Sirius isn't letting anything get between him and fixing things between him and Marlene. He's just grateful she isn't willing to rip her new jeans to get away from him. A Blackinnon Muggle AU for your reading pleasure. For my dear friend HazzaP, may today be a reminder of how much you are loved.
Resurge
Sirius strode into the coffee shop, trying to maintain an air of calm he didn't feel.
"No."
Lily stood behind the counter, staring daggers at him. It was especially unsettling as he was the only patron in the shop this close to closing.
"Evening, Red." Sirius nearly flinched under her stare, but as scary as Lily looked, she had nothing on Walburga.
"No."
"Look, I know you're trying to protect your friend-"
"I'm trying to protect my coffee shop." Lily scoffed. "Marlene is known for throwing things when she's this upset."
Lily had a point, but Sirius wasn't going to back down.
"Then we'll go out to your back patio." Sirius walked around the counter and flashed Lily a smile. "Thanks for understanding, Red."
"Sirius!" Lily yelled, but didn't bother to move from her spot at the cash register. "I forbid you from going back there."
So much for approaching Marlene unannounced.
He turned, glaring. Lily waved a delicate hand at him and grinned.
"Well played."
"Don't make her break anything." She blew him a kiss. "Now go."
Sirius did just that.
He finally found Marlene attempting to scale the fencing that wrapped around the patio seating Lily had set up in this garden space.
"Really, Marls?"
"If my jeans weren't stuck it would have worked." She swore as she tried to free her leg.
"Don't rip them." Sirius reached her in three long strides and gently untangled her jeans from the fence. "Can we talk?"
"What's there to talk about?" Marlene snapped but climbed down from the fence so Sirius took it as a good sign.
"Oh, I don't know." Sirius didn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "We could talk about what the Iron Lady is up to, or perhaps Her Majesty's most recent tour, or how about this morning when you knocked me senseless by telling me you loved me and then ran before I could get enough of my brain to function to say it back?"
"You didn't say it back!"
Sirius heard the crack in her voice and tried to pull her into his arms but she backed up against the fence.
"I didn't." He dropped his head. "And I'm sorry. I haven't had anyone say that to me since Mia passed. It…well to be perfectly frank with you, I was completely baffled to feel like you'd managed to fill a hole in my soul and to simultaneously miss Mia so brutally all over again that it scrambled my brain."
Marlene stared at him. Sirius watched the fight drain out of her wide eyes as the reality of his words settled.
"Surely someone…" Marlene trailed off, her jaw slacked and he saw the pain shift to a new anger in her ice blue eyes. "You mean to tell me James didn't have the decency to once tell you he loved you in the last six months! You're his bloody brother! I'm going to ki-"
Sirius didn't let her finish. He took her face in his hands, bringing his lips to her in a gentle kiss, cutting through her anger, healing the hurt he'd caused, and proving the three words he spoke next.
"I love you."
She pulled him back to her lips, devouring him, running her nails against his scalp, pulling him closer. He pressed her against the fence, letting his hands roam, giving into the passion that Marlene always stirred in him.
"Go home!" Lily yelled from the door. "I absolutely refuse to let you shag in my cafe."
"Technically, we're not in your cafe, Red. We're behind it."
Marlene snorted, but Lily pointed towards the cafe's front door.
"Go celebrate at home. I'll close up without Marlene."
"Thanks, love." Marlene blew her a kiss and grabbed Sirius' hand. "I'll come in early the day after tomorrow."
"Because you'll be late tomorrow." Lily laughed. "Get out of here."
Sirius didn't wait for Lily to change her mind. He pulled Marlene out the door, dropping a quick kiss to Lily's cheek as they passed.
"Thanks, Red."
"Oh." Marlene stopped. "Tell James I'd like a word with him at some point."
Lily frowned but nodded. Sirius suspected she saw the same danger in Marlene's smile that he had.
Not willing to let anything more escalate, he pulled Marlene to the curb and his waiting motorcycle.
"Hey." She grabbed his shoulder before he could climb on. "I love you."
Sirius cradled her face again and kissed her in the fading sunlight.
“You’re not perfect, sport, and let me save you the suspense: this girl you’ve met, she’s not perfect either. But the question is whether or not you’re perfect for each other.”
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Sirius Black is an art dealer—with more than his fair share of secrets. Having returned to Oxford after ten years away, he's taken over his uncle's art dealership and found love with a portrait painter, Marlene McKinnon—one might even call them the picture of domestic bliss, when they're not arguing like cat and dog. Luckily, they've got Dr James Potter, Dr Lily Evans, and Professor Remus Lupin as friends to sort them out when needed.
When an old enemy reappears, and a change of circumstances throws Sirius into the spotlight, the careful facade that Sirius has built to protect his secrets threatens to come crumbling down; and this time, it might just take Marlene with it...
To make things worse? They're in the middle of planning a wedding.
Blackinnon Fest 2023 is here! This year it's 30 prompts for the 30 days of April! I'll do my best to get them all up before May. :P Check out the @blackinnonfest blog for a list of all the prompts and other stories too!
Day 1 - "If one day I decided to leave, would you run away with me?”
Bide
Sirius kicked at the rocks beneath his feet, not caring if anyone heard or saw him walking the Black Lake's shore at half past midnight.
It was all so stupid. People were dying out there, and somehow he and his mates were supposed to care about classes? He shook his head, and kicked at the rocks again.
Someone swore in the darkness.
"Watch it!"
Sirius grinned. He knew that voice.
"Wotcher, McKinnon."
"Black? Why are you kicking rocks at me?" Marlene came out of the shadows, her golden hair and blue eyes looking silver in the moonlight.
"Have to get your attention somehow."
Her blood red lips curved up in a small smile and Sirius smirked as some of the weight lifted from his chest.
"There are better ways to get a girl's attention."
Sirius shrugged. "Usually are but I'm a direct sort of bloke."
"Well your direct approach got my attention, what are you going to do with it?"
"Fancy a walk?"
She bit her bottom lip while he waited for her answer and Sirius wondered if she was deliberately toying with him.
"A walk under the stars? If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to be romantic." Marlene tilted her head in the direction she'd come from and turned.
Two long strides and Sirius caught up to her.
"Then I wouldn't know you very well, would I?"
"If you know me so well, what would you do?"
The weight that had driven him from the dorms lifted a bit more and Sirius lazily dropped his arm around her shoulders. He wasn't sure when it happened, but Marlene was quickly becoming a safe place to hide from the harder parts of his life. And Sirius wanted to know if maybe he was hers too.
"Give you a place to hide where no one and nothing can find you except me until you're ready to face the world again."
She stopped walking and looked up at him, her eyes wide. He thought he'd screwed up, misjudged what he thought was between them. Then her hands tangled in his leather jacket.
"Would you stay with me in that place?" Her voice was barely louder than the gentle wind around them.
Sirius tightened his hold on her shoulders, pulling her closer. Marlene's eyes were locked on his, and all the humor he'd felt a moment ago had evaporated in the night air. He brought his free hand to brush a curl from her face.
"If one day I decided to leave, would you run away with me? Leave this insanity behind and not look back?"
She stepped closer, bringing her breath to mingle with his.
"You didn't answer my question."
Sirius pulled her against him, caught up in the heady feeling that always accompanied having Marlene this close. He rested his forehead against hers, his lips tilting up at the left when her eyes fluttered close.
"Do you want to hide with me?"
Her tongue darted out, wetting her lips and ensnaring him all the more.
"Would you think I'm weak?"
"I'm not the easiest bloke to get along with, if anything I'd think you crazy."
Marlene tilted her head up, her nose sliding against him as her lips came ever closer to his. Sirius refused to admit how difficult she made it to breathe.
"I'd run away with you." Her lips brushed his as she spoke.
He grinned against her, feeling her smile grow with his. "I'd stay with you."
The sigh that escaped her was cut off as Sirius gave in and brought his lips to Marlene's.
He'd stay with her, wherever she wanted to be, he knew he would stay.
“If one day I decided to leave, would you run away with me?”
Summer Afternoon of 1979
A weariness weighed on Marlene, a load she shifted around but hadn’t unpacked - not that she had wanted to even if she had the time – to explore the feeling.
She couldn’t slow down, couldn’t let life slip through her fingers – because there was a war and there were lots of lives beyond hers at stake, and there were friends and family and there are so many ways to lose people – so she ran to keep the pace.
Yet, it still felt as though she could not get a grasp on it.
It was the summer of 1979, and the day was humid and hot, and she had pulled her hair up – just one less weight on her shoulder – and she drank water as Sirius tinkered on his motorcycle.
They had been mixing war and usual life for a year, and she had to believe there was a life after this war, beyond this war.
“Have you ever thought about what you would be doing if there wasn’t a war?”
Sirius looked up and nonchalantly shrugged, but he set down the tools. “I hadn’t settled on one thing. Have you?”
“I don’t know.” The laugh came unbidden from her lips. “If one day I decided to leave, would you run away with me?” Sirius’ motorcycle shined like new, and the freedom it offered dredged up a longing to leave within her. “I love everything here, but it feels so different now.”
“You’d want to come back, but yes, I’d go with you, and then we’d come back.”
The sadness in his eyes made her recall the memory of finding out that he had left Grimmauld. He had never wanted to go back, but she knew that there was still a loss, and she would miss her family, friends, and home.
“Yeah, I would.”
“You can’t escape the changes by leaving, and if you tried you’d just miss out. And we are making a difference every day by fighting this war.”
The scrutiny and reassurance lightened the weight she had felt. She had only scratched the surface, but she didn’t want to delve too deep.
“As soon as I finish this fix, would you like to drive it?”
Marlene agrees, and the fix didn’t take too long after that. Steering the motorcycle was as freeing as she imagined, and she left grinning and feeling so much more alive than she had in a while.
Prompt: “I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been set on fire.”
Words: 225
Read it on AO3
@blackinnonfest
*****
“McKinnon! Partner with me for potions?” Sirius called across the Gryffindor table at breakfast.
Marlene groaned, it was far too early in the day for this. At least let her get a milky coffee and some toast in her system first. “Not a chance in hell, Sirius.”
“Why not? Come on! Prongs is partnering with Evans and now we’re both free agents.”
“Why not? Because I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been set on fire.” She shot back.
At least he had the sense to look sheepish. “How many times have I had to apologise for that? When they said it was flammable I didn’t realise it meant that flammable.”
“FLAMMABLE! It’s in the name Sirius!” She folded her arms across her chest and shot him a disapproving look before turning her attention to the girl beside her who was the cause for the disruption to their potions partnership. “You just had to start dating Potter didn’t you? One more year. All you had to do was hold out one more year. Now I’m stuck partnering with Sirius.”
Lily scoffed. “I thought you just said not a chance in hell?”
“Yes, well you said you’d rather date the giant squid. Plus I know he can actually brew. I’ve just got to watch him when it comes to the more combustible ingredients apparently.”
AN: I'm a little behind on prompts thanks to jury duty. But hopefully I can throw out a few micros.
@blackinnonfest
*****
Marlene stared into the dismally stocked store cupboard of the safe house. Clearly this particular lodging hadn’t been used by anyone from the order for quite some time, based on the limited selection of canned goods and a lump of mould that was once a loaf of bread.
“Have you found the bacon?” Sirius asked. “The last one had bacon and eggs. I’m starving.”
Marlene swung the cupboard door open wider and shot Sirius an incredulous look. “Does it look like they’ve left us any bacon?”
“Bollocks,” Sirius grumbled in response. “If they’re gonna give us these locations they should at least have them stocked. Is that supposed to be bread?”
“It’s baked beans or bust I’m afraid.” Marlene shrugged, dragging a couple of cans off the shelf.
Sirius turned on his heel and started shrugging on his over cloak.
“And where pray tell do you think you’re going?”
“To bring home the bacon!” Sirius gruffed, exiting the safe house.
“Dumbledore’s orders were to stay put!” Marlene called after him. But it was a vain effort, she was talking to a door. He wasn’t wrong to be pissed off, if they were gonna die doing these stupid missions they should at least get to do it on a full stomach.
Prompt: “Just so you know, I’m not up to any funny business here.”
Words: 335
Read it on A03
@blackinnonfest
*****
Marlene let out a muffled shriek as a hand gripped her around the mouth and chest, pulling her backwards into a broom closet. She kicked out at her would be attacker, hitting their shins and stomping on their feet. A harsh curse was released against her ear.
“For fucks sake Sirius! You scared me half to death!” She hissed, turning around so she could shove him violently. The cupboard didn’t allow for much movement and it was so dark she couldn’t make out his features.
“Shhhhh! You’ll have us found out.” He placed a finger to her lips, his body pressed up against hers. He paused and then added, “Just so you know, I’m not up to any funny business here.”
“Well you could have fooled me,” she scoffed. Shuffling slightly trying to get a little distance between them, accidentally brushing against Sirius’ front.
“Not with you anyway.” He blushed. “Bertrum Avery is meant to be coming along this corridor any minute. I have to wait for the signal from Prongs before I-”
Marlene rolled her eyes at him despite him not being able to make out the gesture. “This is all for a stupid bloody prank?! Honestly you pair.”
“Shhh! It’s like you want us to get caught.” He hissed.
“Oh yes Black I want to be caught in a cupboard with you and your raging hard on. Totally what I had planned for my afternoon.” Marlene answered sarcastically. “Not like I was just on my way to the library to find Lily.”
“I assumed we were going to mutually pretend that wasn't a thing. I can’t help it, McKinnon. It’d happen no matter which girl I dragged in here all pressed together like this. Your constant moving about doesn’t exactly help the situation.” His voice was strained.
Marlene folded her arms across her chest as best she could. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to be offended by that statement or not.”
