Who: Remus Lupin & Sirius Black When: Backdated: Tuesday, July 2nd. Afternoon. Where: Sirius' Backyard What: Remus has agreed to be Sirius' pool boy for the day and decisions are made Rating: PG for innuendo Status: Complete
How exactly Remus had let Sirius talk him into this, he wasn’t sure. No, that was a lie. He did remember. They had made a bet on whether or not Tonks would try to slip a love potion into Sirius’ tea like she’d tried to do to Remus. Of course, Remus hadn’t had any doubts that Tonks would try it, so really, he’d lost on purpose so he didn’t really have any place to complain about his current situation.
At the moment, he was in Sirius’ backyard, clad in a pair of red swim trunks, which were a little shorter than he’d normally go for, not to mention they were a tad bit snug, but Sirius had wanted a pool boy, so Remus had figured that Sirius would like this. On top, he was wearing a light, white linen shirt, unbuttoned so his chest was exposed, but his scar, the one he’d woken up with months earlier, was covered. Aside from Regulus and Tonks, who had seen it the day he’d woken up with it, Sirius was the only other person who had seen it then night he had come over to help Sirius unpack and they had wound up going swimming. It wasn’t that he was trying to hide the scar, but for the time being, thought the shirt was appropriate.
Pool skimmer in hand, Remus was currently cleaning the pool of any leaves while Sirius sat nearby.
Sirius was lounging on a reclining pool chair. His arms were tucked behind his head, he was wearing his dark sunglasses, and was just relaxing and enjoying the warm California sun. He opened his eyes and grinned as he watched Remus, still more than a little amused that his friend had actually followed through on the bet. “Oh Pool Boy,” he called out. “Any chance I could get a cold drink over here?”
Only for Sirius would Remus do something like this. He didn’t know if it was because he loved him or because he was just insane, but either way, he would never do this for anyone but Sirius. At Sirius’ request, Remus set down the pool skimmer and moved across to the patio table where he had prepared a pitcher of lemonade when he’d first arrived. Pouring a glass, he handed it to Sirius, “I hope it’s to your liking.” He had debated calling Sirius, sir or Mr. Black, but both sounded even too ludicrous for this situation.
“Even if it’s not, the view is more than making up for it,” he replied. Sirius peered over the top of his sunglasses and made a point of leering at Remus. “Nice swimsuit. And see? You didn’t even have to wear a Speedo.”
Sirius took a sip of lemonade and set the glass down on the ground next to his chair. He sighed contentedly and called out to Remus, “So why’d you take the bet anyways? It was a no brainer that Nymphie would try some sort of stunt with me just like she did to you.”
Remus was torn between rolling his eyes and smirking and in the end, the smirk had won out. It appeared that both, in the waking world and the dreams, it was difficult to be annoyed with Sirius; especially when he wasn’t really. It appeared that the one time in the dreams when Remus had actually been upset with Sirius was when the elder Black had sent Severus to the Shrieking Shack during one of Remus’ transformations and he’d almost killed the Slytherin. It had taken a few weeks before he’d actually spoken to Sirius again after that.
In response to Sirius’ question, Remus simply shrugged, “Would you have let up on the idea if I’d said no? You forget, I know you quite well, Sirius.” His brows rose slightly as he gazed down at his...friend didn’t sound like it was enough for what they were, but at the same time, Remus wasn’t entirely sure what exactly they were at that moment.
“I dunno. Maybe if you sulked enough and suggested something else interesting?” Sirius shrugged and flipped his sunglasses up on top of his head. “I think you wanted to play pool boy for me. I think you were hoping that maybe after seeing you working and being all cute in a swimsuit that maybe I’d take advantage of you. After all, isn’t that how it works in those kinds of books and movies? The attractive owner of the house takes advantage of the hot, younger pool boy?”
Yes, okay, so Remus could have done that, but there was a part of him that had wanted to go along with Sirius’ suggestion for the very reason that Sirius had just guessed, but Remus was not going to admit that. Not at all. But honestly, could anyone blame him? It had been quite a few months since he’d been with anyone and even longer since he’d been with Sirius so it shouldn’t have been too hard to guess who Remus wanted to break that dry spell. And it helped that he was in love with Sirius. However, he still didn’t know exactly how Sirius felt now after almost four months of kind of dating. If he were completely honest, that was a question he was afraid of hearing the answer to.
“And was that your plan all along then? Hoping I would agree to this bet so that you could take advantage of me?” He quirked a brow at Sirius. Of course, could someone be taken advantage of if they wanted it?
“Honestly? I didn’t think you’d agree to it. So when you did actually say you’d do it, I was a little surprised. But who knows? Make it worth my while and maybe I will take advantage of you,” Sirius replied with a laugh.
Remus felt his pulse rise slightly, but he did his best to appear as if what Sirius was saying didn’t affect him, “Is that so?” He quirked a brow at the other man and moved closer once again. Leaning down, only mere inches from Sirius, he smirked slightly, “I suppose I had best get back to work then.” Without giving Sirius a chance to respond, Remus pressed his lips against Sirius’ in a quick kiss then stood up just as quickly and turned back towards the pool. However, this time, before he reached for the pool skimmer, he shrugged off the light linen shirt and let it fall to the ground the resumed skimming the pool despite the fact that there were very few leaves.
Sirius arched an eyebrow and just gawked at Remus, clearly not having expected that sort of thing. As he watched the other man cleaning the pool, he couldn’t help staring. “So... how’d you get so good at being a pool boy?” he teased, trying to regain his composure. “They teach you while you were at your fancy college?”
That was exactly the sort of reaction that Remus had been hoping for and he couldn’t help but smirk at his accomplishment. At the question, Remus glanced over at Sirius as he continued skimming the surface of the pool, “Oh yes, I needed an elective, so I took pool skimming 101.” While some might say that Remus had no imagination, he certainly could play along when he needed to. After all, he’d basically learned how to lie from the best.
“And being the little overachiever that you are, I bet you got an A. Right?” Sirius took a sip of his drink and grinned as he got a nice view of Remus’ arse as the other man scooped up a leaf. “So what other electives did you take in school? I learned how to make various stupid arts and crafts while in prison, along with watching all manner of idiots trying to turn various bits of crap into weapons and tools for escaping. Would’ve been nice to have a pool, but we did have a weight room.”
“Oh of course. I wouldn’t take anything less,” Smirking, Remus shook his head as he finished skimming the rest of the leaves and glanced over his shoulder at Sirius, somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if perhaps he should have gotten a slightly tighter bathing suit, but whether he had or not, he knew Sirius was still staring at his ass. Remus might have been older than when they were together, but he was still in pretty good shape. Setting down the skimmer, Remus walked back towards Sirius and reached for his glass to refill it for the not quite animagus, “What sorts of arts and crafts did you learn to make?”
“Macaroni pictures, crap with clay, and a bunch of other useless junk. I think the rationale was for us to keep busy and it was supposed to be therapeutic, but mostly I figured it was just a waste of time.” Sirius took the glass from Remus and grinned as he raised it up. “Cheers. You know, you can take a break if you want. Sit down or something.”
“Now that, I would have liked to see.” Remus smirked as Sirius took the glass then quirked a brow at him at the suggestion, “But Mr. Black, how could I possibly sit down on the job? Besides, where would I sit? There’s only the one chair and you’re currently occupying it.” While Sirius did have other patio furniture, at the moment the only chair out was the lounge chair Sirius was sitting in.
“I dunno. Use your imagination Lupin.” He smirked and shifted a little on the lounge chair, letting his legs dangle on either side. This way if a certain ambitious pool boy felt like it, he could sit between them. Sirius had to admit... this was more fun than he’d expected thanks to the way Remus was getting into his role. “And if you’re a good boy, maybe I’ll show you my horrible arts and crafts skills later.”
Remus quirked a brow at Sirius as he shifted on the lounge to provide him a place to sit. As if Remus was going to pass that up, “You do realize that could be misconstrued as sexual harassment, don’t you?” Even as he spoke, he sank down onto the lounge, maneuvering himself around so that he was sitting between Sirius’ legs, watching him. It was a slightly odd angle, but all Remus cared about at that moment was how close he was to Sirius. “So, I suppose it’s good for you that I have no intention of reporting you.” Many a time Remus had been accused of being boring or having no imagination, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth; considering all the books Remus read, he actually had a pretty creative imagination, but he didn’t let just anyone see this side of him. It was reserved solely for close friends.
“If you don’t like it, then quit,” Sirius replied with a smirk. “But you know I’m a good tipper and there’s plenty of other fringe benefits. Besides... it only counts as harassment if you’re opposed to what’s happening. And something tells me that not only do you want to be harassed, but you’re going to be disappointed if I don’t do something. Right?”
Remus had the decency to at least pretend to look ashamed, or at least he tried. He couldn’t quite keep the smirk off his lips completely, “Am I that transparent?” Of course they’d already established the reason Remus had taken the bet in the first place, despite the fact that he’d known he was going to lose, so this was all acting now. He wanted Sirius and even though there was still a part of him that wanted to ask what exactly they were at this point, he would leave that question for later. When they weren’t playing anymore.
“To me? Usually. Your poker face never did fool me and I know you better than probably even James.” Sirius smiled, took a sip of his drink, and set it aside. “So all playing aside for a moment... why the hell did you ever bother putting up with me in the first place? I’m a complete pain in the ass, arrogant, cocky, and I know there were times I was driving you completely nuts.”
It was a good question and one Remus asked himself quite a lot back when they had been dating and even over the years when he wished he had done things differently, “I know you’ve heard the term, opposites attract, correct? There may have been times when you drove me absolutely mad, but it was because we were so different and you brought out a side of me that not many people could.” Sirius had been able to get Remus to loosen up and put down his books and be himself instead of who he thought he should be, “Besides, you’re rather easy on the eyes as well.” He smirked slightly.
“I didn’t really give you much of a choice. If I’m remembering correctly, I think I said I would put all of your books on the BBQ grill and flame them if you didn’t take a break.” Sirius grinned at Remus and leaned forward. “Besides... you always were kind of cute when you’re get flustered and angry with me.”
“That was a rather cruel thing to even suggest. After all, the books never did anything to you," Remus watched as Sirius leaned closer, trying his best to keep from smirking, “The truth finally comes out, huh? You tried to make me angry on purpose.” He leaned a little closer, leaving mere inches between them now.
“Sometimes, yeah. I did all kinds of things just to see what your reaction would be.” Sirius smirked and pointed at himself proudly. “Pain in the ass, remember? But cute enough to get away with it? And the books did too do things to me. I kept tripping over the damn things when you’d leave them on the floor.”
Remus couldn’t keep the smirk from spreading across his lips now, no matter how hard he tried and shook his head a bit, “It was rather obvious most of the time. However, you’re right, you were cute enough to get away with it,” Remus frowned slightly, but only a little, “I never left books on the floor. You simply knocked them over.” While Remus hadn’t left books randomly on the floor, there had been stacks of books near the couch or coffee table as well as near their bed every now and then. “Perhaps I should have made it up to you though. Then you might not have threatened the books.” They were still quite close and while Remus wanted nothing more than to kiss Sirius, part of him wanted to wait just another moment or two to see if perhaps Sirius would do it first.
Sirius was still smirking as he shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, but once I knocked them over they were on the floor. And that’s when I managed to trip on them.” He reached out and ruffled Remus’ hair on impulse and grinned. “So... how much longer do you think we should torture Nymphie for? You know she’s going to kill us when she finds out I lied to her and told her we were never hooking back up ever again.”
Remus shook his head and decided to let the book issue rest where it was, because they were both right, so there was no point in trying to argue, even if they were only doing it in jest, “She’s going to be especially upset when she finds out I lied about the dating sites.” Remus couldn’t help but wonder exactly what context Sirius was using ‘hook back up’ in, because these days hooking up didn’t necessarily mean that two people were dating, “I suppose it all depends on exactly what our status is.” He was still worried about what Sirius would say, but they had to have this discussion sooner or later.
Sirius opened his mouth to make another flippant comment, but paused when he noticed the slightly worried expression on Remus’ face. “Am I really that hard for you to read these days?”
If there was one thing that had always been a constant for Remus, it was his inferiority complex. Even back in school he’d often worried that his friends would decide he wasn’t cool enough to hang out with and it was in part because of his fear of rejection that prevented him from stopping his friends when they would tease other students, much like in the dreams. “I....I simply wasn’t sure.” He didn’t know if Sirius had truly forgiven him for the letter or anything else that had happened back then, “We haven’t actually discussed....us, since that night at my apartment.” And that had been at least four months ago.
“Well... yeah. But you know me. I’ve never been much of a talker, especially when it comes to serious stuff and things.” Sirius frowned and scratched his hair as he tried to figure out what to say next. And as usual, nothing that wasn’t flippant or sarcastic was coming to mind. So instead, he stood up and held out a hand to help Remus up. “You’re stuck with me, okay? I’ve actually got a spare key inside that I had made up for you. I figured I’d give it to you later.”
When Sirius stood Remus wasn’t sure what to expect, but as he held his hand out, his heart might have just skipped a beat, as corny as it sounds. And if it had skipped a beat them, it sped up at what Sirius said next as he took the offered hand and got to his feet, “You’re sure you want to give me a key? You may come home to find stacks of books strewn around the living room.” A small smile turned up the corners of Remus’ lips and it felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
“If I do, then don’t be surprised if I ‘accidently’ blow a few of them up. There’s bookcases in the house... use ‘em.” He smirked and shifted his hold on Remus’ hand, leading him towards the door to the house. “Alright, enough talking. Time for me to molest my pool boy for a bit. Then I’ll take you for an early dinner. Sound good?”
Remus chuckled and nodded, “Right. Bookshelves. I need a few more of those in my apartment.” He went willingly as Sirius led him towards the house, but stopped him before they reached the door and smiled, “I think that sounds like a splendid plan to me.” Still smiling, he leaned forward, finally kissing Sirius as he’d wanted to do all day. He didn’t know when they would finally let Tonks know that they were back together, but for now Tonks was not who Remus was thinking about at all.