lovebirds — word count: 832
@wolfstarmicrofic
“Hello, we know it's last minute, but we were wondering if perhaps you had a room available—”
“Say no more,” the sweet old lady says eagerly, smile so wide Remus wonders if it hurts. “I have just the perfect room for two lovebirds like you.”
“I— No, we—” Remus stutters, aghast.
Sirius, who usually does all the talking in situations like this, is being weirdly quiet.
Remus elbows him on the side. He has to say something, he's the smooth one of the two, the one always comfortable talking to people. Remus is awkward, especially when someone has assumed he and his best friend are dating. The same best friend he's been yearning for for the past five years.
Sirius clears his throat. “We’re not together. I mean, we're together. Just not… together together.”
Why is Sirius being so awkward? That's a first.
The old lady looks pensive.
“We’re friends,” Sirius manages to say eventually. “Just friends.”
The lady hums. “Uhm, I see,” she says, nodding knowingly. “Sadly, the only room available is our suite,” she adds and winks conspiratorially in their direction.
Remus notices something quite unique is happening. Sirius is violently blushing.
“It’s— it's not— are there not twin beds?” Remus asks.
“Oh, don't be ridiculous.” The lady shoos away the question. “We’re not like that here. We welcome all types of couples.”
“That’s great, but—” Sirius starts.
“Here’s your key, dears,” she cuts him short.
Remus sighs. “Why does everybody think we're dating?” he says under his breath as they walk away and follow directions for their room.
“Would it be such a bad thing if we were?”
Remus has to stop in his tracks. The words have come out so softly, so quietly, that he has to wonder if he has misheard. But it's unmistakable. In the way Sirius has stopped as well. In the way he seems to be holding his breath.
“What did you just say?” he breathes out.
“Nothing. Sorry. Shouldn't have said that,” he mutters and walks again, faster than before. Remus hurries his steps and, when he reaches him, he grabs his wrist.
“Sirius, stop,” he heaves. “Why did you say that? I need to know why you'd say that.”
Sirius scoffs but doesn't look him in the eye as he speaks. “You always act like that. Like people assuming we're dating is such a bad thing. I get it, you don't want me, but sometimes it would be easier to just go along with it. Is it that embarrassing for you to have random strangers think we're together?”
“I— What? No, it's not—”
Sirius exhales heavily and shakes his head. “Just— leave it. I'm knackered. I can take the sofa if there's a sofa in that suite.”
Remus is left behind, looking at Sirius as he hastily walks towards their room and fumbles with the key to open it. He's struggling. Remus reaches him and rests a hand on his to stop him. He takes the key and helps him with the door. He's never seen him so agitated before.
“What is this about, Padfoot? You can talk to me—”
“Don’t act like you don't know,” Sirius mutters, still lingering there, freeing his wrist of Remus' hold, still not making eye contact. “You’ve made it clear time and time again. You're not interested in dating me. And that's okay, it's not like you can control how you feel about someone, but— well, sometimes rejection sucks. That's all. I'll get over it, though. Don't worry.”
Remus is utterly confused. What the hell it's going on?
“Rejection?” he blinks.
Sirius rolls his eyes. “Stop acting like you don't know. Every time this happens you panic and try super hard to clarify that we're not dating. As if it'd be such a bad thing if people thought you're dating me. It's not great for my self-esteem, you know?”
“I— what!? How is that rejection?”
Sirius sighs, as if irritated. “Everybody knows I've had the most embarrassing crush on you for years, Moony. You are cruel about it sometimes.”
Remus blinks a few times. In utter shock. How is this the first time he's ever heard about this?
“You have a crush on me?” he whispers.
Sirius deflates and frowns. “You didn't know?”
“How was I supposed to know?”
“Well, I— I’ve been told I'm not subtle about it.”
Remus lets out a nervous laugh. “Looks to me like you've been subtle enough. I didn't know.”
“Does it change anything now that you do?”
“It changes everything.”
“It doesn't need to make things awkward between us, you can just ignore it— I'll get over it eventually—”
“I’d rather you didn't,” Remus boldly says.
Everything stops. There's a moment between them. They look at each other and see in each other’s eyes all the yearning they hadn't been aware of.
Remus takes the first step. He surges forward, cups Sirius face with trembling fingers and kisses him.
They do end up putting the suite to good use.
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