Get Off Your Phone - When Remus Knew

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/30666653.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationship: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Character: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black
Additional Tags: wolfstar, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Modern Marauders
(Harry Potter), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe
- College/University, Gay Sirius Black, Bisexual Remus Lupin, POV
Remus Lupin, 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) References, Remus
Lupin is a Nerd, Remus Lupin Is a Goner for Sirius Black, wolfstar one
shot, Texting, Falling In Love, Non-Sexual Intimacy
Series: Part 4 of Get Off Your Phone
Stats: Published: 2021-04-13 Words: 2961

Get Off Your Phone - When Remus Knew

by thebiinbitch

Summary

missing part from Chapter 31 of my texting fic, Get Off Your Phone.
when remus knew.

But it wasn’t that Sirius was just nice to look at. Of course he was, but no one in their right
mind would deny it. It was something about him, that couldn’t quite be seen, but it was so
there. It carried with him anywhere he went. That magnetic pull he had; the light in his
eyes; the way he talked or walked or held himself. Sometimes, even just the way he talked
with his hands, or how he played with the rings around his fingers, or how he had to grab
you whenever he was conversing.

And everything he made bloom inside Remus.

Everything he made flourish.

The laughter, and smiles, and the comfort, and...

And.

[Charity Work]
8:49PM

siriusisdumb: soooo

siriusisdumb: what are u doing rn???

remusisdelusional: finishing this book for my classics class

remusisdelusional: mansfield park by jane austen

remusisdelusional: ever heard of it??

remusisdelusional: sirius???

siriusisdumb: sorry i fell asleep cause this sounds so BORING

remusisdelusional: AHSUQAIAJIAJSIA FUCK OFF

siriusisdumb: well

siriusisdumb: if ur sooo busy

siriusisdumb: then i believe you wouldn’t like to hear my offer.......

siriusisdumb: that involves me......in a bed

remusisdelusional: i’m listening

siriusisdumb: come over and watch a movie with me!!!!!

remusisdelusional: hmmmmm

siriusisdumb: pleeease

siriusisdumb: aaand
siriusisdumb: i was thinking maybe...... the silence of the lambs..

siriusisdumb: these nerdy movies that u like so much

remusisdelusional: its not NERDY

siriusisdumb: whatever you say sheldon from the big bang theory

siriusisdumb: soooo???

remusisdelusional: ok u know im coming

remusisdelusional: be there in 15

siriusisdumb: i knew u couldn’t say no to me + nerdiness

remusisdelusional: shut up

siriusisdumb: make me ;)

remusisdelusional: ew cringe

siriusisdumb: yeah ok ur right

siriusisdumb: anyways im waiting for uuu

Remus clicked his phone off, smiling sillily at the screen. Through the reflection on the dark glass,
he could make out a light pink hue spread across his cheeks.

With his stomach feeling stupidly light, he drew his legs off his bed, closing the novel. He was just
about twenty pages away from finishing it, and it was due for two days, but it could wait.
Everything could always wait.

He shot himself a glance at his full-length mirror. Wearing a pair of navy sweatpants and a Marvel
t-shirt, with Captain America’s shield printed on the front. He laughed to himself, thinking about
how Sirius would call him a nerd, as he always did, as soon as he saw what he was wearing.

He quickly put on his shoes, and slipped inside a thick wool grey jumper, the one his mother had
given him for his last birthday. It wasn’t until he glanced at his reflection again that he took sight
of his Star Wars socks.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, he thought to himself, chuckling, knowing he was dressed as Sirius’ perfect
target for picking.

He looked over at the window, and noticed the cold fog on the glass. Glanced down at the pair of
Converse on his feet.

Fuck it. We’re going all out today. And headed to his dresser to pull out his fuzzy Crocs.

A last look at himself, just to check. Remus wasn’t vain, never really wasted much time paying
attention to his looks, but recently he had been founding himself... wasting that time, and paying
that attention. Ok, look, it wasn’t that he cared about how he looked. It was just that. He wanted to
look... presentable. And that’s all. Leave him alone.

If Lily ever saw him fixing his hair for more than fifteen seconds she would immediately clock it.
Well, Lily’s not here. So he took thirty seconds fixing his hair. Ha. In your ass, Evans.

He grabbed his phone, slipping it inside his pocket, and left his dorm. On the way to the stairs, his
hall mate Pandora Goldstein, a light-hearted, bubbly girl with long dirty-blonde hair, stopped him
in greeting.

“Hi, Remus!” She said, her tone of voice dreamy as always.

“Hey, Dorrie. Alright?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, smiling. She glanced at the watch on her overly accessorised wrist, “Where
are you heading this time of night?”

“Oh, just meeting a... a friend.”

The word felt wrong on his tongue. Not genuine.

“Oh, have fun, then!”

He gave her a smile, and walked past her, heading to the stairway. Her strong, sweet lavender and
vanilla perfume carried through the entire floor.

“Oh, Remus!” She called again, making him turn on his heel. “If it’s that friend from last time, I’ve
baked some muffins this afternoon, if you’d like. Lemon bash today!”

“That would be perfect.” He grinned, and started walking back towards his dorm. “Let me just get
my wallet.”

Pandora waved a hand dismissively, “Don’t worry about it, lovie. My treat.”

He smiled thankfully, and followed after her inside her room. He didn’t like getting stuff for free,
but he was kind of in a rush, after all, and if she was offering.

Pandora’s dorm was... something. Something, so he wouldn’t be mean. Posters covered all the
walls, of bands and singers and movies Remus had never heard of before, and Christmas lights
above the window, walls, even on the floor, and he had to be careful not to trip. Pillows of all
colors, textures and shapes sat on her bed, so many he could barely see the mattress. The strong
smell of incense and scented candles was nauseating, and he wondered how in the fuck she could
stand living there, when his two minutes inside the room made him want to vomit.

She led him to her dresser, where an open big cardboard box sat beside a deck of tarot cards.

She picked up one muffin, and put it inside a little paper bag for him, so it would stay warm as he
met the cold air once he left the building.

“Here you go, sweetie,” she handed the bag to him. “Hope they enjoy it.”

“He loved it last time, so I’m sure it won’t be much different. Lemon is his favourite, even.”

“Oh, perfect! Have fun.”

He smiled at her, but then his eyes drew down to her neck, where a dark red bruise painted her fair
skin. He squinted, and a smirk bloomed on his lips.

“Dorrie... what’s that on your neck?”

Her large eyes bulged out, and she clapped her hand to the mark, her face reddening fiercely.

“Oh, my god, I... I told him to be careful...”

Remus arched an eyebrow. “Told who?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it, her cheeks only getting darker. The corners of her lips
quirked up, certainly involuntarily.

“Xenophilius,” she mumbled.

Remus gasped out a laugh, and then immediately cleared his throat, feeling bad for finding it
funny. “Xenophilius Lovegood?”

“Yes, we... we’ve been seeing each other. God, I feel like a teenage girl with a bloody hickey!”

Remus allowed himself to laugh then, jovially. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t look that bad. And some
green concealer should do the trick.”

“How do you know?”

He shrugged a shoulder, “My friend Lily has been doing it for ages. It actually works. She’d be
proud I’m spreading her knowledge.”

Pandora smiled with relief, and sighed. “Watch me run to Boots first thing tomorrow morning.
Thank you, love.”

“No worries. Well, I gotta go. He must be waiting. Thank you again.”

“No problem!”

He left her dorm, and closed the door after him. In the hallway, he laughed to himself. Fucking
Xenophilius Lovegood. Jesus Christ. There’s someone for everyone, apparently.

As he left Ravenclaw B, the cold, January air blew into his face, and he shivered under his jumper.
He held on tightly onto the paper bag, thinking that there must be a scientific study that has proven
that if you grip it hard enough, it will remain warm.
He crossed the campus in fast strides, half because of the cold, half because... well, he was simply
in a rush, wasn’t he?

He reached Gryffindor A, and glanced up quickly to the building beside it, Gryffindor B, to that
one window where a bloody spy sat, watching his every move. No one in a sight, for once, and he
laughed to himself at how he was already getting his middle finger ready in case Dorcas dared
raising an eyebrow at him up from Marlene’s room.

He got in, and climbed the stairs quickly to the third floor.

3A. He knocked. The door swung open.

“Fucking Christ, I thought you’d gotten lost.”

He waved the paper bag, “I can go back and return it.”

Sirius smiled widely and brightly, and... yeah. He smiled. Yeah. Uhm, well yeah.

He reached for the bag as Remus stepped inside the room, and opened it. The look on his face as
he saw the content on the inside resembled a little kid opening up a birthday present they had been
asking their parents for all year. He sighed contently, and captured Remus’ lips on his own.

“Thank you.”

“You’ll have to pay me back.”

“How much was it?”

“She gave me for free. But I could always do with some extra cash.”

Sirius laughed, and kissed him again. “I’ll pay you back. Not with money, though.”

“We can always negotiate.”

They kissed, and kissed more. Sirius led them to the bed, and slipped his thin fingers under his
jumper.

“Take this shit off,” he said. “It’s hot in here.”

Remus stood on his knees, looking down at Sirius, laying beautifully on the pillows, expectant and
hungry glint in his eyes. He hesitated for a moment, which made Sirius raise an eyebrow, but gave
in, and removed the jumper, tossing it to the floor.

Sirius barked out a loud laugh. “Oh my god!”

“Stop...”

“You nerd!” He caught the fabric between his fingers, looking at the print. “Fucking Captain
America shirt.”

“It’s my staying-in shirt.”

Sirius remained on his laughing fit. “I was gonna let the Crocs pass, but this is just too much. Holy
shit.”

Remus gave in, always powerless, and started chuckling along. He sat cross-legged, then, and
pointed to his feet. “Check out the socks.”

Sirius lost his shit.

“I can’t,” he breathed out between giggles, wiping a tear off his eye, “I can’t... you’re just too
much.”

“You’re just jealous ‘cause you don’t have Star Wars socks,” Remus teased, hovering over him.

Sirius laughed. “Nerd.”

“Punk,” he returned, brushing his lips against his.

Captured in the moment, in him, where he always felt like he couldn’t get enough. Legs tangled
together, hands meeting hands, lips on lips and eyes on eyes. That was too much.

Remus made a noise in the back of his throat as he pulled apart. “Speaking of nerdiness,” he
smirked. “I believe I came here for one thing and one thing only.”

Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes, but a small smile flashed across his lips. “Fine, fine.” He got up,
and walked to his desk to pick up his laptop. He stood in the middle of the room, and opened it.
The screen was already set on the movie, ready to be pressed play.

But it wasn’t The Silence of the Lambs.

Remus gasped. “You tricked me!”

“Of course I tricked you,” Sirius said, as if it was obvious. “I knew you would’ve never come to
watch this with me.”

Remus huffed out a laugh, though he knew what Sirius had said wasn’t true — not in the slightest.
He would’ve come even to watch the most enduring, wearisome movie. He would’ve come to just
stare at the ceiling.

Though he didn’t tell him that.

Sirius grinned, that teasing look in his eyes, “And you really think I would’ve sat to watch The
fucking Silence of the Lambs? Come on, look at me. I’m too pretty to watch shit like that.”

Remus crossed his arms over his chest, challengingly. “You’re saying I’m not pretty enough to not
watch The Silence of the Lambs?”

“Your words, not mine.” He stepped forward to the bed, and waved a hand, “Ok, you know I like
to stay on the wall side. Move.”

Remus sighed, but complied. On his way to his side of the bed, Sirius stole a little kiss, messily,
that triumphant smirk on his face, knowing that he had won.

It didn’t feel like Remus had exactly lost, though.

Sirius covered both of them with the duvet, and placed the computer on both of their laps, each
thigh holding each side of the laptop.

Remus was finally able to read the movie’s name on the screen.

“10 Things I Hate About You,” he said. “The fuck is that?”

“Only the best movie ever made?” Sirius said. “Honestly, and you say you study classics.”

Remus snorted, “I study classic literature.”

“Well, then perfect. This movie is kind of a modern adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew. That
Shakespeare play.”

Remus smirked at him, “Since when do you know Shakespeare?”

“I was a theatre kid, remember?” He smiled, and kissed him quickly. “Ok, make yourself comfy.”

Sirius slouched further down into the bed, and Remus followed suit, slipping an arm over his
shoulders. Sirius snuggled closer, their legs intertwined under the sheets, and Remus rested his
cheek atop his head.

Before pressing play, Sirius said, “You’re gonna like it, I promise.”

“I better. This is precious time we’re wasting.”

Sirius shook with silent laughter, and yawned as he pressed the spacebar.

“Oh, don’t you start yawning,” Remus said. “You’re watching this ‘til the very last minute with
me.”

“I’m not yawning, I swear.”

“Mhm.”

Sirius snorted, and Remus sighed.

Ok, then. Let’s watch this shit.

Sirius was impossible to watch a movie with. Every time a character was introduced, he would give
his opinions and make comments about them. He claimed to have watched the movie about a
billion times, but still he laughed at all the silly jokes and moments as if it was his first.

They had watched thousands of movies and TV show episodes together before, but fucking Christ.

“Ah, Heath Ledger looks so hot in this.”

“Cameron is so cute, don’t you think?”

“Moony, it’s the Shakespeare reference I told you about!”

“Mr. Morgan is kinda like my professor Hooch. Same vibe.”

“Oh, I love this part! Look!”

“Oh my god, she’s so gone for him. I don’t get why she just won’t admit it.”

“Sirius?”

“Yeah.”

“Shut up.”

Remus received a kick on his shin.

He had to admit it, the movie wasn’t so bad. By the time they had gotten to the ball part, where the
climax took place, Remus found himself completely entranced in the plot, and rooting for Kat to
just punch Patrick in the face.

For the first time, he made his own comment. “I would’ve been so mad. Such a dick move.”

He expected Sirius to agree, or even just nod his head, but he didn’t.

He shook him gently. “Sirius?”

Remus reached over to pause the movie, gingerly. When the volume from the laptop ceased, he
heard the snoring. He chuckled silently. Fucking prick.

He closed the laptop carefully, trying not to move much, and place it on the floor — Sirius’
nightstand barely had space left for a grain of sand.

He tried removing his arm from underneath him, which was starting to feel numb, but Sirius
whined in his sleep, pulling him closer. Remus laughed, in spite of himself. He would have to
settle.

Sirius’ bed wasn’t big enough for two, especially two people their size, so they always had to
squeeze together to fit. Too big for one person, too small for two.

He pressed Sirius further into the wall so he could lay down fully on the bed. Eventually, he
managed to slip his arm away from underneath him, and Remus just laid there, facing him.

He stayed in silence, watching him sleep.

He looked so peaceful, and young, without a single frown in his features.

And, fucking hell, was he beautiful. It was infuriating, how completely lovely he was. Remus
could stare at him for hours on end, and never grow tired of it.

But it wasn’t that Sirius was just nice to look at. Of course he was, but no one in their right mind
would deny it. It was something about him, that couldn’t quite be seen, but it was so there. It
carried with him anywhere he went. That magnetic pull he had; the light in his eyes; the way he
talked or walked or held himself. Sometimes, even just the way he talked with his hands, or how he
played with the rings around his fingers, or how he had to grab you whenever he was conversing.

And everything he made bloom inside Remus.

Everything he made flourish.

The laughter, and smiles, and the comfort, and...

And.

“I love you,” Remus whispered, so quietly, into the darkness. It barely made a sound. “I love you,”
he said again, voice still so very low. The words. Those words. So startling, it made him go cold
under the warmth of the blanket. But so true.

He took his fingers to his face, where dark strands of hair fell over his features, and pushed them
back gently. He brushed his fingertips down his temple, and then to his cheek. Dotted every
beautiful mole. Brushed through the dark eyelashes. He could look at him forever, just taking in
everything that made him him.
 “I love you.”

A moment of silence. Two.

Sirius barely blinked, not fully opening his eyes. “What?”

Remus’ breathing hitched. “What what?”

“You said something,” he mumbled, voice hoarse with sleep.

Remus drew in a shaky breath. His heart beating fast against his chest. He tried, and tried, thinking
of something.

“I said you snore.”

Sirius smiled, eyes still closed. “Lightly.”

He leaned closer, and met Remus’ lips. He draped his tattooed arm over his waist.

Pulled apart, and stayed in silence. Remus’ heart rate slowed down, though with difficulty.

“Did you finish the movie?”

“Y-yeah. Yeah, I did,” he lied.

“Mmm,” he hummed contently. “Did you see how they got together in the end?” All his words
were mumbled, carried with drowse.

“I did.” He didn’t, obviously, but he assumed they would. Happy, cliché endings.

Sirius snuggled closer, exhaling deeply. “They always get together in the end.”

Remus sighed. “Yeah. They do.”

He gave his forehead a kiss, and Sirius drifted back to sleep.

“I love you.”

This time, he said it inwardly, only for himself to hear, and made a vow to never say it aloud again.

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