MOON MAN. remus lupin ✓

xii. homecoming

Liam's eyes gleamed in the low light of the room. The sun was setting, its warm light filtering through the window, and it lit up Liam's eyes in such a way that Remus had to remind himself to breathe.

     The air that filtered through his mouth wasn't what he was craving.

     Liam licked his lips, almost subconsciously, and Remus herded them both out of the bookshop before he could do something stupid—like kiss him minutes after he just confronted his harpy of a mother. Because somehow, he thinks that even if Liam found himself reciprocating Remus' feelings, the thought of that woman chewing him out could ruin any mood.

     After Liam locked up the shop and pocketed the key, he turned to him.

     "So," he began, his voice chipper. He was bouncing on the backs of his heels. "Where are we headed?"

     It was then that Remus realised he had no idea where to go.

     Craning his neck from one side of the street to the next, he said blithely, in hopes of hiding the panic rampaging in his chest: "Uh...that's a really good question."

     When he turned back to Liam, he found his employer—friend? Potential love interest? Keeper of keys?—rolling his eyes. Usually, he would be offended but he'd grown used to Liam's exasperation and in that instance he may have even deserved it.

     "You know, for someone who claims to be intelligent, you really never think things through sometimes. It was no wonder you fit in so well with the Marauders."

     Usually, that would make him want to flee back to his apartment with its wards and its chains and its window that looked out into the sky, but there, on Piccard Street, with Liam holding his hand like it wasn't a burden, he could not bring himself to care.

     That was where they were now.

     Remus barely dared to blink.

     Soon, so soon he wondered if they'd apparated and he'd just not noticed, they weren't on Piccard street anymore. He was trying to sought through his thoughts, jumbled and chaotic as they were. He looked up as they stopped, and they are standing in front of a restaurant.

     They'd never been there before. Though that might be due to the fact that he and Liam only ever went out for lunch. They hadn't gotten to the dinner stage yet.

     Until then, that was.

     The place—the Evergreen Club—Liam brought them to could only be described as quaint. It was small with a little front patio where he could see a few wooden tables and chairs. The front of the restaurant was taken up by a massive window that stretched from floor to ceiling. Hanging plants were dotted along the edges, and vines grew up the side of the door.

     "Hello, how are you? Yeah, we'd like a table for two, please."

     Their host led them to a table in the corner. Inside, it was even more overgrown, with an entire wall dedicated to hanging vines and potted plants of various sizes. The place wasn't crowded, but they clearly got enough business to remain popular, even on a Tuesday night. It was warm, too, he noted as he pulled on the edge of his new cardigan.

     "How did you find this place?" He asked Liam when their host left them with their menus and a fresh bottle of cold water.

     Liam shrugged, humble as ever, smiling. Remus couldn't help but notice the way his brown skin gleamed in the soft light of the overhead lights. A dangerous game you play, Remus Lupin.

     "Dunno. One night I found myself wandering after work and stumbled across it. Had some of the best parmigiana of my life."

     Remus' eye roll couldn't be stopped, he'd tell the aurors. "You say that about every place we eat at."

     Liam shrugged again, as if he didn't find himself nearly as beguiling as Remus did. How could a man be so humble as to not recognise his own allure? "I love food, what can I say?" He commented, and before Remus could get anything else in another worker showed up at their table.

     He stumbled through his order and—as he'd grown used to when they tried out new places—let Liam pick for him. He always seemed to know what Remus would like before he did.

     The conversation flowed over food and drink as it always did. Liam told some anecdote that he probably pulled out of his arse but still managed to make Remus giggle behind his glass, Remus pulls him into a debate about the text he'd been rereading—The Twelfth Night—and the human identity. Are gender and class status fixed entities, or can they be changed with a simple shift of wardrobe? It wasn't even really a debate—Remus just ranted off the top of his head, unaware of the rest of the restaurant, only the man sitting in front of him, who just stared and added his own two cents when he felt the need.

     It was arresting, to be the sole focus of Liam's attentions. But in that, it made him feel powerful. It wasn't an admiring customer Liam was sitting across from, or one of the people he'd ranted about his parents trying to set him up with.

     No, it was Remus Lupin, the man who hid a monster underneath his skin.

     They spent a good hour on the topic, and another on the next, and so on it went until they were paying the tab and exiting the Evergreen Club, spilling out onto the pavement, their laughs melting into the night.

     The feeling of the cool air on his pale skin was a balm to the heat of the restaurant. Liam stopped them at a tree a little ways down from the where they'd just been. Wait, wait, he said, I just need to catch my breath, he giggled.

     Remus, again, as he'd been doing all night, just watched him—that beautiful man with the smile that could light up the night sky, with the kind heart and the gentle hands, with the overbearing parents and the urge to run away. (Remus felt that too, but now he thought they could build a life, together). He was a sight to behold, in his tweed blazer and scuffed Oxford shoes. His smile was full-blown, as intense as the moon, gibbous-curling and bright—only with him Remus needn't fear.

     Then that smile was aimed at him, a touch confused.

     "Why are you looking at me? Do I have something on my face?"

     "Why wouldn't I look at you? You're beautiful." And he was. Beyond belief, was he beautiful.

     It happened without him even realising.

     One minute they are staring at each other, separated by a less than a metre, a crater, and the next their lips were pressed together, like a homecoming, like a space shuttle returning from its orbit in the cold and desolate sky.

     Like peace.

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a/n: came back for a little perusing. this isn't a permanent thing. i just remembered these boys and felt they deserved better than to be abandoned. this chapter was written like, tonight, so sorry for any errors. ive changed my style a bit and had to get back into the groove of writing in past tense lol. i hope u enjoyed their story :DD know they live long and fulfilling lives, and they adopt harry and bring him up with all the love in the world. ur all beautiful stars, and u deserve someone who will paint u a galaxy xx even if u don't feel like u do