A Wolfstar before christmas

December 2

Sirius was rubbing his hands together to get some warmth into them. It was only December 2 and it was already freezing outside. A quick look onto his thermometer before leaving had informed him that it four degrees below zero. He crossed the street, quickly glancing around to check for cars and headed to the photo development shop right in front of him. A tiny bell chimed when he opened the door and he hastily got himself inside and the door closed, breathing in the warm air. He sighed, relieved and took of his woolly cap. Shaking his hair, he stepped to the counter. A scrawny looking guy stood behind it, wearing a – Sirius groaned mentally – knitted Christmas sweater. The rest of him was rather attractive though, he had to admit it. Freckles framed his amber eyes and his mousy brown hair reflected the red fairy lights behind him. Sirius grinned at him.

"Hi, I'm Sirius Black. I'm here to collect my photos." The guy flashed him a smirk and raised his eyebrows.

"You don't say. You see, people come in wanting to collect their photos all the time. I'm slowly beginning to think this might be a photo development store." Sirius looked at him perplexedly for a moment, but then burst out a barking laugh. He was still giggling when he asked: "Had a bad day so far?" The man rolled his eyes.

"You have no idea. So, Black, was it? Let me just fetch your pictures." Quickly, Sirius glanced down at his nametag before the other turned around. It read Remus Lupin. He smiled to himself. It had a nice ring to it. He actually liked many things about this guy. He was just thinking about asking for his number, when Remus came back, a white envelope in his hands. He handed them over and then stepped up to the cash point.

"Nice party, you had there", he remarked, typing in the price. Sirius scratched his neck.
"Yeah, it was a fun night. My mate's birthday. Quite a head ache next morning." Remus nodded, understandingly. Sirius handed over the money.

"By the way, I saw your nudes." Sirius nearly choked on his spit. He coughed a few times, feeling his face grow hot and croaked out: "What?" As an answer, he just gets the same cocked eyebrows and smirk he got earlier.

"It, was just a prank, I mean, I don't normally take nudes, it was all Prongs- uh James fault you know! I mean, well, I didn't even want to do it in the first place, I was just so pissed and didn't realize what I was doing, we just found it funny to slip them under Wormys- err, Pete's mattress later I have totally forgotten about them I swear, I uh." Remus smirk hadn't wavered in the slightest during his rant.

"Well. I gotta go. Bye", and Sirius turned around, all thoughts about asking Remus for his number forgotten. As quickly as he could he left the shop, face still burning. He was going to murder Prongs.

...

"You're such a dickface!"

"Don't you think, since you literally posed yours for these photos, this description matches you bett- Ouch!" James was rubbing his head where Sirius had chucked a walnut at him.

"Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was, standing in this shop with this damn attractive guy? Oh my god my whole reputation is ruined. I'm gonna shut myself in my bedroom and never leave again." He was filing through the photos, glancing at a few pictures of him, James and Peter, saluting with bottles of beer, then James, who was posing like a top model, then Peter, bowing in front of a shattered bottle. Then Sirius, floundering on his bed as if someone was drawing him, then Peter again, fast asleep on the floor next to the couch. He steeled himself. After Peter had fallen asleep, they had made up their minds on how to prank him. This meant, the next photos must be the nudes. He scrunched up his face in mental agony, flapping over to the next photos. He groaned loudly.

"Come off it, Sirius, I mean he's the only one who's seen them, it could have been far worse", Peter commented, sitting there, grinning at them with glee. He was rather smug about how his friends' plan had backfired.

"Exactly! What did we even think about, doing this! I mean, if someone ever gets hold of them, oh my god! Prongs, this is entirely your fault!" James smile faltered a little and turned into a frown. He sat upright on the sofa, giving him a stern look he must have inherited from his mother.

"Oy, stop that. You wanted to do this as much as I did. You even said, wait how did you phrase it? 'This is the single most brilliant idea you've ever had, Prongsy, including the time you thought serenading Evans in front of her window while her parents were home was a good idea.' See, you can't just give me the entire fault for this!"

Sirius didn't react. He was staring at the backside of a photo, transfixed, looking entirely stunned.

"Mate, you okay?", Peter asked, and when Sirius didn't answer, he turned to James. "You know, if he's got a stroke now, it is your fault." James shook his head dismissively and scuttled closer to Sirius, glancing over his shoulder.

"Oh my god! Pete, oh my god, look! He's got his phone number!", James burst into fits of laughter, which finally seemed to send Sirius out of his rigour. He looked up at both of them, looking utterly confused.

"I...uh", was all he could get out.
"You got yourself a rather lewd crush there." Peter grinned at him, and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Sirius could feel himself blush, which only led to a further fits of giggles from James.

"Maybe next time, you should send him a full video. He might invite you to dinner then", he heaved, clutching at his stomach.

"Oh fuck off, both of you!", Sirius said, standing up and leaving the room. His friends were prats. Still, he couldn't help the small smile as he took out his phone and opened a new contact. Maybe, even if he'd never admit this out loud, James pranking idea hadn't been so bad at all, if it led to this.