Constellation Tattoos

The Hamster, Rat and Elvis Presley

Sirius opened the double doors to the cafè that was still open but less busy than it normally was. He smiled at Remus, Regulus and Barty and walked over to them. Remus was finishing up an order while Regulus and Barty were talking in - what looked like - hushed voices. 

"Barty, do you mind taking over while I pick out books for Reg?" Remus smiled, watching Sirius and then glancing at Barty. Barty smiled when he glanced but rolled his eyes when xe turned away. 

Sirius pat Regulus on the back, watching Barty walk to the counter and Remus walking to the two siblings. Remus brought them through different aisles, questioning Regulus on what they liked to read. 

"I like horrors. Or maybe some LGTBQ+ books, I don't know, to know more, I suppose." Regulus suggested, biting her lip and averting their eyes away from her brother. Sirius merely smiled and turned away. 

"Have you read IT?" Remus asked, Regulus shook their head. Remus stopped at the horror section, letting Regulus look about a bit. She chose three horror books: Carrie, Pet Sematary and IT, like Remus had suggested. Remus dropped them into a basket.

The three made their way to the LGBTQ+ section. Regulus didn't know exactly where to start so Remus chose ones it had read and let Regulus look over the back. 

"Red White and Royal Blue, They Both Die At The End, Song of Achilles, The Gravity Of Us, and I also have the four volumes of comic books called Heartstopper. But feel free to look at others." Remus spoke. Sirius wasn't paying attention anymore, he was entranced by Remus. 

Of course, at first, Sirius had only given his number to Remus for their looks but his personality was quite enticing. Xe was soft with Regulus and probably with any customers he normally had. It was always open for help but made sure you knew when they felt uncomfortable. Sirius thought he was quite amazing.

Regulus liked the ones Remus had gotten out and had also picked out a book called Bloom. Remus rang them through and gave them a small discount, Sirius paid. Remus bagged them and passed them to Sirius over the counter.

"Is Barty coming?" Remus asked as he followed the two from the counter to buy books. Regulus nodded, waving Barty over. Barty got Dorcas to work at the counter and the four left the cafè.

Walking, Barty and Regulus fell into a separate conversation while Sirius and Remus walked together, barely ignoring each other's existence. Sirius tried not to think about Remus just as much as Remus was trying not to think about Sirius. 

Although Sirius was doing the bare minimum and respected Remus' boundaries, there were barely any people who Remus had been interested in that respected its boundaries. Sirius did. 

Remus hadn't had much luck with past relationships and, to be honest, Sirius hadn't either. Well, Mary had been one of his successful relationships as they had turned out to both have preferences in the same gender and continued on to be good friends.

They arrived at the pet shop, Regulus acted as if they weren't about to start jumping up and down on the spot. 

"You know at fairs? They starve Goldfish, that's why they die so quickly when you take them home. Because they don't get taken care of." Regulus said as they passed the Goldfish, Sirius pulled an odd face at Regulus but ignored his horrifying statement.

"I used to have a snake." Remus told them, as they stopped by the reptile bit. Barty was eyeing a lizard, and it had started a staring contest with him. "But it tried to eat my rabbit so I had to sell it."

Finally, they were in the rodent section. Regulus looked at the hamsters. There were five dwarf hamsters and six normal hamsters. Remus looked at the rats while Sirius watched them. 

"You know, it's quite creepy to watch me like that. I can see you in the glass." Remus smirked, the rat he was watching had tried to stand up on its back legs but instead, it fell on it's back. Remus smiled at it.

"Do you think Peter'll like this one? I've been meaning to get them one since they've been wanting one since they were a kid. Least I could do for being such a good friend." Remus asked Sirius. Sirius shrugged and watched as the rat, again, tried to stand on its back legs, this time falling to the side, rolling. Sirius nodded.

"Seems perfect for Pete. Cute as well." He said as he waved hello to the rodent. Remus smiled at Sirius, turning away to look at Regulus and Barty, both looking at the same hamster. 

"We should probably get the things first and come back, to get them, yeah?" Remus suggested it to Sirius, who kept watching the rat. Sirius nodded. 

Regulus, Sirius and Barty just decided to follow Remus. Remus got food for the rat and the hamster, things for the cage but Remus never got a cage. Regulus questioned it.

"Cages here are way too small. The workers will probably say it's big enough but it isn't, I can lend you something that I used for my rabbit from my mum's home." Remus explained. Regulus nodded. 

Once they returned to the hamster and rat, a worker was already standing near and Remus pointed out which ones they would be buying. The worker got the rat first and put it in a box, letting Remus hold it. Sirius struggled holding the bedding for both animals and really wished he had stolen Mary's car. And then the worker got the hamster, passing it to Regulus.

"I wish I knew that we would be buying something that is barely holdalls, I would've taken Mary' car." Sirius complained, as they walked to pay for everything.

"You're so dramatic." Remus mumbled, setting down the rat's box. Remus paid for Peter's things first. Then, Sirius paid for Regulus' things. 

They left the pet shop, walking the way to Remus' mum's house, just like Sirius and Remus had on their date. Somehow, with no questions, Regulus' hand had made its way into Barty'. Both blushing, furiously, neither of the two infront had noticed since they were in their own worlds. 

Regulus had thought her face had caught on fire as they felt Barty's rough but comfortable hands. She held the hamster in their other hand while Barty held two bags in his other hand. 

Remus turned the key in his mums' house, opening the door. He mumbled, "I won't be long." Xe left the door open, Sirius was about to turn around to talk to them but his eyes caught their hands and decided against it, smiling a bit to himself. 

Barty averted his gaze to anything but Regulus and Sirius. Remus returned from the home with a bag and the rat box in their other hand. Remus looked over the two behind Sirius and smirked.

"Where do you two live?" Remus asked, jumping from the last step up to his mums' house. 

"Not far from here." Sirius mentioned.

"Lead the way." 

Eventually, Sirius and Regulus got to their home. James and Lily were inside when the four entered. James smiled and introduced himself to Remus. 

Remus quickly helped Regulus set the hamster's cage on top of a cabinet. Xe opened the hamster box and placed the box into the cage, gently laying it on the bedding. Regulus smiled at Remus.

"She'll come out in her own time, what are you going to name her?" Remus asked Regulus. 

"Atlas, dunno, just like it." Regulus shrugged. Remus smiled and nodded. Barty suggested that they leave to go to Peter's. Remus agreed and bid James, Lily, Sirius, Regulus, Atlas and Stick a farewell and followed Barty out. 

"So?" Remus asked, side-eyeing Barty. Barty raised an eyebrow at him, questionably. Suddenly coming to a realisation that xe was talking about the holding hands thing. Barty shrugged.

"I don't think Reg meant for it to happen. Our hands just like, I don't know." He huffed, Remus smiled and decided not to press further. Barty was thankful. "I think it's sweet that you got Pete a rat. Although, they'll probably name it a ridiculous name."

Peter did, infact, name it a ridiculous name. First reaction from Peter was them thinking the two were lying, yet when they saw the rat, they were very happy. And Peter decided to call it Elvis Presley Pettigrew.