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Sirius Black needed to get his hair just right. This would be one of the most important moments of his life. This was the first date, the date to end all dates. Well, maybe Sirius was being a little dramatic, but it was important. If this date went well, that would mean that he and Remus were a thing. They'd be together forever. Well, Sirius sincerely hoped that's what it would mean. Remus was getting ready out in the room along with James and Peter. Peter was flying solo this time around and James was going on and on about his heroic "yes" to Lily Evans which Sirius didn't believe for one second. He doubted anyone would hear "James said 'yes' to Lily without any complications or weird behavior" and go: "Ah, yes, the truth." It was quite obviously not what happened.
"There I was, sitting in the great hall when she walked up. She smiled at me, actually smiled. She said, "James, would you want to go to the Yule Ball?" I was going to ask her, of course I was. I was just waiting for the right time, you know? But, I'm not against the girl asking. It's just how it happens sometimes and that's fine. I was a little surprised, but it was fine. I said, "Of course," and that was that. We're all set for tonight and everything."
"I'm not sure...."
"Let him have it, Pete," Remus said.
Sirius smiled. Remus had told him the actual story. He'd heard it from Lily, who laughed the entire time she told it. As much as Sirius loved and adored James, he knew that the boy loved to tell stories in his favor. So, he trusted the version of the story that came from the other side of the situation.
James was telling the first part fairly close to right. Lily did go up to James in the great hall and say, "Hey, do you have a date to the Yule Ball?"
James stared at her for a while like a weird, gaping fish instead of giving her an answer. When he finally spoke, he said, "I don't- I don't think so?"
Lily could not remember whether or not she laughed at him. She thought she might've and I'd believe it. Honestly, I would've laughed at James if he stared at me like a guppy. That's probably happened at some point anyway. She said, "Would you want to go with me, then?"
I believe this triggered a short circuit in little Jamesie's brain because, according to legend, he stared at her. For a while. A long while. A very, very long while. Then, he said, "Erm, I... erm, would you... you would want to... dance?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, James, dance. Together even."
He stared at her for another even longer moment. According to Remus, Lily thought he might say 'no' or throw up or something else that would have been entirely inconvenient. He did not, however, and we are very proud of our little Jamesie for keeping his composure. He said, "Yes" and nodded his little head far too many times, but Lily only judged him the tiniest bit for it.
"All right," She said. "See you there." And, she walked away because she didn't want James to do -or say- anything else. She was honestly quite nervous about what might end up coming out of that odd little mouth of his.
Honestly, Sirius found that story quiet humorous and he believed it to be even funnier than whatever story James kept telling. Honestly, James' story kept changing little by little. Poor Jamesie couldn't keep it straight. The girl took his brains with her, poor thing.
Speaking of straight, Sirius was not and neither was his tie. He kept fiddling with it but it didn't seem to help any. It was the most uncooperative thing to ever be uncooperative. He would ask James for help but that would require walking past Remus in his imperfect state.
There was a knock on the door and Sirius rolled his eyes. Beauty could not be rushed.
"Pads," The voice (probably (most definitely) Remus) said, "We're going to be late."
"You don't have to go with me anymore if you don't want to," Sirius said.
"I never said that," Remus said. "I'm just wondering who I'm supposed to dance with if you're in the loo all evening."
"Peter?"
"You want me to go on a date with Peter instead of you? I'm not sure he wants that."
"Probably not."
"He left when James did anyway."
"They both left? Without me?"
"James went to get Lily and Peter wanted to get to the snack table, I think." Remus tapped on the door. "James managed to tie his tie backward and you missed it."
"Damn, that's too bad." Sirius decided that whatever was happening with his tie was fine enough. If he fiddled with it much longer, it might manage to get worse, somehow. He took a breath, preparing himself. The date to end all dates. The first of hopefully many.
"Come out, Sirius. I'm sure you look fine."
"I'm gay!"
"Not what I meant."
"Be more specific next time."
"I'll think about it."
"Listen, you're going to be happy when you're there with the prettiest guy in the room." Sirius looked at himself in the mirror again before opening the door.
Remus was leaning against the doorway. He was leaning against the doorway and his hair was done and he was wearing burgundy, which was an amazing color for Remus to wear. He was close, too. He was up close and personal and he was leaning against the doorway .
Remus was standing there in all of his pretty glory. Sirius was wrong. He, himself, was not the prettiest guy in the room. It was, quite clearly, Remus John Lupin leaning against the fucking doorway. He looked so very and incredibly adorable that Sirius couldn't help but stare, but it was fine because he was pretty sure that Remus was staring, too. They were allowed to stare now. After years and years and years, they were on their way to a dance. Together. As more than friends. Finally.
Sirius felt as though he was completely blind to the possibilities before. This was crazy. He was always so scared of rejection before that he never realized what could happen. He was dating Remus Lupin. Well, hopefully, after tonight, he will be, somewhat officially. Everything just had to go absolutely perfectly. He wasn't fully sure yet what would happen after the dance, but he was hopeful. He was so very hopeful.
"You're right," Remus said. "You do look absolutely perfect."
Sirius stared up at him. Those words coming out of Remus' mouth were some sort of surreal experience that honestly felt a little bit like a dream. He thought that he looked perfect. Not just nice, but perfect . Sirius felt a bit more like jello than he was used to. He might need to lay down a minute or forever, but he couldn't do that because it was time for them to leave because Sirius did actually make them late. However, from the way that Remus was looking at him, he seemed absolutely okay with that.
"You, erm, also look good as well," Sirius said. He cringed a bit on the inside with how all that came out, but there was nothing he could do because he couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with what he said. Were there too many words? Too little? Did he say something he wasn't supposed to? Remus didn't seem to care.
"Thank you." He leaned down and kissed Sirius' cheek.
Sirius felt his heart stutter a little bit if that was something that could happen. Was it possible that his entire heart was about to stop? No, that'd be dramatic and Sirius Black was anything but dramatic.
"Shall we go?" Remus said, softly. He was staring again.
Sirius stared down at the hand being offered to him and he was quite sure that this was quickly becoming the most romantic moment to have ever happened in his entire life. He was going to the Yule Ball, and he was going with Remus Lupin. What could be more perfect than that? He looked up at Remus' face. He was smiling at him in a way that made the heart stuttering come back in full force. He put his hand in Remus' and couldn't help but smile when Remus gave his hand a quick, little squeeze.
They met up with James and Lily in the common room. Peter didn't have to technically wait for James or Sirius to either stop freaking out or stop fiddling with their hair or both, so he was snack table hunting as promised.
Lily was wearing a pale yellow dress that made her look like a fairy or something of that sort. She had white, yellow, and orange flowers in her hair. She'd braided some of it. Sirius was impressed. Since he was no longer jealous of her engagement to Remus because it never actually happened, he could admire her like that again. She wasn't stealing Remus away. In fact, she was very into James for some reason, which was rather convenient. He was about to spend a lot of his time with someone else. Sirius was still trying to figure out what she saw in James. Honestly, he was quite a bit befuddled. He had a type, though, quite clearly. That type was Remus Lupin.
They all walked through the halls together. James had this nervous fidgety energy. He was looking down at their feet. Sirius hypothesized that James was trying to make sure he wasn't walking too fast or too slow. He was keeping a suspiciously similar pace to Lily, who seemed to have fairly uneven steps. She, however, seemed to be none the wiser.
"I would like to congratulate Jamesie for not saying no to Lily Evans when she asked him," Sirius said, clapping his hands. Remus joined in, even throwing in a cheer.
"Honestly," Lily said, "I was nervous for a second."
"You were nervous?" James said.
"Yeah," She said. "Nervous that you might accidentally say no."
James laughed.
"Impressive stuff, James," Remus said.
There was this moment when Remus reached down and brushed his hand by Sirius's and his heart literally almost stopped. He felt like the world was about to end from the best thing ever happening. Well, he thought it was the best thing ever. But, then, Remus laced their fingers together and squeezed and that became the best thing ever. Sirius almost passed out right then and there. He could've. He felt like he was going to, for sure, but he held on like the good little Sirius that he was. He could keep his composure. He could. In fact, Sirius Black was known for his composure and not at all for ever being dramatic ever. Why wouldn't he be known for such a thing? That would be ridiculous.
When they arrived at the dance, Lily immediately grabbed James' hand and pulled him to the middle of the dance floor. The shocked look on his face was absolutely adorable. Sirius watched as she lifted her hand and James twirled under her arm. He cracked a smile, which was a nice change of pace from how he'd been all evening, jittery and stiff. Lily tugged on one of his hands and put it on her waist before resting hers on his shoulder and placing her other hand in his. He said something and she laughed.
"Looks like they're gonna work out just fine," Sirius said.
"Looks like it," Remus said.
Sirius felt like he was watching James Potter fall more in love with Lily Evans.
"Would you like to... erm, people watch?" Remus said.
Sirius looked up at him, smiling, and said, "Abso-fucking-lutely."
They proceeded to spend a lot of their evening standing off to the side. They were far too busy gossiping. Honestly, it was actually pretty fun. They stood in a corner near the refreshments table. It was like their own personal space.
At first, they were just watching Lily and James. However, Sirius was the first to point out someone else. Tristian and Dianna were dancing with more than enough room between them (could fit a third person type of room). Sirius had leaned up a bit closer to Remus' ear and said, "He only asked her because her twin sister said no to him."
Sirius didn't expect Remus to humor him, but he had leaned down and whispered in his ear. "She only said yes because she was mad at her sister."
The evening carried on just like that. It might not be everyone's idea of the perfect night, but Sirius was perfectly content spending the entire night that way. They were having fun and that's what mattered. Honestly, Sirius just wanted to be here with him and the details were just the details and nothing more. He got to hear Remus' laugh and that was a gift in and of itself. Besides, people-watching was always fun.
"Remus, if you were gossiping about us, what d'you reckon you'd say?"
"Two wankers who took too damn long," He said. His eyes were so perfect, reflecting the soft lighting in the room. Sirius couldn't help but stare at his perfect face and his perfect perfection. Sirius couldn't help but remember all of the steps it took for them to get here. He could remember the feelings of uncertainty. The moments in fourth year when Sirius bit his tongue. The feelings were new and overwhelming. He almost said something so many times, but Remus was with Felix Abbott and then, when he wasn't, Sirius was convinced that Remus would never see him that way. Those moments in fifth year where Remus said something and Sirius thought that he might be into him, but he wasn't one hundred percent sure. When Remus mentioned he was going to the Yule Ball with Lily and Sirius' entire world crashed down just a little. When he went to the library and heard Remus talking to Lily. When he overheard Remus say that he was interested. When he kept listening. When he-
"I eavesdropped on you in the library," Sirius said. Oops. He didn't mean to say that; it just sort of came out of his mouth.
"What?" Remus turned to face Sirius.
"When you were talking with Lily about the dance. James was trying to convince me that you weren't actually secretly in love with Lily so he told me to go find you and instead, I overheard your entire conversation in the library and that's how we ran into each other and I'm really sorry," Sirius said. He tried to smile at Remus but he's not really sure it turned out looking much like a smile in the end.
"I'm not sure what to say to that," Remus said.
"It was a mistake, I think. Please don't be mad, but I understand if you are."
"I'm not mad, Pads. I'm moreso just confused why you didn't ask me to the Yule Ball then."
Sirius shrugged and turned back towards the middle of the room. "I wasn't sure that you'd want to go with me."
"You overheard an entire conversation about how I wanted to go with you."
"But, you said that you knew I was into you and you hadn't asked me yet so I thought that you might not be totally sure that you wanted to go with me because you hadn't asked. I didn't want to ask and then have you say yes just because you felt like it was the proper thing to do because I feel like you might do something like that."
"I wouldn't say yes just because I felt bad, Pads."
"I wasn't sure. I wanted to be sure before risking our entire friendship."
"I've had feelings for you since fourth year."
"I know that now. I did not know that then. Present Sirius is not in charge of past Sirius."
Remus sighed. "The reason I didn't ask you then is because I was sure that you had better options. You're Sirius Black. There are a lot of guys at this school that I'm sure would love to have a chance to be here with you."
"But I only want you." He looked up at Remus and tried to form some sort of telepathic connection that would make everything clear. Remus looked down at him, mouth slightly agape. It quickly turned into a smile. There was this twinkle in his eyes. They were like very dark pots of honey, which isn't a great analogy but Sirius was trying his best. They're brown (if that wasn't clear). Remus turned towards him and Sirius couldn't help but think: this is it. This is the moment where everything began because it was him and Remus and they would be together forever because they were made for each other. At this point, they must be. Remus was still looking at Sirius, even glancing at his lips for a moment, but he cleared his throat and looked away before leaning any closer.
"Do you- erm." Remus cleared his throat, looking back down at Sirius. "Dance with me." He stuck out his hand and Sirius didn't overthink the gesture this time. He let Remus pull him out to the middle of the floor where other pairs of students were dancing. Remus grabbed his waist and Sirius draped his hands over his shoulders. Sirius had only ever dreamed of moments like this before. This was new. This was good .
They stepped to the left and then to the right, swaying to the music. Sirius honestly couldn’t tell you what the song was because he was distracted by the feeling of Remus’ hands on his waist and his eyes on his.
He was having trouble looking at one singular thing, though. He was looking down at their feet, trying to make sure they kept in step together. He didn’t want to step on Remus’ toes or anything else like that. Then, he was looking at the ceiling. There were string lights and streamers. It was quite pretty if Sirius was being honest. At one point, he was looking straight forward, which granted him a view of Remus’ neck. Finally, though, he got the courage to actually look up at Remus’ face. It was a mistake, though. Remus was too perfect to be looked at. Now, all Sirius wanted to do was stare at him. It was okay because Remus was looking right back at him. They swayed back and forth. It felt like they were floating, just a bit, but that might be solely Sirius’ opinion. However, it shouldn’t matter. It didn’t matter. If you asked Sirius, they were floating. Sirius felt like anything was possible; anything could happen. Everything was in this moment.
He cupped a hand at the base of Remus’ neck and pulled him down closer, pressed up onto his toes, and kissed it. It was gentle and it was slow and it was everything that Sirius needed at that moment. He rested back down onto his feet and Remus leaned down. He kept a hand at the small of Sirius’ back and moved the other up in between his shoulder blades. Sirius felt himself get pulled closer and he stumbled a little, but Remus didn’t let him fall. Sirius couldn’t help but let out a laugh as he rested his forehead against Remus’. Remus leaned down and kissed him again and again and again and Sirius felt like he was on top of the world.