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Once you became 10 years old, black words would appear somewhere in your body randomly. Those words were the very first words spoken to you by your soulmate.
That was no different for Remus Lupin.
On his tenth birthday, he stood anxiously in front of his full bedroom mirror alone, waiting to see those black writings somewhere along his body.
He was impatient about it, sighing when he didn't see the words for the fifth time checking.
His mother showed up in his room, knocking gently as she lightly opened the door. Remus rushed to put his sweater back on before turning to his mum.
"Still nothing?" Remus shook his head, sloping down on his bed as his mum followed him inside taking a seat next to him. "Don't worry, Remus. It'll show up soon enough. Your actual birthday is not for another hour or so."
"I know, I'm just curious about it." She smiled softly down at him, cupping his cheek as she handed him a plate with cake.
He gratefully got it from her hands, smiling before he started eating. They had a small party for his birthday. It would usually always be just the two of them, and Remus loved that.
She stayed behind for a few more minutes waiting for him to finish eating before she left the room alone.
Remus laid down on the bed, thoughts flooding his brain with the possible words he would get.
He didn't realize he had closed his eyes and fallen asleep when he woke up with a jump.
His palms were sweaty as he removed his sweater, gulping down as he stepped in front of the mirror.
A small single word dotted across his left shoulder and Remus tried his best reading it in the mirror.
Bonjour
That was the word. He carefully ran his fingers on the elevated skin, testing it out before he was happy about it, running towards his mother's room.
She felt delighted seeing the word on his shoulder and Remus had begged to start studying French as soon as he could, which she gladly agreed on.
From that day forward, Remus made it his mission to become fluent in the language his soulmate spoke.
As the years passed, Remus still hadn't found his soulmate yet. He, as always, had grown impatient and was wondering if whoever they were, hadn't wound up dead in a ditch.
As he was only twenty one, people would often say he was still young and he would probably find them someday.
Some people would tell him their own stories, how they only found their soulmates when they were in their mid forties. Remus thought he would've preferred to die than to wait that long.
He'd had a few on and off relationships with people who also hadn't found their soulmates yet. In a case or two, these people had found their soulmates while still being with Remus, which led to them breaking up.
He felt even more hopeless when his best friend Mary had finally found her soulmate. He was happy for her, but seeing her talk about her soulmate brought jealousy to him, which would eventually leave him to feel guilty about it.
He was so stressed about this whole situation that he had given up on it altogether for a few months and stopped paying attention to every single word someone new said to him.
A few times the thought of him flying to France just to find this stupid soulmate of his had crossed his mind on lonely days.
But the idea was never put to plan considering he was an almost broke college kid who could barely afford decent meals.
He had been on a full test week, the last one finally being tomorrow morning. It was late and he was in desperate need of caffeine as he searched through his small apartment for it, only to find the packaging empty.
He let out a long frustrated sigh as he crossed the place to where his roommate's room was.
"Pete, did you make coffee earlier?" His roommate looked up from his desk, paper scattered around the whole area.
"Yeah! Why? Oh no, are we out of it?" Remus sighed, shaking his head to his roommate.
"No worries. I'll just pick up something at the cafe around the corner."
"I'm really sorry, Remus."
"It's okay, Pete. Don't worry. Next time just write on the fridge we're out of coffee." Without letting Peter answer again, Remus left the apartment as soon as possible, bringing some of his notes with him.
Unfortunately, when he got to the cafe around the corner, he noticed it was already closed due to the hour. So he walked a bit more, reading his notes along the way before he finally came to a stop on the only cafe open in sight.
He let a small relieved sigh escape his lips as he entered the warm place, the little bell on top of the door announcing his way in.
The place seemed almost empty except for a couple snuggling in a small booth on the back of the place and the only barista behind the bar.
The man looked up from cleaning a mug, giving a friendly smile towards Remus. He had black hair that was tied in a man bun and beautiful blue eyes that pierced right through Remus, leaving his gaping at how clear they looked.
Some tattoos were exposed on his arms making Remus' head fill with thoughts of them being wrapped around him.
Remus had had his fair share of beautiful men and women making him feel flushed, but never had it been on this level.
The man's smile seemed contagious, making Remus' own lips twitch up in response as he made his way closer to the bar.
"Bonjour. What can I do for you?" Remus stopped smiling, his eyebrows furrowing together as he looked at the man.
That had to be the most English bonjour he had ever heard in his life.
He couldn't help but laugh at the situation as he frustratedly ran his hands through his hair. The beautiful man looked at him amused, his smile still on his face.
"Is everything okay with you?"
"Are you fucking serious? This is ridiculous." Remus shook his head, sitting down on one of the barstools as he placed his head between his hands.
"I am indeed Sirius. But the fucking part I'll have to leave it to you." Remus took his hands out of his face, crossing them in front of him on the bar. The man, Sirius as he had said, looked at him with a smirk across his face, which made Remus chuckle as he felt his face becoming hot.
Sirius extended his hand towards him and Remus shook it. The skin to skin contact made a small shock course through his body.
"Sirius Black. I believe you are my soulmate." Sirius showed a certain spot on his wrist that was free of the tattoos he had around his arms, and sure enough the words are you fucking sirius were written across his skin in black colour.
"Remus Lupin. It's nice to finally meet you. But I've gotta say it. You're a fucking cunt." Sirius let out a loud fake gasp, placing his hand on his chest as he looked at Remus.
"How dare you say that to the love of your life!" Remus laughed at the act, closing his eyes and shaking his head before he began to explain.
"I studied fucking French for most part of my life after I saw what you first said to me. And I gotta say. You said the most shitty bonjour I have ever heard in my life."
"You wound me, Remus Lupin. For information I actually know French. I just find it funny to speak like that."
"You are such an arsehole."
"Hey, don't say that! You brought me trouble as well! Mummy Black wasn't exactly happy to see the word fucking on her ten year old son." Remus scoffed, a teasing smile showing on his lips.
"Oh please. What did she do, beat you?"
"Actually yeah." Remus' smile dropped instantly as he looked wide eyed at the seriousness of his tone.
"Oh god, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. She's an old stupid hag anyways. Was freed from her wrath at sixteen." Sirius gave a short smile before he turned around and started looking for a mug. "How do you like your coffee?"
"Black." Sirius looked over his shoulder with the most teasing smirk Remus had seen and he stopped himself from smiling back.
"I see you're already embracing your future husband's last name."
"Ha, you wish. If anything, you'll be the one to get my last name."
"Sirius Lupin. Hm, has kind of a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Remus shook his head, finally allowing his lips to curl up in a smile as he watched Sirius making the coffee.
"So you said you escaped your mum when you were sixteen? Did you run away or something?" Sirius shrugged his shoulders.
"Not much of a choice when you're disowned."
"Shit that's awful. People still disown their kids?"
"In my family, yes. A bunch of homophobic arses who only care about reputation and money. My dearest mother didn't want to hear a word from me after she found out I was gay. So I moved in with my best friend James. Which, by the way, has amazing parents."
"I'm still sorry you had to go through that." Sirius shrugged his shoulders as he set the mug with steaming coffee in front of Remus.
"Meh, I'm living the best life without those fuckers. So fuck them!" Remus chuckled, but lifted his cup in a small cheering act.
"Fuck them!" Sirius smiled as he watched Remus taking a careful sip of his coffee, his face scrunching up at the bitter taste of it which made Sirius chuckle.
"You never drink black coffee, do you?"
"No, not really."
"Why did you choose that then?" Remus lifted the mug up, hiding half of his face as he felt his face becoming red before he mumbled some words Sirius couldn't hear. "What was that, love?"
At the simple name he called Remus, he felt as if his face could actually boil an egg on the spot from how hot he felt.
"I wanted to impress you." His words were still quiet, but loud enough for Sirius to hear and throw his head back in laughter.
"Oh this is just precious for my ego. Really doing god's favour, Rere."
"For fuck's sake. Don't call me that, that's terrible."
"Okay so what do I call you then? Mumu? Remy? Wolfy McWolf?" Remus laughed at the absurd names, setting his mug down.
"Why the fuck would you call me Wolfy McWolf?"
"Oh you know. Both your names mean wolf. So Wolfy McWolf it is."
"I'm not letting you call me that." Sirius rolled his eyes as he placed both his hands flat on the bar, resting his chin on top of them.
"Hmm, what about Wolf Square? Double Wolf? Wolf guy? Oh, oh, I know! Jacob!" Remus couldn't help but laugh at the names, bringing a smile to Sirius' face.
"You are awful with this."
"And you are annoying for not letting me call you Jacob. C'mon, hot sexy werewolf with beautiful abs? That's a compliment if I ever heard one." Remus shook his head, a smile that didn't seem to go away still on his lips.
"You're not calling me Jacob." Sirius rolled his eyes, looking around at the place as the couple from the back of the cafe started to leave the place.
"Tell you what. I have to close up the place but if you wait I can give you a ride home?" Remus looked up at him, Sirius' eyes filled with expectancy, making Remus' answer slip out almost immediately.
"Yeah, yeah. Of course. Do you need help with anything?"
"No, you just sit there and look pretty." With a wink that made Remus' heart feel like it would explode out of his chest, Sirius began to clean up the table where the couple was before, finishing up a few other things around the cafe before he walked towards the back of the place.
He came back in his usual clothes, putting on a leather jacket as he made his way to Remus.
"Continuing the conversation from earlier, are you sure I can't call you McWolfy at least?"
"You're not calling me that." Sirius rolled his eyes as the two of them got out of the cafe, Sirius locking the door before turning back to Remus.
"What about something close to it?" Remus shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets as Sirius led him to a small parking area next to the cafe.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Okay so you don't like anything with wolves. How about something with the moon? You know, considering it's the closest to it."
"So what, you gonna call me moony or something?" Sirius stopped walking, making Remus stop as well as he turned with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Moony! You absolute genius! A perfect name for the perfect wolf!" Remus chuckled, feeling his face become red.
"Fine, I can deal with you calling me Moony then. It's not the worst." Sirius smiled before they continued to walk, stopping in front of a motorcycle.
Remus frowned looking down at the bike and up at Sirius who was smiling proudly as he held a helmet in his hands.
"Fuck no. I'm not getting on that. I prefer walking." Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Don't be such a wuss, Moony. I'm a tots responsible rider."
"Your use of the word tots does not reassure me. That's a death machine!"
"C'mon, I promise I'll go slow." Remus eyed the helmet Sirius was extending to him and at the bike before sighing.
"Fine. If I end up dead, I'm coming back to haunt you." He grabbed the helmet grumpily, putting it on his head before Sirius did the same with his.
"Wouldn't expect anything else."
"Why do you have two helmets here already?" Sirius mounted on the bike, turning it on before looking up at Remus who still looked uncertain on what to do.
"I gave a ride to a friend earlier. Guess you're just lucky like that." Remus shook his head before he finally got the courage to hop on Sirius' bike, his hands falling awkwardly at his side.
"I must be out of my mind riding a fucking bike with a complete stranger."
"Oh you wound me, Remus Lupin." Before he could get a warning, Sirius pulled out of the parking lot and Remus' hands fell instantly on his waist for support, his breath coming to an almost stop at the sudden motion.
Sirius smiled at the touch as he rode it as slow as he could to not scare him off. Remus would tell the right directions towards his apartment.
By the end of the whole ride, Remus had to agree it hadn't been as bad as he thought, maybe even relaxing. But as Sirius had said, he really had gone slower than what he usually goes.
As Sirius pulled up in front of Remus' apartment, Remus hopped off of the bike, taking the helmet off and giving it to Sirius. Sirius took his own helmet off, staying seated on his bike.
"Can I see you again tomorrow?" The words slipped out before Remus' could stop them, making a big grin show up on Sirius' lips.
"Of course you can, moon boy. I'm afraid I won't be at the cafe tomorrow night though. I am utterly and completely free. No plans at all." Remus chuckled at the subliminal words.
"Is this your way of saying you want me to take you on a date?"
"Your words, not mine." The two smiled at each other, Remus almost forgetting where they were before a horn sounded in the distance.
"I can do a date. What time is best for you? And where?"
"Tell you what, gimme your phone and we'll just text each other the details. Sounds good?"
"Yeah, sounds great actually. Here." Remus grabbed his phone from his pocket, unlocking it and giving it to Sirius who quickly put his number in it before handing it back to Remus. "The hottest star? Really?"
Sirius shrugged as he started putting the helmet back on his head again.
"I see no lies. Well moony, I guess I'll see you tomorrow for the greatest date in the history of dates."
"I'll text you."
"You better. Or I'm gonna haunt you." With a quick wink and a smirk, Sirius pulled away from the apartment, leaving Remus smiling at him as he disappeared in the corner.
All the way up towards his apartment, he couldn't stop smiling, feeling his cheeks actually hurt from it as he opened the door and got inside.
His roommate was on the sofa and quickly looked up to see Remus with the happiest face he had ever seen him with.
"What're you so happy about?"
"I found my soulmate."
And without another word, Remus slipped to his room, flopping down on his bed and thinking of the occurrence of the night before searching up his phone and opening a new text message.