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When James arrived with his friends, he spotted that brunette man immediately and could tell he looked just barely out of place.
Only noticeable to someone who also felt a little out of his comfort zone himself, James a prime example in bars like that.
The crowded, busy scene, sweaty on the dance floor and exceptionally too loud to order any drinks at the bar. The bartender never got James’s order right, probably because he couldn’t hear a word he said.
When he sees Remus, James’s eyes lock and before anyone else can say anything he calls: “Dibs on the brunette at the bar.”
Sirius groans and looks at his best friend, “C’mon you know he’s cute.”
James shrugs, but looks entirely pleased with himself, “Find someone else, Pads.”
With that, James makes a beeline for the bar and it’s easy to chat with the brunette and with the bartender who cannot hear James at all.
Who cares, the brunette man can hear James and introduces himself as Remus.
“Remus,” James repeats with a purr on the edge of his tongue, “Pretty man,” he pauses and watches how Remus flushes and looks surprised, “Sorry, pretty name. That’s what I meant.”
Remus’s eyebrows furrow, “Really?”
James grins, “Nope, not at all,” he flirts, easily, “I mean both.”
Remus flushes and looks down at his hands.
They chat for a while until Remus complains, “It’s so loud in here.”
James smiles, “How about we step out?”
Remus easily agrees and James slips his hand into Remus’s to lead him out of the bar, assertively through the crowds of people.
James can tell Remus is glad they got out of that downtown bar. He smiles at him from the driver's seat. They pick up a sixer and James drives up Pine Creek after he offers to take them to see the midnight stars.
James’s hand rests on Remus’s thigh. They don’t acknowledge it, but Remus’s head is leaned against James’s shoulder as they drive, the cool night air blowing through their open windows.
“We’re here,” James murmurs and puts the truck in park.
He climbs out of the Chevy to walk out with Remus on the side of the road. The treetops fold open to reveal the night sky, the beautiful stars sparkling in the sky.
“Wow,” Remus murmurs, his breath coming out and letting little white wisps into the sky.
James laughs at the sight, “Cold?”
Remus mock shivers but James can tell he’s genuinely cold. James slips off his jacket, offering it up easily. Remus acquiesces, letting James sling it over his shoulders.
Instead of stepping away afterward, Remus leans against James. James’s hands wrap around Remus from behind, pressing close against him as they look up at the sky.
“You know, you look unreal in them polo and corduroys,” James murmurs against the back of Remus’s neck, “but baby, you’re a little more t-shirt and blue jeans, maybe a cowboy hat too, if I had to guess.”
Remus huffs out a laugh, smiling despite himself, “Maybe.”
“Even in this big city, I can tell you’re small town,” James comments, pressing a soft kiss to the back of Remus’s neck.
Everything about Remus feels just like how James was raised. Remus isn’t from here, not from the city, not with the rural country twang on his voice. Similar to James’s but not the same, a different town, but not like cityfolk.
Remus’s hometown probably has a water tower and a Mapco. It takes one to know one, and James can tell Remus is small town, probably from a place with one light and a hundred dirt roads.
“C’mon, it’s cold out,” James murmurs, tugging Remus’s wrist to pull him back to the truck. He climbs into the driver’s seat and grabs a CD from the truck’s ceiling. “What do ya fancy?” he grins, playful.
Remus laughs, softly, “What’ve you got?”
“Hm, Johnny, Dolly, Willie,” he pauses, “Ha, rhymin’.”
Remus rolls his eyes and points at the CD in James’s hand, “Is that John Deere Green?”
James nods and watches how Remus’s face transforms into excitement. That’s the one, James knows, and he slides it into the slot.
The way Remus lights up when James plays that juke box John Deere Green and the way he hops up, sliding across that old Chevy bench seat, James can tell Remus is small town, just like him.
When James threw some gravel off the tires, Remus didn’t bat an eye.
“I’m sorry ‘bout the dirt in the floor board,” James mutters, focused on just how dirty his truck is.
Remus laughs and says “I don’t mind,” he pauses, “Besides, there’s better things to focus on here,” he grins and his lips are on James’s, easily available from that beautiful bench seat.
James loves that bench seat.
With the way Remus is laying his kisses on James right now, James can tell he’s small town, and he’s just dying to see Remus’s small town.
Find out everything about the boy who just climbed into his lap in his truck, straddling him.
Find out everything about the place he grew up. Is there a water tower? How ‘bout a Mapco? Definitely one light and a hundred dirt roads. Nothing like this city.
Remus kisses James to the beat of the juke box John Deere Green, moving in James’s lap as the song plays on repeat. James doesn’t know how the repeat button got pushed but he is not complaining.
Remus, propped up on James’s lap after he slid across this old chevy bench seat, is small town like James. And he’s townmade perfection. The city couldn’t make anything like him; it takes a village, it takes a small town.
It’s in the way Remus says goodnight. James drives them back down into the city, dreadfully into the city. Remus directs James to his apartment and he parks on the side of the road.
James climbs out of the truck, hanging onto the frame as he does so. Remus climbs out the other side and pulls James onto the sidewalk, scolding him about being on the street. James smiles down at the shorter man.
“Goodnight,” Remus murmurs, with a kiss in the streetlight.
James wishes they were kissing in the porch light and he was dropping Remus off at his parents. In that world, he could go inside and meet Remus’s family and ask for their son’s hand, begging Remus’s daddy to say yes.
James smiles, his consciousness flashing back to the moment. Maybe they can get back to their small towns someday, but here in the city, they kiss once more.
“I love the way you’re small town,” James murmurs and presses a kiss to Remus’s earlobe who shivers at the feeling and the goosebumps forming on his neck, “But get on inside, baby, it’s cold out.”
Remus nods and presses one more kiss to James’s lips, then pulls himself out of James’s grasp and heads inside the apartment building.
James is going to keep that man, he decides, that man who is small town like James.