the cadence of part time poets

Chapter 6: Day One

Life's the same and it always will be;
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Easy picking foxes from a tree;
Hey! Hey! Hey!
I can't get no satisfaction,
All I want is easy action, baby!

- "Solid Gold Easy Action" T. Rex, 1972

Wednesday 3rd September 1975

Remus fell asleep to the Doors and woke up to T. Rex. The record player had barely stopped spinning since it had been unpacked the night before and it seemed as though Sirius was determined to play every single album he'd pulled out of Peter's trunk before he was satisfied. It might've been nice, had Sirius known there was a different level of volume other than LOUD.

More surprisingly, James and Peter didn't seem to mind. Remus had figured that after the third replay of In Rock one of the boys would've cracked; but nothing. They all went about their evening like there wasn't a rock concert in the centre of their bedroom. They showered, cleared out their dishes (or rather, Peter did), and continued shovelling books and clothes away into their respective homes before climbing into bed. It was as though not acknowledging the music was the key, but Remus was so bewildered by the whole thing that for the first several hours he'd actually forgotten to be angry about it. Sirius did have good taste—even if his affinity for Bowie had started to make Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane feel like a fifth and sixth roommate.

The music had plunged on and on even as the summer sun dropped below the trees outside their window and disappeared. Remus mostly kept to himself on his bed, fiddling with his history text and letting his head bob along to the songs that he knew. Sirius never so much as spared him a glance when he knew Remus was watching, but more than once he'd had caught the other boy peeking over the tops of his knees as he laid back in bed. Each time their eyes met Sirius would turn away sharply, and usually the next song that played would be slightly louder than the last.

To his credit Sirius did turn the hi-fi down a few notches just before ten. The boys had all changed and washed by then, Remus making sure to take his turn during a particularly rough acoustic pop-rock number just so he could put a closed door between himself and the music. When he'd emerged from the bathroom, wearing his standard-issue Hawkings night pants and a grey t-shirt, James was putting in ear plugs. He caught Remus staring and flashed a sorry smile, before twisting away to reach for something on his nightstand. Looking back, James mouthed 'catch' over the music and tossed him his own pair of rubber ear plugs before flashing a thumbs up, taking off his glasses and clicking off his bedside lamp.

Making his way back to his own bed, Remus glanced at Sirius who was still in his day clothes, laying half-on and half-off his bed as he sang along to the album. He was off, lost in the song the way music could do to you. Peter padded past in his pyjamas to get the lights, sandy hair still damp from the shower, wearing winter earmuffs to block the noise. "Night, Remus," Remus thought he said, before the light was gone and the dorm was left in noisy darkness.

The earplugs didn't stifle all of the noise, but they were better than nothing. Remus had always considered himself to be a bit of a night owl, but after spending a night out with Tomny and the rest and the following on a cross-country train, he was ruined. Tomorrow he'd be expected to wake up and attend his first day of lessons, which meant uniforms and timetables and professors he'd have chewed up for a midday snack not six months prior. Just as he'd resigned himself to get up and toss the bloody stereo out the window—he couldn't listen to another round of Slayed? again, he couldn't—the record clicked off, and the dorm finally fell into a staggered silence. Remus squinted up at the top of his bed's roofing, waiting for the creaking sound of floorboards that signalled Sirius' changing—or even worse, replaying—of the album, but nothing came. Sirius had fallen asleep, still in his clothes, just after 2AM.