I have been manipulated into sketching these guys in modern setting.
I know adidas!Geralt has been done something like a million times, but i couldn’t resist. Tattooed Regis was shamelessly ripped-off from @velvettodraws‘ criminal AU because the idea is simply delicious and i couldn’t resist this either <3
Jiang Cheng is sure he has been looking at the same two invitation designs for the past ten minutes. He’s no longer sure he can even make out the difference between them. Jiang Cheng tilts his head back with a groan, rubbing his eyes in the hopes of making them stop burning but of course it doesn’t work.
Jiang Cheng is still debating if he should switch over to the flower arrangements for now when he hears the door, quickly followed by Nie Mingjue’s light steps, Baxia and Sandu in tow, their tongues no doubt lolling out.
“I’m back!” Nie Mingjue calls out.
“Kitchen,” Jiang Cheng replies and tilts his head back for a kiss when Nie Mingjue comes into the room.
“Hi,” Nie Mingjue says once they part and Jiang Cheng smiles up at him.
“Hi,” he gives back. “How was your run?”
“You should ask them,” Nie Mingjue says with a pointed look at the two dogs who are too busy drinking to pay any attention to Jiang Cheng.
“You tired them out,” Jiang Cheng observes and Nie Mingjue smiles sheepishly at him.
“Not my fault they can’t keep pace,” he gives back before he looks at the table, a frown on his face. “Are you still looking at invitations?”
“Yeah,” Jiang Cheng sighs. “I have it narrowed down to these two though, I think. How do you like them?”
Nie Mingjue musters them for a moment and then shakes his head.
“My heart, those are the exact same two we already had as our favourites. What are you doing?”
“I just wanted to be sure,” Jiang Cheng pouts. “I want this wedding to be perfect so I compared them to all the other designs again.”
“Oh, my heart,” Nie Mingjue says and bends down to hug Jiang Cheng from behind. “The wedding is already going to be perfect because it’s our wedding. I’m marrying you. It doesn’t get more perfect than that. The design of the invitation really doesn’t have anything to do with that at all.”
“I know,” Jiang Cheng whispers and laces their fingers together. “I know that. I just–”
“You still want it to be perfect,” Nie Mingjue finishes for him and presses a kiss to the side of Jiang Cheng’s face. “I get that. But we both have stared at designs and arrangements for too long. We should give it a little bit of rest and come back to it in one or two days, alright?”
“Fine,” Jiang Cheng sighs, but he knows that Nie Mingjue is right.
The invitations look the same to him already and it would probably do him some good to think about something else for a while. They still have time until the wedding anyway.
“Good.” Another kiss to Jiang Cheng’s cheek. “Now put all of that away, I stopped by that one dinner place on my run and placed an order. It should be here in ten minutes or so,” Nie Mingjue tells him and lets go of Jiang Cheng. “I’m going to hop under the shower real quick.”
“You’re perfect,” Jiang Cheng tells him just as his stomach rumbles and Nie Mingjue gives him a dimpled smile.
Jiang Cheng is sure he has been looking at the same two invitation designs for the past ten minutes. He’s no longer sure he can even make out the difference between them. Jiang Cheng tilts his head back with a groan, rubbing his eyes in the hopes of making them stop burning but of course it doesn’t work.
Jiang Cheng is still debating if he should switch over to the flower arrangements for now when he hears the door, quickly followed by Nie Mingjue’s light steps, Baxia and Sandu in tow, their tongues no doubt lolling out.
“I’m back!” Nie Mingjue calls out.
“Kitchen,” Jiang Cheng replies and tilts his head back for a kiss when Nie Mingjue comes into the room.
“Hi,” Nie Mingjue says once they part and Jiang Cheng smiles up at him.
“Hi,” he gives back. “How was your run?”
“You should ask them,” Nie Mingjue says with a pointed look at the two dogs who are too busy drinking to pay any attention to Jiang Cheng.
“You tired them out,” Jiang Cheng observes and Nie Mingjue smiles sheepishly at him.
“Not my fault they can’t keep pace,” he gives back before he looks at the table, a frown on his face. “Are you still looking at invitations?”
“Yeah,” Jiang Cheng sighs. “I have it narrowed down to these two though, I think. How do you like them?”
Nie Mingjue musters them for a moment and then shakes his head.
“My heart, those are the exact same two we already had as our favourites. What are you doing?”
“I just wanted to be sure,” Jiang Cheng pouts. “I want this wedding to be perfect so I compared them to all the other designs again.”
“Oh, my heart,” Nie Mingjue says and bends down to hug Jiang Cheng from behind. “The wedding is already going to be perfect because it’s our wedding. I’m marrying you. It doesn’t get more perfect than that. The design of the invitation really doesn’t have anything to do with that at all.”
“I know,” Jiang Cheng whispers and laces their fingers together. “I know that. I just–”
“You still want it to be perfect,” Nie Mingjue finishes for him and presses a kiss to the side of Jiang Cheng’s face. “I get that. But we both have stared at designs and arrangements for too long. We should give it a little bit of rest and come back to it in one or two days, alright?”
“Fine,” Jiang Cheng sighs, but he knows that Nie Mingjue is right.
The invitations look the same to him already and it would probably do him some good to think about something else for a while. They still have time until the wedding anyway.
“Good.” Another kiss to Jiang Cheng’s cheek. “Now put all of that away, I stopped by that one dinner place on my run and placed an order. It should be here in ten minutes or so,” Nie Mingjue tells him and lets go of Jiang Cheng. “I’m going to hop under the shower real quick.”
“You’re perfect,” Jiang Cheng tells him just as his stomach rumbles and Nie Mingjue gives him a dimpled smile.
Jiang Cheng is sure he has been looking at the same two invitation designs for the past ten minutes. He’s no longer sure he can even make out the difference between them. Jiang Cheng tilts his head back with a groan, rubbing his eyes in the hopes of making them stop burning but of course it doesn’t work.
Jiang Cheng is still debating if he should switch over to the flower arrangements for now when he hears the door, quickly followed by Nie Mingjue’s light steps, Baxia and Sandu in tow, their tongues no doubt lolling out.
“I’m back!” Nie Mingjue calls out.
“Kitchen,” Jiang Cheng replies and tilts his head back for a kiss when Nie Mingjue comes into the room.
“Hi,” Nie Mingjue says once they part and Jiang Cheng smiles up at him.
“Hi,” he gives back. “How was your run?”
“You should ask them,” Nie Mingjue says with a pointed look at the two dogs who are too busy drinking to pay any attention to Jiang Cheng.
“You tired them out,” Jiang Cheng observes and Nie Mingjue smiles sheepishly at him.
“Not my fault they can’t keep pace,” he gives back before he looks at the table, a frown on his face. “Are you still looking at invitations?”
“Yeah,” Jiang Cheng sighs. “I have it narrowed down to these two though, I think. How do you like them?”
Nie Mingjue musters them for a moment and then shakes his head.
“My heart, those are the exact same two we already had as our favourites. What are you doing?”
“I just wanted to be sure,” Jiang Cheng pouts. “I want this wedding to be perfect so I compared them to all the other designs again.”
“Oh, my heart,” Nie Mingjue says and bends down to hug Jiang Cheng from behind. “The wedding is already going to be perfect because it’s our wedding. I’m marrying you. It doesn’t get more perfect than that. The design of the invitation really doesn’t have anything to do with that at all.”
“I know,” Jiang Cheng whispers and laces their fingers together. “I know that. I just–”
“You still want it to be perfect,” Nie Mingjue finishes for him and presses a kiss to the side of Jiang Cheng’s face. “I get that. But we both have stared at designs and arrangements for too long. We should give it a little bit of rest and come back to it in one or two days, alright?”
“Fine,” Jiang Cheng sighs, but he knows that Nie Mingjue is right.
The invitations look the same to him already and it would probably do him some good to think about something else for a while. They still have time until the wedding anyway.
“Good.” Another kiss to Jiang Cheng’s cheek. “Now put all of that away, I stopped by that one dinner place on my run and placed an order. It should be here in ten minutes or so,” Nie Mingjue tells him and lets go of Jiang Cheng. “I’m going to hop under the shower real quick.”
“You’re perfect,” Jiang Cheng tells him just as his stomach rumbles and Nie Mingjue gives him a dimpled smile.
“Only for you,” Nie Mingjue promises him and even though they have been together for years at this point, Jiang Cheng’s stomach still flutters.
“And aren’t I lucky,” he mutters, watching Nie Mingjue walk into their bedroom before he shakes himself out of his daze and puts the invitations away.
They really do still have time and it probably can’t hurt to sleep over this for a few days. They still have other things to do besides—and there really still is enough time left—so they don’t have to rush things.
Jiang Cheng just likes to stay on top of things.
He puts cutlery and bowls on the table once all the invitations have been safely stowed away and now that he thinks about it, Jiang Cheng really is close to starving.
“I really do have the best fiancé,” Jiang Cheng mutters under his breath and he’s aware that the most dopey smile is on his face but it’s not like anyone can see and he’s finally at a point where even if someone could, Jiang Cheng wouldn’t care.
He loves Nie Mingjue too much to hide it.
Jiang Cheng is just puttering around when someone knocks on the door. He almost runs over to it, suddenly famished and he wants to get the food as quickly as possible.
“Hurry up,” he calls into the apartment, hoping that Nie Mingjue hears him and doesn’t waste time under the shower but when Jiang Cheng yanks the door open he freezes.
It’s not their food that is waiting for him on the other side but two police officers.
“Officers,” Jiang Cheng croaks out, one horror scenario after another rushing through his mind. “Did something happen?”
“Jiang Wanyin?” one of them asks and Jiang Cheng nods, afraid of the news they bring.
“What—what can I do for you?”
“We’re actually looking for you,” the second officer tells him and now Jiang Cheng thoughts turn into a different direction.
It’s not like he breaks the law on a regular basis—the last thing was probably a ticket for speeding, if he’s honest—but suddenly he wonders if he murdered someone and they are here to arrest him.
“What for?” Jiang Cheng carefully asks and the officers share a look.
“Your siblings filed a missing person case for you,” they explain and Jiang Cheng can only blink at them.
“I’m sorry they did what?”
“They said your apartment has been rented out to someone else and they can’t find you.”
“This is my official apartment. This is the address that is registered as my home,” Jiang Cheng says and the officers nod.
“Yes, it does seem a bit strange. Is there someone else here with you?”
“My fiancé,” Jiang Cheng croaks out and just in that moment Nie Mingjue steps into the hallway.
“My heart? Is that the food?” he asks but he trails off when he catches sight of the police. “I guess not. What is going on?”
“I’d like to know that as well,” Jiang Cheng says, crossing his arms in front of his chest, but he can guess.
Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli neither listen to him nor did they ever believe him when he told them he was moving in with Nie Mingjue.
“Excuse us, could we talk to you alone for a moment?” the officers ask Jiang Cheng who sighs and turns around to Nie Mingjue.
“It’s my stupid siblings,” he tells him and then steps outside into the hallway, closing the door behind him. “What did they say?”
“Are you doing fine? Are you being coerced? Is he forcing you to be here?” one of the officers asks and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
“No. I am here of my own free will. Nie Mingjue and I have been in a relationship for more than five years now. We’re getting married next year.”
“And that is something you want?”
“I proposed to him, so I should hope so,” Jiang Cheng bites back and then pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. What exactly did my siblings say?”
“They reported you as missing, citing exceedingly erratic behavior. Something about a delusion was mentioned as well.” The officer seems apologetic as he says it and Jiang Cheng takes a deep breath.
“That would be because they neither listen to me nor do they believe me,” he says his previous thoughts out loud. “I have always been transparent about my relationship with Nie Mingjue but they don’t believe me. I gave them my new address and I informed them of the wedding. I still have the same phone number!” Jiang Cheng takes a deep breath. “I can show you if you want?” he says and points at the door.
“Please.”
Jiang Cheng excuses himself and enters the apartment, not even surprised that Nie Mingjue is still waiting for him in the hallway.
“What is going on?”
“My siblings filed a missing person report for me it seems,” Jiang Cheng tells him and walks over to kiss his cheek. “I’ll just show the nice officers that there’s nothing to worry about and then we can have dinner.”
“If you’re sure,” Nie Mingjue says, the worry clearly etched into his face and Jiang Cheng pulls him in for a kiss.
“I am. Give me five minutes.”
Jiang Cheng grabs his phone and steps back outside to show the officers his chat with his siblings.
“Do you want to confirm that these are my sibling’s phone numbers?” he asks them, showing them the contact information.
One of the officers gets a notebook out and they check the numbers, nodding once they are done.
“They are the same.”
“And this is the chat. See, I told my siblings five months ago that I was moving to this very address and informed them about the wedding as well,” he says and shows the messages to the officers.
His siblings had answered with different variants of “Don’t do this, A-Cheng,” and “There’s no need to take this charade this far”, to which Jiang Cheng hadn’t answered anymore.
There’s no point in arguing with his siblings about his relationship.
“It all seems to be in order,” the officer says. “If you don’t mind us asking, why are your siblings not believing you?”
Jiang Cheng snorts at that question.
“We don’t have the time to get too deeply into our fucked up childhoods, but it basically boils down to the fact that they think Nie Mingjue is way out of my league and wouldn’t ever date someone like me. This has been going on for years but I didn’t think they would involve the police over this. I’m sorry.”
“Since you didn’t file the report it’s really not your fault. We’ll inform them about the situation. There might be some follow up questions, though. Here’s my partners and mine contact number, just in case as well.”
Jiang Cheng takes the offered card, even though he has zero intention of ever calling them and bids them a good evening.
And it happens just in time too, because as the officers are leaving their food is arriving.
Jiang Cheng quickly goes inside to get the money, putting the bags of food into Nie Mingjue’s hands before he pays the delivery guy and then, finally, he closes the door.
“What the fuck,” he mutters.
“What the fuck, indeed,” Nie Mingjue says, still standing in the same spot, bag of food in his hands. “What is even going on?”
“Let’s talk over dinner,” Jiang Cheng proposes, his stomach rumbling again and he takes the bags back from Nie Mingjue, quickly making his way to the kitchen.
The food is laid out in mere minutes and it’s only after Jiang Cheng stuffed his mouth full that Nie Mingjue speaks.
“Did they really report you as missing?” he asks and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“Yes. As far as I understood the nice officers they called my behaviour erratic and cited a delusion. That added up to the fact that I am no longer living in my old apartment was clearly enough for the police to get involved and take this seriously.”
“And now?”
“And now I cleared it up. I showed them the chat history and I explained to them what is happening. There might be follow up questions but I am no longer a missing person.”
“Why would they do that, though? You told them where you’d move.”
Jiang Cheng sigs and then walks around the table to sit in Nie Mingjue’s lap. Jiang Cheng has hours upon hours of therapy behind him, and he is now more or less fine with his family history and especially with his sibling’s behaviour. But it seems like Nie Mingjue is not quite as fine with this as he’d thought if his tone of voice is anything to go by.
“My heart,” Jiang Cheng starts as he leans in for a kiss. “We know how my siblings are. I’m not really that surprised. You know they never listen to me.”
“But—a delusion? As if you made all of this up? Why can’t they just believe you?”
“Because you’re perfect and wonderful and everyone can see that. And we know my siblings don’t have the best opinion of me, so of course they wouldn’t believe we’re together. Hell, some days I still can’t believe how lucky I am that you love me back,” Jiang Cheng says, hoping to lighten the mood.
“You know I love you,” Nie Mingjue whispers and tightens his arms around Jiang Cheng.
“I know,” he promises him but Nie Mingjue still seems pensive and worried. “What?” Jiang Cheng gently prods him and Nie Mingjue drops his head to Jiang Cheng’s shoulder.
“Sometimes I wonder if I made everything worse for you,” he admits, his voice barely audible. “If you wouldn’t be better off without me.”
“Never,” Jiang Cheng immediately and vehemently replies, pressing himself closer to Nie Mingjue. “You make my life better. My family was suffocating me, keeping me down, keeping me small but with you—I feel like myself, like I can finally breathe and live and love how and who I want. And for that I will always be grateful.”
“But it would have been easier with them,” Nie Mingjue still argues and Jiang Cheng wants to take these thoughts right out of his head and throw them all away.
“Easier, maybe,” he admits. “But I would take happy over easy every day. And you make me happy.”
“Are you sure?” Nie Mingjue asks, his voice small.
“My soul, I proposed to you. Of course I am sure.”
“But only because you were faster! I had the ring in my hand, too!” Nie Mingjue immediately exclaims, pulling back to glare at Jiang Cheng. “You got lucky, that’s all,” he grumbles and Jiang Cheng smiles.
Mission accomplished.
“I got so very lucky,” he agrees and laughs at Nie Mingjue’s grimace but they both sober up real quickly.
“Do you—want to talk to them?” Nie Mingjue haltingly asks and Jiang Cheng curls up in his lap as best as he can, Nie Mingjue’s arms safely around him.
“No. They have my address. They have my phone number and all my social media handles. They can reach out to me whenever they want. I am tired of always being the only one who wants to stay in contact or who makes an effort. If they don’t come to me, then that’s it.”
“And the wedding?”
“I’m not really thinking about inviting them anyway,” Jiang Cheng admits. “It would only cause drama. If they come to me before our wedding I’m sure we can figure something out but I will not allow them to ghost me for months and then invite them to the happiest moment of my life,” Jiang Cheng decidedly says and leans further into Nie Mingjue.
“Okay,” he softly agrees and brushes his lips over Jiang Cheng’s forehead. “Fine.”
“Now can we please finally eat and laugh over how absurd this entire evening is?” Jiang Cheng asks.
“As long as you are fine,” Nie Mingjue says and briefly squeezes Jiang Cheng.
“I am always fine when I am with you,” Jiang Cheng tells him but when Nie Mingjue lets go of him, he hurries back to his food. “I’m really starved,” Jiang Cheng says, his mouth already full and Nie Mingjue fondly shakes his head.
“And here I am already replaced by food,” he teases and Jiang Cheng glares at him, though he doesn’t stop to eat.
But even if Jiang Cheng could, he wouldn’t say anything because being teased by Nie Mingjue is better than seeing him in a pensive mood.
“Temporarily. Only temporarily,” he promises him, taking another bite, delighted to see Nie Mingjue’s fond smile.
“I should hope so,” Nie Mingjue grumbles, clearly teasing and Jiang Cheng smiles at him.
“I love you,” he says, almost before he really swallowed, and Nie Mingjue holds out his hand to lace their fingers together.
“I love you, too.”
And that is all Jiang Cheng really needs, siblings and parents be damned. As long as he has Nie Mingjue he’ll be more than fine.
Summary: Seralas secret is out, and a decision is made to reveal to Fili just who she truly is. The encounter leaving more questions than answers for the oldest Durin, and what this could mean for his family.
Serala quickly removed herself from Fili as she ran into her bathroom slamming the door behind her. Her back pressed against it as she glanced in the mirror, her eyes shining a bright gold. Swallowing her head fell back against the wood as she ground her teeth together. She should have been smarter, making sure to calm herself first. A knock sounded on the other side, her ears picking up Fili’s steady heartbeat. “Serala? Are you okay? Talk to me please.” Closing her eyes, she turned pressing her forehead against the cool surface of the door. “Fili I… I don’t think I can, there is a lot of stuff you don’t know about me. Stuff that isn’t normal.” It was silent for a few moments before his soft buttery voice spoke, “try me amrâlimê.” Serala sighed as she closed her eyes, his words calming her down significantly. Her hand gripped the doorknob as she gently opened the barrier between them. Serala looked up at him her once golden eyes now a soft brown, Fili stepped towards her his hand caressing her cheek. His hand was warm, and she leaned into it a small hum leaving her. “You can trust me Sera, please tell me.” She nodded as she gently wrapped her hand around his wrist tugging him towards the bed they just shared. She sat down grabbing her discarded shirt slipping it over her head, as she wrapped the blanket around the rest of her body. “Have you ever heard the legend of the Loup garou?” Fili tugged his boxers on before taking a seat beside her slowly nodding, “Thorin used to tell Kili and I tales about the Loup garou. It’s a werewolf legend, right?”
“In a sense yes, how does Thorin know the legend?”
“Just a legend he would tell us to scare us into listening to our mother.” Fili winced mentally for responding so quickly. He hoped she would buy it, at least for now.
Serala sighed before deciding to continue her explanation. “There is some truth behind it Fi. My family comes from an extensive line of Loup garou lineage.”
“So, your ancestors had the ability to shift into a werewolf?”
“Yes. Nothing like what you see in the movies or what’s described in books either. In our true form we look like an average wolf.” Fili licked his lips and looked towards the bedroom wall, taking in Seralas words. His uncle had occasionally discussed the legends with him. Claiming that the Loup garou had defended the line of Durin for centuries even fighting beside them in battle. “Fi?” Filis eyes darted back to her as she sat there staring at him. “How many of your kind still exist?”
“Honestly, I’m not even sure. I just know in my father’s pack there are around twenty, not including my brother and I.” Licking her lips she reached over taking his hand in hers, “I want to show you who I truly am Fi. Something I’ve never shown anyone before.” Fili nodded his hand giving hers a gentle squeeze. “Get dressed and meet me out on the deck.” Serala stood not bothering to put anything else on as she opened the back door and stepped into the cool night air. She placed her hands on the wooden railing as she waited for Fili, her mind racing. Never had she told anyone about her secret, let alone show someone her wolf form. As Seralas mind ran rampant with all sorts of dark thoughts Fili stepped out to join her, “are you sure you want to do this Sera, if you aren’t comfortable you don’t have to.” Staring at him she felt the same calmness that she felt in her bathroom wash over her, her thoughts no longer mattered. She wanted to do this, wanted him to truly see her. “I’m sure Fi, come on.” Taking his hand, she gently tugged him down the steps towards the forest that lay behind her home. Once far enough into the darkness and trees she released her grip on him. “Wait here. No matter what you feel when you see me, don’t run. I only have so much control.” Fili wondered what she had meant by that as he watched her walk towards one of the larger trees in front of them, watching as she removed the shirt she wore. Suddenly she disappeared behind the large trunk, and for several seconds Fili held his breath wondering if he should have followed. Just as his feet went to move, he heard the soft sounds of movement. A beautiful white wolf stepped out from behind the tree, golden eyes shining at him the moonlight making its fur look almost like snow.
The wolf stopped keeping some distance between itself and Fili, and he tried to control the desire to walk over and run his hand through its fur. “Serala?” Its ears shifted forward watching him. Fili decided to act against his better judgement as he slowly began to move forward taking four steps, the wolf lowering its head eyes watching him closely. “I’m not going to hurt you, Sera.” Fili crouched low his hand extended towards her as he swallowed. He wasn’t sure if she would smell him or attack, but he remained calm gauging the situation. He knew if Serala remembered she would be angry he hadn’t headed her warning of not moving, risking her losing control and him being injured. Yet he didn’t feel that she would harm him in her wolf form, he knew she recognized him, his scent. Slowly she stepped forward closing the short distance between them, her nose barely brushing against his hand as she sniffed.
A short whine came from her as a pink tongue darted out to lick Fili’s warm skin. He smiled as he brushed his hand over the short fur on her muzzle then moving to scratch under her chin, watching her eyes close accepting the scratches he provided. Suddenly her head snapped to the side ears perking up, as a low growl sounded from deep within her throat. Fili pulled his hand back as he watched her dart into the dark forest leaving him alone. Looking up her stared at the moon and wondered if Serala would come back, a sharp howl cutting through his thoughts. Taking one last look into the darkness he turned on his heal heading back towards her home millions of questions swirling around in his mind. He knew he would need to talk to Thorin, find out more about the Loup garou legend and what this discovery would mean for them. For now, though, he would wait for her to return no matter how long it took.
I know this chapter is a tad shorter than others, but I was utterly inspired at 3am so I decided to write up a chapter. I’m super happy and excited about where this story is going, and I look forward to writing chapter 5. Again thank you all so much for your support and love it means the world to me!
If you would like to be added to tags or removed just let me know!
-he grumbles about celebrating his birthday, but every year, Jesper and Inej go halvsies to book a whole day of the most challenging escape rooms they can find, they’ll even make road trips with Kaz to surprise him. Then, by the end of the day, Kaz is grinning like a kid because he got to spend the entire day solving complex puzzles for fun.
•Jesper is the one to steal all the hotel shampoo and conditioner, etc
•Nina honks much too often so they try and keep her out of the drivers seat
•Inej breaks her hairbrush at one of the motels so she and kaz make a midnight grocery store run and come back with a hairbrush, chips, and $2 fuzzy socks with crows on them
Modern Lambert I coloured an old sketch of mine as practice And yes, as soon as something is supposed to visually read as “modern” I tend to give people a face full of metal (even though I have very few piercings myself XD). I just enjoy drawing them a lot.
Thank you @skaldingrayne for spinning a story idea in the Continent Cakeshop Server and thus making me go, oh yesss, I have this thing I still wanna colour!
oh my god this was rly long but I did it! idk maybe less happened than I thought it would but! oh and I made Mary and Hope asians, deal with it, tho I’m sorry if there’s been inconsistent hc oops it’s been so long since I read through the tumblr version fully anyway I’ll stop now & as always ty for reading ily <3<3<3
It was bound to be a long and raucous evening. With the speaker turned up to full, and boxes of reheated pizza piled on the coffee table surrounded by bottles of wine and beer, they filled the room full to the brim. Those who didn’t fit on the couches and armchairs spilled onto the floor, making a circle between them.
No one and everyone was holding court, the way they sprawled across the room. Remus curled up on the couch with Lily and Mary, who was telling all sorts of stories about James from before, making Lily laugh till her eyes watered. Where James and Sirius sat on the carpet in front of the sofa, Sirius was gleefully adding to the mix, head leaning back just enough to rest on Remus’ knee. Peter, the lucky bastard, bagged the comfortable armchair before anyone noticed, and Dorcas and Marlene were snuggled into a beanbag by its side.
“Marlene darling—” Mary stretched an arm to pass a fresh can of beer, “how’s the hockey been?”
“Please, you wouldn’t understand if I told you.”
“What! It’s not like we know nothing!”
“Look, I’d grab Pete if I wanted to talk hockey. Cheers—” She saluted at Peter’s laugh, “The rest of you are all clueless.”
“How’d you know I haven’t become a hockey player! I could have just secretly changed careers overnight. Heard it was the fad ‘round here.” She turned to wink at Lily and Remus.
“Oh yeah, wasn’t that a surprise.” Dorcas said, “you all need to stop keeping things from us. Can’t believe I hadn’t heard a word of it till I showed up myself.”
“Well I’m not complaining,” Sirius grinned, and James hummed in acquiesce. Remus couldn’t tell if it was about him, or Lily and James.
Lily was blushing nonetheless. “Oh enough about us. How’s the States been, Mary?”
“Yeah, how are the people of the New World? Are they really all obsessed with money and guns?”
“No but hear me out, they’re still all so weird.” Mary laughed easily, “And also, apparently I sound too Chinese for the white people and too British for the Asians. Nevermind they all grew up with American accents anyway.”
-
“Remus Lupin,” Mary leaned across the space Lily left empty as she stood, “how’s my favourite fake asian doing these days, hmm?”
Remus groaned, and jostled her head on his shoulders. “Not bad, I suppose.” he said simply, not knowing how to elaborate.
Mary stared at him a bit, then snorted. “See, there’s why you’re a fake asian.”
“So was I supposed to tell you about the new bubble tea store in town?”
“Exactly. You don’t even need a ‘how are you’ to start ranting about your parents and shitty new Chinese restaurants.” Mary waved a hand, hiding a forlorn smile that showed up every time she started to ‘talk asian’, “And obviously I want a nuanced analysis of that new bubble tea shop.”
Remus smiled back. He never expected to have real opinions about something like this, but at some point, between him and Mary, it became a coded dialogue about missing home. “They’re quite good. And not too obsessed with tea leaves to be crazy expensive. You should try the ice matcha.”
“Do they have good pearls?”
“Pretty good actually. Perfect texture, and melts just a bit on the outside—”
“Ugh,” Mary groaned, then started to giggle. “Yeah, I do like bubble tea. Oh Rem, how’s aunty Hope been doing?”
“Yeah, she’s good. Well, physically she’s the best she’s been since before, but there’s been other things bogging her down.”
“You know,” Mary looked up, matching his frown, “she could ask my parents anything, even though they’re not in the country, right?”
“Oh Mary. Thank you. But you know she’d never ask.”
“I’ll get my parents to call then.”
“Even then she won’t tell. Or say yes.”
Mary sighed, “you two. You’re the exact same. But anyhow it’ll be nice for them to catch up.”
‘Yeah… You should come ‘round some day.”
“Yea!” Mary breathed eagerly, “I really missed those massive veggie buns she used to make.”
“Yeah.” Remus said quietly.
For the next few moments, Mary watched him. Remus barely realised, he was looking ahead and unconsciously gnawing his lips again.
“Whatever it is, stop worrying.” Mary slapped him lightly on the arm.
“What—”
“Just enjoy the evening, yeah? And stop worrying so much about everything, you sooty stick.”
He replied with a light chuckle, “I’ll try,” and raised his beer in salute.
-
It would be very welcoming indeed, Remus thought, if his brain was just wired to let go. Which it should, tonight of all nights. It would be ideal indeed, if noise and friendship was just enough.
But there was no way to explain the nameless agitation that started and didn’t go away. Soon it manifested physically as a headache rising from behind his eyes, an audible static that came in waves and settled as a buzz between his ears. It wasn’t the beer, he barely had any, and he was nowhere as drunk as the rest of his friends. But he found that their conversation started to race ahead that he could barely follow. They flitted in and out, never too far from skating, of course. He felt strangely unsteady, floating as though in a dream, and all that noise. Remus was hearing himself being drowned out.
-
They started talking about program music at some point. Sirius was proudly showing some moves from the Bohemian Rhapsody remix he’d put together for the free skate, even pulling Remus up with him at some point. Dorcas jumped up, matching move for move with her jazz tracks. Then Lily and James would start arguing among the two of them again.
“Just choose something you both like and be done with it! What’s so complicated?”
“Oh no Marls, that was the wrong thing to say.”
“It’s got to make sense, you know?” Lily said urgently, “It can’t just be a random track out of your workout playlist, or whatever your coach chooses—”
“You two are just obsessing at this point—”
“Itneeds to resonate. I need to feel it in my soul.”
Marlene laughed.
“She’s right though.” James added, “And it needs to be right for the both of us, which you know, is easy if you’ve paired for years but we’ve just started, and—”
“And we’re fighting about everything, it’s so frustrating, neither of us were like this before!”
Mary and Remus, ‘the ones before’, shared a grin and a smirk.
“So is it a romance you want to tell?” Dorcas suggested.
“Obviously it’s a romance!” Lily gestured, “And an intense one at that. ‘Cause you know, with Remus, all our narratives have been mostly— platonic, and even if it’s a love story it’d be some innocent and pretty fairytale, because it’s, it’s Remus—”
Remus scoffed, “what’s that supposed to mean?”
“She says you’re cute!” Marlene called from across the floor.
“Yeah,” Sirius breathed into his shoulder, “and I’d agree.”
Remus whipped his head around, “how drunk are you?”
But Sirius’ eyes were stone cold sober, startlingly clear in the light and edges crinkled with a smile.
Remus felt something jump in his chest. He hurriedly looked back towards Lily.
“And there’s nothing wrong with that at all, Remus, I love you, and you know that. But I just— it’s been two years and I feel different. I want to show something different now, you know? James doesn’t get it—”
“What do you mean I don’t get it? I totally get it!”
“Then why has everything you’ve suggested been, oh I don’t know, playboy pretty girl—”
“That’s not— I mean, that’s not what I—”
“Playboy, Prongs?” Sirius had burst out laughing, “you? Really?”
James’ drink-flushed cheeks coloured even more, despite his dark skin, “That’s not what I was going for! I’ll have you know—”
“Then who did you want to be?” Peter snorted, “some loverboy Romeo?”
“Yes, exactly!”
The room burst into laughter. James frowned.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Oh James,” Dorcas wiped her eyes, “I knew we should have gotten you into acting with us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing,” Remus nudged James with his elbow, “you would have made a nice Romeo, that’s all.”
“If he could have taken it seriously for more than a second.” Peter said.
“I’m not Romeo,” James blurted. “I don’t want it to be Romeo, but you know, I don’t really want it to be me either—”
“But James it’s meant to be you, how else do you tell the story?”
“Just that! Tell a story. I mean, it would be a bit creepy to imagine myself in the story with— you know…” James trailed off.
Remus heard Sirius’ quiet laugh, and dared to look over.
“I think he wants to not-himself,” Sirius whispered with a smile in his voice, “so he can unabashedly obsess over Lily.”
“Yeah.” Remus smiled a little, “That’s the impression I got as well.”
-
“What about you, Remus?” Mary finally asked.
“Huh?”
“You. Your music?”
“Oh, I— don’t know yet.”
“Oh.” She said, looking at him curiously. She saw Remus squirm uncomfortably, and quickly added with a smile, “not that far behind these two, then. Have you got any ideas?”
“Yeah I’m,” Remus grimaced to himself, “mostly not sure.”
“Wait, you’ve chosen our waltz for the short right?” Lily turned to beamed at him, “Chopin’s 19?”
‘Our waltz’, Lily called it, because it had been the track for their senior debut, a couple of years ago now. The posh kids from Slytherin scoffed and laughed at how it’s “one of Chopin’s easiest waltz”, but the two of them had always been ridiculously proud of it.
“Yeah.” Remus squeezed a smile, “that’s what I told McGonagall. But I don’t know, I could still change it, if I’m not sure. And the free skate—” he exhaled frustratedly, “I— don’t even know what I want it to be. I just know what I don’t want it to be— sometimes.”
“And what’s that?”
“What everyone else is doing?” Remus said, with half a frown, half a pout.
His friends burst out laughing, though Remus didn’t feel the humour.
-
“Oh my god!” Dorcas clanked her bottle down, “Are we here for another round of complaining about the scoring system?”
“Yes! I swear—”
“The very idea of a panel for subjectively judging components and interpretation—”
“Like sure, it’s not the 6.0 system anymore, with anonymity and everything, but I swear to god sometimes it just feels like they can now cheat you and have nothing traced back to them—”
“I did a degree on this, if you suggest a human panel for judging anything in computer science they’ll just straight up laugh at you, but not here it seems!”
“At least we used to be able to tell straight away if a score is off. But now we have to just guess, meticulously compare every person’s jumps and scores to call them out.”
“And what the hell do you do with the ‘presentation mark’?”
“Exactly!”
“It’s so easily manipulated it’s crazy.”
“And honestly, sometimes I feel bad for the judges, everyone is always taking a shot at them”, Dorcas said, ever-so-compassionate, “but it amazes me how they’d came up with a system so easily questioned.”
“Oh no, not just questioned, their reputation is getting destroyed in all circles of sensible people. Honestly, how many scandals does it take for them to start fixing things?”
-
Marlene was at the stage of drunk where she looked ready to climb on the coffee table, and start an impromptu impassioned speech against capitalism. Mary was trying to get the troupe to start singing show tunes together, old-time-theatre-kids-style.
“Comeon,” she intoned, “We’ve got the wines and beers, and all the loud obnoxious young queers”
“Mary, you’re speaking in rhyme.”
“La vie boheme!!” She shouted as the only reply, raising her glass to the ceiling.
“Oh is that Rent? I loved that show!”
“Hell yea Jamesy! And oh my god look, it’s like us now! A bunch of young drunk bohemians in a room—”
“Yeah, not quite sure we’re there yet.”
“We are drunk, though. And we love that show. I love living queer hippie anti-establishment. I love theatre,” Mary mumbled, smiling dazedly and one arm around each of James and Lily, pulling them around with her words, “Oh you know what— this is exactly what you two should do for your skate! Dig out your theatre roots and go for one of the musicals—”
Lily chuckled noncommittally, “yeah sure.”
“No, I’m being serious! Oh shut up Sirius—” she immediately said, with a huff from Sirius, “god. A couple of months away and I’m already forgetting. How could I. Anyway, James, Lily, you listen— you know what I think? I think you should properly look at all the theatre classics, romantic, and as intense as you want them—”
“Hmm,” James turned his head to the ceiling, snorting a laugh.
“Listen up! This could be your Eureka moment.”
“Alright, yes! Listening!”
“I could help you fix up a medley. No, really, I was going to do some work with Hogwarts’ orchestra anyway.”
“That— would be wonderful.”
“Wouldn’t it?” Mary grinned, “so what do you think? The Phantom, Les Mis— though James I don’t really think you could pull a Marius— Christian from Moulin Rouge— maybe. Or some Sondheim? A Little—”
“Wait no—” Lily started, at the same time as James:
“No stop a second—”
They paused, surprised, and slowly turned to look at each other. They became even more astonished to find the same shade of epiphany in each other’s look.
“Blimey,” James breathed, “this is it, isn’t it?”
Lily said nothing in response. She looked back at Mary.
“You said— Moulin Rouge, right?”
“Yeah…” Mary thought again, “Oh. Oh— oh my god! Satine and Christian!”
“I don’t get it.”
“Shut up Pete!”
“That movie was so cheesy!”
“Shut up! This makes so much sense!” Mary was grinning like mad, “Oh god this is wonderful. I could— we could start tonight—” she made to stand up, only to stumble.
“Hey it’s fine, it’s fine!” James pulled her back down. He and Lily were staring at each other with such a look in their eyes. “Oh Mary! Thank you, I— can’t believe we just—”
“I told you,” Mary said happily, “your Eureka moment! And Lily— come on, Satine is so hot—”
-
No matter how much Remus wanted to knock his own brains out, he couldn’t concentrate at all after that. On anything. He suspected something ugly in him was envious of his friends, and the thought sent through him shocks of guilt and disgust at himself. The buzz between his ears was becoming a swirl, pounding under his skull as though almost starting to block his vision.
He screwed his eyes shut. Surely, he could slip away without them noticing? The way they were so wrapped up in their rapture.
He felt Sirius place a concerned hand on his knee, but he lightly pushed it off. “Sorry Pads I— I’ve got a headache. Might just go outside for a while.”
Carefully, he stood and made his way to the door. Mary stopped him with a questioning look.
“Headache. Will probably turn in early tonight.” He said apologetically. And Mary put her drink down to envelop him in a hug.
“Go on you. I’ll explain to everyone.”
“It’s so good to see you.” Remus said sincerely. Having gotten Mary’s answering smile, he picked up his rucksack, “come for lunch on Sunday, yeah?” He said, and slipped out the room to the front door.
-
Out in the cool night air, Remus looked up and tried to breathe deeply. Above him, a blanket of bright stars were silently moving through another night, along their assigned tracks, in perfectly coordinated harmony. He wondered why everything else must seem so ordered, so peaceful.
Lily and James would really make an insane pair as Satine and Christian, he thought, despite how his brain might refuse to process it.
He sighed, feeling too tired to stay and too restless to go home. So he headed to the rink.
-
ok look I’ll break my rule and put my ramble here instead of in the tags because my dudes please watch Tessa and Scott’s Moulin Rouge free skate because it’s maybe *the* most iconic program in recent history?? it’s unironically almost a religious experience. if I remember right that was the reason this monster was started, like one time I watched (and look I’m not lying when I say I literally watched this daily recently while writing this) and my brain just went ‘wait… jily?’ and yeah anyway have a good day <3
“Remus Lupin!” bellowed a voice Remus hadn’t heard in two years.
He was just about to demonstrate the double axle to one of his older students. But he winced and stumbled on take-off, and landed with his arse on the ice.
And the boy had the audacity to laugh at him.
Remus groaned, “What do you want, you lunatic!” He shouted back, and looked towards the source of the voice. Sure enough, one Marlene Mckinnon, crop top, leather jacket, ripped jeans and all, was perched at the rails sporting an almost-amused smirk.
“Get your arse over here!”
The boy looked at Remus amusedly. “I guess that’s that for the day?”
“Yeah, I suppose so.” he muttered, shaking his head, “Sorry, Andrew. We’ll try that again next Tuesday, yeah?”
Marlene’s eyes followed him all the way as Remus made his way over. “You’ve got to stop letting those kids bribe you into unpaid overtime.”
“Well,” Remus shrugged, “how’d you think I started skating.”
“What’s it they say? Fight the system, not acquiesce to it?”
Remus laughed breathily, “good to see you too, Marls.”
Marlene was possibly the only one out of their friends to appear even less impressed to see Remus than he was to see them. But the fierce hug they shared betrayed them both.
“Marlene,” Remus drew back with a smile, arms still on her shoulders, “How did it take you so fucking long to show up?”
She lightly punched him in the side, “I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“How’ve you been?”
“Oh you know,” She grinned, running a hand through her messy blond locks, “a bit bored. But that’s life.”
“Oh my god,” Remus chuckled. They’ve come a long way from binge-reading Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky together at 3am, but— “you’re still exactly the same.”
“Surely nothing and no one ever really changes.” She deadpanned.
“None at all?”
“Well. Nothing that really matters.”
“Alright you.” Remus snorted fondly. “Then what’s this I hear about you falling in love?”
Marlene’s lips twitched, “Oh yeah?”
“So what. Have you gone crazy about someone and finally figured out what the fuss is all about now?”
“Oh no.” She laughed, “Didn’t you hear? Nothing changed. The world doesn’t turn over on its belly. You just don’t realise it isn’t really different. Sure, I’m crazy about her but. Always been, haven’t I?”
“Hmm.” Remus considered her with a small smile. “I quite like that. Good for you, Marls.”
-
It wasn’t long before the rest of everyone bundled in. They were impossibly loud as they poured down the sidewalk that led from Hogwarts into the village. Everyone was laughing, trying to have five different conversations with everyone else. Remus flitted between walking besides each of his friends, not a couple of words exchanged before one of them was pulled into another conversation. But it was the pleasant kind of exasperated buzz in his head. It’s been so long since they were like this. For perhaps the first time since they’ve graduated, all of them were gathered together in one spot. Well, almost everyone.
“Oh by the way!” James suddenly called out over all of them, “Did you all know that Mary is flying in tonight?”
“What?!”
“Who fucking what?”
“You’ve got to be kidding—”
“Why didn’t I know—”
James laughed as he was drowned out with a bout of surprised, indignant exclamations, and looked around delightedly at them all. “Well yeah! She told me her flight’s today, asked me to pick her up and everything!”
“No, no, no, James Potter—” Lily looked ready to pull out her hair, “did you just— forget to mention— how long have you known?”
“A couple of days.” The way James was grinning, one would think he’d won a million-pound prize. “Dance partner loyalty, and all that.”
“Not jealous, are you Lils?” Sirius nudged her with an elbow.
“Fuck you, Black.” Lily whipped her head around, her ponytail almost slapping James in the face as Sirius laughed.
“Mary that traitor,” Dorcas said disbelievingly, “How come she didn’t tell any of us! I knew she was coming back soon but not— James, when exactly is she arriving?”
“Oh, she’ll probably be landing soon, I was gonna get home and get the car straight away.”
“Bloody fuck,” Remus breathed. “Glasgow? Godspeed with the traffic, Prongs.” James responded with a two-finger salute.
“Yeah, want us to pack you something to eat on the way?” Peter added.
“Nah, it’s all good! Just make it good for when we get back.” James winked.
“You bastard,” Marlene said, “guess we’re at yours tonight then? Bloody hell, give some warning for this sort of shit next time.”
“Where’s all the fun to that!”
Marlene rolled her eyes. “We’ll go grab some beers then, shall we?”
“And pizza. Literally nothing else would do.”
“Good call, Pete!”
Remus shook his head to himself. This was bound to be a long and raucous night. As everyone else prattled on excitedly about their plans, Sirius sidled up to him.
“Remus—” he smiled a little nervously, and said under his breath, “I know we said we’d go somewhere just the two of us tonight, but—”
“Shut up.” Remus grabbed Sirius’ hand with both of his, “of course we’ll bunk in with everyone. What were you thinking?”
“Know you must be tired. Had a long day, wanting a quiet night, that’s all.”
“No, it’s fine.” Remus shook his head, “I can’t wait to see Mary. Fuck, I can’t believe we’re all here.”
“Crazy, ‘innit?” Sirius chuckled breathily.
“You didn’t know either, did you?”
“No.” Sirius gave him a lopsided little smile. “Not a clue.”
They shared a quiet smile, the lamplights’ shadow gliding across their faces as they continued walking forwards.
“We’ll do this again another day, won’t we?” Sirius asked.
“For sure. Any day you want, really. We don’t even need to set a date, most of the time you end up grabbing me for the evening anyway.”
“Alright, well. What about tomorrow?”
“A saturday? We won’t be at the rink though.”
“Yeah, but we could just go for dinner anyway.” Sirius shrugged, looking ahead.
Remus smirked a little. “Won’t miss me so much after one weekend, will you?”
Sirius huffed, “will you come with me or not?”
“Yeah, of course.” Remus said quietly, after a short moment.
Sirius turned to him then with a soft smile. “It’s set, then.”
-
Sirius’ phone buzzed— it’s a message from James. Remus leaned in to read over Sirius’ shoulder. They’ve piled into Sirius and James’ house, with enough food and drink to feed a zoo. Though Remus supposed they weren’t all that different from a zoo. The message read:
Pronks: were just outside town now!!!xxxx
“Ahoy mates!” Sirius exclaimed and jumped off the sofa, “they’ll be here soon!”
Remus picked up the phone that kept buzzing:
gon make it a surprise kay? turn the lights off and everything
With some sort of telepathic understanding, Sirius was already running up and down closing curtains and turning off lights.
“Right, Pete, you’re on window duty. Signal the moment you see Prongs’ car rolling in.” He flew around the room, so fully in his element, “someone go get the upstairs light, I’ll stand by for hall and kitchen— Lily, can you find the stairs?”
“I don’t know where your lights are—”
“Ow Lils that was my foot—”
“Oh I’m so sorry—”
“Can you turn the fucking lights back on?” Marlene waved an arm around, hitting Remus in the chest, “oh for fucks— can y’all calm down?”
“Calm down, Marls? We’re about to see Mary!”
“Can someone please go upstairs those lights on the stairs are our fanciest!”
“Alright I’ll go!” Remus relented, getting up and started to feel his way through the dark.
“Love you Moons! Okay, do you think we’ve got any streamers?”
“Oh my god can we not—”
“Code red!” Peter suddenly shouted, turning from the crack in the curtain, “targets approaching— everyone get to station, wherever we didn’t even agree to!”
After a couple minutes of waiting interrupted with occasional whispers and stifled giggles, they heard muffled talking through the doorway. Laughter— James’ booming bellows and Mary’s high pitched giggles— a jangling of keys, then the key was turning in the hole, and the door cracked open. The shadow of a shaggy head was seen in the doorway before James flicked a light on. With it, the entire house burst alight.
“Surprise!!” Everyone shouted, jumping from behind walls and furniture. Remus poked his head down the top of the stairs.
“Welcome home, Mary!” James grinned, stepping aside to let Mary take in the room and everyone around. She stood wide-eyed and still for long moments, jean jacket awry and high ponytail messy from travel, both hands full with travel sacks. Everyone held their breath.
“Oh my god.” Mary dropped the bags and covered her mouth with her hands. Her eyes were shiny, “of fucking course all of you are fucking here!”
In unison, the entire room flooded forwards, and crowded the tiny hallway in the loudest, grandest group hug they’ve had in two years.
“Mmh. I’ve missed you. Where the hell have you been?”
“What, I thought I was giving you and Sirius some space.”
Remus’ head snapped to her, looking scandalised, “excuse me? That’s what you’re call gallivanting around with James?”
“What was I supposed to do when you were off with Sirius all the time?”
“Well what if I thought I was ‘giving you and James some space’?”
They narrowed their eyes at one another.
“Let’s drop it.”
“Hm.” Remus hummed sceptically.
“Alright! I’m sorry!” Lily said, “Your love life is not my excuse! Neither is mine yours. Happy?”
“Fine.” Remus crossed his arms, “so it’s a ‘love life’ you’ve got now?”
“Oh you know,” Lily looked on the verge of blushing.
“What have you gotten up to?”
“We— ended up going on a few dates. And umm, went back to his, when Sirius was out,” she was undeniably red now. Remus smirked and punched her arm. “Hey! Not so fast. When Sirius was out— with you, I presume?”
Remus thought about it. “I think that’s when he came to have dinner with me and mum.”
“Getting cosy, are we?”
“Well. Then there’s that time we biked to the regional park? That wasn’t cosy at all, that was quite cold. And he had the bright idea of hitchhiking to Glasgow to go to an arcade. That one didn’t really work out, obviously, we ended up on the train. Got back in the middle of the night.”
Lily looked at him in wonder.
“He did get to go to the arcade, though. I quite enjoyed watching him go berserk alongside a bunch of children.”
“Have you—” Lily asked curiously, “talked with him about it?”
Remus took a long moment to sigh, then looked back at Lily. There was no question what ‘it’ was. The ‘it’ between two people that sometimes had a name but Remus simply didn’t yet want to name.
“Maybe. No. Not exactly.” Remus said, “We did decide to just be comfortable around one another. Physically too, to some extent. Doesn’t mean it has to be a— thing.”
The look Lily was giving him resembled how one might look at a cute little puppy about to make a fool of itself, brows drawn and holding in a laugh.
“Oh shut up.”
She continued to regard him with a tilt of the head, “but do you want it to be ‘a thing’? Have you really thought about it?”
“I— don’t know.” Remus muttered, and shrugged. “I sort of have a lot on my mind.”
-
“Do bandaids work on lips? Bandaids don’t work on lips.”
“Huh?” Remus looked up at James, who stood looming over Remus as he sat in the stands hunched over a pile of files “what in hell are you on about?”
“Can’t put a bandaid on your lips, so you should stop biting them, before they start bleeding.”
“Oh.” Remus poked at his bottom lip with his tongue. It did feel rather tender, “I didn’t even realise.”
“Stressed?”
“A bit, I guess.”
“What are those?” James sat down next to him and gestured at the pile.
“Oh. Just trying to figure out my jumps. Key word trying. And not getting very far.” He flicked through the top few sheets to display pages full of component score calculations.
“Blimey. All this for that? Sure you aren’t overthinking it?”
“Course not. And no, most of the pile is just class schedules for McGonagall, which I also still need to figure out, shit—”
“Oh. Chill, Remus, it’s fine—”
“—Oh and she’ll be hounding me about the free skate music again.” Remus didn’t like the way his head was almost going dizzy, “James—”
“C’mon Remus.” James wrapped an arm around his shoulder, “take it easy, yeah? It’s really all fine. Lord knows me and Lils are nowhere near the end of bickering about it too.”
Remus huffed through his nose but said nothing.
“You’ve got no need to be so wrung out about the jumps at all, either.” James declared, ever the pep-talker, “It’ll all make sense the moment you got your music sorted.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I suppose.” Remus sighed, and ran both hands over his face, “thank you, James.”
“No problem. And hit me up if you want me to take over a couple of classes, yeah?”
Remus knew that James knew he’d never actually accept the offer, but it was nice to hear, regardless.
“Sure.” he said with a little smile.
“Alrighty.” James nodded satisfiedly, and moved to stand up, “See you around, Moony.”
“Hmm.” Remus replied distractedly, before a thought occurred to him. “Wait— you wait just the moment.” he started, pulling James by his sleeve, “I’ve got a couple of questions about you and ‘Lils’, Mr Potter.”
James smiled sheepishly. Remus smirked.
-
“Oh my god, what are you doing here now?”
Remus sighed at another interruption. Though it was probably a good thing. He might be doing his head in at this rate.
It was Dorcas this time. She breathed heavily and her face flushed olive— most likely due to having run across campus from her dance session.
“Oh I, have a class to take in—” Remus said distractedly, checking his watch, “an hour.”
“Again, why the fuck are you here? Where’s Sirius?”
“He’s visiting Benjy’s studio in town for choreo.”
“Of course.” Dorcas muttered, “so what, you’re just going to coop in here all day because no one’s dragging you out?”
“It hasn’t been all day— and wasn’t going to be all day!”
“Yeah, ‘cause you’ve got dinner plans with Sirius?”
“No!”
“I know you do, love, he told me himself.”
Remus groaned. “What, you think that’s something you’ve got over me?”
“Why were you so quick to deny it then?”
“Well you made it sound like— something it’s not!”
“I said nothing of the sort. Have you considered this concept called projecting?”
