InsaneJournal

WHO: Ariadne and Sirius
WHAT: Sirius has to break some awkward news.
WHEN: After Ariadne's shift, Friday 28th.
WHERE: Mostly Ariadne's apartment.
RATING: Medium, for a bit of swearing
STATUS: Complete

Sirius sat outside Ariadne’s work, perched sideways on the leather seat of his bike and lighting a cigarette balanced between his lips, protecting it from the cold wind in a cave created by his cupped hands. One wandless, wordless spell later, and he was inhaling a much needed cloud of smoke, shoving his free hand into his pocket and hunching his shoulders against the chill. Bloody hell. Wasn’t winter over yet? It was cold today, cold enough to lift fine hairs on his arms and have the animagus shudder occasionally as shivers shot up his spine. But hopefully he wouldn’t be here much longer. It was nearly closing time, after all, and she should be out soon. He’d only got off work earlier because fixing up bikes was a hell of a lot easier when you could charm it all to do itself and just neck numerous cups of tea while you ‘supervised’.

Sure enough, less than ten minutes went by before the door swung open and the tiny brunette stepped out. Sirius grinned, pushing himself up from where he’d been leaning against the machine, which had spent the weekend being stripped down and cleaned by it’s loving owner, and dropping the cigarette butt to smoulder on the pavement. It glowed for a moment on the dull concrete before it was quickly crushed under one boot.

“Fancy a lift home, trouble?” Sirius cocked an eyebrow, the grin fading down to a smirk.

Work was still recovering. Everybody was recovering, really; Martin and Ariadne and the remaining staff were limping along after the invasion had ended. The locals may not have been "real" for some of the other captives in Colligo, but she'd gotten to know many of them and formed friendships, and they were dead, and that sucked. A lot. But most of her friends didn't seem to share that opinion, so she kept it to herself.

Ariadne was used to finding Eames waiting for her when she got out of work, or more accurately to him arriving and spending a load of money on supplies at the end of her shift and then dragging her off for coffee or a drink. She was not used to seeing Sirius waiting for her, looking like something out of a bad romance novel with his motorcycle, cigarette and dramatically long hair. And that smirk. It was hard not to smile back, and she didn't resist, tucking her scarf's ends into the top of her coat.

"To what do I owe the pleasure? And can you make some kind of heat-bubble so my nose doesn't freeze and fall off on the way home?" She stepped over and put one hand on the seat, looking up at him with a grin.

“I actually need to talk to you,” Sirius admitted, “but let’s get somewhere where we’re not in danger of freezing our tits off first, yeah?” He scrambled around in his back pocket, located his wand, and cast a wordless charm to warm her up, quickly casting one on himself right after and feeling the warmth spread from the core of his chest out to his fingers. Although it wouldn’t last long - not in weather like this. He could already feel his fingertips cooling.

For most of the people he’d had to have this awkward conversation with, it had been a few sentences over the phone, perhaps a flying visit kind of affair. But he liked Ariadne, really liked her. She wasn’t just some random hook up in a bar. She was his friend, and he did feel a bit bad for what he was going to say to her. Especially after the whole Arthur and Eames fandango. But she’d take it alright, wouldn’t she? She hadn’t expected anything more, after all... Slinging one leg over the bike and scooting forward to make room for her to curl up behind him, Sirius curled long fingers around the accelerator.

“You have some very odd looking people going into that shop,” he commented as she got settled. “I watched them go in.” Watched them go in and then occasionally jinxed them when they came out again, but she didn’t need to know that.

Ariadne laughed in surprise, rolling her shoulders back and relishing in the warming charm. "Thanks for that." The fact that he wanted - no, he'd said he needed to talk to her - was worrying. It wasn't as if they didn't talk normally, but that sounded more as if he had something specific to talk to her about. Hopefully it wasn't Regulus, because she didn't have any good ideas about how to shake the younger Black out of his malaise. She hopped on the bike and slid her hands into the pockets of Sirius's jacket, snuggling close for warmth as much as safety. It wasn't as if she thought he would let her fall off, but better safe than sorry.

"They're artists. Of course they're odd-looking. You wouldn't believe how often Eames gets paint in his hair. Or on his face, and doesn't notice." And Ariadne regularly ended up with ink or charcoal or graphite smears on her own face, but she didn't feel the need to mention that. Sirius had teased her about it more than once. "Your place, my place, or the coffee shop with the good hot chocolate?"

Ariadne slipped into the space behind Sirius, her body warm and familiar against his as slender arms curled around him and into his pockets. He grinned, deciding not to make fun of the fact that last time he’d been round she’d had more paint on her than the paper, but instead just firing up the bike. It gave a huge roar, almost deafening. You could almost feel the charmed engine attempt to race off from underneath them.

“Let’s go to yours,” Sirius called over the noise, twisting his head to shout the teasing words back. “Then I only need to do one trip with you cramping my style.” He shot her a grin, then kicked the machine into gear before she could reply and sending them charging off down the road.

The motorbike had been fast when Sirius had brought it, but these days it put almost every other muggle vehicle to shame. It had to, to outrun the bloody muggle police that swarmed over London. Not to mention the Death Eaters. Sirius’ wide grin unfurled happily as he ducked down a little over the handlebars, feeling the wind slap against his face and tempt a faint flush to his skin. Fucking hell, he loved this bike. It was easily the best thing he’d ever brought. He didn’t know why Moony and Regulus complained about it so much... They screamed along at an almost impossible speed, hugging the pavement as they flew round corners, his body crying out from the cold air rushing past and Ariadne warm against his back. In less than three minutes they were outside her building.

Sirius shut the bike off, stupid grin still splashed giddily over his features as he jumped down and offered Ariadne his hand to help her off. “You don’t want a ladder or anything?” he asked cheekily, wriggling his fingers.

Ariadne clung to Sirius as they sped through the streets, still half-afraid that her ears were going to catch frostbite or shrivel up. The bike was kind of sexy and exciting, but maybe not the best way to get around without freezing to death in January. But they were at their destination soon enough, and she took his hand with a roll of her eyes. "I think I can manage, thanks." Sometimes the endless cracks about her height got tiresome. After so many years at a permanently diminished stature she had heard every possible variation. "Do you want to take the elevator or are you going to magic us inside before my toes freeze?"

Ariadne’s small hand fitted neatly into his and Sirius helped her off the bike, slipping an arm through hers as soon as the next question was out of her mouth. A split second later there was a faint pop and they arrived in Ariadne’s sitting room. One of the benefits of Sirius being here so often was that he could apparate into her flat without nearly breaking his leg on some random piece of furniture. Releasing Ariadne, Sirius pulled off his jacket and chucked it casually onto the back of a chair, clearly a little bit too at home in the Architect's home. He was a little nervous, but Sirius Black did not get nervous so he hid it with a grin, turning away to pad into the kitchen and pop the kettle on.

“Don’t deny it,” he called back to her as the kettle started to bubble. “I’m bloody efficient. You left work... what? Five minutes ago?”

"You are," she said, shaking her head to clear away the aftereffects of Apparating and plopping down on the couch before taking off her boots. Ariadne draped her coat over the arm of the couch and padded after Sirius, now even shorter in her socks. "I'm almost out of sugar, just so you know." She reached past Sirius to get mugs out of the drying rack, setting them down on the counter and glancing up at his face. "So what did you want to talk about?" The direct approach was her favorite.

Sirius usually quite enjoyed the direct route of conversation, but then again, usually the direct route of conversation could be steered to Sirius getting something he wanted. And this was different. With a question like that he couldn’t really manipulate it to fit his own terms, which wasn’t a feeling he could honestly say he liked very much. Sirius sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at his boots, which were dirty against the tiles.

“About... you know... the casual sex?” If they were doing the direct thing, they were doing it properly. “I... can’t anymore. We need to stop.” And this would be an absolutely perfect time to make some kind of ‘withdrawal’ joke, and he had to bite down quite hard on his bottom lip to stop one slipping out. Sirius glanced across at Ariadne, doing his best to look comfortable and confident and very almost managing it, although his fingers were drumming an anxious pattern in the crook of his folded arms.

Well, that was certainly unexpected. Her fingers tightened around the handle of her mug, but she managed to fight back any other reaction. "Um, okay. I mean, it's not like it's been part of our routine for a while now, but..." Ariadne shrugged, trying to relax. She shouldn't be upset about this. It was casual, right? So it was fine for it to end as abruptly as it had started. Sure. "Should I ask why, or do you not... want to talk about it?" Oh god, this conversation was going to be unbearable.

Oh, it was awkward. Why did girls make these things so awkward? Although, to be fair, it had been just as weird after the mistletoe fiasco with Remus. But that was a different kind of awkward. This was just... awkward. And he needed to stop thinking the word ‘awkward’ because that was making it worse. Sirius shifted a little uncomfortably against the side, turning around to lean cross his arms on the side and lean against them, pulling a mug into his hands and spinning it between his fingers, watching that instead of her face.

“I’ve... uh...” How did you even phrase this? Joking or serious? Joking, he decided. When unsure, always go for the joking option. “I’ve been trapped into what some people may call a ‘relationship’.” He avoided her gaze, but you could almost see the quote-marks hovering above his words. God, he was glad Remus wasn’t here. It wasn’t that he didn’t think of him and Remus as something serious, he really did. It was frightening. But he also felt like making a joke out of it was the easiest way to get through this conversation without anyone getting angry or upset. Or him receiving a kick to the balls.

“With Remus,” he tacked onto the end, because that was what the next question would be and they might as well jump to the chase. Sirius braced himself for the reaction, and met her gaze again.

That answer made marginally more sense than I've decided to become a monk and take holy orders, but it was approximately as surprising. Ariadne found she couldn't look at him. This was a lot to take in, after all. But she kind of wanted to punch him for being so goddamned cavalier about it. Trapped? Right, sure, like he'd be so contrite about it. The kettle started boiling and clicked off, but she made no move to start brewing the tea. Especially not after he revealed the other half of his relationship. If it had been another girl he'd met here in Colligo she might have been irritated - well, more irritated - but how could she compete with one of his best friends? Feelings were complicated and messy and she was pretty sure she hated them.

"Congratulations, I guess," she said finally, still not turning to look up at him. Eames always teased her about her complete lack of a poker face, but she made an effort to keep her expression calm as she shrugged one shoulder. Adding anything else would have come out horribly insincere and possibly quite rude, so she closed her mouth and left it at that.

“You’re mad at me,” Sirius stated, his face twisting into a slight grimace. Of course, it didn’t make any fucking sense. At all. They’d always said it was only casual, that it didn’t mean anything. They were just friends who occasionally walked around each other's flats naked. That was it. That was all it was ever supposed to be. And now she was mad, and he had no bloody idea why. Sirius had always been a bit on the emotionally stunted side. At least, that was how he liked to appear. But these things always threw him for a loop. He wasn’t nearly drunk enough to be having this kind of conversation.

“Ariadne?” He tried leaning a little further over the side, twisting his head in an attempt to meet her gaze. ”Don’t be mad. I didn’t plan it or anything. It just... it’s Remus.” There was another heavy, tension-filled silence. Without the noise of the kettle boiling you could have heard a pin drop, and Sirius lasted about five seconds before he felt an overpowering need to break the silence, to try and crack through this terribly awkward tension that was suddenly between them. “Are you going to make that tea?” There was another heartbeat when no’one spoke, then the wizard gave a heavy sigh. “We always said it was just sex. What’s the problem?”

The head-shake she gave him was reflexive, a not-terribly-convincing denial. She could try to keep denying it, but what was the point? "I'm not mad at you," she said finally, which was mostly true. "I'm mad at myself for caring this much. That's all." Her hands shook a little as she got the teabags out and dropped them into the mugs. "I like you a lot, Sirius. Which I know is only going to inflate your ego further. And... I don't know. Arthur's back, which is messing up whatever was going on between me and Eames, and now you... I'm starting to wonder if I'm cursed or something." Her mouth twisted into a bitter smirk. Radical honesty was the strategy of the day, it seemed. At least when she poured the water out of the kettle she didn't spill it all over the counter.

Ariadne handed Sirius his mug and added sugar to her own. "If you finish the sugar you're buying me more. And if you tell anyone about this I may be forced to resort to violence," she added after a moment. The thought of Sirius and Eames having a discussion about her feelings made her want to throw up or start crying or, possibly, both simultaneously.

Oh, bloody hell. It was like the Hannah Abbott fiasco all over again. Clearly, he knew he was handsome and funny and charming and all that, and people were only human. But why did this keep happening to him? He was bloody awful at dealing with it. Didn’t they realize that? Sirius squirmed a little uncomfortably against the side, trying and failing to come up with anything comforting to say. I’m sorry. We’re still friends. I’m not going anywhere.

They were all crap.

“If it makes you feel better,” he offered. “I don’t have the best track record when it comes to this kind of stuff. You probably had a lucky escape.” He didn’t add that none of the relationships he’d destroyed in the past had been with his best mate, that this thing with Remus was different because it was Remus. He had some idea of tact, after all. It was just that most of the time it seemed more entertaining to ignore it. Accepting the mug of tea, Sirius nodded vaguely. “Then I owe you sugar,” he told her, heaping his usual ridiculous amount of the stuff into the dark liquid, “And my lips are completely sealed.” He hesitated, gaze fixed down on the mug as the water swirled hypnotically. “I am sorry, you know... Merlin, it’s not going to be weird, is it? I can… leave you alone if you want?”

Because she was his friend, and he did care about her, so if it was what she needed and asked for then of course he would do that. But it didn’t mean he wanted to.

A puff of steam rose from the tea as Ariadne exhaled over it, more a sigh than a method of cooling it. Yeah, this definitely wasn't making her feel better. But she shrugged. "Probably right," she agreed. It wasn't like she'd thought that seriously about ever having a relationship with him, anyway. But... rejection sucked. This sucked. On top of being metaphorically kicked in her emotional gut, she'd just poured him a cup of tea. And she did genuinely like him as a friend and didn't really want to sob over her broken heart forever.

"You just have really shitty timing," Ariadne said finally, shaking her head again and sipping her tea. "But it's not going to be weird. At least, not that much weirder than normal." Another one of those helpless shrugs. What more could she say? That it was fine? That she was fine? Ariadne didn't like lying to people, especially not her friends. "Okay, maybe a little weird. But you can drink your tea, you don't have to run out the door or anything before I break down in tears."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully, lifting his cup of too-sweet tea to his lips and taking a huge gulp. “Hey,” he jarred an elbow gently against hers, an affectionate smile curling over his face. “Perk up. Things could be worse. At least now you won’t keep finding pairs of my pants around the place?” Sirius’ personal favourite was when his favourite, lucky pair of underwear had been located hanging off a hallway lampshade. To this day he had no bloody idea how they’d got there, but as he had told Ariadne at the time, that was one of the perils of his particular lifestyle choice.

“It’s not you, you know,” he pointed out. “You’re just bloody unlucky. Although we did sleep together for a while, which several people would probably say proves your luck isn’t all that bad. But whatever. If it had been anyone else… But it’s Moony. You know? I… well.” He shrugged, realizing he probably wasn’t making things any better and not about to go any further into what he felt about the other boy. He hadn’t even really told Remus that. “And oi!” Something else occurred to him, and he widened his eyes, smirking down at Ariadne again and turning to face her properly. “What was that about you and Eames?”

After all, they might as well get all the painful conversations done in one go. Then they could regroup and carry on with their lives. Plus, Sirius loved a bit of gossip.

"Also there'll be less dog hair shedding all over the place," she replied, managing a small smile this time. The smile vanished as he continued to tell her how bad she shouldn't feel, which made her feel worse. "I get it," she said, sipping her tea. And she did, honestly. She wasn't jealous, she was just feeling... well, unwanted. Nobody enjoyed that feeling. Particularly not when it was coming from all sides.

Part of her had hoped Sirius was going to forget what she'd said, but of course she would never be that fortunate. Hadn't he just said she was bloody unlucky? Ariadne covered her eyes for a moment, then shook her head, miraculously not getting her hair in the teacup. "There's nothing about me and Eames," she said finally. "He's all hung up on Arthur, and we were getting closer when Arthur wasn't here, but now that he's back... And he doesn't remember anything that happened, which means Eames is unhappy, and..." Ariadne shrugged helplessly. Not to mention that Arthur was currently acting more interested in her than he ever had, which was reawakening all of her feelings for him, but making her feel even more conflicted about Eames. "It's a giant mess." And that was the truth.

Sirius settled against the side, hands wrapped around the half-empty cup of tea as he listened quietly. He did care about Ariadne, after all. A lot. He’d have done anything she asked of him without a second thought and he felt terrible about having upset her. It hadn’t been his intention, but there was no way of avoiding it. Half the reason he’d spent a month ducking this thing with Remus was because he was scared of hurting someone he cared about. And look what had happened. Even if it just wasn’t the person he’d thought it would be.

“Well,” Sirius admitted, “I’ve never understood the Arthur attraction, to be honest. The rest of my family may be into that, but…” He shuddered comically. It seemed insane that Sirius had met Arthur a few times when he’d first arrived, and yet it had never occurred to him that he was indistinguishable from his brother. That was the problem with being estranged for half a decade. Not that it hadn’t been a hell of a lot easier. Regulus hadn’t spoken to him in days. “Come on,” he reached out, ducking down to meet her gaze and tilting her chin to make her look at him. “It’ll get better. Trust me. I am très wise.”

Sirius released her, finishing off his tea and placing the mug down. “When it’s not weird I’ll take you for drinks and help you meet eligible men. I’ll act like a dickhead who’s trying to molest you, and some handsome bloke’ll come to your rescue. And if that doesn’t work I’ll just get you really, really drunk.”

Ariadne rolled her eyes and nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. "He doesn't look like my brother, and - I don't even think Eames has any siblings." She met Sirius's eyes for a moment, blinking hard. "I know it will, but right now it sucks. That's all." Another large gulp of fortifying tea and she was done, putting her mug down as well. Okay, maybe she felt slightly better. Even if she didn't entirely trust Sirius to keep the knowledge secret - not that Eames was unaware, but reiterating that certainly wouldn't help.

Sirius's suggestion made her laugh in surprise. "I think the last thing I need right now is more men in my life, Mr. Black. And I'm not much for chivalry." At least, not from strangers. Eames and Arthur had looked after her on the Fischer job because she was the most junior member of the team, not because she was a girl. "Besides, you know what happens when I get really, really drunk. That's sort of the problem." Hey, she could joke about it already. Maybe things were going to be okay.

“There we go!” Sirius looked genuinely pleased with the laugh that escaped Ariadne. That was good. A laugh was always good. He’d learnt that enough times in his time. “That’s better. And I love drunk Ariadne. She’s got some terrible habits.” He grinned meaningfully across at her, a flirtatious glint in his eye before he laughed and pushed himself fully away from the sideboard. The cup was left, abandoned and completely empty, where he’d left it. After all, Sirius was Sirius. Relationship or not, he was a terrible flirt when he wanted to be.

“Come on,” he opened up his arms to hug her. “I need to get a jog on. You know the bike pines if I leave her outside too long.” He hugged the small girl to him, grinning again at the way her brunette head fitted neatly under his chin. “You’ll be alright?” he checked as he pulled away.

She was shaking her head again even as he pulled her close, but she brought her arms around him to hug back. "Yeah, I'll be all right." And she even meant it this time. "Now shoo. I need to clean up." Because Arthur was cooking again, improbably enough. "I'll see you around." Maybe by then she wouldn't be feeling quite so confused.

Sirius grinned as he pulled back, giving her one last look as she shooed him. She seemed okay. She was smiling a bit, at any rate. He was sure they'd be okay. Why wouldn't they? It was all going to be fine. He pulled a falsely offended face as she attempted to get rid of him, then Sirius shot her a wink and was turning on the spot, vanishing with a quiet pop. A minute later the sound of the bike roaring off could be faintly heard, drifting in through the closed window as the wizard vanished into the city and left Ariadne to her thoughts.