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PROMPT : Person A and Person B first meet in a toy store where A was clicking all the buttons on the toddler toys. B is supposedly trying to do their job as an employee there but joins A in the end. (Link to prompt: here)
- Remus’ hated that he had to find a new job every few months.
- He took too much time off and his employers didn’t appreciate it.
- He could never give them a proper explanation expect that he was ‘ill’.
- But it’s not as if he could tell these Muggle’s that he was a werewolf, could he?
- His latest job was working at Toy’s R Us.
- Most of his coworkers hated working there because of how many children were around.
- But the children weren’t too bad.
- It was the parents who always gave Remus’ judgemental looks for his scars that were the problem.
- The children were always quite sweet to Remus, asking him why he had scars in the nicest way possible.
- He’d always reply with “These are my battle scars.”
- Their response was usually “Cooool!” or “When will I get some battle scars?”
- Back to present day, it was a rather dull Tuesday afternoon with not many customers in at all.
- Two other coworkers cried off early leaving only Remus, his supervisor and one other employee to manage the large store.
- In his boredom state, Remus started to pace up and down the aisle to make sure everything was in order.
- Then he heard a noise from one of the Fisher Price toys in the next aisle over, then a small little giggle.
- “I tell you, these Muggles!”
- Muggles?!
- Remus rounded the corner to see a man (he presumed Wizard) - around the same age as him - stood on his own by the toddler toys pressing every single button he could find.
- The man seemed oddly familiar to Remus.
- Beautiful features, high cheek bones, luscious black locks.
- Why did he look familiar?
- Then it dawned on him.
- “Sirius Black?”
- “Huh?!” The man jumped, dropping a Thomas the Tank Engine toy that bounced on the floor.
- He whipped around to see Remus stood across the aisle from him.
- “Remus?” He questioned. “I … I, I mean, Lupin right?”
- He started rubbing the back of his neck.
- Remus nodded slightly.
- “Yeah, I’m surprised you remembered who I was.”
- Remus bent down to pick up the toy and heard a hitch in Sirius’ breathing.
- “Course I remember you! … I mean, yeah, I thought you looked … familiar … or whatever.”
- Did it suddenly get hot in here?
- “What are you doing here?” Sirius questioned.
- “I work here.” He answered, holding the Toy to his chest.
- Even though he was best friends with Lily and saw her all the time, he never expected to see Sirius again after Hogwarts.
- Apart from at Lily and James’ eventual wedding.
- Sirius was in Gryffindor where as Remus was in Ravenclaw.
- Remus had always had a crush on the elusive Sirius Black, but so did everybody else at Hogwarts.
- It was no big deal. He got over it ages ago.
- Well, he had until he saw him again.
- “What are you doing here?”
- “Oh, I’m erm … I’m looking to get some muggle toys for the baby.”
- He felt his heart sink a little.
- “O-oh right.”
- “Yeah, Lily’s pretty insistent that her child grows up with both muggle and wizard-y stuff.”
- His heart lifted back up.
- “Oh! You’re buying things for Harry?”
- “Yeah! You know him?”
- “Yeah, I meet up with Lily every so often and she brings him along. She want’s me to help her plan the wedding with her. Turns out James’ isn’t so … helpful in that department.” He waved his hand.
- Sirius’ smile widened as he chuckled.
- “You’re not wrong their mate. He’s utterly hopeless.”
- They just stared at each other with small smiles.
- Remus shook himself out of the trance
- “So, what is it you’re thinking about getting?”
- “Well, thats the problem you see. I don’t know what the hell to get. It’s all too new to me.”
- “Well, I can give you a hand … if you want?”
- “Yes! … I mean, yeah … yes please.”
- To say this was probably the best day he had at work ever was an understatement.
- Remus and Sirius spent the next hour or so together.
- He was determined he would help Sirius find a toy for Harry.
- He swears.
- But Sirius was too distracting with just how cute he was.
- His face lit up every time a toy made a noise that Remus couldn’t help but join in with pressing every button going.
- Their laughter carried through the large store, as did all of the noise they made.
- “John!” Shouted Remus’ angry supervisor an hour later.
- “Damn.” He whispered under his breath so only Sirius could hear.
- Sirius furrowed his eyebrows at the intruder.
- “Must I remind you that you have a job to do? Or at least you do for now.”
- Remus stared chewing at the inside of his cheek.
- He knew it was coming, his supervisor has just been waiting for a good excuse to get him sacked.
- “And I would say that he’s doing a stand up job!” Sirius snapped.
- “He’s just spent the past hour with me, helping me choose a suitable toy for my godson, and I have actually decided to buy multiple toys that I would never had considered if it weren’t for Rem-I mean, John here.”
- The supervisor looked pretty sheepish at that.
- “I”m sorry sir, it’s just that John here was supposed to be restocking the shelves. I would be more than happy to take over though if you need any more help.”
- Her smile, Remus assumed, was meant to be quite flirtatious.
- But in reality, it was more menacing.
- “No, thank you. I’m more than happy with the job that John has done.” He smirked back.
- “May you help me to the checkouts, John?” He winked.
- “Of course, sir.”
- Sirius grabbed around ten toys, dropping five toys into Remus’ arms.
- They left his supervisor to be annoyed on her own in the aisle.
- “So, why did she call you John?”
- “Oh, it’s my middle name. It seemed more muggle than Remus.”
- “Yeah, I get that.” He laughed.
- Remus opened up a till and ran all of Sirius’ picks through it.
- He winced at the price. It was around £140 with his discount included.
- “Are you sure you want to buy all of this, Sirius? You really don’t need to. It’s quite expensive, even with my 10% family and friends discount.”
- “You … you put your discount on it for me?” Sirius’ eyes brightened.
- Remus’ face flushed.
- “I-er … I mean, well yeah.”
- “Thank you, Remus.” He smiled genuinely, reaching over and placing his hand on top of Remus’.
- He couldn’t help but stare at their hands.
- “S-sure. Erm. That’ll be £140.”
- Sirius took his hand back and pulled out a wallet and stared at the contents, his eyes wide.
- “Is something the matter?”
- “I … erm … This is super embarrassing. I can’t remember which muggle notes are which.”
- Remus let out a breathy laugh.
- “That’s okay, really. Do you want me to sort it for you?”
- “Do you not mind?”
- “Not in the slightest.”
- Sirius passed over his wallet where Remus saw a cute little baby picture of Harry.
- He pulled out the necessary notes, passed it back over, put all of the items into a bag and put the receipt inside.
- “Here you go. Thank you for shopping at Toy’s R Us.” He grinned.
- “Thank you for spending the afternoon helping me. I’m sorry for getting you into trouble.”
- Remus shrugged it off.
- “Don’t worry about it, she never did like me much anyway.”
- “I don’t understand how that can be.”
- Remus blushed. Was Sirius flirting with him?
- “Yes, well. Thank you for a fun afternoon. I hope the presents work out for you, and I’ll hopefully see you at the Potters wedding in a few months.”
- For probably the last time, he thought.
- Sirius started shifting from one foot to the other.
- “Or perhaps before? If you want? For a date … possibly?”
- He couldn’t look Remus directly in the eye.
- “You’d seriously want to go on a date … with me?”
- “I’m always Sirius”
- Remus groaned, but laughed anyway making Sirius give him a toothy grin.
- “But yes, seriously. I’ve … I’ve always wanted to ask you out. I was just too scared too in Hogwarts.”
- Remus’ eyes widened.
- “Seriously?!”
- “I’m always-”
- “Shush!” Remus laughed, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t even think you knew who I was at school.”
- “Of course I did! James used to bully me so much for pining after you the way I did. Oh god, I sound so creepy, don’t I?”
- “Nah, not at all. I … I felt the same way. About you. Lily used to go mad at me for not just talking to you, but … well. Yeah.”
- “She did? That must be why she told me to come shopping here for Harry’s present then with the hope we’d bump into each other and stop being foolish.”
- Remus rolled his eyes.
- “Lily told you to come here?”
- Sirius nodded.
- Reminder to self: Buy Lily a large bouquet of flowers.
- “She did. And I’m so glad she did.”
- “Me too.”
- They couldn’t stop staring at each other.
- “What time do you get off tonight?”
- “Around 6.30pm?”
- “Can I meet you afterwards? I kind of don’t want to wait another day before I finally take you out.”
- Remus nodded.
- Sirius pulled out a little piece of paper from his back pocket.
- “Do you have a qui-I mean pen?”
- Remus passed one over and Sirius scribbled something down.
- “Here’s my number. I’m still pretty new to the whole mob-ee thing, but I’m getting better at texting. So … text me if you get chance before tonight?”
- Remus was dumbfounded and couldn’t do more than just nod.
- Sirius winked, leant over to squeeze at Remus’ hand, picked up his shopping bag and walked out of the store, glancing back at Remus a few times.
- Remus felt his heart beat racing.
- Forget the bouquet of flowers. I’m gonna pay for that girls wedding.
- “John! The shelves won’t stock themselves!”