Chapter Text
Black is back? After being missing from the musical scene for over a year, Black is pictured walking out of The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with his manager and father, Orion Black.
After an unknown incident involving a severe hand injury, Black feared never playing again. But does this sudden reappearance mean the famed prodigy is back in the game? Black's manager denied comment, but we're hoping for a public statement announcing his return to the business.
Remus closes the newspaper and scoffs at the absurdity of it all. It's been almost two years since the accident, and the press is still fawning over the pianist. He was bloody fantastic, Remus has to admit, but he gave off a cold vibe that screamed 'pretentious asshole’. He’d only seen him once in 2015, a year before their respective injuries. He had actually been competing in a separate competition that year -in the same city as the piano competition-. But after being forced to drop out of college, Remus tried to stay away from anything musical related, and he only went to the concerts Lily was in, and he had to psych himself up hours before going. They had met in primary school and had been fast friends. They were both in the arts programs and had unreasonable expectations set on both of them. But while Lily prospered, Remus fell behind. He couldn't even play anymore, and he could see his mum's disappointment. His phone buzzes, and he picks up after seeing Lily's name on the screen.
"Hey, Lils." He takes a sip of his coffee and grimaces when its bitter taste coats his tongue.
"Remus, did I leave my sheet music at your place? I can't find it anywhere, and James suggested it might be at yours." He stands with a grunt and quickly searches around his small apartment. He finds them half-buried under empty stacks of fast food containers and tries to brush the crumbs off.
"Found 'em, but they may be covered in curry." He hears her laugh on the other end.
"You're a lifesaver; I'll stop by on my way home." He can hear some mumbling in the background as Lily covers the speaker of her phone.
"James says hello, and he wants to ask if you'll come for dinner." He can hear the exasperation in her voice, and he smiles to himself.
"I don't want to intrude; I know you guys don't have a lot of nights off together." Ever since James started picking up shifts at the hospital and Lily putting in more late-night practice time, their night's together were far and few.
"You're never intruding on us. And I know you're alone and probably almost about to order takeout." He runs his hand through his hair sheepishly even though Lily can't see him.
"If you're positive-" There's a loud noise from the other end of the receiver, and then James is shouting into his ear.
"Remus Lupin, you are coming for dinner whether you like it or not." He sighs in defeat and tells them he'll drive over in an hour.
"No need, we're already on our way over." The phone cuts off, and he dumps his un-drunk coffee into the drain. He was going to order takeout, but the thought of a home-cooked meal is appealing. And it would be nice to catch up with James and Lily. They hadn't really had the time the past few months. He looks down at his stained clothes and sighs. He'll have to change. He walks a short few steps to his bedroom and strips out of his pants and shirt. As he's pulling off his t-shirt, his shoulder twinges, and he has to take a few moments to breathe deeply through his nose. He picks out a brown jumper and a pair of worn blue jeans that smell clean enough. He hasn't been able to get his wash done since his buildings machines have been under maintenance, and he doesn't feel like walking a few blocks and paying extra. He heads back into his living/kitchen and sits down on the love seat. He rechecks his phone and sees that only ten minutes have passed. Lily hadn't said how far away she was, so he had no idea when to expect them to show up. He scrolls through Twitter for a bit and continuously looks to the door. It's when he's just about to call Lily, the doorbell rings. He jumps up and quickly opens the door. It's only Lily at the door, and she smiles when she sees him.
"Remus, so good to see you again." She pulls him in for a hug, and he knows she's taking the opportunity to look at the state of his apartment. He flushes pink in embarrassment as she pulls away with a pitying look in her eyes.
"James is in the car? Let's not keep him waiting." Grabbing his keys from the ledge, he pushes Lily out of his place and locks the door behind him. She opens her mouth, but before she can speak, he hands the sheet music to her.
"Thanks a million, I was worried I'd have to buy new ones, and my notes are all over these." Remus listens fondly as she rambles. After starting her own music lessons, she's been extra stressed lately. They reach the car in record time, and James gives a cheerful wave from the passenger seat.
"Lo' James. How's the hospital?" He talks about some drunk kids who had to get their stomachs pumped, and a guy who's bone had been sticking out of his arm. Remus grimaces as James describes the events as if they're not disgustingly gruesome and a totally normal thing to see every day, which for James it is.
"That's disgusting." Lily seems to return the sentiment as he catches her sticking out her tongue in the rearview mirror. He rubs his fingers into his sore shoulder and doesn't miss the concerned glance James sends him. He bites his lip to keep from rolling his eyes, James and his stupid nurse ways. He knew the dinner wasn't just about catching up; they had other plans. They're soon pulling into James and Lily's two-car driveway, and Lily shuts the car off.
"James, can you grab the grocery's in the back? Thanks a ton." Remus tries to volunteer himself, but Lily shoots him down with a single look. He feels utterly invalid with how they're treating him, but he knows they're not trying to make it that way on purpose. They're just concerned friends, and he doesn't want to blame them for that, but he's completely fine. The door is painted a baby blue and has a cute easter wreath on it. He toes his shoes off in the entrance and heads towards to sofa. James always kept their house immaculate; Remus didn't know how he did it, what with the night shifts and day shifts. Remus had all the time in the world, but his place was still a fucking mess. He wanders through the front room and passes the kitchen on the way. On their fridge is a bunch of quirky magnets that they've picked up on their trips, and the Halifax lobster magnet is holding a clipped paper in its claw. He moves closer to it, curious to see what it is. It's the picture from yesterday's newspaper, the one he was looking at this morning. There are two men in the picture, one significantly shorter with shoulder-length black hair and wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. The other looks to be over six feet with the way he looms over the other. His hair is slicked back, and he's got a sever set to his brows. His lips are thin and set in a grimace.
"Why'd you have a picture of Sirius Black on your fridge?" He calls out to Lily, who appears a moment later with grocery bags hanging off her arms.
"Motivation." Is her simple response, and Remus looks at her questioningly.
"If he's actually back, he'll probably be competing. This means I need to step up my game if I want to beat him. He kicked my ass at the 2016 comps, and I need to return the favour. Not to mention that he’s an asshole that needs to be put in his place.” He takes one last look at the picture and notices Sirius' frown.
"But with his, you know…" James trails off after waving his hand around the room and looks sheepishly to Remus, who can feel anger building up in his chest.
"You can say the word injury, James. It's not going to send me into hysterics." Ever since his accident, James and Lily have been walking on eggshells around him, and he fucking hates it.
"With his injury, do you think he can even play anymore? I mean, everyone thought it was a career-ending injury." His eyes not so subtly find Remus', and he turns away. He hates the pitied glances, the not so subtly sympathy. It was years ago; it doesn't mean anything anymore.
"No one has ever seen his hand. He probably just lied to get time off." Lily shrugs and starts unpacking the bags, and Remus moves in to help her. He gets into the methodical mindset of putting things away and can escape his thoughts for a short while. But when he reaches his hand into the bag and finds it empty, he sighs and crumples it into a ball, putting it into one of their cabinets.
"Everyone ok with Chicken Tikka?" They voice their affirmative, and James all but chases them out of the kitchen. And they find themselves on the sofa, flicking through the telly channels aimlessly.
"How's the arm?" She asks, and Remus has to restrain himself from just getting up and leaving.
"Fine." He says rather pointedly. Thankfully, she senses that he definitely does not want to talk about it. She flicks to the news channel, and they watch as the daily happenings are disclosed. The paper's picture comes up, and the reporters speculate whether or not he's coming back.
"Must be hard, constantly being in the spotlight." He comments. Most modern classical music players weren't featured on the news or the front pages of paper, but they've been following Sirius Black for his whole life. The heir of one of France's wealthiest families, a natural genius at academics, and a piano prodigy.
"I wish I got half as much recognition as him. But the way they talk about him as if he's some Hollywood celebrity." She scoffs and turns the telly off. He also notices that she completely skipped past his little stint in the paper.
"How've you been, be honest." She fixes him with her classic Lily look, which means, don't lie because I'll know.
"It's better than it was." Which is sort of true; he was awful at the start.
"Have you been seeing anyone? I mean, you were with Caradoc for a long time." He wants the ground to swallow him up. He hates talking about his relationship with Caradoc if you could even call it a relationship. He basically cheated on Remus the entire time they were together, yet he stayed for some bizarre comfort. Remus likes familiar, and Caradoc was familiar.
"No, you know I haven't." His phone rings, and he's saved from the rapidly souring conversation.
Marlene: Where are you?????
Remus: Lily & James. Why?
Marlene: He's out of prison, the guy who hit you
Remus: What?? Where the hell did you hear this???
Marlene: Channel four
He takes the remote from Lily and flicks through the channels with a rising sense of panic.
"Remus, what's going-" She cuts herself off as her attention is captured by the screen.
"Fenrir Grayback, thirty-two, has been released today. He served a two-year sentence after a hit and run December two years ago. The accident resulted in one death and one serious injury. The victims family has asked to stay anonymous. More after the break." His ears are buzzing, his whole head is buzzing. He can't stop seeing the picture of Grayback plastered on the screen, can't stop seeing his sneering face across the courtroom. He's vaguely aware of Lily's hands on his shoulders and her voice muffled through the fog in his brain. The tv screen is blank, but it's as if the man's face is burned into the screen. There are hands on his face, forcing him to turn towards Lily.
"Remus, Look at me. He's not here. You're safe here." He doesn't feel safe. He can see the white headlights burning his eyes as he urges his brother to watch out. He can hear the screech of tires and the grinding sound of metal on metal. He can taste the blood in his mouth, feel the metal grinding against his bones.
"James! He's having an attack; I don't know what to do." Lily is crying; why's she crying? Is she hurt? He doesn't remember Lily being at the accident.
"Hey, Remus, it's James. Do you know where you are right now?" Those could be headlights in front of him or just regular lamps, but he can't fucking tell. He shakes his head no, and tears slip down his cheeks. Someone's hands are brushing through his hair and wiping the salt from his cheeks.
"You're at mine and Lily's house, in Glasgow. You know where that is, right?" He nodes his head and mumbles,
"Scotland."
"Good, that's good. Here, drink some water." James helps him lift the glass to his lips; he takes a few big gulps and then proceeds to sag against the couch. He's in Glasgow, at James and Lily's house, getting ready to have dinner.
"How are you feeling?" Lily asks tentatively, and he manages a smile that looks more like a grimace.
"Shit, like I've just been run over." He winces at his poor use of humour and places a hand on his rapidly beating heart. He hasn't had an episode like that for a long time now, and the shock is still slowly wearing off. When he opens his eyes, he catches Lily's concerned glance and James' furrowed eyebrows.
"I'm fine, just a bit of a shock." He downs the rest of the water and rubs a hand through his hair.
"Is dinner ready?" He asks to get the attention and eyes off of him. James chews on his bottom lip anxiously and heads towards the kitchen, not without a backwards glance a Remus. When he calls out a quite yes, they get up and head towards the kitchen.
"This looks fantastic." He says and digs in. He hasn't really had a proper meal in the last few weeks, and his stomach rejoices after the first bite. He wolfs it down quickly and timidly reaches to scoop himself seconds. James and Lily haven't really said anything, and he knows his attack is fresh in their minds, but he just wants to forget and be normal.
Once they're finished dinner and the dishes are all cleaned up, he decides to bring up something he's been thinking about for the last half hour.
"Let's go to the pub." He's desperately been wanting to get drunk, to just have a few moments of alcohol-fuelled bliss.
"I don't know, Remus." He puts on his best-kicked puppy expression and looks to James, the weakest link.
"Please, It'll make me feel better. I just want to go out and have some fun, like old times." Before my accident goes unsaid. He can see it in James expression the moment he breaks.
"Why not? We haven't been out in forever, Lils. It couldn't hurt." Knowing that he's won, he smiles; this is just what he needs to get his mind off of the accident.
"Fine, but only for an hour or two."
They decide to order a cab because James won't shut up about the dangers of drunk driving. When they get there, the pub is crowded, and the music is so loud Remus can feel it in his bones. He can’t hear his own thoughts, and it's perfect. He breaks away from James and Lily to head towards the bar where he orders a rum and coke.
"Simple guy, I like that." Feeling a blush rise up his cheeks at the bartender's complement, and he smiles at him. He takes a sip and lets the taste coat his tongue and wash down his throat. He moves down the bar to try and find an open space. He spots one next to a guy hunched over, his black hair covering his face. Remus finishes his drink and signals to the bartender for another one. The loud clink of the glass being deposited alerts the man beside him, and he looks up. He's got breathtaking eyes, which is the first though Remus has. Like a stormy sea, if that makes sense. His hair aches his shoulders and has a slight curl to it, and he's got a fringe obscuring most of his face, but not those eyes. He looks somewhat familiar, but Remus can't quite place him. He then shifts his glance to the boy's hands, wrapped tight around a glass: long thin fingers, cleaned clipped nails, but the other hand. The fingers were still long and dainty, but they were severely mangled with pink puckered scars. They crisscrossed and overlapped, running all they up his hand and into his sleeve. His finger twitches, and Remus realizes he's been caught staring. As he raises his gaze, he meets those storm grey eyes, and he offers him a smile. It takes a few seconds, and the then man's lips quirk up in a smirk.
"What are you drinking?" His voice is rough and has the lilts of a French accent, and Remus holds up his glass.
"Rum and coke." The man shakes his head and signals the bartender.
"Four snake bites, thanks, Benjy." The bartender, Benjy, winks at them and gets the shots ready. Remus has never had a snake bite before, but it sounds like it'll get him drunk quick. He places the four shots in front of them, and the man smiles at him.
"Ready?" He asks, and before he can even respond, he's knocking it back. Remus follows quickly behind him and swallows it in one go. It burns down his throat, and he screws his eyes shut as the sour taste assault his mouth.
"Jesus." The man sticks his tongue out and winks at him as he reaches for another glass. They do it in sync this time, and even though he's just had one, he's not ready for the taste. He takes a sip of his drink to try to wash the bitter taste from his mouth. It doesn't really work.
"What's your name?" He asks because he cannot keep referring to him as 'the man' in his head.
"Sirius", He whispers, suddenly really close to Remus. He glances down to plush, pillowy lips, no doubt stained with the sourness of the drink. Sirius, that name sounds familiar, but his alcohol hazed brain refuses to make the connection. Sirius' hand lands on his thigh and gently runs his fingers across it.
"Do you want to get out of here?" A heady feeling fills him, and he bites his lip, looking into Sirius' eyes.
"Yeah, fuck yeah. I've just got to let my friends know not to worry." He sends Lily a quick text telling her not to wait up, then Sirius is pulling him out of his seat and into the crowd. Bodies brush against him, but the tight grip on his hand pulls him through and out of the pub. Not even waiting to get into a cab and arousal blanketing his every thought, he pushes Sirius up against the wall. He lets out a surprised moan and tilts his head so Remus can lean down and capture his lips. He was right; the sour taste still lingers, but it feels sweeter now, and he laps it up. He pulls Sirius closer by his hips with one hand and tangles the other in his black hair, lightly pulling at it. After a few seconds, he pulls back for air and starts leaving light marks on the exposed skin of Sirius' neck.
"Not to be indecent, but we better go before you fuck me against this wall." Wholeheartedly agreeing, Remus manages to pull himself away and hail a cab.