“The queer:straight ratio in our friend group is 1:3. Not cool guys,” Sirius says. It’s late at night and the Marauders should be asleep, but N.E.W.T.s are finally over and it feels good to just…relax.
Remus looks at him in confusion, his head cocked to the side like a dog. Sirius hates how endearing he finds it. “What are you talking about? It’s 1:1.”
“What are you talking about?” Sirius asks, feeling just as confused as Remus looks. “One gay guy–me–three straight guys–James, Pete, you.”
“What–Sirius, no–two queer guys–me and you–two straight guys–James and Pete.”
And just like that, Sirius’s whole world is turned upside down.
Because here’s the thing: Sirius Black is head over heels in love with Remus Lupin. Has been for years. Everyone knows it, too. Not because he tells people, but because he is so ridiculously moon-eyed for Moony that everyone just…knows. And this whole time, he’s been operating under the assumption that Remus is straight.
“I–what? You’re not queer.”
“And you’re the expert on that, are you?” Remus asks, sounding almost bitter. “I thought you knew. I’m bisexual.”
“Literally why would I know that?” Sirius asks, trying his best not to get defensive. But really, why would he know that? And why would Remus assume he knows? “You’ve never bloody told me, how am I supposed to know?”
“How are you–” Remus looks at him like he has two heads, and James and Peter start laughing. It’s the first time in five minutes that Sirius remembers they’re sitting there. “Sirius, I’ve been flirting with you since we were fifteen.”
Sirius’s world turns upside down. Again. (If he had the brain capacity to spare, he’d be wondering if that meant his world was now right side up again. Unfortunately, there was barely enough firepower left over in his brain following exams to process this new, life altering information, much less to wonder over the philosophy of having his world warped so many times in such quick succession.)
“You what? No you haven’t.”
“You have to stop doing that,” Remus mumbles. When he continues, it’s back at full volume. “I have been. Just because you’re too thick to notice–”
“I’m too thick?” Sirius gasps. “Moons, the entire school can tell I fancy you, but I’m the thick one?”
“You what?”
“Sounds like you’re both fucking thick,” Peter complains, rolling his eyes. “Would you two shut up and finally just kiss already? We’ve only been waiting for three bloody years.”
Personally, Sirius still thinks Remus is the thick one, but at least he’s a damn good kisser.
The welcome-back feast was everything James had been looking forward to. All his Hogwarts favourites were there. Roast chicken, Yorkshire puddings, treacle tart and chocolate éclairs. By the end, all four of them were stuffed, so full even Remus had slowed down to just licking cream off his fingers. James was amused when he saw Sirius staring unabashedly at Remus’s mouth when he sucked on a digit. If those two didn’t figure it out by Christmas, he was going to have to do something about it. His eyes flickered to the Slytherin table, zeroing in on the person he was looking for.
Regulus was surrounded by his friends, finishing off their puddings. His hair was longer this year, Walburga must not have insisted that he cut it. James looked closer as Regulus turned to scoop another spoonful of trifle into his bowl, and that’s when he saw it.
It was almost invisible in his dark hair. Regulus had gathered his hair up to keep it out of his face while he ate and tied it up with a black velvet ribbon. From what James could see, it had a silver design woven into it, but he couldn’t quite make it out from where he sat.
He could feel the flush creeping up his face when he thought about how lovely that ribbon would look around Regulus’s wrists later if he could convince the boy to give it to him. He shook his head to rid it of the lewd images forming behind his eyes and threw a profiterole at Sirius, breaking his trance and earning him a handful of sugared almonds to the face. This year was going to be excellent. He just knew it.
