"Hiya, are you at work?"
"Yeah, you just rang me on my work number."
"Oh yeah. Did you get back okay last night?"
"Yeah."
"I don't know why you came down just for the evening."
"I wanted to see you."
"You must be knackered."
"It's fine."
"I've decided I'm coming to you next time."
"You don't have to."
"I've booked my ticket."
"Really?"
"I want to. I want to come up."
"That's brilliant."
"Yeah."
***
Essex, England
"Remus!" Sirius jogged over to where Remus was stood waiting with his suitcase.
"Hiya!"
"Sorry I'm late, the traffic was ridiculous."
"It's okay." The pair stood smiling at each other.
"C'mere." Sirius pulled Remus into a hug.
"Right, shall we go?" Remus said as they broke apart. Sirius took Remus' suitcase and led him over to where the car was parked.
***
Essex, England
Sirius let the pair into the house where Euphemia and Fleamont stood waiting.
"Hello! Welcome to our home, which is of course your home should you choose to make a choice to live, y'know-"
"Hiya Remus." Fleamont interrupted his wife's babbling. "C'mere." He hugged Remus.
"Hiya."
"It's lovely to see you."
Euphemia pushed her husband to one side. "Are you well? You look well, doesn't he-"
"Effie, any chance of a cup of tea?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at Euphemia.
"Yes of course. You go through and make yourself at home."
"I'll take this upstairs." Sirius picked up the suitcase and disappeared upstairs. Fleamont and Euphemia disappeared into the kitchen leaving Remus stood alone in the hallway.
***
Essex, England
"Right, this is the one that I really like." Sirius entered the living room waving a piece of paper. "But have a look at all of them and see what you think." He grinned as he sat down on the sofa next to Remus. Remus scanned over each sheet of paper in the pile.
"Sirius, these are really expensive."
"I know but-"
"They're right out of our price range."
"I know that, but the thing is..." Sirius turned to Euphemia and Fleamont.
"You tell him Monty." Euphemia patted her husband's leg.
"Effie and I have had a chat and we talked to Sirius about it the other day. The thing is, we don't like seeing you both unhappy, you need your own place. To cut a long story short, we've decided that we'd like to give you the money for a deposit on a flat and then whatever you need to get the ball rolling."
"Isn't that brilliant?" Sirius smiled.
"Yeah, it's fantastic."
"Bloody Hell Remus, you could look a bit more excited."
"It's fantastic and I'm really grateful."
"You don't look it." Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"No, I am."
"I'll tell you what, why don't Effie and I leave you to it. I'm sure you've got a lot to talk about." Fleamont stood up and ushered Euphemia from the room, closing the door behind them.
"What's going on, Rem?"
"I dunno."
"Most people would see what happened just now as a good thing." Remus sighed. "By the look on your face, it's like it's a bad thing."
"I just dunno if now is the right time for us to be talking about houses. There's other stuff we need to sort out."
"Like what?"
"Sirius, we've been living apart for four weeks. Things aren't exactly great between us."
"I know but I thought..."
"What? You thought everything was fine again? Just like that?"
"No." Sirius shook his head. "Actually, yeah I did. I do!"
"You've got no idea then."
"No, I haven't got a clue because I can't work out what's wrong unless you tell me. You say it's a house, you say it's living here but now I'm starting to wonder whether actually the problem might be me." Remus looked down at the paper in his hand. "Is it?" He placed the pile down on the coffee table and sighed. "You're supposed to say something at that point." Sirius stood up. "Oh my god, are you breaking up with me?"
"I don't want to."
"But what? Is that why you came here?"
"No it isn't!"
"Are you sure?" Remus stood up and faced Sirius.
"I came here excited to see you and I really want to work things out, but the minute I walked through the door I felt like I was being trapped."
"Trapped? By what? By me? By living here?"
"It's everything, it's all too much."
Remus' phone started ringing. He checked it before declining the call and putting it back down. "I don't know what more I can do!"
"Nor do I. You're perfect and so lovely and you look after me. That's everything I've ever wanted."
"I'll move to Barry, or Cardiff or anywhere." Remus shook his head and sat back down. "I thought you wanted that?"
"It wouldn't work." Sirius' phone rang. He clicked ignore before putting it back in his pocket.
"Why wouldn't it work?"
"Because you'd feel the same down there, like I do up here." Remus looked at Sirius. "We're from different worlds, Sirius. I don't think either of us realised how different they were. If we were really meant to be together, if this was it then that wouldn't matter. We'd be happy wherever we were, but we're not. I can't ignore that anymore." Remus looked down at the ring on his finger before sliding it off.
"Don't take it off. Please. I love you."
"I love you Sirius, but it's not enough." Euphemia burst through the living room door.
"Lily's gone into labour!"
"What?"
"Right Rem, you can come down with me and Monty and Sirius, you go and find James."
"Why?"
"He's not picking up his phone."
