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Remus gripped the edges of the day’s newspaper with white knuckles as he glared at the front page title. “Black Heir to Be Married to Greengrass Maden, a posh business man’s daughter and the heir to the Black Family Fortune”. He roughly crumpled the newspaper and threw it into the nearest bin as he made his way through the lower city bustle. "A perfect match," the paper had said, he turned up the collar on his overcoat and walked down the cobble street to the nearest trolley station. It was a dreary, overcast day with a heavy layer of mist hanging in the air, making the morning chill bite into his bones. He let his mind wander as he walked through the bustle of the gray morning.
It was a normal night at work, he had already been there for nine hours, but the new kid had ditched again and Remus needed the money so he was covering the shift. He was out on the floor of the fancy bar scrubbing tables and clearing off old dishes left by the patrons. At this hour the bar was usually occupied with rich old men buying overpriced drinks at the bar, leaving the tables empty. Which gave Remus the chance to clean the tables and wash dishes in the back while the bartender poured.
This night however Remus kept noticing the eye of a man much younger than the usual late night crowd. He just watched Remus buss tables and pick up dishes, it wasn’t creepy or anything, just strange that he could hold the attention of this man so intently. He was handsome, almost regal, with dark hair down to his shoulders. He wore a fancy business suit that Remus couldn’t buy with a whole year’s worth of paychecks, and eyes that were gray as a stormy sky. Remus’s lean build and light brown curls were nothing to this man’s beauty.
He decided a smoke break would give him a chance to loosen his tie and cool off so he went to the back and let himself into the side alley next to the bar. He loosened his tie a few buttons, and rolled his sleeves up below his elbows, a cigarette between his teeth; that’s where the young man found him.
“Bum a smoke?” he asked as he leaned against the wall beside Remus.
Remus looked at him, surprised, but offered him a cigarette and a light, “with that suit, I thought you could afford your own.”
The man took a long drag and blew it out through his pretty lips, “hard to have smokes on you when your family are the nosiest people on the planet. They would throw a fit if they knew I smoked, ruining the family image, blah blah blah.” He turned his eyes to look at Remus, “my mother would have a cow if she knew I was here.”
“So why are you here?” Remus asked, blowing smoke from his own cigarette.
“Escape the mania, needed a night to reset.” He looked over at Remus, “Meet a nice looking guy maybe?”
Remus smirked, taking another drag and letting it burn in his lungs before letting it blow out into the night, “you’re forward posh boy, what makes you think I swing that way?”
“The way you were looking back at me, not a ‘why are you staring’ and, more a ‘he’s checking me out’ sort of way,” he said, flicking ash into the street, “and you haven’t punched me yet, so what’s your name?”
Remus just stared at him for a moment, processing his words, “Remus Lupin.”
The man turned and held out his hand, “nice to meet you Remus Lupin, My name is Sirius Black.”
Remus took his hand, speechless, and they shook hands in greeting. Sirius dropped the butt of his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out with the toe of his shiny dress shoe. As he turned to head back inside he turned and said, “I hope to see you again, Lupin.”
The trolley pulled up to the stop and Remus joined the line to board. Climbing on he took a spot towards the middle of the car. He could hear a couple of older women talking next to him as he clung to the railing to keep his balance. “Apparently the Black Heir tried to get out of the engagement. He was in a right state at the restaurant where his parents told him of the arrangement. Seems to me he needs to grow up instead of throwing a tantrum, that matrimony would be a good deal for both families.” The lady she was talking to just nodded in agreement.
Remus tuned out their conversation after that, arranged marriage? Business deal? He threw a fit? The pieces started coming together for Remus. Sirius’s parents had arranged his marriage to the Greengrass girl as a business deal, for money. He scowled at the idea of Sirius agreeing to go through with the arrangement.
The trolley stopped and Remus got off, walking towards his work. He thought about the article in the paper, it said the wedding would be held that afternoon in one of the Greengrass hotels. He changed his course to the venue, he would sneak in and what, talk him out of it? Kidnap him? Maybe at least be able to say goodbye to him. After everything they’d done together it was the least he could ask for before he never got to see him again. His gut lurched at the thought and he almost threw up the minuscule breakfast he had that morning.
Their alleyway talks became a staple of Remus’s late night shifts. Talking about Sirius’s family and the absurdity of everything they did. Flirting with smoky, sidelong looks and careful hand touches. Remus never pushed further than Srirus was comfortable, but he had quickly fallen for the gorgeous and intelligent man.
When they kissed for the first time it was like fireworks had gone off in Remus’s chest. Sirius’s lips were soft and tasted like whisky and cigarette smoke, and when he leaned in, Remus let him. His back against the wall, Sirius’s tongue in his mouth.
That was the first night Sirius let Remus take him to his flat after he was done with work. The first night they kissed on Remus’s raggedy couch. The first time they talked without fear of being overheard. It was perfect.
Remus walked into the building where hundreds of people in fancy dresses and suits all milled about in the lobby. He moved along the edge of the room to the staircase and headed up a few flights to where he assumed the bridal party was getting ready. He found the bride’s room first, overhearing her mother talk in her posh accent to a few of her friends about the importance of the occasion.
Yelling drew his attention to the next room where the bride was berating one of her bridesmaids about her bouquet. She was standing there in her big, poofy, white, ball gown. It had dumb looking, frilly layers that made her look like an overgrown pastry. Rolling his eyes, Remus moved down the hall to another open door where Sirius was getting yelled at by who Remus assumed was his father.
Remus made sure he wouldn't be seen from the doorway, but even when his father left the room to get himself ready, Sirius was never alone; there were a few other younger men talking and drinking on the other side of the room. Sirius sat ignoring them and moped in one of the leather armchairs, bouncing his knee in a nervous action that Remus was all too familiar with; he looked miserable. His father had probably ordered him not to be left alone in case he ran from the occasion, which was a real possibility, knowing Sirius.
Remus knew what he had to do, he had to stop this wedding. He headed down and found a hiding place in the main reception room. He watched from his hiding spot as all the posh, rich people in their fancy dresses and suits took their seats to watch this business transaction of an arranged marriage like they were going to the theater, not a wedding. Remus instantly despised all of them. Sirius was already standing up front on the stage with the minister. He was straight as a rod with his hands held behind his back, probably to hide the fact that they were shaking. His eyes were unfocused and he was white as a sheet. Remus couldn’t see the man he loved in that complexion, Sirius was a light in the darkness, animated and passionate, beautiful and gentle.
Remus woke up to the morning sun and Sirius. The glowing rays coming from the window cast a warmth across the gorgeous face of the man sleeping next to him, making him look even more beautiful. Remus brushed a lock of Sirius’s soft, black hair out of his face and behind his ear, gently waking him from his morning sleep. This, he decided, was his favorite Sirius.
They got up slowly, talking about a life that could never exist. Sirius and him getting a flat together, or Sirius leaving his family and moving into his flat. They would open a small record shop a few blocks away where they would play Bowie and T-Rex all day long.
Breakfast that morning saw Sirius’s face light up when Remus put on the radio, grabbed his hand, and danced with him in the small kitchen, almost knocking the bowl of pancake mix onto the floor. Remus kicked Sirius out of the kitchen after he burned the first batch of pancakes on the griddle. Sirius laughed at Remus from the couch as he told him a story about his childhood while making breakfast. His head tilting back as he leant back over the couch arm, his hair flowing back towards the floor. Remus couldn’t keep himself from admiring his neck stretched out and begging to be kissed.
The weeks of simple, beautiful moments after their first night together. Kissing, so much kissing, and cuddling on the couch with Sirius’s head in his lap as Remus read a book and played with his soft hair. Deep and light conversations about anything and everything.
Remus loved Sirius, and Sirius loved him back.
The organist started playing what sounded more like a funeral march than a wedding song. Everyone stood to welcome the bride as she floated at a snail’s pace down the aisle in her poofy dress, soaking up all the attention from her audience. She looked everything like the posh rich girl she was, perfect in every way, at least on the outside. Her blonde hair was done up into an elegant bun with her veil falling down her back and molding into the intricate folds of her pastry dress. She made it to the stage and her father gave her away to Sirius who robotically took her hand, he looked like he might pass out.
Remus was feeling faint himself, watching the love of his life marry another person and he couldn’t do anything about it. If there was, he would be up there taking Sirius’s hand and running away with him right now, back to his flat where everything was perfect, where no one could interfere with their lives.
Remus’s brain came back into focus just in time to hear the preacher say, “if any of you see fit to say that these two should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now or forever hold your peace.”
His feet start moving, and before his brain could process what he was doing he’s walked out from the curtains and is standing in front of over 100 people. He was absolutely mad, he shouldn’t be doing this, but his voice was clear as he said, “I say!”
The words resonated around the room and everyone there turned to him in horror, everything going silent, but the only thing Remus could see was Sirius. The gray storms of his eyes that were so worried before started to light up with a spark of hope as he looked at Remus.
Remus started speaking before he knew what he was going to say, “I am not the kind of person to barge in on a white veil occasion such as this, but you, Sirius, are not the kind of man who would marry a girl your parent’s arranged for you. So if you don't want to marry her, I’m offering you an out. Run away now, with me, and I’ll give you the chance to love and marry whoever you want to, if you even want to marry at all.”
Sirius moved before anyone had a chance to react, he charged up to Remus and grabbed his hand, running him out a side door, into the lobby, and out the front door of the hotel. Remus can hear Sirius’s mother yelling after him, and can only imagine the pandemonium that is now the reception hall as they sprint down the sidewalk hand in hand. They hopped on a trolley as it started moving out of its stop and sat down, out of breath. Sirius turns to him without shame or care of being noticed. “I love you, and I’m so glad you were there.”
They go to Remus’s Flat where they walk through the door and into their own private world where they could love, and kiss, and live without expectation.