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Sing Along Forever	By : JBankai89 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Remus/Sirius Views: 3825 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, I gain nothing from this but a way to pass the time.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
A/N: I am SUCH an idiot. Somehow I managed to totally skip over posting chapter 2 of this fic and went straight to chapter 3. *facepalm* I'm so sorry.
Chapter 2 – Clavicle

Been on top of the world
Since about six months ago
Marking the first time I laid eyes on you
I lost all train of thought
As I entered the room
I saw what looked like really good food
Then I saw ya and so did you
-Clavicle – Alkaline Trio

Remus was relieved that the next day was Sunday and he wasn't expected to attend any classes. He woke the following morning feeling as though he'd been coated with a thin layer of grime, despite the shower he'd taken just before bed.

He fumbled with attaching his prosthetic before he threw his dressing gown on over his pyjamas and Moony eagerly followed him out of the room and into the dining room, where the back door was located. He let Moony out to do his business, then fed him before turning to his own breakfast.

While he nursed a strong cup of coffee and picked at his toast, he drew his mobile out of his pocket and opened his contact list, and stared at Sirius Black's name. He felt no more confident about the man's advances than he had the night before, but that earnest, wide smile kept popping into his head as he sat there.

Moony rested his head in Remus's lap and whined.

“You're not getting my toast Moony,” Remus said without looking up, and he pointed to a large mat at the back door. “Out.”

The dog whined again, and nudged the mobile in his hand. Uncertain whether it was mad coincidence, destiny, or Moony was much more intelligent than Remus had given him credit for, his big nose nudged the phone's screen, and selected Sirius's name. The messaging app popped up, prompting him to say something.

He looked from his mobile to Moony and back again, and the dog nudged his phone again.

“Okay, fine,” Remus muttered, scratching him behind the ear, “I'll text him if you quit begging.” Moony's mouth opened in a clear doggie smile, he barked once, then wandered off to curl up on the mat where he was supposed to be while Remus ate.

Remus stared at the dog, uncertain what to make of his weird behaviour, then refocused his attention on his mobile. He stared at the phone screen blankly as he tried to think of something to say, and it suddenly occurred to him that he hadn't even given Sirius his name, and if nothing else, it at least gave him something to say.

Hey, this is the Librarian-In-Training. Most of my friends know me as Remus though.

His heart in his throat, he hit 'send' and strove for nonchalance as he turned back to his breakfast. Even so, it was difficult to resist checking his phone every few seconds. After five minutes Remus received no response, and had to assume that maybe Sirius wasn't as interested as he'd previously let on. It was disappointing, but not surprising. With a small sigh, Remus got up and headed back to his bedroom to get ready for work.

Remus worked at a small independent bookstore called Novel Idea that was the hipster hotspot in his area. It was small and carried mostly local authors or independently published works, though on occasion something more broadly published would make its way into their inventory. They catered to the local artist community, the walls decorated with paintings and photographs available for purchase, and they often held events for local musicians and authors.

He loved his job. Books, free coffee in the stock room, and pretentious customers who thought they knew better than him. Remus's enthusiasm for the works they sold was what had gotten him the job to begin with, and he'd been with them for nearly three years.

That morning, Remus left earlier than usual to walk the short distance to the shop, his satchel filled with his lunch, two novels, and his thesis—assuming he didn't get distracted on his break and actually found some time to work on it. Despite his best efforts, Sirius's face and bright smile was all he could think of during his walk, and by the time he'd made it to the shop he felt incredibly depressed. The crisp February air did not clear his head nearly as much as he had hoped, and it was a little more difficult than usual to rearrange his face into something close to neutral as he approached the shop's front doors.

“Remus, morning!” The opening manager, Emmeline Vance, smiled and stepped aside to let him in, then locked the door again. They weren't due to open for another half hour, and he bit back a smile as he saw a few of their early-bird customers lurch toward the door, then slouch back, disappointed, when they saw it lock again.

“Morning,” Remus replied as he pulled off his jacket and draped it over his arm. The pair stepped further into the shop, and slowed their walk once they'd reached the back room. “What have we got on today?”

“We're flipping the artists today, so I'll need your help setting up the hangers,” she said while Remus hung up his jacket next to hers. He hated dealing with new artists, they were always so self-absorbed, and he hoped this new one might have some sense of humility. “And I'll need you to re-alphabetize Human Sexuality, it's getting out of hand again.”

“Kids giggling at the nude pictures again?” Remus asked with a grin as he grabbed a handheld scanner and a tan metal cart. Alphabetizing was monotonous work, but Remus enjoyed how much focus it took to get it right.

“If I see one more sixteen-year-old giggling over a photograph of a fanny...I swear, I'm going to kill someone,” she grumbled as she plopped down at her desk and began to riffle through the mountain of paperwork that sat next to her laptop. “Oh, one more thing, we have some singer coming in round noon. He's going to be playing some acoustic rock type thing for about an hour. From what I gather, this one's actually halfway decent.”

“So not Mr Final Countdown again?” Remus asked with a grin, and she groaned. A local musician named Gideon toddled in every few weeks and tried to get them to agree to book him. After that first time, they had refused to ever have him again. There was only so many times one could listen to Europe covers sung so off-key Remus often wondered if it had been deliberate.

“I'm half-tempted to just blacklist him just to get him to stop pestering us,” she grumbled, “no, this is some Uni student, ah...” she fished out one of the papers on her desk, “Sirius Black?”

Remus froze.

“Sirius Black?” he asked, his voice coming out a little higher than he'd intended, and Emmeline eyed him oddly.

“Yes, Sirius Black. Why? Is there something wrong?”

“No, no, it's fine. Fine,” Remus said, though he didn't entirely believe what he was saying. “I'll, er, get started on the alphabetizing.”

He all but ran out of the back room.

Remus pushed the cart towards the back of the shop, grateful that it more or less hid him from the main areas and he would be able to work in peace. The section, as expected, was an absolute mess. The larger volumes had been pulled out and stacked on top of the shelved books, the serialized authors were all out of order, and someone had crammed a number of erotica novels—and, for some weird reason, a KJV Bible—at the end of the section.

“This might take a while...” he muttered to himself as he flicked the scanner on.

Remus worked for a solid two and a half hours before he was pulled away to help with the hangers for the new artist. Remus really didn't want to come out of hiding, as running into the incredibly gorgeous singer was likely to be incredibly awkward, especially seeing as he seemed to have lost interest in him, given that he never answered the text.

Using a rickety, life-threatening ladder, Remus climbed up and pulled down the unpurchased works, wrapped them carefully in brown paper to keep them from getting damaged, and stowed them behind the till.

“Who's this new artist?” Remus asked as he climbed down from the ladder, the final painting in hand.

“Someone named Lily Potter,” she replied, not looking up from what she was doing as Remus joined her behind the till and began to wrap up the last painting. “She's pretty good, I can see her stuff selling fast. She should be in soon, as a matter of fact.”

As if on cue, a very pretty redhead with bright green eyes bustled into the shop, her arms overflowing with wrapped canvases. Remus circled the till to greet her, and put on his Friendly Bookseller Face.

“Hi, you must be Lily Potter, the new artist?”

“Oh well spotted,” she said with a smile, “help me with these?”

Taking half her load, they carried them to the back room to sort them out. Remus unwrapped them carefully and propped them against the wall, and was surprised to see that she was actually as good as Emmeline had said. She was rather finicky on which artists were shown in the shop, and it was rare that they agreed where art was concerned.

The canvases carried images that varied from abstract swaths of colour to highly detailed naturalistic paintings of wildlife, mostly deer, as well as portraits of a few different men. One with sallow skin, a hooked nose and lank black hair. When he turned to look more closely at the other two portraits she'd just unwrapped and set aside, Remus was startled to see that he recognized both of the subjects.

It was Sirius Black and the messy-haired guy from the night before.

“Something wrong?” Lily had stepped up to stand next to him, and smiled warmly at the three paintings. “Oh yeah, three of the most important men in my life. Well, three out of four, anyway.”

“Three out of four?” Remus asked, bordering between not wanting to know why his day was turning into one mad coincidence after another, and being damnably curious about it at the same time.

“That's Severus,” she pointed to the sallow-skinned man, “he's my best friend in the whole world. He a right cranky arse and no one really understands him, but I adore him. That,” she pointed to the messy-haired, dark skinned man, “is my husband, James.”

“Husband?” Remus asked before he could stop himself, and turned to look at her. She couldn't be older than twenty-five or so. “You look quite young to be married.”

“We were gonna wait until I finished school,” she said with a nostalgic smile, “James had been asking for ages, but the baby sort of clinched it.” Her smile widened as she spoke, as though she was recalling the fondest memory she had, “his mum would have had a heart attack if we had the baby out of wedlock, she's quite old fashioned in that regard...so we just did it. It was an accident, the baby I mean. Nice accident, though.”

“And when was this?” Remus asked before he could stop himself.

“Five years ago. Harry. He's five now. He's a right little terror, I'm sure he'll grow up to be the bane of every teacher's existence, just like his father.” She grinned a little wickedly, and Remus had to laugh a little. “Oh, and that's Sirius, my husband's boyfriend.”

Remus stared. His shock and confusion must have shown on his face because she suddenly threw her head back and laughed. It was a nice sound, not false, but full and warm. He could understand why this James character would beg someone like her to marry him.

“Well, not literally his boyfriend. They're best friends, since secondary school. Sometimes I think they love each other more than James loves me,” she said with a giggle, her face a little red as she calmed down.

“And how come you didn't paint your son? Make it sort of a...I dunno, family set, or something?” Remus asked, and Lily's face fell a little at his words.

“I have painted Harry, my tiny little muse, but James wasn't comfortable with the idea of me selling those, so these three will have to do,” she said with a smile. She fished out her mobile from her pocket to show Remus the lock screen—a picture of a five-year-old child that was the spitting image of his father, save for the bright green eyes. “That's my boy,” she said, her voice dripping with pride.

“He's adorable,” Remus said, smiling weakly, still mildly unnerved by the insane string of coincidences that had gone on that morning. “C'mon, I'll help you get the labels sorted,” he said as he handed the adhesive tags to her, and she put away the phone and pulled out a pen to make the labels for her work.

It took the better part of an hour, but at last they'd got all the paintings up and labelled, her portraits towards the front of the shop, and her abstracts towards the back. Remus smiled to himself as he hung the last one, the one of Sirius Black, and carefully climbed down the ladder.

While he had been working, his phone had been buzzing almost nonstop as he received what felt like over a dozen text messages. Assuming it was Alice with her latest drama, he ignored it while he worked with Lily.

“All done,” he said as he climbed off the ladder.

“It looks great,” Lily said with a smile, standing next to Emmeline near the till, who nodded her agreement. “Thanks for the help Remus.”

“It's no problem. We can call you if we get any offers for your work,” he said, but she shook her head once.

“I'm gonna stick around for a bit, if that's all right. James is gonna drive Sirius here for his performance, and he's giving me a lift home.”

“That's no problem,” Emmeline cut in with a smile. “Want a coffee? We have a machine in the back.”

“I'm all right, thanks,” she said with a laugh, and leaned against the counter as she talked with Emmeline. While Remus had worked, Lily had been alternating between telling Remus which paintings go where, and chatting idly with his manager. It wasn't long before they'd hit it off, and he excused himself to leave the pair talking. He slipped into the back room, and slid between the shelves of overstock to check his phone.

11 new messages

Confused, he unlocked his phone, and his mouth dropped open when he realized what he was seeing: all the texts were from Sirius.

Who the bloody hell texts at half-seven in the morning?

Sorry, that was rude, I'm awake now and have coffee. Remus. I kind of like thinking you as Librarian better.

Listen here you fucking adorable twat, how come you're not answering? Was it something I said?

James says that not everyone would appreciate being called a “fucking adorable twat”. Can't see why. Anyway, you should answer me soon, I'm needy and constipated.

*conceited. I fucking hate technology.

I can't believe I said CONSTIPATED. I'm just going to crawl into a hole and die now.

But seriously, I meant what I said last night. Drinks? Coffee? Animal sacrifice? You're cute, and I want to get to know you.

Remus.

Remus.

Librariannnnnnnn

Fuck me, I have to go get ready for a gig. I'll pester you later.

Chuckling to himself, he selected the blank text bar to respond.

Hi, sorry, I've been at work. You are certainly the master of text-spamming. Try asking me out again after your gig.

Smiling to himself as he hit 'Send', he switched his mobile to mute, stowed it back in his pocket, and got back to work.

Remus got back to his alphabetizing, a noticeable spring in his step. He was torn between, why would someone like this Sirius Black even be remotely interested in me? And, He thinks I'm cute. Oh God someone that ridiculously attractive actually thinks I'm cute.

In the end he settled for a quiet, pleased sort of smile, and listened as the shop began to fill with music lovers. The low, busy thrum was a little odd for their shop, and again Remus marvelled at the following Sirius seemed to have.

“...I swear to God Padfoot, if you ask me one more time to cross-examine that text from your new crush, I will actually kill you.” The voice snapped Remus out of his alphabetizing daze, and he looked up to see Sirius striding towards the back room, a huge acoustic guitar case in one hand, his mobile in the other.

“But why would he want me to ask him again after this gig? It doesn't make sense!”

“Maybe he's put off by your pathetic need for constant attention. Honestly, I don't know how I put up with you, much less a little Librarian-type like this Remus.”

“'Cause you love me and you know it,” he said, and even at a distance Remus could hear the grin in his voice. Their voices had gotten louder in their approach, and Remus crouched down low to hide his face, but not make it obvious that he was hiding. Their voices soon became muffled as they passed into the back room, and Remus moved to another section of the shop to avoid being seen on their way back out as a plan began to formulate in his mind.

Fifteen minutes later, Remus heard them step back out, apparently bickering about something, though Remus was too far away to make out the words. Soon, their bickering was drowned out by a polite round of applause and cheers, though nothing like the mad enthusiasm of the previous night.

“Hi everyone, thanks for coming out,” Sirius's voice made it to the back of the shop, and Remus shivered as it washed over him. “I hope you enjoy yourselves.”

A melodic acoustic guitar began to play, and Remus heard Sirius begin to sing. Not growl and snarl like some rabid dog as he had the night before, but properly sing.

“Cracked my head open on your kitchen floor,
To prove to you that I have brains.
Meanwhile tin men,
Led by little girls,
Down the golden road that leads to nowhere.

Fine time to fake a seizure,
To feel your mouth on mine,
You're saving me.”

Remus stared, his natural, clear voice paired with lyrics that could almost—but not quite—constitute a love song. He could not see the ridiculously handsome man from where he was, but with his voice carrying so well, even without sound equipment, it was like he was standing right next to Remus.

The song continued, and Remus could hear the audience softly singing along in the background. Compared to last night, it was remarkably relaxing, and it made it incredibly difficult to focus on his work and not just listen to him.

Applause followed the last strum of the guitar and the next song began almost at once, and Remus paused his work again to listen.

“We used to get high together,
Instead of getting high alone.
Can't remember the last time I saw you,
Can't remember the last time we talked.
You left home for a fresh start,
Working as a waitress down in Bradenton,
With my name tattooed into your skin.

Because of the shame,
I associate with vulnerability,
I am numbing myself completely,
Can you hear me right now?”

The lyrics made Remus's stomach clench. He assumed it was more cover songs, as that seemed to be Sirius's thing, but did he really feel that way? How could someone who looked so lovely be that insecure?

Remus focused on his work, and tried to tune out the intoxicating voice. Even so, snatches of lyrics wormed their way into his head.

“I'm like a record player,
I keep going round,
With a needle in my arm making someone else's sound.
And lately I've been dreaming,
Of blue and empty skies,
But nothing like that ever crosses red and weary eyes...”

It was both wonderful and infuriating all at once. This handsome, multi-talented, narcissistic arse who for whatever reason was interested in him. To top it off, for some ridiculous reason, the Universe seemed determined to get them together. It was simply too many weird coincidences, and it unnerved Remus more than a little.

After playing for close to an hour, Remus felt his heart clench when Sirius announced that he only had one more song. He wasn't the only one disappointed by this, as a collective groan sounded from the assembled crowd.

“We sent out an SOS call,
It's a quarter past four in the morning,
When the storm broke our second anchor line.

Four months at sea,
Four months of calm sea to be pounded in the shallows off the tip of Montauk Point.
They call them rogues,
They travel fast and alone,
One hundred foot faces of God's good ocean gone wrong.

What they call love is a risk,
'Cause you will always get hit out of nowhere by some wave and end up on your own.
The hole in the hull defied the crew's attempt to bail us out,
And flooded the engines and radio and half buried bow...”

Remus was momentarily overwhelmed by the emotion in the song. It certainly wasn't what he had been expecting, and clearly, there was more to this man than Remus had first thought. As the song wound to a close, he heard the crowd applauding his performance, and slowly Remus slipped from the stacks and wandered up to the front of the shop where Sirius had been playing.

He leant against the New Releases display and crossed his arms while he watched the painfully handsome man. He was talking to a group of simpering girls who were complimenting him on his performance, while he was clearly trying to fend off their obvious advances. Remus's nerve seemed to end at the display, and instead of approaching Sirius, he was content to hang back and watch. This moment would likely prove whether or not the man was actually interested in Remus, or just having him on.

It was his messy-haired friend, James, who noticed him first. His eyes seemed to widen in surprise, and he turned to nudge Sirius. He was wearing The Uniform again, fitted black jeans, a T-shirt that bore the image of an old boom box and the words at the drive-in across the centre, with a leather jacket layered over top. He turned, and as soon as he caught sight of Remus his eyes lit up. Remus felt himself flush a little at being regarded like that, but the meek reaction did not deter the musician. He turned his back on the gaggle of young women and strode straight over to Remus, a wide grin on his face.

“So you wanted me to ask you after to surprise me by showing up at two of my gigs in a row?” He asked when he'd reached Remus, his voice dropping to a low purr that seemed to shoot directly to his groin. He felt his face grow a little warm, and at the back of his mind alarm bells began to go off. This was happening way too fast, and Remus knew that he should know by now that he was setting himself up for a rejection. If he got in too deep, it would hurt like hell when Sirius inevitably backs out after seeing Remus's poor excuse for a body.

“Actually, by some mad coincidence, you decided to perform a gig where I work.”

“That actually is a mad coincidence,” Sirius mused, still wearing that ridiculous, confident smile of his. “It would be foolish of us to dismiss it, clearly the stars want us to go out. We might wind up cursed for fifty years or something if we don't embrace it.”

Sirius reached out and brushed his fingers against Remus's arm as he spoke, and Remus felt a thrill run through him at the light contact, his carefully constructed emotional barriers crumbling the moment Sirius touched him.

“Remus, would you like to—?”

“—Yes,” Remus said at once, throwing caution into the wind. Sirius grinned.

“I didn't ask you anything yet.”

“Well,” Remus said, reaching out and brushing his fingers over the back of one of the man's elegant hands, “whatever it is, yes.” Sirius's grin widened.

“Awesome.”
A/N: A KJV Bible is the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Songs used in this chapter: Nose Over Tail by Alkaline Trio, Because of The Shame by Against Me!, Like A Record Player by The Lawrence Arms, and Play Crack The Sky by Brand New.
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Sing Along Forever