Fic: Sunshine Been Keeping Me Up For Days
Title: Sunshine Been Keeping Me Up For Days
Author: emilyia
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Remus/Sirius, side James/Lily
Summary: When the Phoenix newspaper catches wind of a renegade worker in Riddle Bank, they seek an alliance.
Warnings: Bathroom sex.
Word Count: 7703
Author's Notes: Written for rs_career_fest with the prompts "Remus as a hacker, Sirius as a beat journalist - but what he likes to do is paint, and the three additions: cough drops, fingernail biting and Dungeons and Dragons."
Whoo, boy. Thank you to everyone that helped me with this and put up with my ramblings about how I hated it and I was never going to finish it. You guys are the greatest. Thank you to my beta for sorting out my issues (like that random paragraph I decided to write in present tense). The title is from the wonderful Elliot Smith's Pretty (Ugly Before). Prompter, I hope this meets your expectations! ♥
Sirius Black was not drunk enough for this shit. The girls were all in too little clothing and with too little brain for the dead middle of winter in London, and he'd been dragged along by James and Lily and Peter. It was meant to be a celebration of the fact that they had been the people to put together the information to get Antonin Dolohov arrested. It didn't feel much like a celebration, though, not with Pete drooling over Dorcas (who had been in love with Fabian since she had started working at the Phoenix newspaper). And definitely not while James had left him to go stuff his tongue down Lily's throat. It was, in general, a fairly shit night. He hadn't expected it to be amazing, but James had seemed so hopeful that Sirius couldn't bring himself to say no. Even if he would rather be at home, having a beer and watching Doctor Who.
He winced at the loud music assaulting his ears as he leant across the bar - oh, Gods, he was acting far older than his twenty-three years, wasn't he? - and ordered a beer. Beside him, a sharp elbow jabbed at his side and he whirled around to give the owner of said elbow a piece of his mind; or, at least, a dirty look. Before he had the chance, though, the messy haired brunet was leaning in to apologise, barely audible over the music that rang in their ears. Sirius only caught a glimpse of his smile through the whirl of messy curls before he turned from the bar with his drink in his hand.
“Oi, mate. Do you want your beer?”
Sirius shook himself and handed over the note to the barman. Taking his beer, he took a large gulp as he headed back across to the booth which half of the crew of the Phoenix newspaper seemed to be squashed into. When he sat down, he made sure that he was sitting on the side of the booth that faced the bar and therefore was more likely to see the brown haired man again. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it), this shoved Dorcas down the booth and half into Fabian's lap. If it weren't for the fact that he was so caught up in someone he had barely seen, he would have found the squeaking sound that she made more than slightly amusing. As it was, Marlene nudged him under the table with her foot and waggled her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
“Shut up,” he muttered, which caused her to laugh and raise her glass in a mock salute. At that point, he decided to ignore her, and drank his beer faster than was strictly necessary, or probably even safe.
Through the night, Sirius heads back to the bar more often than he should, really, trying to ignore Marlene's looks each time. Dorcas seemed agreeable to the idea of more drinks, though, and continued to demand more gin and tonic as she further encroached Fabian's lap. Gideon just looked amused by the situation, while Peter looks on with sad eyes and Sirius thinks that he'd need more to drink even without the desire to see the brown haired man again. The fact that he does, in fact, see aforementioned stranger on his third trip to the bar is simply a welcome addition to the night which had seemed like a lost cause until then. The smirk that spreads across his face when he sees Sirius is a little disconcerting, but Sirius just smiles back and raises his bottle of beer in salute.
"Fancy seeing you here again," Sirius leant in to speak into his ear; if anyone had asked the answer would have been that he was looking to speak over the music, but seeing that hair up close is quite nice, too.
"Coming to pay me back, are you? Go on then, I won't begrudge you a quick elbow," the man's smile is easy when it softens from the smirk, and Sirius feels slightly like an idiot, but he just wants to grin back and make that grin happen again and again.
"I think there are other things I'd rather do than elbow you," Sirius isn't sure where that came from. He blamed the beer, but even that doesn't excuse such a horrific excuse for a line. Somehow, though, it seems to work.
"Care to tell me what those things are?" the man asked.
"I'm not sure that they're suitable for public ears," Sirius indicated the barman, but before the stranger had a chance to respond, an uproar came from the booth holding the Phoenix crew. Evidentially, they want their drinks. Sirius winced and gave the stranger a significant look. "The rabble need appeasing. I'll meet you on the dance floor, maybe?"
"Why not just the bathroom?"
Sirius spluttered, choking on his beer a little. On second thoughts, though, when he heard Dorcas making some horribly suggestive comment that is audible even above the music, he decided it would be a welcome distraction from the rest of the night.
"Give me five minutes and I'll be there."
- - -
They stumbled backwards through the bathroom door, ignoring the slightly horrified looks that were thrown their way by the unfortunate soul who was washing his hands at the basin. In fact, Sirius was fairly sure that the man whose hands were trying to work their way down his pants didn't even notice that there was someone else in the bathroom. By the time that Sirius latched the door behind them and turned back, the other man was on his knees, having already managed to undo the fly of his jeans, and who was making quick work of freeing his dick from his underwear.
“Hang on, don't you want -” Sirius' protests that maybe this was wrong and he should at least know the name of the person he was having a quick fumble in the men's room with were quickly cut short when the other man's lips wrapped around the head of his dick. In fact, all thoughts apart from holy fuck were cut short as the back of his head collided with the door and he groaned. Slightly mortified, he raised his hand to his mouth to muffle any further sounds as his dick slipped further and further into the wet warmth that was the stranger's mouth. For all he didn't know about the man on his knees, Sirius did know that he knew exactly what he was doing; his hands pressed Sirius' hips back against the door of the stall while that tongue slid delightfully down the vein on the underside of his dick. Sirius was working his hips against the restricting hands by the time he started to bob his head up and down, at which point Sirius realised there was no point in struggling. His eyes slipped shut as his fingers fisted in soft hair, the other hand still ineffectually muffling the moans that spilt from his lips. The unexpected feeling of a finger sliding in beside his dick caused him to open his eyes and look down, but even before he'd gathered his senses enough to do that, a spit slicked finger was sliding over his balls, and then they were being rolled in the stranger's palm and Sirius couldn't help but moan, his climax building inside of him. One particularly hard suck later, as the head of Sirius' dick hit the back of his throat, Sirius was coming with jerks of his hips that couldn't properly be held back by one hand. It was a few moments of heavy panting before Sirius trusted himself to open his eyes; by that point, the other man had stood and seemed to be having some trouble with his own breathing.
“So, why don't you want me to know your name?” Sirius asked, stepping forward and finding himself grateful to not have fallen over or sagged down on wobbly knees. He only got given a pointed look in return, which quickly turned into a dark, lustful one as Sirius deliberately ran his fingers over the quite evident bulge in the black fabric. He wasn't intent on teasing, though, which became obvious as he took hold of the slighter man's shoulder and spun him so he was facing the wall. His fingers fumbled with the fly, which caused a few muttered curses and a smirk on Sirius' behalf, though the ragged moan of relief which followed when his hand wrapped around the other man's dick was just as good.
“You come out, no underwear, not wanting to know my name... you get off on this, don't you?” Sirius murmured into his ear. His thumb swiped over the head of his dick, spreading the precome gathered there over the hardened flesh.
“What does it look like?” was the only verbal response he got; the thrust into the ring of Sirius' fist saying it all. Sirius smirked against his skin, leaning down to bite down on the skin of his neck; the groan which came in response was enough to make his spent dick twitch in interest. Now, though, he was more intent on hearing that sound more, so his rhythm sped up and his wrist twisted, fingers squeezing, milking. The man's hips were bucking into Sirius' hand with each downward movement, taking no time at all to push him over the edge. Sirius knew it wasn't his name that he heard as he felt muscles tense underneath him and warmth spread across his hand, and even though it wasn't meant to be anything beyond a fumble in the bathroom stall of a nightclub, it still sent a pang of hurt through him.
He didn't have time to think on it, though, because the other man wasn't taking the time to lean against the wall and pant like Sirius had. He was almost efficient in his movements, tucking himself in and zipping himself up. He turned to face Sirius, a half-hearted smile on his face that couldn't quite reach his eyes.
“Thank you,” there was something in his voice that made Sirius believe he was being genuine, and made his lips curve up in an answering smile. After a moment, the other man leant across the gap to press a soft kiss to Sirius' lips, but that was all there was before he was sliding past Sirius and slipping out of the stall. Sirius sagged, leaning against the thin wall, and couldn't suppress the feeling that maybe he'd let something he shouldn't have walk away.
He begged an early night, then, and ignored the significant looks that Marlene was sending him - she was the only sober one left at the table, and even drunk she could have seen right through him. In the taxi he spent his time staring out the window into the the cold night, exhaustion settling into his bones and weighing him down. He couldn't understand it; he'd had one night stands before, repeated that scene almost movement for movement before, but this time it's different. It shouldn't be different, it was just sex, just something he had done before and would do again, just a drunken fumble in a dingy club.
But it was different.
When he got home he didn't go to sleep; he opened up the door to his studio and turned on the lights, as glaring and uncomfortable as they are. Colour splashed across the canvas in angry streaks, painting the same blue lines, the colour of the chipped paint in the bathroom stall, painting the soft waves of brown that would have fit among the stranger's hair, the way it would look on a pillow instead of twisted through his long fingers. It's everything he wanted and everything that he couldn't have had tonight because bloody James dragged him to the damn club.
But in a few hours he'd close the door on the studio, and in the morning maybe he'd wake up with a hangover and that will push away those feelings of regret and replace them with nausea. He'd forget the stranger and go back to work, because that's what he does and that's what they have to do... they have to take the power from Riddle and those who would abuse it, because otherwise the world they live in would not be worth it.
- - -
A month had gone by, multiple deadlines and more cups of coffee than Sirius could count with it. And he had been right; he'd all but forgotten the stranger in the bar, among everything else that was happening. It finally seemed like the editor of the Phoenix, Alastor Moody, was beginning to trust him... at least, if trust meant giving him stories that needed to be done yesterday. He'd done so that night, in fact, given him a breaking news story which required immediate coverage. He'd managed it, but he'd been up later than he would have liked.
As a result, his mobile buzzing shrilly at 6am was not how Sirius Black had planned on waking up that morning. Unfortunately, it was, in fact, what happened, and the sound after the shrill ring was equally as unwelcome.
“Remember that story about Riddle you ran last night?” Alastor Moody said gruffly in his ear.
“The one I stayed up until 1am editing, Mad-Eye?” Sirius groaned, scrubbing a hand over his eyes. “However could I forget? You needed it for this morning's edition.”
“You've had more than four hours sleep, boy, quit your wining. I don't put up with rich little whiners on my team,” Sirius rolled his eyes; he'd heard that complaint more times than he could count, despite being assured by the owner of the Phoenix newspaper that his family name didn't matter. Shaking his head, he realised he'd zoned out, and Mad-Eye was still talking. “...website, and I want an article on it for this evening's edition.”
Sirius blinked a few times. The grubby world of finance - that which his own family was at the centre of - was his area of expertise, not anything to do with websites. Hell, he barely understood his own computer and had a predisposition towards smacking the side of his laptop's monitor every time Microsoft Word crashed. “Why the hell are you putting me on something about a website? Don't you have a whole department of computer geeks who'd be better at this than me?”
“They don't do journalism, boy. You can work with them, if you want, but this first story has to be showcasing that it isn't just us that see through Riddle's crap,” Mad-Eye snapped. “There's a good chance that this has come from inside his bank; McKinnon tells me that this scale of hacking would be near impossible to do from a remote location, whatever the hell that means. It comes down to you, Pettigrew, Potter or Evans, and they all have assignments to do with the money laundering rackets that Riddle is running.”
Sirius sighed. He wasn't going to win this - part of him wondered why the hell he thought he was ever going to win anything against Mad-Eye Moody. “Alright. I'll be in in half an hour, Mad-Eye.”
“Good.”
The line went dead and Sirius rolled his eyes, tossing his phone across the bed. Reaching for his laptop from the bedside table, he flipped it open and clicked on his bookmark for Riddle Bank's website. Instead of the normal red and black colour scheme, the banner flashed the colours of the rainbow - or, more specifically in this case, the colours of the gay pride flag. In place of the bank's mission statement was Riddle's drunken rant about gays poisoning the earth and below it, in large, pink sparkle text, were statistics about off-shore workers, cases of wrongful dismissal settled out of court, and seemingly anything that the hacker could dig up to paint the Riddle Bank in a negative light. A smile spreading across his face, Sirius quickly copied and pasted the information into a word document and saved a copy of the banner. If someone was willing to make such a brazen attack against Riddle, surely they'd be willing to talk to someone from the Phoenix, if they could just get a hold of each other...
- - -
“Kin, my darling, my sweetheart,” Sirius said dramatically, flinging himself into the chair next to her computer. “I was informed...”
“Yes, I have information on your case of cyber-graffiti,” Marlene didn't look up from her screen, which she was looking at intently. “Just be quiet and sit still for a minute, because I can't ask you to go get me coffee, that job's been filled.”
He snorted. “Who have you blackmailed into being coffee bitch now? Has Dorcas annoyed you that much?”
“Call me that again and I'll put a stapler through your forehead, Black,” Dorcas said cheerily from the corner. “And the so called 'coffee bitch'? Your baby cousin.”
“I am not a baby,” Tonks huffed from behind Sirius, who whirled around to gape at her. At his movement, she pasted on a bright smile and held out a steaming mug. “Coffee?”
“What the hell are you doing here, Dora?” he snapped. “You're only fifteen, you should not be caught up in this...”
“Stop talking,” she shook her head and forcibly shoved the mug into his hands. “My mother said I could do it over the summer. Said it would be good real world experience for me, and would look good on my resume. Besides, Moody likes me. And also? Call me Dora again and it won't be your forehead that I put a stapler through.”
“Now you've had your lovely family reunion,” Marlene said loudly, over Sirius' spluttering. “I have a list of Riddle's employees which you might want to have a look at.”
She tapped the screen, which Sirius turned to begrudgingly. “Now, if I email this to you, will you cross-reference it against that list Kingsley has made for us of known Riddle detractors? If there's no overlap then I can run a more detailed search in regards to left-wing and gay forums, hope that something comes up.”
Sirius nodded. “Thanks, Kin. I'll do that,” he turned and glared at Tonks, who was looking curiously over his shoulder at what was happening on Marlene's screen. “Unfortunately, if I strangle you in plain sight, I might get in trouble from the people around us. If you get yourself further into this than just making coffee, Tonks, I swear I will...”
“Impersonate my father some more?” Tonks stuck out her tongue at him and shrugged easily. “I'm not going to get hurt, Sirius, lighten up. All I'm going to be doing is making coffee, filing and cleaning. Not exactly thrill a minute activities. Nor anything that's going to get a gun pulled on me.”
She was turning to walk away before he could respond, but that didn't stop him from talking to her back.
“I can't even believe Moody agreed to take you on with that hair of yours...” he paused as it occurred to him just what he had said. “...Bugger, I really do sound like her father, don't I?”
Smirking, Marlene patted him on the shoulder. “It's alright, Black. We'll make sure that your retirement home has the nicest garden. We'll even gun for a duck pond!”
He punched her in the arm as he left. It disappointed him that it didn't silence her snickers in the slightest.
- - -
Sirius rubbed the heel of his hand across the bridge of his nose, staring at the list that which Marlene had emailed through to him. There were so many names, and even so, he recognised so many of them; a large percentage of them from his family tree, which he'd been forced to learn by the age of ten. Personally, he'd been more interested in why his parents had the same last name before they married than which of his cousins was technically known as “His Grace” and which of them were “The Right Honourable.” Groaning, he leant back in his chair; he'd let himself get distracted again, something that Moody would not be having with.
“Your life isn't that hard, Black, suck it up.”
Sirius glanced over his shoulder at Lily, a wry smile on his face. “No, it's not, I'm just going through the list of Riddle's employees and crossing off anyone I in anyway recognise the name of, because no one my family associates with would have the balls to try something like this hacker did.”
“Do many of your family or associates work in the IT department?” Lily leant on the edge of his cubicle, one eyebrow raised. “I always thought that your family went into the very financial side of things... since, you know, you need a degree to fiddle about with computer systems that big.”
He gave her a look that plainly said why the hell didn't I think of that? and scrolled through the list, highlighting any mentions of information technology and pasting them into a new document. When he'd reached the end, he glanced at Lily once more, who was now leaning over his shoulder.
“See anyone you recognise from your own digging?” he asked, hoping that there would be an easy answer for the first time since he had started working for the newspaper.
She frowned, her eyes scanning the list. “No one jumps out that I've found lately,” she said, chewing at her lip. But then she leaned forward, tapping at a point on the screen. “But him. I know him.”
He glanced at the name Lily was referring to, and raised an eyebrow at her. “That's not a joke name? Really?”
She stared back at him. “What were you saying, Sirius Orion?”
“...Good point,” he conceded. “So, where do you know him from?”
“I went to school with him,” she mused, chewing at her lip. “Had quite the crush on him in year twelve... but then I walked in on him and his boyfriend in an empty classroom and, well, that had to be the end of that, then, didn't it?”
“So... he's gay,” Sirius said slowly, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, before a thought struck him and he turned to look at Lily once more. “Hang on... didn't you start dating James about halfway through year twelve?”
Lily blushed almost the same colour as her hair. “If you tell him that he was a rebound for a crush I had on a gay man, I will remove your stag night privilege.”
Sirius raised his hands in mock-surrender. “Hey, I wasn't planning on saying anything,” his lips curved into a smirk. “The knowledge that Prongs only got lucky because you got depressed about not getting it on with Remus Lupin is enough.”
He started to laugh when she hit him on the shoulder, and only stopped when James sung out across the room.
“Oi! Padfoot! You sleep with my fiancee and I will officially revoke the friendship between us!”
- - -
The problem remained, however, that Sirius may have a name, now, but he had nothing else to go off of. Biting down on his lip, he searched a few variations “Remus Lupin email” into google, but wasn't surprised when nothing turned up in response - even for such an uncommon name, it was rarely a successful search. Apparently, it seemed that he was in need of assistance from Marlene again. He was sure that would make her happy; she was always going on about IT being the backbone of any corporation, or something.
With a sigh, he made his descent down the stairs, and was surprised to see James sitting next to Dorcas when he stepped through the doorway.
“What are you doing down here?” Sirius asked, confusion evident in his tone.
“I do work here, you know. I'm not just here to look good on Lily's arm,” James grinned up at him. “Cassie is helping me with IP logging on some forums that have had some suspicious activity lately.”
Dorcas nodded distractedly. “See that, Black? You call me by the name I want and I do things for you. Stimulus, response. It's quite simple, really.”
“But then he doesn't get to see the delightful shade of pink that your ears go when you want to throttle me, Meadowes,” Sirius grinned and sat himself beside Marlene. “My love, could you get me an email address if I give you a name and a job title?”
“You just want the Riddle Corp email, right?” she asked.
Sirius nodded.
“Well, then, it's just the first name dot middle initial dot last name at R B dot com,” she said. “All of the Riddle emails follow the same pattern, thankfully.”
“Oh,” he paused and leant over to kiss her on the cheek. “Thanks, Kin.”
“Make all of your requests that easy and I'll always be happy to help you, Black,” she replied, but she had a smile on her face as she shooed him out of the room.
- - -
His phone buzzed beside him unexpectedly; with an unhappy groan, Sirius raised his head and came to the realisation that he had, in fact, been napping at his computer station. Mad-Eye would kill him if he caught him like that. He really didn't want the repeated lecture of "You must always be on the look out, boy! Constant vigilance!" which he - and all of the members of the Phoenix newspaper - had received multiple times since they had started working here. It was annoying at the best of times, let alone when he'd been working around the clock for this stupid story about Riddle's website.
Shaking himself, he hit the green answer button of his phone just before it rang off.
"Sirius Black," he said, unable to keep the sleep edged tone from his voice. Mad-Eye would kill him for that, too.
"I know who you are, I wouldn't have called if I didn't," an amused tone said in response. "How are you, Sirius Black?"
Sirius frowned. Who the hell was calling him with that sort of attitude? "Who is this?"
"You've been emailing me constantly and you don't even know what my voice sounds like? I think I should be insulted..."
It took a moment, but finally it clicked. "Remus? Remus Lupin?"
"You just had a light bulb moment, didn't you? Yes, it's Remus Lupin. Why the hell did you think that emailing me at work was a good idea?"
Sirius blinked. "It was the only way I could find to contact you. You're a very secretive person, Remus."
"And you didn't take the hint that maybe I didn't want to be contacted by, I don't know, insane journalists who are hell bent on destroying the person who I work for?"
"You seem pretty hell bent on destroying him yourself," Sirius pointed out, quite reasonably he thought, though he couldn't keep his temper from entering his voice. "Putting statistics on how the Riddle Corporation abuses its workers and is generally evil on the front page of a website which gets thousands of hits every day doesn't seem like the best plan for keeping business."
“They deserved it. I'm not about to go against my beliefs that strongly, I do have to stand up for what's right. I just want to actually make a living, you know.”
“So you're a hacktivist,” Sirius said, desperately trying to regain control of the conversation - or at least salvage something from the conversation he could use in his article.
The laughter he got in return might have been the first sign that he was in way over his head. “Oh, next you're going to be saying that I engage in electronic civil disobedience.”
“So you're denying it?” Sirius scribbled on his notepad.
“I'm saying it's a poncy term which I wrote half the wikipedia article for, Black, and you'd be better off using a source other than something which anyone can edit,” Remus snorted. “I do what I think is right and I have no desire to attach a label to that - the only reason it even exists is so people who don't understand it can pretend to. Hell, you probably count as an hacktivist... I doubt you buy all your movies off of iTunes.”
“What?” Sirius said, feeling that the conversation had got far beyond him.
“Did you even read beyond the first paragraph? Some investigative journalist you are,” Remus said derisively. “Listen, just because I called a douche out on his homophobic mania does not mean that I'm joining your merry band of leftist nutters, you hear me?”
“I'm just a journalist,” Sirius snapped.
“Uh huh. The son of one of the largest financial supporters of Riddle just happens to be writing for a decidedly left wing paper who loves to write about the corruption from within which is poisoning our government,” Sirius bit down on his lip; he'd never been afraid to stand apart from his parents. Why would he be now? But Remus was speaking again, and he wasn't really paying attention. “He knows about you, Black. Your little secret society? He just doesn't see you as a threat. Even bad publicity is good publicity, you know.”
Sirius groaned and closed his eyes. That was not good news. That was so far from good news that he couldn't even think of a comeback, or even any response to that.
“Look. I'm sorry I can't help you,” Remus' voice had softened after the silence.
“But you can,” Sirius said, slightly desperately. “You're inside his network, you could do...”
“I could do exactly what I'm doing now. Being part of a group which is known to him reduces my ability to be effective,” Remus snapped. “As it is, I'm doing more for the cause that your little Order is managing, and by talking to you, I'm risking that ability.”
“But you -”
“Don't bother trying to recruit me. And Gods, don't try to email me again. Sirius Black coming up in your inbox is one of the biggest red flags you could have used, you know that?” Sirius could almost hear Remus rolling his eyes. “Good bye, Sirius Black.”
“I -”
That was all Sirius managed to get out before Remus cut off the call.
He stared dumbly at the phone for a long moment before shoving his chair backwards and storming out of his cubicle. His sudden departure left James calling out to him, but Sirius didn't hear as he clattered down the stairs towards Marlene and Dorcas' lair. They would probably kill him if they actually heard him refer to it as that, but it wasn't that bad a title, and besides... it kind of was a lair, with their numerous computers and occasional screams of "Touch that and I'll remove your balls, Black!"
"Marlene, I need you to find me Remus Lupin's address," he announced, stepping through the door.
"Oh, hallo Sirius, I'm glad to see you too. Would you like some assistance with something when I've got through all of this work that Mad-Eye, who is infinitely more important and terrifying than you has set for me?" Marlene didn't turn from where she was facing the computer, tapping away madly on her keyboard.
"But, Kin..."
"I'm not being cute, Sirius. I'm serious - and don't you fucking dare try to make a joke out of that, or I will actually skin you alive. I know that Moody told you that we could help you, but we can't help you that much, we actually have jobs of our own," she snapped. "We're overworked down here... if you really want someone to help then talk to Tonks, she's pretty handy with a computer, you know."
Sirius looked at her like she'd grown another head. Ask his cousin for help? Unfortunately, with Dorcas glowering at him like he'd killed her mother or something, and knowing that he'd be unable to convince Marlene, it did seem like the easiest option. The only one of the gang upstairs who knew their way around a computer more than to play World of Warcraft or edit an article was Peter, and he was off covering the pre-trial proceedings of Dolohov today. James had even more of a tendency to smack the side of his computer when it didn't work, and Lily... well, when she'd spilled coffee on her keyboard for the fifth time, Dorcas had actually lost her temper. Groaning, he slid his fingers through his hair.
"Do you know where she is, then?" he asked, more than a hint of defeat in his voice.
"Last I heard she was photocopying something for Moody," Dorcas offered begrudgingly. "And when you're done with her, tell her I could really use another cup of coffee."
- - -
Sirius did finally track his cousin down in the lunch room, having gone on a mad goose chase through the building which took him to Moody's office - he got yelled at for that - the photocopying room, and seemingly all three floors of the Order building at least five times. When he finally saw her, she grinned and held up a pot of coffee.
"Oh, are you looking for your refill? I was just about to go on the rounds again, sorry," she said cheerily. "Didn't want to give everyone a pot that had been brewed -"
"Dora, shut up. Do you want to do something for the paper that isn't just pouring coffee or photocopying or sweeping? I'll give you a place in the byline if you can figure this out for me," he said desperately.
She regarded him with an intrigued look for a long moment and placed the coffee pot back on the heating pad. "If you get me fired, Sirius Black, my mother will murder you."
"Oh, shut up," he frog-marched her through the office and sat her down at his cubicle. "I need you to find me Remus Lupin's address."
He pointed at the screen of his computer and gestured expansively, as if what she was meant to be doing was magic. Turning, she raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a look that clearly said You're an idiot, Sirius. "This is someone to do with Riddle Corporation and not some ex-boyfriend you're stalking, isn't it?"
"Do you want me to tell your father what I saw you doing with Hestia Jones, Dora?"
"Right," Tonks turned back to the screen and bit on her lip. "This... this is that guy that Lily went to school with, right?"
"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Sirius looked confused.
"Is she busy at the moment?" she looked around the cubicles, clearly unsure of herself.
Sirius shrugged. "OI!" he called across the office. "FUTURE POTTER. YOU BUSY?"
"I wonder why you're still single," Tonks rolled her eyes, but was grateful when Lily, looking murderous, strode across to Sirius' cubicle. "I apologise for my cousin being a moron, but could you do me a favour?"
"Does it involve removing what little brains Sirius has left in his head with a straw?" Lily asked brightly, before leaning down beside Tonks. "Sure, hon, what are you looking for?"
"Can you log into your facebook for me?" Tonks shifted the chair backwards, ignoring the squeak of protest that Sirius made when the wheel collided with his foot. Lily gave her a confused look, but Tonks waved her hand, a bright smile on her face. “Don't worry, I won't let Sirius on it to change your relationship settings to single or anything.”
“I would not!” Sirius protested, and Lily gave him a disbelieving look. Even so, she typed her details into the login screen and surrendered control to Tonks. Tellingly, though, she didn't leave the cubicle, watching as Tonks typed “Remus Lupin” into the search bar.
“He's on your friends list?” Sirius asked incredulously as the results popped up.
Lily shrugged. “We were friends in high school. Don't you have most of your form on facebook?”
“Ooh, he's cute,” Tonks commented, clicking through a series of links frantically. Sirius cuffed her over the back of the head, scowling.
“He's too old for you,” he said gruffly.
“Oh, and interested in men. Just the right age for you, though, Sirius!”
Lily smirked at Sirius over the top of Tonks' head and he had to remind himself that Lily was not, in fact, his cousin, and whacking her over the head would probably result in James feeling the need to defend her honour.
“Here you go,” Tonks said suddenly. “Fairfield Road, Kingston, KT1.”
“Where the hell did you find that?” Sirius gaped at her.
She shrugged. “He held a party a few months back and listed the location,” she said, scribbling the details down on a piece of paper. When she was done, she stuck the post it note to Sirius' forehead and stood up from the chair. “I expect a good Christmas present this year, now.”
“Thank you!” he called after her retreating back, and smiled at Lily. Lily just rolled her eyes and logged herself out of facebook before turning and leaving without a word.
Sirius couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by this.
- - -
Sirius wasn't afraid to admit that he was more than a little nervous right now. His career, until now, had not actually involved turning up on people's doorsteps without invitation; it had been wrought with enough ethical issues with his brother working for the people they were looking to shut down. This was not exactly what he'd seen himself doing when he had been sitting in his Introduction to Journalism class; as a result, he'd bitten his nails down to quick on the train ride over here. Glancing down at said nails critically for a moment, he shook his head and knocked at the door before he lost his nerve and gave up completely.
“Oh Jesus fuck... I'll be there in a second!” Remus called out from behind the door. Sirius fidgeted uncomfortably, wishing Remus would just come to the door so he didn't have repress the desire to run any more.
He still cringed as Remus pulled the door open, but his cringe was quickly replaced by a look of pure horror. He hadn't really looked too closely at the facebook picture that Tonks had commented on, but here, face-to-face, he knew who he was talking to.
“Oh, fuck me,” Sirius muttered, staring at the mouth which he had seen his dick disappearing into barely a month ago. “You're Remus Lupin?”
Remus' expression mirrored Sirius'. “And I'm guessing from that, you aren't just stalking me from a one night stand... you're Sirius Black,” he muttered, looking at the ground. His mouth seemed to be in an argument with his brain, but after a long moment, he said, seemingly with difficulty, “Well, I suppose you should come in if you came across London.”
“Thank you,” Sirius said automatically, his brain not intervening in the reaction that years of upper class upbringing had instilled in him.
Remus showed him to the kitchen, where the table was half covered in some form of gaming mat. A blush tinged his cheeks as he hurriedly packed away the figurines and dice, muttering embarrassed apologies as he did.
“Don't worry,” Sirius shook his head, watching Remus' fingers curve around each figure carefully. “My apartment is filled with tubes of paint and brushes in random places, I'm used to intrusive hobbies.”
“Yeah, well, painting isn't exactly Dungeons and Dragons,” Remus muttered, shoving the mat and container onto the sideboard. “Would you like a coffee?”
“Yes, please,” Sirius nodded, pulling out a chair and sitting down at the kitchen table. It was a surprisingly comfortable silence, watching Remus go through the movements of making instant coffee - during which Sirius took the chance to check out Remus' arse more than once - broken only by the “How do you take it?” “Black with two, please.” After a long moment, Remus turned around and placed a mug in front of Sirius before taking a seat himself. Raising an eyebrow, he wrapped those fingers that Sirius couldn't stop staring at around the mug and gave Sirius a look.
“You aren't going to convince me to join your group with superior stalking skills, you know.”
Sirius snorted. “Did it occur to you that maybe we don't actually want you to join the Order?” he asked, taking a long sip of the coffee. It was terrible, worse than the shite that Tonks managed to make back at the office, but it was hot and it gave him something to do other than awkwardly stare at Remus.
“Join, give you information, whatever you want to call it... it involves me risking my job and more for you,” Remus shrugged easily.
“You're risking your job by defacing the home page, too,” Sirius pointed out.
“Yes, but if I get caught I have only myself to blame. If I help you, there's a whole other network of people which can get me caught out.”
“Just an interview,” Sirius wheedled, changing tact completely. “Completely confidential.”
Remus snorted. “When you've emailed me, called me and are now in my house? Riddle probably suspects me now because of what you have done, and I don't even have any association with you and your group of rebels.”
“Do you even like what you do? You obviously hate your employer,” Sirius couldn't keep the heat from his voice. “What is so important about the job that you're so scared of being caught doing something you believe in?”
“It puts food on the table. Do you like what you do?” Remus raised an eyebrow, looking the dark haired man up and down. “I seem to remember you mentioning that your flat being filled with paint and canvases, not anything to do with writing or finance.”
“What I do as a hobby has nothing to do with what I do for a job. Don't pretend you have any idea of who I am,” Sirius hissed, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling that gnawed at his stomach.
If Sirius' eyes didn't deceive him, Remus flinched at that, but it could have just been a trick of the light; a moment later, his long, slim fingers were sliding around the coffee cup once more and he was taking a long sip. The silence was heavy until Remus shrugged, leaning back into his chair.
“You're right, I don't know you. In fact, we're from completely different worlds. And I'd appreciate if you left mine,” he said quietly, an edge of danger in his voice. “I'll be changing my number come Monday morning, so you won't be able to contact me any more - not that you'd have any reason to.”
Sirius couldn't explain his desire to slam his palms down on the desk and demand that this not occur; he refrained, though, years of etiquette training and general denial of feelings coming to the fore. Keeping his facial expression neutral, he nodded and stood, leaving the coffee cup on the table.
“Alright then,” he said easily. He held out a hand for a handshake, and tried to ignore the warmth and comfort that came from the simple palm to palm contact. “Good bye, Remus Lupin.”
“Good bye, Sirius Black,” Remus replied.
His back was turned, turning on the kettle when Sirius walked out the door.
- - -
It was five o'clock Thursday morning, and Sirius Black was far too awake for his own good. His paint brush was moving over the canvas, an intricate dance known to no one but himself, bright colours against bleached fabric, broad, sweeping strokes. But it wasn't right; nothing could mimic that which lived inside his head, taunting him with the perfection he could never commit to canvas. Making a frustrated sound in his throat, he dropped the pallet and shoved his brush into the jar of turpentine with more force than was necessary. He could clean it properly later; now he just needed to get out of his tiny studio, needed fresh air rather than turpentine and oil fumes in his lungs.
Stepping out onto the balcony, Sirius sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. His fingers closed around the familiar shape of his mobile phone and he tugged it out, squinting at the screen. The name “Remus” was visible immediately and he paused, his thumb hovering over the 'delete' button.
Impulse overwhelmed him and he shifted his thumb to the 'call' button instead, expecting to hear the pre-recorded, robotic voice informing him that sorry, this number is no longer in use. Instead, the sound of dialling filled his ear. His breath hitched and froze, not actually sure of what to do now.
“Hello?” the sleep-edged voice of Remus spoke before Sirius had a chance to formulate a plan.
“You didn't change your number,” Sirius said dumbly.
He could almost hear the smile spread across Remus' face.
“You called. You validated my reason not to.”
Author: emilyia
Rating: NC-17
Pairing(s): Remus/Sirius, side James/Lily
Summary: When the Phoenix newspaper catches wind of a renegade worker in Riddle Bank, they seek an alliance.
Warnings: Bathroom sex.
Word Count: 7703
Author's Notes: Written for rs_career_fest with the prompts "Remus as a hacker, Sirius as a beat journalist - but what he likes to do is paint, and the three additions: cough drops, fingernail biting and Dungeons and Dragons."
Whoo, boy. Thank you to everyone that helped me with this and put up with my ramblings about how I hated it and I was never going to finish it. You guys are the greatest. Thank you to my beta for sorting out my issues (like that random paragraph I decided to write in present tense). The title is from the wonderful Elliot Smith's Pretty (Ugly Before). Prompter, I hope this meets your expectations! ♥
Sirius Black was not drunk enough for this shit. The girls were all in too little clothing and with too little brain for the dead middle of winter in London, and he'd been dragged along by James and Lily and Peter. It was meant to be a celebration of the fact that they had been the people to put together the information to get Antonin Dolohov arrested. It didn't feel much like a celebration, though, not with Pete drooling over Dorcas (who had been in love with Fabian since she had started working at the Phoenix newspaper). And definitely not while James had left him to go stuff his tongue down Lily's throat. It was, in general, a fairly shit night. He hadn't expected it to be amazing, but James had seemed so hopeful that Sirius couldn't bring himself to say no. Even if he would rather be at home, having a beer and watching Doctor Who.
He winced at the loud music assaulting his ears as he leant across the bar - oh, Gods, he was acting far older than his twenty-three years, wasn't he? - and ordered a beer. Beside him, a sharp elbow jabbed at his side and he whirled around to give the owner of said elbow a piece of his mind; or, at least, a dirty look. Before he had the chance, though, the messy haired brunet was leaning in to apologise, barely audible over the music that rang in their ears. Sirius only caught a glimpse of his smile through the whirl of messy curls before he turned from the bar with his drink in his hand.
“Oi, mate. Do you want your beer?”
Sirius shook himself and handed over the note to the barman. Taking his beer, he took a large gulp as he headed back across to the booth which half of the crew of the Phoenix newspaper seemed to be squashed into. When he sat down, he made sure that he was sitting on the side of the booth that faced the bar and therefore was more likely to see the brown haired man again. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it), this shoved Dorcas down the booth and half into Fabian's lap. If it weren't for the fact that he was so caught up in someone he had barely seen, he would have found the squeaking sound that she made more than slightly amusing. As it was, Marlene nudged him under the table with her foot and waggled her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.
“Shut up,” he muttered, which caused her to laugh and raise her glass in a mock salute. At that point, he decided to ignore her, and drank his beer faster than was strictly necessary, or probably even safe.
Through the night, Sirius heads back to the bar more often than he should, really, trying to ignore Marlene's looks each time. Dorcas seemed agreeable to the idea of more drinks, though, and continued to demand more gin and tonic as she further encroached Fabian's lap. Gideon just looked amused by the situation, while Peter looks on with sad eyes and Sirius thinks that he'd need more to drink even without the desire to see the brown haired man again. The fact that he does, in fact, see aforementioned stranger on his third trip to the bar is simply a welcome addition to the night which had seemed like a lost cause until then. The smirk that spreads across his face when he sees Sirius is a little disconcerting, but Sirius just smiles back and raises his bottle of beer in salute.
"Fancy seeing you here again," Sirius leant in to speak into his ear; if anyone had asked the answer would have been that he was looking to speak over the music, but seeing that hair up close is quite nice, too.
"Coming to pay me back, are you? Go on then, I won't begrudge you a quick elbow," the man's smile is easy when it softens from the smirk, and Sirius feels slightly like an idiot, but he just wants to grin back and make that grin happen again and again.
"I think there are other things I'd rather do than elbow you," Sirius isn't sure where that came from. He blamed the beer, but even that doesn't excuse such a horrific excuse for a line. Somehow, though, it seems to work.
"Care to tell me what those things are?" the man asked.
"I'm not sure that they're suitable for public ears," Sirius indicated the barman, but before the stranger had a chance to respond, an uproar came from the booth holding the Phoenix crew. Evidentially, they want their drinks. Sirius winced and gave the stranger a significant look. "The rabble need appeasing. I'll meet you on the dance floor, maybe?"
"Why not just the bathroom?"
Sirius spluttered, choking on his beer a little. On second thoughts, though, when he heard Dorcas making some horribly suggestive comment that is audible even above the music, he decided it would be a welcome distraction from the rest of the night.
"Give me five minutes and I'll be there."
- - -
They stumbled backwards through the bathroom door, ignoring the slightly horrified looks that were thrown their way by the unfortunate soul who was washing his hands at the basin. In fact, Sirius was fairly sure that the man whose hands were trying to work their way down his pants didn't even notice that there was someone else in the bathroom. By the time that Sirius latched the door behind them and turned back, the other man was on his knees, having already managed to undo the fly of his jeans, and who was making quick work of freeing his dick from his underwear.
“Hang on, don't you want -” Sirius' protests that maybe this was wrong and he should at least know the name of the person he was having a quick fumble in the men's room with were quickly cut short when the other man's lips wrapped around the head of his dick. In fact, all thoughts apart from holy fuck were cut short as the back of his head collided with the door and he groaned. Slightly mortified, he raised his hand to his mouth to muffle any further sounds as his dick slipped further and further into the wet warmth that was the stranger's mouth. For all he didn't know about the man on his knees, Sirius did know that he knew exactly what he was doing; his hands pressed Sirius' hips back against the door of the stall while that tongue slid delightfully down the vein on the underside of his dick. Sirius was working his hips against the restricting hands by the time he started to bob his head up and down, at which point Sirius realised there was no point in struggling. His eyes slipped shut as his fingers fisted in soft hair, the other hand still ineffectually muffling the moans that spilt from his lips. The unexpected feeling of a finger sliding in beside his dick caused him to open his eyes and look down, but even before he'd gathered his senses enough to do that, a spit slicked finger was sliding over his balls, and then they were being rolled in the stranger's palm and Sirius couldn't help but moan, his climax building inside of him. One particularly hard suck later, as the head of Sirius' dick hit the back of his throat, Sirius was coming with jerks of his hips that couldn't properly be held back by one hand. It was a few moments of heavy panting before Sirius trusted himself to open his eyes; by that point, the other man had stood and seemed to be having some trouble with his own breathing.
“So, why don't you want me to know your name?” Sirius asked, stepping forward and finding himself grateful to not have fallen over or sagged down on wobbly knees. He only got given a pointed look in return, which quickly turned into a dark, lustful one as Sirius deliberately ran his fingers over the quite evident bulge in the black fabric. He wasn't intent on teasing, though, which became obvious as he took hold of the slighter man's shoulder and spun him so he was facing the wall. His fingers fumbled with the fly, which caused a few muttered curses and a smirk on Sirius' behalf, though the ragged moan of relief which followed when his hand wrapped around the other man's dick was just as good.
“You come out, no underwear, not wanting to know my name... you get off on this, don't you?” Sirius murmured into his ear. His thumb swiped over the head of his dick, spreading the precome gathered there over the hardened flesh.
“What does it look like?” was the only verbal response he got; the thrust into the ring of Sirius' fist saying it all. Sirius smirked against his skin, leaning down to bite down on the skin of his neck; the groan which came in response was enough to make his spent dick twitch in interest. Now, though, he was more intent on hearing that sound more, so his rhythm sped up and his wrist twisted, fingers squeezing, milking. The man's hips were bucking into Sirius' hand with each downward movement, taking no time at all to push him over the edge. Sirius knew it wasn't his name that he heard as he felt muscles tense underneath him and warmth spread across his hand, and even though it wasn't meant to be anything beyond a fumble in the bathroom stall of a nightclub, it still sent a pang of hurt through him.
He didn't have time to think on it, though, because the other man wasn't taking the time to lean against the wall and pant like Sirius had. He was almost efficient in his movements, tucking himself in and zipping himself up. He turned to face Sirius, a half-hearted smile on his face that couldn't quite reach his eyes.
“Thank you,” there was something in his voice that made Sirius believe he was being genuine, and made his lips curve up in an answering smile. After a moment, the other man leant across the gap to press a soft kiss to Sirius' lips, but that was all there was before he was sliding past Sirius and slipping out of the stall. Sirius sagged, leaning against the thin wall, and couldn't suppress the feeling that maybe he'd let something he shouldn't have walk away.
He begged an early night, then, and ignored the significant looks that Marlene was sending him - she was the only sober one left at the table, and even drunk she could have seen right through him. In the taxi he spent his time staring out the window into the the cold night, exhaustion settling into his bones and weighing him down. He couldn't understand it; he'd had one night stands before, repeated that scene almost movement for movement before, but this time it's different. It shouldn't be different, it was just sex, just something he had done before and would do again, just a drunken fumble in a dingy club.
But it was different.
When he got home he didn't go to sleep; he opened up the door to his studio and turned on the lights, as glaring and uncomfortable as they are. Colour splashed across the canvas in angry streaks, painting the same blue lines, the colour of the chipped paint in the bathroom stall, painting the soft waves of brown that would have fit among the stranger's hair, the way it would look on a pillow instead of twisted through his long fingers. It's everything he wanted and everything that he couldn't have had tonight because bloody James dragged him to the damn club.
But in a few hours he'd close the door on the studio, and in the morning maybe he'd wake up with a hangover and that will push away those feelings of regret and replace them with nausea. He'd forget the stranger and go back to work, because that's what he does and that's what they have to do... they have to take the power from Riddle and those who would abuse it, because otherwise the world they live in would not be worth it.
- - -
A month had gone by, multiple deadlines and more cups of coffee than Sirius could count with it. And he had been right; he'd all but forgotten the stranger in the bar, among everything else that was happening. It finally seemed like the editor of the Phoenix, Alastor Moody, was beginning to trust him... at least, if trust meant giving him stories that needed to be done yesterday. He'd done so that night, in fact, given him a breaking news story which required immediate coverage. He'd managed it, but he'd been up later than he would have liked.
As a result, his mobile buzzing shrilly at 6am was not how Sirius Black had planned on waking up that morning. Unfortunately, it was, in fact, what happened, and the sound after the shrill ring was equally as unwelcome.
“Remember that story about Riddle you ran last night?” Alastor Moody said gruffly in his ear.
“The one I stayed up until 1am editing, Mad-Eye?” Sirius groaned, scrubbing a hand over his eyes. “However could I forget? You needed it for this morning's edition.”
“You've had more than four hours sleep, boy, quit your wining. I don't put up with rich little whiners on my team,” Sirius rolled his eyes; he'd heard that complaint more times than he could count, despite being assured by the owner of the Phoenix newspaper that his family name didn't matter. Shaking his head, he realised he'd zoned out, and Mad-Eye was still talking. “...website, and I want an article on it for this evening's edition.”
Sirius blinked a few times. The grubby world of finance - that which his own family was at the centre of - was his area of expertise, not anything to do with websites. Hell, he barely understood his own computer and had a predisposition towards smacking the side of his laptop's monitor every time Microsoft Word crashed. “Why the hell are you putting me on something about a website? Don't you have a whole department of computer geeks who'd be better at this than me?”
“They don't do journalism, boy. You can work with them, if you want, but this first story has to be showcasing that it isn't just us that see through Riddle's crap,” Mad-Eye snapped. “There's a good chance that this has come from inside his bank; McKinnon tells me that this scale of hacking would be near impossible to do from a remote location, whatever the hell that means. It comes down to you, Pettigrew, Potter or Evans, and they all have assignments to do with the money laundering rackets that Riddle is running.”
Sirius sighed. He wasn't going to win this - part of him wondered why the hell he thought he was ever going to win anything against Mad-Eye Moody. “Alright. I'll be in in half an hour, Mad-Eye.”
“Good.”
The line went dead and Sirius rolled his eyes, tossing his phone across the bed. Reaching for his laptop from the bedside table, he flipped it open and clicked on his bookmark for Riddle Bank's website. Instead of the normal red and black colour scheme, the banner flashed the colours of the rainbow - or, more specifically in this case, the colours of the gay pride flag. In place of the bank's mission statement was Riddle's drunken rant about gays poisoning the earth and below it, in large, pink sparkle text, were statistics about off-shore workers, cases of wrongful dismissal settled out of court, and seemingly anything that the hacker could dig up to paint the Riddle Bank in a negative light. A smile spreading across his face, Sirius quickly copied and pasted the information into a word document and saved a copy of the banner. If someone was willing to make such a brazen attack against Riddle, surely they'd be willing to talk to someone from the Phoenix, if they could just get a hold of each other...
- - -
“Kin, my darling, my sweetheart,” Sirius said dramatically, flinging himself into the chair next to her computer. “I was informed...”
“Yes, I have information on your case of cyber-graffiti,” Marlene didn't look up from her screen, which she was looking at intently. “Just be quiet and sit still for a minute, because I can't ask you to go get me coffee, that job's been filled.”
He snorted. “Who have you blackmailed into being coffee bitch now? Has Dorcas annoyed you that much?”
“Call me that again and I'll put a stapler through your forehead, Black,” Dorcas said cheerily from the corner. “And the so called 'coffee bitch'? Your baby cousin.”
“I am not a baby,” Tonks huffed from behind Sirius, who whirled around to gape at her. At his movement, she pasted on a bright smile and held out a steaming mug. “Coffee?”
“What the hell are you doing here, Dora?” he snapped. “You're only fifteen, you should not be caught up in this...”
“Stop talking,” she shook her head and forcibly shoved the mug into his hands. “My mother said I could do it over the summer. Said it would be good real world experience for me, and would look good on my resume. Besides, Moody likes me. And also? Call me Dora again and it won't be your forehead that I put a stapler through.”
“Now you've had your lovely family reunion,” Marlene said loudly, over Sirius' spluttering. “I have a list of Riddle's employees which you might want to have a look at.”
She tapped the screen, which Sirius turned to begrudgingly. “Now, if I email this to you, will you cross-reference it against that list Kingsley has made for us of known Riddle detractors? If there's no overlap then I can run a more detailed search in regards to left-wing and gay forums, hope that something comes up.”
Sirius nodded. “Thanks, Kin. I'll do that,” he turned and glared at Tonks, who was looking curiously over his shoulder at what was happening on Marlene's screen. “Unfortunately, if I strangle you in plain sight, I might get in trouble from the people around us. If you get yourself further into this than just making coffee, Tonks, I swear I will...”
“Impersonate my father some more?” Tonks stuck out her tongue at him and shrugged easily. “I'm not going to get hurt, Sirius, lighten up. All I'm going to be doing is making coffee, filing and cleaning. Not exactly thrill a minute activities. Nor anything that's going to get a gun pulled on me.”
She was turning to walk away before he could respond, but that didn't stop him from talking to her back.
“I can't even believe Moody agreed to take you on with that hair of yours...” he paused as it occurred to him just what he had said. “...Bugger, I really do sound like her father, don't I?”
Smirking, Marlene patted him on the shoulder. “It's alright, Black. We'll make sure that your retirement home has the nicest garden. We'll even gun for a duck pond!”
He punched her in the arm as he left. It disappointed him that it didn't silence her snickers in the slightest.
- - -
Sirius rubbed the heel of his hand across the bridge of his nose, staring at the list that which Marlene had emailed through to him. There were so many names, and even so, he recognised so many of them; a large percentage of them from his family tree, which he'd been forced to learn by the age of ten. Personally, he'd been more interested in why his parents had the same last name before they married than which of his cousins was technically known as “His Grace” and which of them were “The Right Honourable.” Groaning, he leant back in his chair; he'd let himself get distracted again, something that Moody would not be having with.
“Your life isn't that hard, Black, suck it up.”
Sirius glanced over his shoulder at Lily, a wry smile on his face. “No, it's not, I'm just going through the list of Riddle's employees and crossing off anyone I in anyway recognise the name of, because no one my family associates with would have the balls to try something like this hacker did.”
“Do many of your family or associates work in the IT department?” Lily leant on the edge of his cubicle, one eyebrow raised. “I always thought that your family went into the very financial side of things... since, you know, you need a degree to fiddle about with computer systems that big.”
He gave her a look that plainly said why the hell didn't I think of that? and scrolled through the list, highlighting any mentions of information technology and pasting them into a new document. When he'd reached the end, he glanced at Lily once more, who was now leaning over his shoulder.
“See anyone you recognise from your own digging?” he asked, hoping that there would be an easy answer for the first time since he had started working for the newspaper.
She frowned, her eyes scanning the list. “No one jumps out that I've found lately,” she said, chewing at her lip. But then she leaned forward, tapping at a point on the screen. “But him. I know him.”
He glanced at the name Lily was referring to, and raised an eyebrow at her. “That's not a joke name? Really?”
She stared back at him. “What were you saying, Sirius Orion?”
“...Good point,” he conceded. “So, where do you know him from?”
“I went to school with him,” she mused, chewing at her lip. “Had quite the crush on him in year twelve... but then I walked in on him and his boyfriend in an empty classroom and, well, that had to be the end of that, then, didn't it?”
“So... he's gay,” Sirius said slowly, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, before a thought struck him and he turned to look at Lily once more. “Hang on... didn't you start dating James about halfway through year twelve?”
Lily blushed almost the same colour as her hair. “If you tell him that he was a rebound for a crush I had on a gay man, I will remove your stag night privilege.”
Sirius raised his hands in mock-surrender. “Hey, I wasn't planning on saying anything,” his lips curved into a smirk. “The knowledge that Prongs only got lucky because you got depressed about not getting it on with Remus Lupin is enough.”
He started to laugh when she hit him on the shoulder, and only stopped when James sung out across the room.
“Oi! Padfoot! You sleep with my fiancee and I will officially revoke the friendship between us!”
- - -
The problem remained, however, that Sirius may have a name, now, but he had nothing else to go off of. Biting down on his lip, he searched a few variations “Remus Lupin email” into google, but wasn't surprised when nothing turned up in response - even for such an uncommon name, it was rarely a successful search. Apparently, it seemed that he was in need of assistance from Marlene again. He was sure that would make her happy; she was always going on about IT being the backbone of any corporation, or something.
With a sigh, he made his descent down the stairs, and was surprised to see James sitting next to Dorcas when he stepped through the doorway.
“What are you doing down here?” Sirius asked, confusion evident in his tone.
“I do work here, you know. I'm not just here to look good on Lily's arm,” James grinned up at him. “Cassie is helping me with IP logging on some forums that have had some suspicious activity lately.”
Dorcas nodded distractedly. “See that, Black? You call me by the name I want and I do things for you. Stimulus, response. It's quite simple, really.”
“But then he doesn't get to see the delightful shade of pink that your ears go when you want to throttle me, Meadowes,” Sirius grinned and sat himself beside Marlene. “My love, could you get me an email address if I give you a name and a job title?”
“You just want the Riddle Corp email, right?” she asked.
Sirius nodded.
“Well, then, it's just the first name dot middle initial dot last name at R B dot com,” she said. “All of the Riddle emails follow the same pattern, thankfully.”
“Oh,” he paused and leant over to kiss her on the cheek. “Thanks, Kin.”
“Make all of your requests that easy and I'll always be happy to help you, Black,” she replied, but she had a smile on her face as she shooed him out of the room.
- - -
His phone buzzed beside him unexpectedly; with an unhappy groan, Sirius raised his head and came to the realisation that he had, in fact, been napping at his computer station. Mad-Eye would kill him if he caught him like that. He really didn't want the repeated lecture of "You must always be on the look out, boy! Constant vigilance!" which he - and all of the members of the Phoenix newspaper - had received multiple times since they had started working here. It was annoying at the best of times, let alone when he'd been working around the clock for this stupid story about Riddle's website.
Shaking himself, he hit the green answer button of his phone just before it rang off.
"Sirius Black," he said, unable to keep the sleep edged tone from his voice. Mad-Eye would kill him for that, too.
"I know who you are, I wouldn't have called if I didn't," an amused tone said in response. "How are you, Sirius Black?"
Sirius frowned. Who the hell was calling him with that sort of attitude? "Who is this?"
"You've been emailing me constantly and you don't even know what my voice sounds like? I think I should be insulted..."
It took a moment, but finally it clicked. "Remus? Remus Lupin?"
"You just had a light bulb moment, didn't you? Yes, it's Remus Lupin. Why the hell did you think that emailing me at work was a good idea?"
Sirius blinked. "It was the only way I could find to contact you. You're a very secretive person, Remus."
"And you didn't take the hint that maybe I didn't want to be contacted by, I don't know, insane journalists who are hell bent on destroying the person who I work for?"
"You seem pretty hell bent on destroying him yourself," Sirius pointed out, quite reasonably he thought, though he couldn't keep his temper from entering his voice. "Putting statistics on how the Riddle Corporation abuses its workers and is generally evil on the front page of a website which gets thousands of hits every day doesn't seem like the best plan for keeping business."
“They deserved it. I'm not about to go against my beliefs that strongly, I do have to stand up for what's right. I just want to actually make a living, you know.”
“So you're a hacktivist,” Sirius said, desperately trying to regain control of the conversation - or at least salvage something from the conversation he could use in his article.
The laughter he got in return might have been the first sign that he was in way over his head. “Oh, next you're going to be saying that I engage in electronic civil disobedience.”
“So you're denying it?” Sirius scribbled on his notepad.
“I'm saying it's a poncy term which I wrote half the wikipedia article for, Black, and you'd be better off using a source other than something which anyone can edit,” Remus snorted. “I do what I think is right and I have no desire to attach a label to that - the only reason it even exists is so people who don't understand it can pretend to. Hell, you probably count as an hacktivist... I doubt you buy all your movies off of iTunes.”
“What?” Sirius said, feeling that the conversation had got far beyond him.
“Did you even read beyond the first paragraph? Some investigative journalist you are,” Remus said derisively. “Listen, just because I called a douche out on his homophobic mania does not mean that I'm joining your merry band of leftist nutters, you hear me?”
“I'm just a journalist,” Sirius snapped.
“Uh huh. The son of one of the largest financial supporters of Riddle just happens to be writing for a decidedly left wing paper who loves to write about the corruption from within which is poisoning our government,” Sirius bit down on his lip; he'd never been afraid to stand apart from his parents. Why would he be now? But Remus was speaking again, and he wasn't really paying attention. “He knows about you, Black. Your little secret society? He just doesn't see you as a threat. Even bad publicity is good publicity, you know.”
Sirius groaned and closed his eyes. That was not good news. That was so far from good news that he couldn't even think of a comeback, or even any response to that.
“Look. I'm sorry I can't help you,” Remus' voice had softened after the silence.
“But you can,” Sirius said, slightly desperately. “You're inside his network, you could do...”
“I could do exactly what I'm doing now. Being part of a group which is known to him reduces my ability to be effective,” Remus snapped. “As it is, I'm doing more for the cause that your little Order is managing, and by talking to you, I'm risking that ability.”
“But you -”
“Don't bother trying to recruit me. And Gods, don't try to email me again. Sirius Black coming up in your inbox is one of the biggest red flags you could have used, you know that?” Sirius could almost hear Remus rolling his eyes. “Good bye, Sirius Black.”
“I -”
That was all Sirius managed to get out before Remus cut off the call.
He stared dumbly at the phone for a long moment before shoving his chair backwards and storming out of his cubicle. His sudden departure left James calling out to him, but Sirius didn't hear as he clattered down the stairs towards Marlene and Dorcas' lair. They would probably kill him if they actually heard him refer to it as that, but it wasn't that bad a title, and besides... it kind of was a lair, with their numerous computers and occasional screams of "Touch that and I'll remove your balls, Black!"
"Marlene, I need you to find me Remus Lupin's address," he announced, stepping through the door.
"Oh, hallo Sirius, I'm glad to see you too. Would you like some assistance with something when I've got through all of this work that Mad-Eye, who is infinitely more important and terrifying than you has set for me?" Marlene didn't turn from where she was facing the computer, tapping away madly on her keyboard.
"But, Kin..."
"I'm not being cute, Sirius. I'm serious - and don't you fucking dare try to make a joke out of that, or I will actually skin you alive. I know that Moody told you that we could help you, but we can't help you that much, we actually have jobs of our own," she snapped. "We're overworked down here... if you really want someone to help then talk to Tonks, she's pretty handy with a computer, you know."
Sirius looked at her like she'd grown another head. Ask his cousin for help? Unfortunately, with Dorcas glowering at him like he'd killed her mother or something, and knowing that he'd be unable to convince Marlene, it did seem like the easiest option. The only one of the gang upstairs who knew their way around a computer more than to play World of Warcraft or edit an article was Peter, and he was off covering the pre-trial proceedings of Dolohov today. James had even more of a tendency to smack the side of his computer when it didn't work, and Lily... well, when she'd spilled coffee on her keyboard for the fifth time, Dorcas had actually lost her temper. Groaning, he slid his fingers through his hair.
"Do you know where she is, then?" he asked, more than a hint of defeat in his voice.
"Last I heard she was photocopying something for Moody," Dorcas offered begrudgingly. "And when you're done with her, tell her I could really use another cup of coffee."
- - -
Sirius did finally track his cousin down in the lunch room, having gone on a mad goose chase through the building which took him to Moody's office - he got yelled at for that - the photocopying room, and seemingly all three floors of the Order building at least five times. When he finally saw her, she grinned and held up a pot of coffee.
"Oh, are you looking for your refill? I was just about to go on the rounds again, sorry," she said cheerily. "Didn't want to give everyone a pot that had been brewed -"
"Dora, shut up. Do you want to do something for the paper that isn't just pouring coffee or photocopying or sweeping? I'll give you a place in the byline if you can figure this out for me," he said desperately.
She regarded him with an intrigued look for a long moment and placed the coffee pot back on the heating pad. "If you get me fired, Sirius Black, my mother will murder you."
"Oh, shut up," he frog-marched her through the office and sat her down at his cubicle. "I need you to find me Remus Lupin's address."
He pointed at the screen of his computer and gestured expansively, as if what she was meant to be doing was magic. Turning, she raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a look that clearly said You're an idiot, Sirius. "This is someone to do with Riddle Corporation and not some ex-boyfriend you're stalking, isn't it?"
"Do you want me to tell your father what I saw you doing with Hestia Jones, Dora?"
"Right," Tonks turned back to the screen and bit on her lip. "This... this is that guy that Lily went to school with, right?"
"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Sirius looked confused.
"Is she busy at the moment?" she looked around the cubicles, clearly unsure of herself.
Sirius shrugged. "OI!" he called across the office. "FUTURE POTTER. YOU BUSY?"
"I wonder why you're still single," Tonks rolled her eyes, but was grateful when Lily, looking murderous, strode across to Sirius' cubicle. "I apologise for my cousin being a moron, but could you do me a favour?"
"Does it involve removing what little brains Sirius has left in his head with a straw?" Lily asked brightly, before leaning down beside Tonks. "Sure, hon, what are you looking for?"
"Can you log into your facebook for me?" Tonks shifted the chair backwards, ignoring the squeak of protest that Sirius made when the wheel collided with his foot. Lily gave her a confused look, but Tonks waved her hand, a bright smile on her face. “Don't worry, I won't let Sirius on it to change your relationship settings to single or anything.”
“I would not!” Sirius protested, and Lily gave him a disbelieving look. Even so, she typed her details into the login screen and surrendered control to Tonks. Tellingly, though, she didn't leave the cubicle, watching as Tonks typed “Remus Lupin” into the search bar.
“He's on your friends list?” Sirius asked incredulously as the results popped up.
Lily shrugged. “We were friends in high school. Don't you have most of your form on facebook?”
“Ooh, he's cute,” Tonks commented, clicking through a series of links frantically. Sirius cuffed her over the back of the head, scowling.
“He's too old for you,” he said gruffly.
“Oh, and interested in men. Just the right age for you, though, Sirius!”
Lily smirked at Sirius over the top of Tonks' head and he had to remind himself that Lily was not, in fact, his cousin, and whacking her over the head would probably result in James feeling the need to defend her honour.
“Here you go,” Tonks said suddenly. “Fairfield Road, Kingston, KT1.”
“Where the hell did you find that?” Sirius gaped at her.
She shrugged. “He held a party a few months back and listed the location,” she said, scribbling the details down on a piece of paper. When she was done, she stuck the post it note to Sirius' forehead and stood up from the chair. “I expect a good Christmas present this year, now.”
“Thank you!” he called after her retreating back, and smiled at Lily. Lily just rolled her eyes and logged herself out of facebook before turning and leaving without a word.
Sirius couldn't help but feel a little disappointed by this.
- - -
Sirius wasn't afraid to admit that he was more than a little nervous right now. His career, until now, had not actually involved turning up on people's doorsteps without invitation; it had been wrought with enough ethical issues with his brother working for the people they were looking to shut down. This was not exactly what he'd seen himself doing when he had been sitting in his Introduction to Journalism class; as a result, he'd bitten his nails down to quick on the train ride over here. Glancing down at said nails critically for a moment, he shook his head and knocked at the door before he lost his nerve and gave up completely.
“Oh Jesus fuck... I'll be there in a second!” Remus called out from behind the door. Sirius fidgeted uncomfortably, wishing Remus would just come to the door so he didn't have repress the desire to run any more.
He still cringed as Remus pulled the door open, but his cringe was quickly replaced by a look of pure horror. He hadn't really looked too closely at the facebook picture that Tonks had commented on, but here, face-to-face, he knew who he was talking to.
“Oh, fuck me,” Sirius muttered, staring at the mouth which he had seen his dick disappearing into barely a month ago. “You're Remus Lupin?”
Remus' expression mirrored Sirius'. “And I'm guessing from that, you aren't just stalking me from a one night stand... you're Sirius Black,” he muttered, looking at the ground. His mouth seemed to be in an argument with his brain, but after a long moment, he said, seemingly with difficulty, “Well, I suppose you should come in if you came across London.”
“Thank you,” Sirius said automatically, his brain not intervening in the reaction that years of upper class upbringing had instilled in him.
Remus showed him to the kitchen, where the table was half covered in some form of gaming mat. A blush tinged his cheeks as he hurriedly packed away the figurines and dice, muttering embarrassed apologies as he did.
“Don't worry,” Sirius shook his head, watching Remus' fingers curve around each figure carefully. “My apartment is filled with tubes of paint and brushes in random places, I'm used to intrusive hobbies.”
“Yeah, well, painting isn't exactly Dungeons and Dragons,” Remus muttered, shoving the mat and container onto the sideboard. “Would you like a coffee?”
“Yes, please,” Sirius nodded, pulling out a chair and sitting down at the kitchen table. It was a surprisingly comfortable silence, watching Remus go through the movements of making instant coffee - during which Sirius took the chance to check out Remus' arse more than once - broken only by the “How do you take it?” “Black with two, please.” After a long moment, Remus turned around and placed a mug in front of Sirius before taking a seat himself. Raising an eyebrow, he wrapped those fingers that Sirius couldn't stop staring at around the mug and gave Sirius a look.
“You aren't going to convince me to join your group with superior stalking skills, you know.”
Sirius snorted. “Did it occur to you that maybe we don't actually want you to join the Order?” he asked, taking a long sip of the coffee. It was terrible, worse than the shite that Tonks managed to make back at the office, but it was hot and it gave him something to do other than awkwardly stare at Remus.
“Join, give you information, whatever you want to call it... it involves me risking my job and more for you,” Remus shrugged easily.
“You're risking your job by defacing the home page, too,” Sirius pointed out.
“Yes, but if I get caught I have only myself to blame. If I help you, there's a whole other network of people which can get me caught out.”
“Just an interview,” Sirius wheedled, changing tact completely. “Completely confidential.”
Remus snorted. “When you've emailed me, called me and are now in my house? Riddle probably suspects me now because of what you have done, and I don't even have any association with you and your group of rebels.”
“Do you even like what you do? You obviously hate your employer,” Sirius couldn't keep the heat from his voice. “What is so important about the job that you're so scared of being caught doing something you believe in?”
“It puts food on the table. Do you like what you do?” Remus raised an eyebrow, looking the dark haired man up and down. “I seem to remember you mentioning that your flat being filled with paint and canvases, not anything to do with writing or finance.”
“What I do as a hobby has nothing to do with what I do for a job. Don't pretend you have any idea of who I am,” Sirius hissed, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling that gnawed at his stomach.
If Sirius' eyes didn't deceive him, Remus flinched at that, but it could have just been a trick of the light; a moment later, his long, slim fingers were sliding around the coffee cup once more and he was taking a long sip. The silence was heavy until Remus shrugged, leaning back into his chair.
“You're right, I don't know you. In fact, we're from completely different worlds. And I'd appreciate if you left mine,” he said quietly, an edge of danger in his voice. “I'll be changing my number come Monday morning, so you won't be able to contact me any more - not that you'd have any reason to.”
Sirius couldn't explain his desire to slam his palms down on the desk and demand that this not occur; he refrained, though, years of etiquette training and general denial of feelings coming to the fore. Keeping his facial expression neutral, he nodded and stood, leaving the coffee cup on the table.
“Alright then,” he said easily. He held out a hand for a handshake, and tried to ignore the warmth and comfort that came from the simple palm to palm contact. “Good bye, Remus Lupin.”
“Good bye, Sirius Black,” Remus replied.
His back was turned, turning on the kettle when Sirius walked out the door.
- - -
It was five o'clock Thursday morning, and Sirius Black was far too awake for his own good. His paint brush was moving over the canvas, an intricate dance known to no one but himself, bright colours against bleached fabric, broad, sweeping strokes. But it wasn't right; nothing could mimic that which lived inside his head, taunting him with the perfection he could never commit to canvas. Making a frustrated sound in his throat, he dropped the pallet and shoved his brush into the jar of turpentine with more force than was necessary. He could clean it properly later; now he just needed to get out of his tiny studio, needed fresh air rather than turpentine and oil fumes in his lungs.
Stepping out onto the balcony, Sirius sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. His fingers closed around the familiar shape of his mobile phone and he tugged it out, squinting at the screen. The name “Remus” was visible immediately and he paused, his thumb hovering over the 'delete' button.
Impulse overwhelmed him and he shifted his thumb to the 'call' button instead, expecting to hear the pre-recorded, robotic voice informing him that sorry, this number is no longer in use. Instead, the sound of dialling filled his ear. His breath hitched and froze, not actually sure of what to do now.
“Hello?” the sleep-edged voice of Remus spoke before Sirius had a chance to formulate a plan.
“You didn't change your number,” Sirius said dumbly.
He could almost hear the smile spread across Remus' face.
“You called. You validated my reason not to.”