had left of the allotted 20 minutes since they had spent some of it dawdling outside and Mary was late to snap them out of it. The timing certainly wasn't ideal in the first place either, but with the band on a tight schedule with touring and Remus' boss not being particularly caring over tight deadlines for the esteemed magazine, it was something. He was also lucky that Sirius even agreed as his original plan was to talk to everyone together, but Sirius was apparently the only one that signed up as none of the others could be bothered to do it post-show, which was fair enough. Anyway, at least he had the frontman.
The interview ran smoothly, though they had roughly 15 minutes to breeze through it with a very antsy Mary looking down at her watch every now and then in the corner listening out for any mishaps. Near the end, Mary announced she had to leave for 2 minutes to take a call and left telling Sirius to ‘behave’ as he stuck his tongue out at her. Remus felt bad for her, she seemed busy even though it was edging toward midnight.
"Okay, and that was the last question. Thank you so much for offering to do this by the way." Remus closed his notebook and began to stuff it into his satchel, unsure of what to do now that they were alone again and feeling Sirius' eyes trained on his hands, he confirmed his suspicions when looking back up. Though Sirius didn't seem to mind being caught.
"Uh yeah no problem, I'm just sorry I couldn't get everyone else on board. I'm usually very persuasive-" Remus was sure. "But I annoyed them the day that I asked cause I kept jumping out at them. In hindsight, I need to plan my bits better around when I want something." Sirius looked downwards regretfully, as if really mulling over the thought. Remus snickered at Sirius' anecdote and saw the way his eyes lit up with a grin. God, he'd like to see that expression every day. But, it was the end of their time together and he had a train to catch in the morning, so he gathered all of his willpower to stand up. Sirius followed suit and grabbed his sleeve as he began to walk to the door.
"Wait, my turn to ask you a few questions. Do you have a name? I never caught it." Remus thankfully had his back toward Sirius and he smiled down at his feet to hide his pleasure at the question. That is until a dull thought dampened his mood and he span back around to face him. He hated himself for it, but he couldn't do this, no matter how much he wanted to get to know Sirius too. It would risk everything he had been building up for his career if the company found out.
"Obviously." Sirius gave an embarrassed smile and let go of his sleeve, putting on a brave face again to speak.
"Right, well I'm just gonna go kill myself now," He joked and looked away. Remus, playing along, began to pull out his book and pen to 'write'.
"Wait what! Don't write that down!" Sirius' face had gained so much urgency all of a sudden and Remus doubled over in laughter making him release a breath, his eyebrows coming back down to normal.
"Meanie."
"I'm not the one jumping out from behind corners at people." Remus glanced up and down at Sirius as he shook his head with a hesitant smile, still in slight shock from Remus' cruel prank, and against his better judgement decided that a name wouldn't hurt.
"The name is Remus." Sirius whipped his head back at him with a beaming smile and Remus could've sworn he heard trumpets and a cherub's harp playing in the distance. "Sirius." He replied, sticking out a hand to shake.
"Yes, I know." Remus couldn't help but quip back at him and felt sorry when Sirius deflated at his acerbic wit (/attempt to throw him off) and hid his hand behind his back. He winced and closed his eyes tightly. It appeared that he would just have to pay the price of self-condemnation later after his next move.
Remus walked closer towards him and placed a palm on his porcelain face. Sirius gave him that wide-eyed look he had when they first saw each other. "Listen... I'm-"
Just as he was about to apologise and explain, Mary came back in looking even more dishevelled than when she left. The pair of them jumped apart and stood guiltily. Luckily for them, she had been looking at her phone and was too tired to notice the waves of tension between them in the moment.
"Okay sorry about that. Oh but perfect timing, you're all done! Sirius you ready to head off?" He nodded at her, moving to grab his backpack from the sofa.
"Perfect. Remus, you can just follow us to the exit. I've called you a taxi too."
"You're an angel, thanks so much."
"'Course. Did this one give you any trouble while I was gone?" She tilted her head toward Sirius and he gave her a look of indignation, before remembering how she had almost found them and he looked away again. But, Remus had plenty of experience with close calls and didn't flinch in the slightest as he looked at Sirius Black in close vicinity for what was likely the last time, then back to Mary.
"Not at all."