You Make Me Lovely

Perception

For the part containing the phone call: Remus is underlined. Regulus is bold. Also: There is a segment of this chapter that contains sensitive material. I have put a trigger warning in bold and underlined inside the chapter before the part begins and after the part ends.

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"James, I need your help," Remus begged as he, James, and Peter sat in his kitchen. The three boys were all done with class for the day and it was the perfect time for them to talk, since Sirius wouldn't be home for at least another hour. "Sirius' birthday is in less than two weeks and I still don't know what to get him!" James stared at his friend for a few moments before shaking his head, laughing.

"This is what you were freaking out about? His birthday gift?" Remus glared at the boy, not understanding how he could be so calm. Didn't he see that this was a huge deal? "Here I was thinking that Sirius had landed himself in the hospital or something and you're telling me that your SOS message was just about this?"

"Yes, James, this is what I'm freaking out about. This is his first birthday that we're a couple and I need to make sure it's amazing." Peter decided to take this moment to step in.

"I'm sure whatever you come up with will be great Moony," he said gently, trying to calm his friend. When Remus turned his glare on him, though, he knew it hadn't worked.

"You guys don't get it," Remus whined. "Everything needs to be perfect."

"But why does it need to be perfect?" Peter retorted.

"Because," Remus started, pausing to think of the right thing to say. "What if I do something wrong and screw everything up? Then the relationship will be over and he'll hate me!" James quickly put a hand on the other boy's shoulder, getting his attention and stopping the rant that would surely ensue should he let Remus continue talking.

"Do you remember the welcome home party we threw for you when you got back from your trip?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with—"

"And remember how Sirius was acting all distant?" Remus gave James a look, still unsure of where this was going.

"Yeah, but I just still don't understand what this has to do with any of this," Remus sighed.

"Well, before the party started, Sirius and I had a conversation that was pretty similar to the one you, me, and Pete are having right now."

"Really?" James nodded. "About what?"

"He was freaking out because he thought that the two of you kissing the night before you left ruined your friendship." Remus looked like he wanted to cut in with something, but James plowed on. "He'd been in love with you for a while and he was terrified that him making that first move scared you off."

"But...how could he think that?"

"You're the first person he's ever really loved and, since he'd never had good experiences with relationships, he assumed that he would screw everything up and that you'd end up hating him." Realization dawned on Remus' face as he noticed how similar the two conversations were. Because even though they weren't exactly the same, they revolved around the same fear. "Sounds familiar, yeah?" Remus nodded.

"Yeah. So what did you do to make things better?" At this, James chuckled lightly at the memory of he and his friend in his backyard having this same talk.

"I sat him down and told him thathe was ridiculously underestimating how much you care about him."

"And that helped?"