Lines, lines, lines THIS WASN'T AWKWARD [rp with pinksleeves]

[everso_boring]

This was going to be awkward, wasn't it. Remus sat on one of the chairs in the study, glancing up from his book every few seconds to examine the fireplace. He really wished Gary hadn't told him about this whole -- crush thing.  Maybe he was dense, but Remus honestly hadn't even begun to suspect that Petey -- liked him.  It -- well.  It wasn't the

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[pinksleeves]

It was just about when Remus was forgetting the fireplace that Petey was tumbling out of it, landing in something of a sprawl, covered in soot and looking very embarrassed. It had been his first try with the whole fireplace travel thing, after all, and considering he hadn't gotten lost or broken anything, he thought it went off really well.

Except that it was really, really embarrassing to be entering someone's house by pretty much falling into it. And Remus was just right there, too, so there was no way he'd missed that.

Getting to his feet, Petey smiled over at him sheepishly. "H-hi, Remus. Sorry, I didn't mean to, um, make a mess. I can clean it up!"

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Remus jumped up in surprise, then grinned. "Hey! Um, no, no, it's fine, here," he said, hurrying over and pulling his wand out of his back pocket. Tapping Petey quickly on the shoulder, then waving it in a general direction at the fireplace. "Scourgify," Remus mumbled.

"You got here okay, though! That's good. You -- um, you okay? Did you hit your head or anything?" He grinned, rubbing the back of his neck with his wand hand.

[pinksleeves]

Petey watched with interest as the soot sort of just... cleaned itself up, looking from himself to the fireplace before fixing Remus with a very large smile. "That was cool! How did you do that?"

He patted his hands over himself, then shook his head. "No, I'm okay. I'm just glad I didn't knock anything over or break anything, that would have been really bad."

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"Um, well. Magic." Remus grinned. "I can show you more, if you want. I grew up with it and I still think it's bloody brilliant at times."

Remus nodded, gesturing and leading them toward the kitchen. "Yeah, well, magic's good for that, too. You hungry or thirsty or anything? S'just about tea time -- I mean, you don't -- have that, but. Doesn't mean it's not quite tasty, er." He was rambling. This wasn't so bad, but still kind of weird.

[pinksleeves]

Following along like an obedient puppy, Pete nodded. "No, um, we can have tea. My mom makes tea sometimes but I doubt it's the same thing. Since, um. Well, you've probably got good tea, not the stuff that comes in packets and... stuff." He was rambling so much, wasn't he? It was bad. He needed to get a handle on that, but he was nervous, was all. He hadn't told Gary about this on purpose, after he'd gotten so angry about finding out about the silly crush, and now he was alone with Remus and it was... weird. Really weird. And Remus wasn't hitting him, either, so he wasn't entirely sure how to act. He needed more practice around nice people.

"What sort of things can you do?" He asked, and then added quickly, "I mean, if you're allowed to tell me. You might not be. I don't really know how the whole magic thing works. Are you allowed to tell people? I wouldn't want you to get in trouble!"

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"Um -- No, I can tell you," Remus said with a nod and a shrug. "My mum's Muggle-born, so clearly her folk know, after all. It's just -- we're not supposed to let it spread too far, and there's lots of weird politics around it. It's -- convoluted and not too interesting." He paused.

"I didn't mean you didn't have tea -- er, I meant, you don't have tea time, sorry, that -- sounded rude, I bet." He wrinkled his nose, flushing a bit. "But. Um. What sorts of tea do you want?" He pulled down a few canisters, setting them on the counter for Pete to choose from. "And -- I don't know, I can do lots of different things. Charms, that's like what I did before, just handy little things, transfiguration, which changes the form of things. I'm bollocks at Potions, though," Remus said with a shrug, putting the kettle on the Muggle-style stove.

[pinksleeves]

"Erm, why don't you just pick whichever tea you like best? I don't really know much about tea and if I pick one you don't like then-" No. He was trying not to ramble for days and days. He should try a little harder.

Except now Remus was blushing. Why was he doing that? This had to be a trick. Petey just knew he was starting to get red too, so he ducked his head, trying to hide it, and also trying not to hear Gary's voice in his head, telling him what a girl he was and how his breasts should come in any day now.

He sort of hated life a little right then.

"Well, um, you don't have to worry, I won't tell anyone. So, um... yeah, you don't have to... um, worry."

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"Well, we can each have our own sort, I mean. We can steep it in the cup. But this type is good." He pushed the canister toward Pete. "See how you like it. Um, smell it, I mean." He grinned. "You want any biscuits? You hungry at all?"

He blinked. "Oh -- Yeah, I know, I know you wouldn't tell. I mean, it's kind of strange, anyway, isn't it? To just tell people." Remus set two teacups on the counter, sitting on a stool as he waited for the kettle to whistle.

[pinksleeves]

Petey definitely blushed a little harder when Remus grinned at him, and he picked up the canister to sniff the tea leaves inside, hoping it'd hide his cheeks a little. Not that it would matter too much, he was pretty sure his ears were red too. But it wasn't his fault! Remus was just really nice!

Gary was going to murder him.

"Biscuits? Why- oh, no, like cookies!" He smiled a little sheepishly. "I- yes please. Cookies are always good. Biscuits, I mean. And yeah, I don't think most people would really believe me anyway, if I told them you did magic. And Gary'd probably just hit me for lying. He hates liars."

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"Oh, Gary knows. I'm -- not sure how," Remus admitted. "But he's mentioned it a few times, at least. So at least you two can talk about how much of a freak I am, if you want." Yay, biscuits! Remus was glad for the distraction of food and drink. Petey was blushing a lot, and Remus was trying not to notice, but it was hard not to, and he wasn't doing anything -- odd! He just -- was being himself, and it's not like he wanted to be any different and -- augh

[pinksleeves]

"I guess that makes more sense than it doesn't. Gary just knowing things, I mean. He does that. It's kind of annoying sometimes." But yes, definitely yay cookies! Biscuits. He'd just have to call them biscuits while he was here, it was the polite thing to do. He grabbed one and followed Remus so he could watch him make the tea.

"It's pretty interesting, actually. I don't always get real intelligent conversation often, so it's a nice change. My friend Jimmy is really nice, but he's, um, not the brightest person. And with Gary it's usually intelligent conversation until I say something dumb or he gets bored." He needed to add stop talking about Gary to his list too. Stop blushing and stop talking about Gary. He was starting to sound like he was obsessed or something.

Which he wasn't. Really! He just... didn't have a lot of friends to talk about. Which sort of left him just a few choices. That was all.

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Remus set one teacup by Petey, sitting down again. He grinned, wrinkling his nose. "Yeah, don't worry. I mean -- Sirius and James are both ridiculously bright, but they basically have their own language, and when they get going I can't even begin to understand what's going on." He waggled his fingers by his ear, shrugging. "It's some weird Boys' Club thing. I missed the induction ceremony, as I was at some queer poetry reading. And then my Pete -- I said we've a Pete at Hogwarts, right? -- he's -- maybe he's like your Jimmy."

[pinksleeves]

"Maybe! Except I wouldn't call Jimmy mine, he'd probably punch me. Or kiss me. He goes around making out with like everyone at school, it's... sort of weird." This was better. There was less blushing and Petey was sort of starting to relax and these cookies were sort of awesome and things were much better now.

"Sirius is your boyfriend, right?" He asked, pulling the cup of tea closer. "Is he, um... Does he live close by? I bet it's hard being away for the summer. But I guess it's easy to come visit, 'cause of the fireplace travel and everything."

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Remus took a biscuit, too. Om nom, chocolate. Oh, and some of them had orange filling. Mm, Pimms. Delicious. "Okay, that's definitely not like our Pete. Although I'm supposed to help him find a girlfriend this summer," Remus laughed, shrugging. "Not really sure how, but. We'll see."

Remus nodded. "Yeah, Sirius is in Braintree. Yes, there's really a town called Braintree. It's on the other side of London, but -- right, with Floo, it's not a big deal. Did you want sugar or honey? Or cream or anything?" Remus shrugged a little. "To be honest, I'm kind of glad for the space." He probably shouldn't be telling Pete this of all people, why was he speaking? XD "We were both really stressed by the end of term, and things were -- you know, tense. Now we can relax and it's special, I guess? when we see each other. He's staying with James's family, too, so he's having a brill time."

[pinksleeves]

Okay, he had tried really hard not to laugh at the name BRAINTREE, but- no, he giggled a little. "Sorry. It's just a funny name. And, um, I'll just have whatever you're having in your tea. It makes it harder to look dumb if I just copy you, since you know what you're doing."

Shifting a little nervously, Petey frowned. "Well now that you've had time to um, let things settle down, everything's okay, right?" He hoped things were okay. Remus was his friend first, after all, and his silly little crush definitely came second, when it came to things like this.

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Remus laughed, ducking his head. "It is strange, it's fine. They love it. Especially since it's in Essex." He flashed another grin at Petey, dropping a spoonful of sugar into each of their cups, then offering Pete a clean spoon.

He bit his lip, unsure of how much awkwardness they could really handle. "Um, yeah, I think we're good. Sirius is still --" Remus shrugged. "He still has some stuff going on, and. I don't know, it's weird." He waved a hand again. "Um. What's up with you?" He grinned, only a little forced.