[THE FRIENDS AU THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR BUT I’VE BEEN WANTING TO DO FOR AGES. Well, kind of… Not really… But a little.]
“So what if it didn’t work out between the two of you? There’s plenty of other people out there for you. You’re a great guy, Remus. You’ve just gotta get yourself out there.” James attempted to encourage his friend. James, Remus, their friend Peter and James’ girlfriend, Lily, were all sat at their local bar on a Friday evening. Due to it only being 7pm, it was still in what they called, “pub mode” so it was still early enough that there was just quiet music playing in the background and a reasonable amount of people. When it come to 11am, they would turn the main lights down and turn on the strobe lights, clear all of the tables and chairs out and start blaring the music so that the clubbing could start. They usually left just before then.
“I know but… Oh, you know I hate being single.” Remus sighed, knowing it sounded silly. But he hated being alone. He was a teacher so his hours left him with quite a bit of downtime, perfect for spending with a partner, cuddled up on the sofa or out for drinks with his friends.
“Well, you’ve been single for almost two months now, mate, and you’ve been doing just fine.” Peter pointed out as he took a sip of his cider from the bottle, which made Remus cringe slightly. It was seen as the ‘cool’ way to do it but Remus couldn’t stand drinking from bottles or watching others do it. How many grubby hands had touched that bottle before it had even made it to the pub? No, Remus would stick to his clan glass, thank you.
“I know but… Well, you guys can’t judge me, okay? James, you pined for the same girl for like seven years before she finally agreed to go out with you and Pete hasn’t had a girlfriend since he was like 14! That was over ten years ago.” Remus huffed defensively before sighing, realising that he was being unfair. “Look, I’m sorry. I just want to be in a relationship again… Find someone that I can marry and spend the rest of my life with.” Remus had just finished talking when the doors to the bar flung open, catching everyone’s attention as a breathtakingly attractive man walked in the door.
His jawline and cheekbones could cut glass, his long and slightly curly hair was thrown up in a very wet and messy bun. His skin was pale, although his face was flushed and twisted with worry, his chest heaving as if he had been running. His slim body was covered by a sharp and expensive-looking black suit with an emerald green tie that was wet and stuck to his body and he had a large ring on his finger that Remus could see, even from several tables away, appeared to have some sort of crest on it. Remus wasn’t sure whether he should compare him to a Greek God or a runaway groom from a fairytale.
The man’s frantic eyes searched the bar before the met Remus’ and the man did a double take. He licked his lips before blinking, his brows furrowing as if attempting to pull himself together before they moved away and Remus saw relief fill them. He noticed that the other man was now looking at James. No. He was practically running towards James, who had stood up and was staring at the gorgeous man in shock. Remus was only half surprised when James jumped over the small table that they had been gathered around to meet the man halfway, where they collided in a tight hug. As he had gotten closer, Remus also noticed that he appeared to have a black eye blooming.
Words were exchanged as the whole bar freely gaped at the two of them, James rubbing the man’s back and arms as they stood in a half-hug whilst the newcomers spoke quickly, his eyes darting around quickly as if expecting someone to jump out and attack him. A few minutes passed before the man seemingly calmed down and James led him over to their group. The man looked like a deer in headlights as he slowly walked towards them, slightly hunched over.
“Everyone, this is my old friend from school, Sirius. Sirius, you remember Lily.” James began, causing both of them to nod. Lily grinned at Sirius and waved but Sirius could only muster a weak smile and a slight lift of his hand. It was obvious that whatever had happened had been bad. “That’s Peter over there and that’s Remus.” He introduced and a similar thing happened between the three of them. James gently nudged Sirius into a seat and signalled for Peter to move over so they all moved around so that James could sit beside Sirius. James signalled for two more beers from the bartender before turning his attention back to Sirius.
“What happened to you, Black?” Lily questioned, taking a sip of her gin and tonic and leaning forward slightly in her seat. “You just disappeared in our last year… You and your brother, no one knew what happened to you.”
James, Lily and Sirius had all gone to Hogwarts, an expensive private boarding school in Scotland, that was incredibly difficult to get into until your family had a lot of money. Lily was one of the only students to get a full scholarship there, which she had been bullied mercilessly for, but it hadn’t mattered. She was the smartest in her year. Halfway through their last year, Sirius had been pulled out fo a lesson and then when James had looked for him, he hadn’t been able to find him anywhere and then had noticed that all of Sirius’ stuff had been taken from their room. The professors had refused to say why and Sirius’ phone had been cut off and any letters sent to his home had been sent back.
“My, uh.. Well, my parents took us out of school, cut our phones off and then moved us away. We’ve actually been in France for the last few years.” Sirius confessed, not wanting to go into the full details.
“Why are you so wet? It’s not even raining.” Peter pointed out with a slight frown, glancing to the door as someone else came in and spotting that it was a clear night.
“It’s not raining here but it is in, uh, in France. I got off of the Eurostar and got a taxi straight to James’ parents house… After a bit of fussing, they said that he would be here so I ran here.” Sirius admitted. “I didn’t really know where to go.”
“You look like you’ve just come from a wedding.” Lily observed, eyes shining with curiosity and pity. Sirius didn’t know which one he hated more.
“Yes, I did. My wedding.” He sighed, rolling his eyes as he heard Lily gasp. “Yes. Apparently coming out to your parents as gay on the day of your arranged marriage is a bad idea.” He scoffed, indicating to his bruised eye. The bartender brought over the beers and Sirius thanked. “Sorry, can I get a glass, please?” He requested, breathing a sigh of relief as the bartender nodded. Like Remus, he also refused to drink out of bottles.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t have thought it would be.” Lily breathed, staring at his black eye. Sirius could tell that they had a thousand questions for him but he wasn’t ready to answer them yet. He was exhausted. His wedding had been only a few hours earlier. He had gone straight from the church to Gare du Nord, where he had boarded on the Eurostar, which had taken him to King’s Cross. He had then gone straight to James’ parents house and then ran to the pub. He felt like he hadn’t slept for weeks due to the stress of the wedding and just hoped that James would be okay with him spending a night or two.
“Look, don’t let me ruin your evening. Carry on as you were.” Sirius encouraged, hoping that they would get the hint that he didn’t want to talk anymore. Thankfully, they did, although they were obviously making a great deal to show that they were still having fun because by the time 10pm rolled around, Sirius and Remus were having to practically drag James, Lily and Peter home. James assured Sirius that they only lived round the corner so they could walk but Sirius was still wearing a damp suit and the night was cold so he was shivering slightly until James decided to throw and arm around his shoulders and slur about how much he missed him.
It took them almost 30 minutes to get them to their flat, a walk which Remus had tiredly told Sirius usually only takes 10 minutes at the very most. After watching James struggle to undo their door, Sirius took his key and let James and Lily in whilst Remus did the same for Peter. It turned out that James and Lily lived in one flat and Peter and Remus lived opposite them. Soon Peter was in as well and it was just Sirius and Remus left alone. Remus hadn’t drank that much, used to being the one to drag the others home.
“Hey, thanks for helping me. Usually I have to drag them all by myself.” Remus said with a nervous chuckle as he stood just outside the doorway to his flat. He watched the shivering man in front of him and felt bad for him but knew that he would be safe, happy and warm with James. That is until they both began to hear load groaning and constant banging noises.
“Oh, no.” Sirius muttered as he looked at the door, which had been slightly left open so that Sirius could still get in there.
“Are they boning again?” Peter slurred a moment later as he appeared in the doorway, which caused Sirius to chuckle as he looked over at the shorter lad. He laughed again as he saw the Peter had stripped down to his boxers and one luminous pink sock. Sirius couldn’t help but wondering if they were socks that he wore to bed because they were comfortable or if Peter had worn them all day. Were they the last pair he had because he hadn’t done any washing? Or did Peter actually like them? He was stalling as he tried to think of his next move until Remus spoke again.
“Yes, they are, Peter. Now, for goodness sake, brush your teeth and go to bed.” Remus instructed, using his ’teacher voice’ as the others called it. They were all very familiar with the teacher voice. Peter mumbled something but nodded and stumbled away, his socked foot causing him to slip with every step but he didn’t seem to notice. He wasn’t walking straight anyway so it didn’t really matter. “Look, I know it’s a bit forward but you can stay with us tonight if you want to.” Remus offered, nervously rubbing the back of his neck as he saw Sirius raise a brow. “I mean, we don’t have a guest bedroom like James and Lily do and it just saves you a night of listening to them… Bone as Peter so poetically put it. You’d be on the sofa but you could have a shower and borrow some clothes. Pete snores but we soundproofed his room so you won’t hear it. Tomorrow’s a Sunday and I usually cook breakfast for all of us on a Sunday morning so you could help me with that if you want?” Remus was rambling now and if Sirius’ small grin was anything to go by, Sirius knew it as well.
“I’d like that… Thank you, Remus.” Sirius practically whispered, smiling genuinely for the first time in weeks, maybe months. Hell, maybe even years. A quick shower later, Sirius was sat on the sofa in Remus and Peter’s living room, wearing a pair of Remus’ sweatpants, which were much too large on him, but he had pulled the strings around the waist tighter and that seemed to keep them up. He had also followed a fluffy jumper to wear to warm himself up. He was curled up with a blanket on his lap and a cup of tea in his hand, talking quietly to Remus. They weren’t talking about anything that had the potential to lead onto unpleasant memories. Sirius was telling stories of his memories of James from Hogwarts and Remus was telling similar stories about the shenanigans that James still got up to In recent years.
Remus was just coming to the end of a story about how James had almost gotten into a fight with an old lady at a fast food joint when he looked up from his mug and over at Sirius, only to notice that the young lad was drifting off. Remus couldn’t help the fond grin on his face as he carefully stood up, placing his own mug on the table before he gently took Sirius’ mug off of him, from where it was dangerously close to falling from his limp fingers and spilling the remaining amount on the tired aristocrat. Sirius’ fingers twitched slightly in response and he let out a long, sleepy sigh but that was it.
Remus then took both mugs to the kitchen and emptied them, rinsing them off and then leaving them on the side to be cleaned properly the next morning before he went back to Sirius. He placed a hand on Sirius’ shoulder and gently nudged him. The young lad seemed to wake slightly and blinked at Remus a couple of times before his eyes merely fluttered shut again. Chuckled fondly, Remus continued to gently nudge and shift him until Sirius got the message and sluggishly moved to lay down, when he then tucked the blankets around Sirius’ warm body. His damp hair was now down from its messy bun and had been combed so was beginning to dry and curl slightly on Sirius’ shoulders. Remus thought he looked absolutely gorgeous, despite his black eye and the fact that the clothes were far too big for him. Remus placed a hand on his arm and gently tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear.
“Goodnight, Sirius.” He murmured before he switched the lamp in the room off and silently retreated to his own bedroom.
[Okay, so not really a Friends AU. I just liked the base plot for it. Sirius running away from his wedding like Rachel does and finding comfort from an old friend that he knew from school and hadn’t seen for years. Maybe in the future, I could add more to it, like do other parts from Friends… I have a few ideas but I’ll see how well this does and if anyone wants me to. It’s up to you guys! As usual, this has not been checked because I am a lazy piece of shit but oh well. Enjoy! Requests are open.
Side note - for those that don’t know, the Eurostar is a train that will take you from London to Paris. Gare du Nord is the train station that it takes you to in Paris!]
