Chapter Text
“A toast to Moony!” James Potter bellowed, “A toast to the birthday boy!” He paraded around on top of the table in the middle of the gryffindor common room. A few people looked up, some cheered but the quiet chatter and ambiance still remained steady.
“James.” Lily had her hands on her hips, auburn braids hanging swinging in front of her chest and a dangerous look in her eye. “Would you get down from there?”
The boy complied, slinging his arm over the redhead, who allowed it.
“I dunno about this whole ‘letting Moony plan his own party this year’ thing. It’s not really what we’d normally have.” James grumbled, scanning the room.
A far cry indeed was this year's festivities compared to what Sirius and James had cooked up in the past. The loud music and louder people had been replaced by Bowie singing Starman out softly from his record in the corner, nobody had to shout above the noise, people hummed along swaying, chatting and making out in respective corners. The large room was dimly lit and calming smoke hung thick thanks to Remus’s hufflepuff friends. All in all a lot artsy-er than anything James would have come up with.
“I know it’s not exactly what you’d like, but it’s not your birthday is it?” Lily nudged him, pointing her chin in the direction of one Remus Lupin, who seemed much more at ease at this party than any thrown in his honour in the past as he sat on the stairs up to the dorms next to Sirius, laughing and passing a joint back and forth.
“Fair enough, but this crowd still seems like they’d enjoy some party games, no?” He smirked at his girlfriend, winking mischievously.
“James Potter, don’t you try any bullshit without running it by Remus first.” She frowned without any real malice.
~~~
“What are they plotting?” Remus narrowed his eyes warily at James from his seat on the stairs, watching as the bespectacled boy was scolded by Lily.
“I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s James.” Sirius said, taking the joint from Remus’s fingers, lingering a big longer than necessary. “You know he’s always doing something and it’s almost always absolutely harmless.” He sucked in, exhaling smoke and turning to the brunette. “So you come here often?” Remus raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “What?” Sirius grinned. “This vibe is so different I feel like I have to be more sophisticated tonight. Everyone’s getting high instead of drunk.” Remus raised his eyebrow even further, looking pointedly at a couple about 10 feet away from them that seemed to have lost both of their shirts and the girls bra - but not their enthusiasm.
“Oh yeah.” He drawled. “Real sophisticated.”
“For some reason even that feels poetic. Like a painting almost.” Sirius shrugged, looking at the couple for a while. Remus tried to ignore the twinge of jealousy in his stomach as his friend watched the two figures by taking a swig from an almost empty abandoned firewhisky bottle, discarded a few stairs above them. Was it the best decision? Probably not. Did it beat watching the shameless blush creep into Sirius’s cheeks as the shorter boy stared at the guy's tongue rolling over his partner's breasts? Abso-fucking-lutely.
“Stop being a creep Pads. Your voyeuristic tendencies are showing.” Remus grumbled.
Sirius smirked and opened his mouth, no doubt with another witty quip hanging on those pink lips that Remus definitely didn’t want to think too hard about, but he was cut off by James abruptly yanking him up. Sirius was toned from quidditch, sure, but James tossed him to his feet like he was nothing, leaving Sirius wide eyed and confused.
“What’s up with you?” He huffed, fixing his long black hair. “You’re disturbing the peace Potter, don’t make me tell your girlfriend on you.”
“Come on Moony, you too.” James started to reach for him but Remus scrambled to his feet before he got the ragdoll treatment too. James snatched the now empty bottle from Remus’s grip. Remus groaned.
“We aren’t really doing this are we? Come on Potter, you’ve got Lily now, you don’t need excuses to try and kiss her any more.” But the girlfriend in question shrugged.
“I don’t mind so long as you’re up for it Remus, it’s a pretty classic one.” Remus gave her an ‘et tu’ look, but the redhead had a secret partygirl side when it wasn’t her job to be shutting them down. “We could always start from never have I ever and go from there?”
~~~
Sirius had already recruited Regulus and his crowd and Lily waved over her friends. Some strangers looked on intrigued as the group sat in a vague circle, but most went back to their own activities. Peter excused himself to go to bed early and contemplate the existence of extraterrestrial life. Poor boy had never had an experience with weed before that night and likely never would again.
Lily explained the rules of never have I ever as a few lone partygoers joined their group. Kingsley Shacklebolt, a ravenclaw in the year above the group whose voice literally echoed through your stomach, Eddie Bones, a freckly hufflepuff that looks so high his brain was probably on another planet, and Christopher. The scrawny boy that followed Remus around, Sirius scowled at him. He wasn’t sure exactly why the kid annoyed him so much, but he did. He was always tugging at Remus’s sleeve to get his attention instead of just saying his name like a normal person, and he was never rough like a proper lad, he was softly spoken and pouted at the jokes Sirius made that normally would bring a laugh out of Remus. Instead when Christopher was around Moony would scold him with his eyes, like the boy was breakable or something. Sirius’s scowl deepened.
“Gee mate, you’re sour.” James shoved him lightly. “You don’t have to play if you’re too pussy.” Sirius shoved him back.
“Nah let’s get on with it then you tosser. Who’s going first?”
“Birthday boy, birthday boy, birthday b-” James started chanting until Remus relented. They were playing with their fingers since there wasn’t enough booze left, or at all in a mostly weed centered party.
“Fine, fine, whatever.” Remus rolled his hazel eyes. Sirius really liked his eyes. They were nice. Objectively, of course. “Never have I ever forgotten a silencing charm when sneaking a girl into my bed.” He looked pointedly at James and Lily, who Sirius knew Remus was holding a grudge against for doing just that before a particularly harsh full moon two weeks back.
James put a finger down guiltily, along with a few others, Barty, Eddie and - as subtly as she could, Marlene.
“Never have I ever had a threesome.” Evan Rosier, a sunken eyed Slytherin boy with his legs slung over Barty’s lap, piped up. He and his sister Pandora were basically copies of each other; the twins had shocking white dreadlocks, and rich brown flawless skin. Barty put a finger down. So did Mary and Sirius. Surprisingly, so did Lily and James.
“Who-” Sirius started, frowning but Lily quickly spoke over him, blushing. Nobody noticed Reg sneak his finger down.
“Never have I ever re-gifted a gift.” Marlene, Barty, Evan, Mary and Eddie all put fingers down.
“Never have I ever gone skinny dipping.” Eddie spoke up, smirking. Most people put a finger down with the exception of Regulus and Christopher.
'Of course you haven’t.' Sirius couldn’t stop himself from thinking victoriously. Remembering the warm late spring night that the boys and Lily’s friends had all snuck out to the great lake in nothing but their towels. Splashing each other and floating blissfully to the sounds of the singing bugs and the light of the waning moon on their naked bodies. 'You wouldn’t do anything that cool Christopher.'
He thought back to the image of Remus that night, burned into his mind. Tanned and lean with those beautiful scars, resting against a tree on his towel as water ran in droplets off his short hair down his arms and stomach. 'Moony moon-bathing', he remembered thinking to himself.
“Never have I ever,” his brother’s voice snapped Sirius out of his musings, “given or received a lap dance.”
“I could change that if you like sweetheart.” Barty smirked and reached his hand over to wander up Regulus’s thigh. James faked a gag.
“Oi creep, that’s my brother you’re talking to.” Sirius growled. Barty raised his hands in surrender but his grin remained wolfish as ever.
“Never have I ever gotten a tattoo.” Pandora said, much more melodically spoken than her brother, the Ravenclaw fiddled with her long skirt absentmindedly. Barty and Marlene put a finger down, but that was fairly common knowledge, Marlene’s father was a muggle and her family spent most of their time in that world. Her friends were older and one of them was practicing to be a tattoo artist, she had a few messy song lyrics and the like, and nobody could really control Barty so it wasn’t really a shock.
Sirius put a finger down.
~~~
Remus frowned. 'Since when did Sirius have a tattoo? Why didn’t I know about it?' That exceedingly bothersome feeling bubbled in his stomach again. Of course Sirius did seem like the type but when? How?
Everyone was clambering for Sirius to show them, to explain. Sirius’s face was red as he took off his shirt. Marls wolf whistled and Sirius flipped her off. Remus just sat there, in shock. Sirius had three tattoos. One on his ribs, a small vinyl record, same as Marlenes. 'They must’ve gotten them together.' One just below his left collarbone, some kind of constellation and…
Remus sucked in a breath. All the way down his fucking spine, was the phases of the moon.
“Is that… Canis Major?” Mary gawked at the small constellation. “It is!” She scoffed in answer to herself. “Merlin, you’re so self-absorbed, you literally got tattooed the star you’re named after.”
But Remus couldn’t concentrate enough to tease his friend. He was too focused on those moons.
“It’s so… big.” Sirius smirked, “Don’t you dare.” Remus sighed contemplatively, cutting him off before he could make a dick joke. His eyes drifted along Sirius’s tattoos.
“Moony.” Sirius repeated, quietly as he put his shirt back on and sat down again. He was using the kind of voice Remus could normally only cajole out of him late at night when they were curled up in bed, in their own limbo where it didn’t seem strange to run his hands through his friend’s long black hair and whisper about nothing. His skin burned under Sirius’s fingertips as his friend’s hand brushed against his bad hip. Sirius was looking at him with those sad grey puppy dog eyes, and his hand wasn’t moving from Remus’s hip. I wasn’t moving and the world around him was so busy and loud and Sirius was normal and solid. Until, the boys jumped apart at James’s voice.
~~~
“Never have I ever… kissed a bloke.” James Potter raises an eyebrow at the general room. Lily raised an eyebrow right back at him like she knew something. Sirius frowned and opened his mouth to say something, but Dorcus beat him to it.
“You can’t say that James.” The Slytherin girl tutted at him, “People might not be comfortable telling a whole party they’re queer.
James raised his eyebrow even farther, (which Sirius thought was quite impressive actually, he didn’t realise it could reach such astronomical heights of arrogance) at Dorcus, who was gripping her girlfriend’s thighs as they were slung over her own.
“Well, not us obviously Potter,” Marlene scoffed, picking at something between her teeth, “but y’know… people?”
“F’ fuck’s sake.” Remus sighed, Sirius wasn’t looking at him but felt his friend’s arm move to bring the drink to his mouth. Sirius wasn't sure when they'd changed from fingers to drinks but it was fitting. He certainly felt like he needed one.
'Since when was Remus kissing blokes? Why didn't I know about it?' Sirius’s mouth dropped open. Christopher sat up a bit straighter, staring intently at Remus. 'What of it you little slimeball?' Sirius thought angrily at him, staring daggers at the way the kid had jumped to attention. 'Not like he’d ever kiss you.'
Most of the others took a drink too, save Marlene, Pandora, Christopher and Eddie. Then the questioning began. The room erupted in noise, people questioning the guys on who they’d kissed. Remus was answering the frantic question dryly, letting hardly any morsels of information slip out.
And Sirius? Sirius couldn’t do anything but stare at him. Moony, my Moony. Kissing blokes. There was an ugly green creature stirring in his stomach, clawing its way up his throat until it was scratching at his mouth.
“Who was it then Moony?” He said flatly. When really what he wanted to do was shake him, and he wasn’t even sure why. Remus met his eyes and the green creature practically purred.
“Muggle bloke.” Remus answered, even though he’d dodged everyone else's questions. “‘S name’s Grant.” Grant. The creature hissed, puffing itself up. Sirius didn’t have time to ask anything else because Barty grabbed an empty firewhisky bottle and stood on a table.
“Great! Now we’ve all established we’re all sluts…” He placed the bottle in the middle of the table. “Spin the bottle!”