Freaks (Marauders Era)

Chapter 25

Please know, I hate the first 2/3 of this chapter.

CW-discussion of traumatic events. (The chapter isn't even angsty, but that is a part of it, stay safe y'all)

★★★

After News Years, when everybody had gone back to school from break, Lily and James we're becoming far more friendly than anybody ever anticipated. Marlene and Dorcas were trying to get Emmeline to ask out Mary, since they so obviously liked each other.

But, with January came snow. And for some reason, there was a lot of it. Which was very unfortunate, since Remus' car decided to break down while Sirius and himself were driving back to Potter Manor.

Of course Remus' car had decided to break down at the worst possible time. Fortunately Sirius did know some things on cars, even if Remus' was a beater from what looked like the 70's. So while Remus called a towing company (just in case) Sirius went to see what happened.

Sirius shivered while they checked out the engine, and was shaking almost violently by the time they got back to the car with the bad news.

"I'm not gonna be able to fix that without tools." He said with clattering teeth.

"Fan-fucking-tastic" Remus leaned back and sighed, before looking over to see Sirius look nearly frozen. "You know, you would be a lot warmer if you didn't insist on not wearing your other jacket."

"Fuzzy jackets would ruin my whole aesthetic!"

"At least with a fuzzy jacket you wouldn't be shaking the car with how much you're shivering." Remus rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah." Sirius says, smiling as much as he can even with the cold.

A few moments passed before Remus had enough of the pathetic sight of Sirius sitting there.

"I swear- Just take my sweater."

"Pardon?" Sirius wasn't quite sure if he was being serious.

Remus wordlessly took off his sweater that was over the collared shirt of the school uniform, and then threw it at Sirius.

"No need for such violence, Moony!" Soundly ignoring the little butterflies that had appeared in his stomach seeing Remus willingly give up his sweater.

"I am sacrificing my comfort and warmth for you. Your welcome."

"Um, genuinely, thank you."

Remus shrugged. "What are friends for."

Remus leaned up against the window, when his mind went to the discussion that he and Sirius had last month, and how it stuck out in his mind.

"So, you know how last month, just before Hanukkah, we went out and got milkshakes. You were saying that I needed to open up more."

Sirius had absolutely no idea where this was going. "Yeah?"

"Can I tell you something?"

"Absolutely!"

Remus paused, and turned to face Sirius. "I don't like driving."

"What?" Sirius was somewhat confused.

"The night I got these scars " the unspoken half of the sentence the night my dad died.

Remus took a deep breath. "It was a car crash. My dad was drinking, he and my mum were arguing, and he drove off the freeway, and wrecked the car. I was 5. And it's my first memory." he stopped talking after that, the knot in his stomach slowly tightening.

"Hey, it's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"I know, I wanted to say it."

Sirius grinned, "well I'm very glad that you opened up to me."

Remus smiled. "Thank you. I just figured, you should know. Lily and a friend back in Wales are that I've told the entire story."

They stared at each other for a moment, staring out at the flurry of snow outside the car, dancing trough the air in a way that couldn't have been anything but deliberate, but at the same time seamlessly chaotic. Controlled chaos is what Remus said.

"So, anymore trauma to bond over?"

They both chuckled.

Sirius stopped staring out the front windshield and turned to his right to face Remus. His face was normally very stiff, but right now it seemed to be relaxed, and happy. They had know for a while that they still liked Remus. Probably why that whole blow-up hurt so bad. But trying to turn their friendship into a relationship was what led them to the painfully awkward state they found themselves in now.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked.

Shit shit he saw me staring. Quick, come up with something!

"Oh, just absorbed in thought."

"You think?" He said with a smirk.

Sirius rolled their eyes. "Ha ha"

"But, really" he almost said seriously, but thought that opened too many opportunities for puns. "What's wrong?"

"Well, nothing is, wrong per say. Just thinking about everything."

"Like what?" Remus was getting incredibly frustrated with Sirius' suddenly cryptic mutterings.

"The letter."

"Oh, that." Remus very suddenly wanted to jump into a snow drift and freeze to death, if only to avoid this conversation.

"You said we would talk about it sometime. It's been almost a week." They pointed out.

"Yeah."

"So, want to talk about it? Or are we going to sit in silence for the next 15 minutes until the breakdown truck gets here?"

"Well, what exactly is there to talk about?" I laid my feelings out plain and clear, everything else is up to you.

"Well. Obviously you like me, and, um-"

"Just spit it out! You don't like me anymore because I was an ass to you. I completely understand."

"What? No, I very much like you."

"Oh" Remus' eyes were wide, and a barely contained smile was at the corner of his lips.

"Anything you want to say? Anything other than a single vowel?"

"Can I take you out on a date?" He blurted out, completely disregarding the panic in his mind.

"Absolutely." Sirius smiled. "Now, can I kiss you, properly this time?"

"Abso-fuckin-lutely" Remus grinned from ear to ear. Before pulling Sirius close and locking their lips together.

(At least until the driver from the tow truck knocked on the window to get them out.)

★★★

only 2 more chapters and the epilogue.. this is making me so sad