Constellation Tattoos

Picnic Date

'We can hold hands on the second date,' Sirius remembered Remus saying. He had gotten over it by the time Remus had turned back to him and took Sirius' hand. "Is holding hands okay?" Remus asked, watching Sirius' red face. Sirius could only nod, not wanting to betray his serious and careless demeanor.

They walked out of the flat building and walked down the streets, holding hands and talking a little bit, but mostly enjoying each other's company. When they saw the park they were going to, they were across the street from it. Remus and Sirius crossed the road, trying their best not to get run over. 

Sirius pulled Remus into the park, not many people were in luckily but two people were having a picnic with each other. The two found a nice place to set the blanket down, Remus took Achilles and Patroclus' lead off, trusting them not to run off. 

"There's caprisuns in there, there's cherry and orange." Remus told Sirius, referring to the basket. Sirius took the capri suns out and leaned them on the basket. He took out sandwiches and passed some to Remus. "Thank you."

"How are you?" Sirius asked, unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite from it while looking at Remus. Remus shrugged and patted Patroclus' head. 

"I'm okay, I just had some trouble with these boys, they're teens, apparently can't leave people who are trying to be themselves alone. I was closing up yesterday with Cas, Benjy and Em and I had the security cameras open on my laptop, we never really use them much. I just like to have them on when I'm closing up and a group of four boys were about to break the window. Em caught them on the cameras and Benjy walked out and confronted them, threatening to call the police. They ran off. I panicked a bit after. How are you?"

"I'm okay too, I'm sorry about them. They'll learn to accept people soon enough." Sirius smiled. Remus smiled back. They ate a bit, made small talk, and laughed at things.

"You know how you mentioned you want to live in a cottage? Are you planning on leaving the cafè and bookshop?" Sirius asked, chewing on a sandwich. Remus looked at him and shrugged.

"I've never really had a plan. Most of the time I've just gone along with what my brain wanted. I was planning on only having a bookshop, instead my brain wanted a café with indoor and outdoor seating, a library and bookshop. I was planning on living in the countryside, not far from a village, where my bookshop would be, I live in London in a flat now. I was planning on having a cat, instead I have a cat and two dogs. I've always wanted to live in a cottage but I don't know if it's truly what I want. Maybe for the peace it brings but maybe not for what pleases me."

Sirius nodded, he lay down on the blanket, watching the sky. Clouds moving with the wind, sun beaming. Remus also lay down, beside Sirius. 

"Did you ever have a plan? And what was it if you did?" Remus asked, hand clasping Sirius'. Achilles and Patroclus curled up beside the two. Sirius thought about his answer.

"My plan was mostly to always be with James, no matter what. My plan when I was a kid was to keep Regulus safe, it still stood until I left our home without her. I failed the plan terribly." Sirius told xem. Remus turned over on its side, looking at Sirius' side. Sirius turned too, facing Remus.

"You tried. That's all that matters." Remus smiled, warmly. 

"You never mentioned if hugging was okay, and when it was." Sirius slyly smirked. Remus scoffed and wrapped their arms around Sirius' slightly muscular body. Sirius hugged Remus' skinny body back. When they pulled back, both of their faces were light pink. 

Remus pushed himself up from the blanket and took a capri sun, sipping it and watching Sirius sit back up. 

"Barty's hopelessly in love with your sister." Remus mentioned, smiling at Sirius. Sirius rolled his eyes. 

"I know, he's been over a lot since they started dating. And if I ever see them together, Barty is staring at her like she's the only person he's seen in his life." Sirius told them. Remus laughed. 

"I know we're still on the date and all but would you like to go on another date but like, not out? We could stay at my flat and watch a movie or something. Or we could go to your house, I'm not fussed." Remus smiled, almost shyly, like it was their first time talking to each other. 

"Yeah, of course, sure. I'd like that. When?" Sirius asked, watching Remus' face turn from worries to relief that Sirius had accepted. 

"Whenever you're free next week." Remus suggested. 

"I'm free on Tuesday." Sirius said. Remus nodded. Neither had noticed that when Remus had crossed his legs, his thigh lay on Sirius' leg. It was almost normal for both that they hadn't noticed, like it was meant to happen.

"Cool, how about at 4 o'clock in the afternoon? Come to my flat and what should we watch?" Remus asked. 

"The time is good and what about Love, Simon?" 

Remus rolled his eyes but agreed nonetheless. They started to eat again and continued to talk. They asked irrelevant questions and found each other's jokes funny. Eventually, they realised, the sky had begun to get a bit dark. 

"What's your favourite way to hug?" Sirius asked after he ate his second slice of the chocolate cake. He pet Achilles, who had found comfort in sitting in his lap. 

"Like in bed?" Remus asked and Sirius nodded. "Probably legs tangled around each other, foreheads together, arms wrapped around each other." 

"Cute. I like spooning." 

"Of course you do."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Sirius hissed, Remus giggled and shrugged. 

"You just seem like that type of person. Big or little spoon?" 

"Depends what mood I'm in and what mood the other person's in. What about you?" Sirius asked. 

"Same with you. I think people like to be little spoons with me because I'm so tall but I like being the little spoon a lot more. Have I mentioned I like the word spoon? For some reason I find comfort in saying the word spoon, it's just a really nice word. It's getting dark." Remus ranted. Sirius smiled and then looked up at the sky. 

"Yeah. Do you want to go home?" Sirius asked. Remus nodded, packing things back into the basket. He put Achilles and Patroclus' leads on again. Sirius put the blanket into his backpack and they left the park, hand in hand.