The Grand Proposal - Part 2
My favourite hippie and scientist are FINALLY getting engaged!!
I know it’s been a long time coming but I deleted and restarted it 6 times because it wasn’t coming along the way I wanted it to
HOWEVER writing this version had me kicking my feet and giggling like a child so I hope you like it!!
"Sirius, lovely! Hi!" Hope Lupin's familiar, enthusiastic voice sounded the moment her door swung open, Sirius almost immediately being pulled into a hug. He smiled to himself, wrapping his arms around the short woman. "I was just cleansing the house! Want to help?" She asked quickly, pulling away to give him an excited grin.
"Of course, sounds like fun," he answered, following her inside.
As Hope lit her incense burners, Sirius grabbed a bundle of crystals and set to work placing them at different points in the room.
"I remember the first time I asked you to do this," she hummed camly, and Sirius snorted.
"God, don't remind me. Remus still makes fun of me for asking where the cleaning products were." Hope laughed lightly, sending a spike of warmth through Sirius. "So, uh… there was a reason I came here, actually…" Sirius started, and he could feel the nerves start to wash over him.
"You want to propose?" She supplied. Sirius stopped in his tracks, head whipping around to face her.
"I've had a feeling for a while now. Thought today might be the day."
"Christ, you're like magic, or something," he said to himself, stunned, and Hope just laughed.
"Tune in to your intuition, lovely, you'd be surprised."
"I- yeah. Anyway, you mean the world to Remus, and I know we're not exactly a… well, a normal couple."
"Normal is boring," she added, tranquil, and Sirius couldn't help but breathe a light laugh.
"Yeah, it is. Still, I wanted to ask for your- your blessing, I guess." He had stopped laying down crystals, taking to watching her anxiously. She turned around, incense in hand.
"You love Remus," she stated. Sirius nodded, despite being pretty sure that it wasn't a question. "Since he first brought you to meet me, I knew you were sticking around. The way they talk about you, look at you, everything. You were part of our family from the moment you two first met. If the proposal is something you want to do, I'm more than happy for you to do it." Sirius felt himself tearing up a little at that, quickly swallowing it down.
Hope Lupin was the fucking best.
"I'm meeting James to go and pick up the ring soon, actually," Sirius said quickly, and Hope smiled.
"You'd best be heading out, then. Take the green jade with you, it's for luck." Sirius glanced inside the bag he was holding, pulling out the small, tumbled crystal and setting the rest of them on the windowsill.
"Anytime, Sirius. Truly."
Remus pulled his purple silk cardigan on, glancing at it in the mirror before promptly pulling it off again. He wasn't usually one to panic about what he was wearing, but they couldn't help it. Proposing turned out to be bloody stressful.
"You almost ready, darling?" Sirius' voice called from the kitchen, and Remus groaned inwardly, picking the cardigan back up. It would have to do.
Quickly, they went over the plan in their head.
Sirius was taking him to dinner, giving him ample time to mentally prepare himself for what he was going to do. Or to panic and watch the time crawl past, but still. Time. Remus was driving, so as they left, Lily and Mary should have set everything up, and then he could just… divert their route a little, get Sirius inside, and do it. Propose.
The moment they got into the kitchen, he felt their breath catch in his throat.
Sirius was fucking gorgeous.
He accidentally gave Sirius a very obvious once-over, taking in his red dress trousers, black shirt with just a few buttons undone, the amethyst necklace Remus had gifted him hanging visible in the space and a red jacket hanging from his arm. His black hair tumbled past his shoulders elegantly, and as Remus dragged their eyes back to Sirius' he realised that Sirius was smiling, amused.
"You're so beautiful, my gods," Remus murmured, kissing Sirius quickly.
"Please, you're fucking ethereal." A laugh was drawn out of Remus, then. Trust the scientist to pull out the strangest compliments, and draw all of the heat straight to Remus' face. "So, I thought we could go to Giovannis? I've booked the same table, and I've called in advance to make them prepare some sort of vegan selection." Remus surveyed him carefully for a moment, quiet nervousness and a small amount of confidence hidden in the few tells Sirius could never quite quash, not when it came to Remus. Everything connected in their brain, his heart stopping for half a second.
That was where Sirius took them for their first date. Their absolutely disastrous first date that ended with them sitting on the pavement outside a food truck, Remus doing his best not to laugh while Sirius apologised and apologised, every inch of that stone cold, frustrated scientist gone. It was the day Remus realised that Sirius Black wasn't going to be some casual, fun fling. He was someone who either stuck around or broke Remus' heart.
He was so fucking glad it was the first one.
Well, up until that moment.
Sirius was going to fucking propose, wasn't he?
Same table, an actual vegan selection, the fact that he was wearing red? God, he was going to beat Remus to it!
Remus wasn't about to let that happen.
Sorry Lily, sorry Mary, Remus had to do something.
"Yeah, that sounds nice. I'll be right back, then we can leave." He turned and walked straight into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door as calmly as he could manage before pulling their phone straight out of their pocket.
He tapped the very inconspicously named 'L and M' groupchat, pressing 'call' and holding it to their ear.
"Pick up, pick up, pick up," Remus muttered under his breath, finally hearing Lily and Mary's voices through the phone.
"Remus?" Lily said, confusion laced thick through her voice.
"Hey, everything alright?" Mary asked.
"Hey, there's been a slight change of plans. How quickly can you get everything set up? Benchmark."
"Uh… if I pick Mary up, we could be there in ten minutes, so maybe… twenty five?" Lily concluded, and Remus nodded to himself.
"Twenty if everything goes smoothly," Mary piped up.
"Okay, right. Once you've finished setting everything up, don't leave. Just… hide somewhere, make sure Sirius doesn't see you leave."
"Sounds good, I'm leaving now," Lily said, the rustling of her keys sounding. "See you in a second, Mary. Good luck Remus!" With that, she hung up, Remus doing the same.
Twenty minutes. He could do that.
They pulled the lock free, opening the door and stepping out, phone sliding straight back into his pocket. He shot Sirius a smile.
"Right, should we head out?" They asked, Sirius nodding. "Let me just grab my keys." He walked over to the small key cabinet Sirius had made, pulling it open and frowning as he stared right at his small black car key, his astrology keyring attached to it. "Hm… have you seen my keys, love?" As he rustled through the rest of the keys, 'looking' for his, they pulled them off the hook along with Sirius' motorbike key.
Sirius walked over, confused.
They spent ten minutes trying to 'find' Remus' keys.
Once his phone buzzed, a quick 'we've arrived, setting up now xx' coming from Mary, he 'found' the keys under the sofa. Fucking perfect. At least their new plan was actually falling into place.
He took his careful detour with a calm, unassuming look, Sirius not even batting an eye. Not until Remus got close to the Observatory and forced the car to stall. Sirius turned to Remus, concerned.
"I'm not sure, uh… hold on." He glanced around their surroundings, pretending to notice the Observatory for the first time. "Hey, I'm pretty sure Mary's working today. They can help." They pulled the car door open, stepping out and watching as Sirius did the same. He didn't even have to ask and Sirius followed.
Remus thanked everything in that moment that Sirius was into motorbikes instead of cars.
They walked into the Observatory hand in hand, the lights dimmed slightly. Remus smiled to himself as he surveyed the decorating job. It was fucking impressive, how quickly Lily and Mary had pulled everything together. There were fairy lights strung across every rail, with rose quartz, moonstone and aventurine crystals tumbled and carved into hearts and hanging off different surfaces. Remus owed them more than one night out.
Their eyes went to Sirius, watching as his eyes widened.
"Are those-? Those are love crystals," Sirius said carefully.
"Hm. Maybe there's an event," Remus observed calmly. "Come on, I think they work up here." They walked up the stairs together, Sirius watching everything in slight awe. He quite clearly hadn't bought Remus' event excuse, but Remus wasn't bothered in the slightest. He was still walking, still going.
As they reached the top of the stairs, Remus gently pushed a door open, listening to Sirius gasp.
The room was absolutely beautiful.
Darkened, soft carpeted flooring, and the ceiling was adorned in constellations. Thank fuck Mary worked there, they had only gone and brightened the Canis Major light. It dazzled, standing out so perfectly, so unbelievably Sirius-like, that Remus could almost feel his own breath catch in their throat.
"It's…" Sirius trailed off, stunned. He turned to Remus. "Is this…?"
"For you?" They finished for him, nodding. "Surprise, love." With that, he reached into his pocket, taking a deep breath and willing himself to stay in one piece until he had actually asked him. "Since the-"
"Hold on." Sirius seemed to snap out of his own shock, blinking harshly. "Wait. No, no, what are you doing?"
Remus frowned, confused. Their heart sped slightly. Was Sirius about to say no? Before he had even asked?
"Uh… well, I had a bit of a speech prepared before I actually asked you, love."
"You- Moony! I- Giovannis, I had a whole plan! I was going to-"
"I had a feeling." Remus interrupted smoothly, a small smile appearing on his face.
"You…" Sirius searched his face for a moment, before dropping his head into his hands. "God, of course you did. You're bloody psychic." Remus just shrugged, warmth spreading comfortably through his chest.
"So, what now?" He asked. They weren't exactly expecting Sirius to interrupt their proposal.
"I- I don't know,” Sirius said honestly, and Remus wanted to… well, laugh and cry. Everything was falling apart and falling together in a way that was so perfect.
"Well… since the night we first met, I knew you were going to stay on my mind," Remus started softly, watching as Sirius smiled at him. "You and that stubborn phone call, anyway." A laugh escaped both of them, then.
"I didn't think I could ever feel the way I do about you. Never," Sirius said gently.
"Being able to share my life and every aspect of myself with you has been the biggest honour I've had. I feel so fucking lucky that you've let me in, Padfoot." Remus' felt their face warm, a few tears starting to form.
"If- if you had told me ten years ago that you were going to swoop in, in that calm way of yours, and balance out everything that made me feel off kilter, I wouldn't have believed you, but… you do, Moony. You quieten the noise, stop the world from spinning off its axis," Sirius murmured, the hands that were still clasped tightening slightly.
"God, Sirius, if first loves are the strongest, then I must not have loved anyone before you. I love you so much it hurts."
"I- you complete some part of me that I had no clue wasn't complete. Like I had been walking around with half of a heart and didn't know it, until I met you."
Christ, it was actually happening, wasn't it?
Remus nodded, trying to string together the final few words.
"I- yes. Fuck, of course," Sirius said, voice practically a whisper as he threw his arms around Remus. Remus dropped his head against Sirius' shoulder, still slightly thrown at the way everything had turned out. "What about… you? Will you… marry me?" A loud laugh from Remus had them pulling away and kissing Sirius.
"Yeah," He said breathlessly, barely pulling away. "Think I might do, actually." As they felt Sirius smile against his lips, he realised just how perfectly everything had worked out.
Yeah, his proposal went a little… awry, but it was better that way.
It was their proposal, exactly how it should have gone.
