amicus curiae chapter 29: res ipsa loquitor, or, some things you just can’t speak about.
“I could’ve sworn I’d put a pack of them—” he started, before turning back to face Remus triumphantly, with a bag of Safeway-brand cinnamon disks in his hand.
“You keep these in the car now?” Remus said, trying to keep his voice steady as he recognized the gesture for what it was—an easy touchpoint to reality, an obvious disruption to the anxiety running amok in his head.
“I’m starting to think you’re a bigger fan of these than I am,” he said instead, voice forcibly light as he swallowed down the bitterness that had crept up the back of his throat.
Sirius shrugged, but Remus found himself blinking more than he’d expected as he glanced away.
“Someone had to take care of James’ breath,” Sirius joked, and Remus chuckled as a gently probing hand nudged his shoulder and held out some of the candies for him to take.
He opened his hand and let Sirius drop six of the things into his palm, trying to ignore how painfully thoughtful Sirius’ approach was, even now—the clock inching closer to tardiness as they sat in the parking lot before entering his oldest friend’s birthday party.
The shoe dropped.
Remus had to take a deep breath to keep his world from shifting as he recognized the patterning—the loyalty of loving that Sirius had doubtless learned from James and his family; the way it played out as extreme devotion, as caretaking and concern for a person’s wellbeing; the desperation to fix something that was well beyond his reach and the willingness to do anything to make it even a little better.
i really hate that i sat down yesterday and told myself i was going to update amicus this month if it killed me because i have other!! things!! to be doing!! and instead my mind is rolling plot points around like there's a game of marbles to be won smh
no one actually tagged me in snippet sunday, but i’m using the ~my birthday, my rules~ notion to put one out here anyway so…
happy amicus update, coming soon to an ao3 inbox near you
They'd only been two weeks into the four that the school had granted them as a break when Remus had caught ill, and if he was honest, he was impressed he'd gone that long. A series of half-conscious texts to Sirius telling him that they'd need to cancel their plans for the evening had been met with silence, and when Remus had woken up on his couch a few hours later, it was to the sound of Sirius in his kitchen, making something that smelled like tea.
"What are you doing in—"
Sirius had hushed him before the words could continue scraping at the sides of his throat.
"You're sick, and I remembered what the state of your fridge was like."
"You don't have a key?" Remus had protested, but Sirius had merely fixed him with a disbelieving look.
"You left your door unlocked," he’d said bitterly, "all of this work becoming friends with you and you could've been murdered in your sleep. Or burgled!"
He’d handed off the tea to Remus then, before draping himself dramatically across the chair.
"I'm not built for fighting off criminals, Remus."
Remus had grunted quietly, taking a slow sip of his tea and breathing out a sigh of relief as the honeyed liquid slipped down his throat.
"Next time, I'll be sure to lock it. I usually do," he’d noted. "Think I was just tired after last night."
Sirius' gaze had rested on him for a moment too long before he’d shaken his head.
"That would’ve been even worse," he’d moaned, "I don't know how to pick a lock."
amicus curiae chapter 14: mea culpa, or, how to craft an apology
The first week back from campus is always a bit awkward. As it turns out, it's even more awkward when you've just spent a month reconciling with the person that you'd previously considered to be your academic rival.
was working on a paper for class yesterday so I couldn't participate in a timely matter, but...better late than never? (thanks for the tag @r33sespieces!)
tagging @squintclover and @squidgilator if they want!
(also, i'll toss in two because i'm late, one from [spooks] and one from amicus.)
[spooks]
“What makes you so sure of that?” Remus asked softly, not wanting to dismiss his partner’s suspicion, but feeling equally guilty about the idea of encouraging Sirius to chase down answers. Some secrets were better left buried, deep in the ground where human hearts didn’t have to reckon with the consequences of their exposure.
Sirius huffed once, running a hand through his hair before letting it fall against his side, but it all seemed a bit too theatrical for the reaction to be honest; too loud, too abrupt, too stilted. It was as if Sirius had decided he’d gotten too close to showing his true emotions, and had elected to put on a more digestible character’s persona for Remus to encounter instead.
Remus hated it, hated that even now, after nearly a year of working together, Sirius didn’t trust him enough to be honest about his grief. Then again, he’d nearly gotten there—had practically tumbled off the edge of it while spinning his wheels about getting answers as he’d listed how deeply he believed there was something more to his brother’s death. Perhaps Remus could afford to let up a bit, now that he thought of it.
amicus curiae
“If that works for you, it works for me,” Sirius paused, “RJ.”
“Rule number one about visiting my parents’ place, we don’t talk about my family’s nicknames for me, alright?” Remus groaned, sending a scowl in Sirius’ direction.
“I don’t know,” Sirius mused, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth, “I thought it was pretty cute.”
“Shut up and get in the car, would you?”
Sirius obliged, still grinning at Remus as he climbed into the passenger seat and settled down, grabbing a book from his backpack and leaning back against the cushions. It was an unreasonably nice day for springtime in the Midwest—just cool, clear air as far as the eye could see—and Remus found himself comfortably warm as he merged onto the highway heading east. He elected to put sunglasses on about thirty minutes into the drive, and Sirius’ subtle sidelong glances made him chuckle.
It was a pleasant feeling, he realized, which was so antithetical to everything that he’d prepared to think about Sirius at the beginning of the school year that he nearly blew through a stop sign, only catching himself at the last moment, slamming on the brakes and tossing an arm out to prevent Sirius from crashing into the dashboard.
Sirius glanced up from his book in surprise—whether at the arm suddenly draped across his chest or the sudden jerking movement, Remus didn’t know.
amicus curiae chapter 15: writ of certiorari, or, when to take a second glance
Everybody is back together for a group project, Lily has a bit of a breakdown, and Remus and Sirius both realize that they've got it bad.
(featuring: the best goddamn headcanon i've ever come up with, i hope you enjoy it because tbh i think it's me at my most brilliant and also most unhinged okay byeeee)
For Folks Waiting On Answers to Asks They've Sent Me:
Was cleaning up my ask box a bit and figured I'd toss out some standard answers/explanations below the button.
The Candle Saga
Updates on the candle saga will come from @dear-ao3, not me! That's her post, and I don't want her to have to try and sift through my asks/answers to find how things are going for her next update. Rest assured that the two of us chat often on the subject lol.
My Music
I'm beyond flattered that folks have asked where to download/listen to the things I've put on here—whether you've enjoyed the instrumental pieces I've posted or liked my lyrics, or anything in between, that's genuinely exciting for me to hear and know. With that said, I'm not going to be posting links to my released music on here.
Tumblr is a wonderful place that I came to for fandom things back when I was still in the closet and wasn't sure if I was allowed to explore queer media—that's where it started for me, and that's still one of the underlying purposes of the site for me: creating and exploring queer media (either as presented or through fanfiction).
I don't intend to change that anytime soon, and I also don't plan on pivoting and shouting to everyone who's ever known me hey do you want to know about the fanfiction blog I run where I write about familial/religious/emotional trauma and queer characters learning to heal and live through that together?
This is a space that I created for myself, and because of that I'm keeping it between me and the folks who know me here, not between me and the folks who know me in the real world (barring a few exceptions) or the people who could find my job/high school/college degree information with a quick google search.
So to answer the anon(s) who (very politely!) asked if I'd be putting links to my music up somewhere for them to listen to...
No, I'm sorry. It's tied to my real-world life and privacy, so I won't be. (I really am sorry about this one. If it was easier..this would be an entirely different scenario.)
Get Andie A Spooky Girlfriend 2022
This feels like a slightly weird one to need to disclaim, but this tag, Saph's post, etc...were all meant in a joking manner?
I mean, I am very single and I very much would like to have a spooky girlfriend, but I'm not comfortable with folks trying to solicit personal information about me when they've followed me for <7 days and have never interacted with me/any of my works before this.
I know I haven't been posting much of my writing on here lately, but for context—the people I'm usually DM-ing about daily drama at work or aggressive music writing at 2am are the ones who I've developed relationships with over a series of months, not folks who followed me the day before said drama/musical inspiration occurred.
It feels far more invasive when someone who followed me on Monday is asking me on Thursday whether or not I'd like to cuddle with them without them knowing anything about who I am (and yes, that's an intentionally lowkey ask for a reason) than it is for one of the mutuals who I talk to daily to send me an ask saying they want to kiss me on the mouth.
I didn't join tumblr to find a girlfriend (although that'd be a perk, for sure), and while I deeply appreciate everyone's commitment to the joke, it's a little uncomfortable to have folks asking some of the things that they have in my asks. (Again—you don't know me? Would you ask strangers on the street these things?) With that in mind, I'd ask that you think a bit before you send things—my way or anyone's—about whether or not they're really appropriate to be sending to a stranger on the internet. Thanks!
Proper Updates + Prompts
I'm near the end of my writing season, so I hopefully should be able to get around to updating my multi-chaptered stories in the near future. Most questions about fics like amicus or [spooks] have been pretty chill in that regard, but I try not to set deadlines on projects that don't need them, so like...you'll get updates when they come on those hahaha.
That said, if you're someone who sent in a prompt and haven't seen me respond to it yet in one way or another, I've likely got it as a WIP! Between classes and work and ~the real world~ outside of those two things, I've had a lot going on lately and haven't updated nearly as many things as I'd have liked to by this point in the year. You know it, I know it, we all know it—so there's no need to hop into my asks and demand to know where X chapter is or whether or not I'm ever going to write the Y thing that I talked about once in 2021 and then never mentioned again. I'll repeat—if you sent it, and I haven't publicly/privately responded to it already, it's likely a WIP that I'm working on. Similarly, if it's one of my own projects...I'm loath to abandon a work so they're all still alive and well, no need to worry.
(a little sorry for the length of this but i had a LOAD of asks to sort through and decided that this would be a bit easier than addressing all of them individually)
