Three glasses of wine clinked together.
"Boy, wasn't that a scare?" Remus mused, lifting the glass to his lips.
"I'll drink to that," Sirius said. He rested his head on Remus' shoulder after draining his glass.
Lily rested her hands on her swollen stomach, gently rubbing it. "I would have at least flown with them if I was allowed,"
"Imagine moving to London," James shook his head. "That would be crazy."
"We'd have been closer to Mum and Dad," Lily said, her eyebrow slightly furrowed. "What if he falls again and we're not there to help him?"
"That's why he's staying in a home with your mum," James patted her arm comfortingly. "They're with professionals now. They're getting old, it's just good that it's happened now,"
"Mm... god, I need some wine right now," Lily rubbed her forehead, laughing dryly. "Come on, little guy,"
"Won't be long now," James said, and the excitement in his voice was evident.
"Have you finalised the names?" Remus asked, playing with Sirius' hair.
"I still go for Sirius Junior," Sirius chimed in. "It's catchy and he'll have an awesome legacy to live up to,"
Lily scoffed. "Yeah, annoying everyone so much that he's disowned? I'd love for my kid to live up to that."
"Hey, now," Remus said in a warning tone, squinting.
"Plus, we don't even know the sex yet!"
"It's fine." Sirius poked his tongue out at Lily. "So what name will this disappointment have if it's not named after me?"
Lily and James looked at each other, before James spoke. "Well, we're down to four names,"
"Oof, spill," Sirius leaned forwards eagerly.
"Wait, four?" Lily furrowed her eyebrows. "What's the fourth one?"
James cleared his throat. "Not all parties agree on the fourth name and refuse to acknowledge it as a good decision,"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Is this about Elvendork again? James, we are not calling our child Elvendork!"
"It's a badass name!"
"It is out of the question!"
"Fine then!" James huffed and crossed his arms. "You introduce the stupid names, then,"
Rolling her eyes again but gently holding James' hand, Lily listed off the names. "We like the idea of the gender neutral name Alex,"
"Yasssss," Sirius said, a hand on his cheek.
"Then we have Imogen or Harry,"
"Or Elvendork,"
"We kept the sex of the baby a surprise," Lily explained. "So we'll find out after the little tyke's born, I guess,"
Remus nodded, his finger circling lazily around Sirius' bicep. "When is the baby due?"
-----
"Now?!" Sirius shouted into his phone, scrambling out of bed, almost sending Remus off the bed when he was shocked awake.
"Now!" James shouted back. "We're on our way to the hospital, I'm trying to make Lily stop panicking-"
"I'm not panicking, James," came Lily's voice from somewhere in the phone call.
"Sh-she's quite distressed, I had to tell her that we'll be fine and everything is going to go to plan-"
"Hey, that's what I said to y-"
"EVERYTHING'S GOING FINE, NOBODY PANIC!! EVERYBODY JUST STAY CALM!"
"Okay, okay, calm down!" Sirius said, struggling into his jacket.
"What's going on?" Remus asked groggily, alarmed.
Sirius pressed the phone to his chest. "Lily's going into labour,"
"Oh, fuck,"
Sirius held his phone back up to his ear. He could hear James hyperventilating. "Okay, we're on our way. How's Lily holding up?"
"I'm completely fine," Lily's calm voice replied. "James is the one who's freaking out,"
"I'M NOT FREAKING OUT!!"
Sirius winced and held the phone away from his ears. "James, mate, if Lily isn't panicking, why are you?"
"FIRST OF ALL: I'M NOT PANICKING, OKAY?! EVERYTHING'S FINE,"
"Mhm," Remus said skeptically from the other side of the room as he changed from his pyjamas to his clothes.
"Okay, Prongs, you need to calm down," Sirius pressed, but with his bed hair sticking up in random places and his pants on backwards, he looked like he could take his own advice. "You're being too loud,"
"I AM CALM! AND I'M NOT- did you just fucking reference Taylor Swift when my fucking wife is going into labour?"
"...N...no?"
Rolling across the bed, Remus took the phone from Sirius. "Hello, James, Remus speaking. Are you currently driving?"
"Getting in the car now. Why?! Should we already be there, should we have been there before she started getting contractions?!"
"No." Remus said patiently. "I'm asking because if you are: first of all, you shouldn't be on the phone. Second, you need to be calm or you will crash the car and that would be bad,"
James gulped, the sound crackling through the phone's barrier. "Okay,"
"We'll meet you in the waiting room of the hospital. The doctors or assistants or whoever will come out and tell us the deal, I'm assuming that you won't because you'll want to be alone with Lily,"
"Yeah," James said. Then, more confidently, "Yeah! Okay, okay, yeah. Okay."
Remus' eyebrow twitched. "Alright. See you soon,"
-----
"God, it's too early for this," Sirius said as the elevator closed, sealing them inside.
"Sirius, your best friend's wife is giving birth," Remus scolded. "I'm sure Lily would've loved not to be woken up at six in the morning and have to drive thirty minutes to the hospital, but at least it's not earlier,"
Sirius tapped his foot as they went up. "How early do some people start... uh, giving... birth?"
Remus laughed. "Nature waits for no one, Padfoot. It can be at any time at all,"
"...What times are we talking?"
"I believe I was born at half one in the morning,"
Eyebrows shooting up, Sirius took a step back. "What?! You're kidding,"
"I am not,"
"Wow." Sirius ran his hands through his hair. "Sneaky little bastard, weren't you?"
"Ouch, Black. I'm hurt,"
The doors opened, and the couple strode out and up to the Reception.
"We're here for the Potters," Sirius said, putting his hands up on the table, eyebrows raised expectantly. "They were checked in here roughly half an hour ago and she should be giving birth right now. Where do we wait?"
The woman blinked. "Um, hang on,"
"What was the name again?" the lady asked, looking at her screen.
Sirius huffed. "Potter, Lily and James Potter," he tapped the desk impatiently while Remus quietly stood next to him.
After typing a few things into her keyboard, the lady looked back up. "Okay, so they're over in room B right now. You're welcome to sit out here in the waiting room until you're invited in,"
Sirius turned on his heel, and Remus thanked the woman profusely before following after him.
"How long does it take?" Sirius demanded, staring at the door.
Remus shook his head and chuckled. "You really know nothing about childbirth, do you? It can take hours upon hours,"
"Hours?" Sirius leant back in his chair, appalled. He scratched at his hair, causing it to fall over the back of the chair.
"Sirius, Sirius, Sirius," Remus couldn't help but laugh. "For a first time mother, labour takes on average eight hours, maybe less, maybe more,"
Looking very, very stressed, Sirius held his head in his hands.
"It shouldn't take much longer than eighteen hours at the most, though,"
"Eighteen hours," Sirius whispered, a horrified expression on his face. Eager for a distraction from the grim reality of childbirth, he looked around the room with enough time to see a young woman approach them. "Hi," she said.
Sirius smiled. "Hi,"
But she wasn't looking at him. "Sorry, but I couldn't help but notice your awesome scars," she said to Remus, who immediately crossed his arms self-consciously.
"Oh. Um, well... thanks," he said flatly.
"Am I even visible?" Sirius said bitterly, leaning back into his chair.
"What are you doing here at the hospital?" she asked, looking around.
Remus shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Sirius. "Uh, just, um, visiting a friend. And you?"
"Same," the lady nodded. "My sister's in labour. Is this your brother?"
"Fina- wait, what?" Sirius stopped appreciating the fact that he was finally noticed. A bubble of a laugh escaped from his lips. "Brother?"
Remus' cheeks tinged pink. "Uh, no. He's actually my-"
"But yeah," she interrupted, her attention back on Remus. "I came into the room and the first thing I saw were your amazing scars," her eyes were wide and she was nodding along. "They've gotta have some mad story behind them,"
Remus laughed uncomfortably. "Uhh, no, not-not really,"
"How far do the scars reach?" the woman leant forwards slightly, and Remus shrunk against his chair. "Like, how far down..."
"Okay, that's enough," Sirius stood up from his chair in an attempt to be intimidating, but the supposed 'intimidatee' was somehow taller than him. And Sirius wasn't that short. "Are we gonna have a problem?"
"No problem, my friend," she shook her head, hands up in mock surrender. "I was just wondering if I could borrow your brother for a second. Maybe even a night or two," she winked.
"Okay, we have a problem," Sirius scowled. "You're not taking my boyfriend anywhere. Got that?"
The woman's eyes widened. She looked from Sirius to Remus. "Your... ah." she took a step back. "That's... I had no idea,"
"Yeah." Sirius continued staring her down disapprovingly.
The woman pursed her lips. "If you're both... y'know... then would you two want a threes-"
"Yeah, no. Goodbye," it took all of Sirius' self restraint not to kick the lady's back as she quickly walked away.
"What the fuck is wrong with people," Sirius sat back down, shaking his head. "Are you okay?"
Remus, who was extremely red-faced, nodded.
Sirius put a hand on his shoulder. "How often do people ask about your scars?"
Sighing, Remus cast his eyes downwards. "A little... a lot,"
"Bloody hell," Sirius shook his head again. "That's terrible,"
"It's okay," Remus said quietly.
"You shouldn't need to go through that," Sirius pressed. "You need to stick up for yourself, tell her that she needs to mind her own goddamn-"
"Sirius, it's fine," Remus snapped.
Sirius stopped. He pursed his lips, analysing Remus' face. "I know it's not,"
Remus' hand found its way to Sirius' hair, where he gently stroked it before placing a kiss on Sirius' forehead. "Thank you. We'll talk later about it. Not right now,"
"If you promise," Sirius closed his eyes lightly.