bookworm // wolfstar au

s e v e n

TW: mention of sexual assault, stay safe bbs

"remus, you know what i -- oh, hey, alice," sirius greets with a smile. remus brightens at seeing him, and drops the spoon he was holding to hug him. it's been three weeks since their date, and they've been spending time together pretty much every chance they get. now, remus is making cookies in the kitchen with alice while sirius was off somewhere with james and peter. "hi, angel. how are you doing?" he runs an affectionate hand through remus' hair.

"hi," alice says back dryly, very clear about the fact that she doesn't want him there. sirius purses his lips, but his face softens when remus kisses his cheek.

"we're making sugar chai cookies. wanna try the dough?" remus asks, and then bounds over to the bowl before sirius even gets a chance to answer. 

"so, alice. how's it going?" sirius asks, sitting beside her at the table remus is working at.

"fine," she says shortly.

"that's good. do you like making cookies with remus or does he just use his adorableness to force you into it?" sirius asks, and then laughs when remus throws a handful of dough at him.

"no, i actually like him," she says back, sounding genuinely annoyed. the bite in her voice makes remus stop and frown, and sirius crinkles his eyebrows.

"sorry, did i...upset you somehow?" sirius questions, confused. "i can leave if you don't want me here."

"yeah, you should go," is all she says, taking the bowl from remus and mixing the dough. with a shrug, sirius stands up to leave.

"no. you don't have to leave," remus frowns, grabbing his hand. "alice, why are you acting like this?"

alice shakes her head, expression disgusted. "we know what happened with marlene mckinnon at that house party, sirius. everyone knows what you and james did."

"what we --" sirius looks so confused. "alice, i have no idea what you're talking about."

"we were there, you know. we could hear her screaming, and we went into the bedroom, and you and james were there. and she was bleeding, and you --"

"stop," sirius interrupts. remus looks sick to his stomach, and that already makes it clear that he's heard more than enough. "have you talked to marlene about this?"

"i didn't have to." alice crosses her arms over her chest. "anything to say for yourself, sirius? you disgust me."

"really, alice? i disgust you?" sirius asks, voice trembling as he tries to keep his temper down. "you disgust me. if you'd asked marlene, or me, or even james you'd know that james and i heard her crying in the bathroom and went to see if she was okay. merlin's beard, alice, i would never do something like that. she was crying so loud james and i could hear her out in the hall, and when we went in the bathroom, we found her like that."

alice looks embarrassed and uncomfortable. "sirius --"

"i don't want to hear it," he says, waving her away. "you don't even know me, alice. you didn't even ask anyone what happened, you just made assumptions about all of us with no reasoning behind it whatsoever. were you even fucking paying attention in the moment? marlene was clinging to my arm so hard it practically bruised. don't you think she'd be pushing me away or trying to fight if i was doing anything to her? she wanted me there. she didn't want to be alone."

there's a long pause, a long silence where no one says anything. "i'm sorry," she says slowly.

"that's what everyone thinks, isn't it?" sirius asks. "that james and i...?"

alice doesn't say anything, she just stares down at her hands, picking at her fingernail polish.

he takes a deep breath. "enjoy your cookies, remus," he says in a low voice, and he kisses remus' forehead before turning to leave the kitchens. he knows he needs to go talk to james, to tell him about what he's just learned, but he can't bear to do it. he decides to just go sit outside alone when someone crashes into his back.

"don't," is all he can hear remus gasp out, and when he turns to try and hear the rest of what he's saying, he's shocked to see tears running down remus' face.

"remus! what's wrong?"

"i'm -- i'm so sorry she said that to you," he gasps out through sobs. "i told her -- i told her you would never do anything like that. i knew, sirius, i knew from the first time i talked to you, and --"

"calm down, angel," sirius says gently, cupping remus' flushed face in his hands.

"no," remus says firmly. "i just...i just wanted to make sure you knew that i didn't think that about you. and i don't think everyone thinks you and james hurt marlene. too many people know that you guys are good..."

sirius shuts his eyes, leans his forehead against remus'. "thank you, sweetheart."

"huh? for what?"

sirius' mouth quirks up into a smile. "you ran all the way out here just to keep me from getting too upset and you didn't have to do that. you really didn't. you're so sweet, remus." he actually has to bite his tongue to keep from saying, 'i love you so much.'

remus kisses sirius' forehead. "i had to make sure you knew, that's all."

"can i kiss you?"

remus is smiling. "sure," he says, and in the time it takes for sirius to kiss the end of his nose before his lips, remus' heart rate has almost multiplied in speed. "alice told me to tell you she's sorry again."

sirius just shrugs. "i don't want to think about her right now. want to play wizard chess with me, peter, and james?"

remus is pretty sure he'd follow sirius to the ends of the earth at this point. "sure, babe."

"babe? did you just call me babe?"

remus is blushing. "shut up."

"this is the best moment of my life thus far," sirius laughs, and remus can't help but laugh, too.