Chapter Text
The invitation to James' wedding had somehow taken Remus by surprise, as had the simple fact that he had managed to stay friends with James in the first place. Going to Oxford had been a once in a lifetime opportunity. Being the son of a disgraced politician with little money to his name, he had stood out on every opportunity, even more so when he was adopted into the friendship of James and Sirius. Both the eldest sons of families of old money, they hadn't seen Remus as less for not being as rich, but others certainly had.
Once they had graduated, Remus had assumed their friendship would die a quick and quiet death, but, lo and behold. Over a decade later and he was the best mate at the wedding of the year. At least according to the sordid gossip tabloids he didn't read.
Anyway, Remus vaguely knew the bride, knew James was head-over-heels for her, and that was enough for Remus. She was pretty, again based on James' biased narration, had beautiful red hair and vibrant green eyes. She had also brought her own mate of honour, someone Sirius had been having screaming matches with for as long as they were acquainted. Remus was very glad he had not yet witnessed that, but was sure he wouldn’t be spared forever.
The actual wedding passed by him in a haze. There were some memories of standing beside Sirius and a few other people he didn't know as James and his bride promised to love each other for all eternity. After that, well, James did always know what booze to bring to the parties.
Now, Remus regretted every single decision he had ever made that brought him to this room. A room he did not recognise, in a bed that was not his, with a sweet ache running through his body. He was already dreading having to sit up and walk around to gather his clothes. Surely that was not his shirt and tie hanging on the doorknob. He hadn't yet turned around to look at the body still sleeping beside him, knowing it would only shatter the illusion that he had his life on track.
Oh, why had he not listened to that voice inside his mind that always knew better, and that had told him to slow down on his drinking? It would have spared him from the humiliation of having to face his one-night lover without remembering their name.
Slowly, and oh so carefully, Remus disentangled himself from the bed sheets while not looking at the person sleeping on the other side. He had already seen more than enough when he dislodged the arm keeping him captive. Remus was certain he wasn't going to forget how pale it had been, with a handful of birthmarks scattered over the expanses of bare skin. The gaudy tattoo was more than enough to keep his mind entranced with the unknown identity of the person he had shared James' wedding night with.
His objective for the moment was to escape from any and all embarrassing situations that might arise if his paramour for the night were to awaken before Remus had managed to flee. Luckily they hadn't gone to his room for the night, then it would have gotten truly awkward. Thank Merlin for small mercies.
The line of clothing haphazardly dropped on the ground made it a bit of a long affair before Remus had managed to find everything, though he was certain he had lost his handkerchief somewhere along the way. The door, when opened, made an ominous sound, but a lack of movement from the bedroom gave Remus enough confidence that he could escape while his partner was still fast asleep.
He tiptoed back to his own room, while vaguely recognising that he’d spent the night in a completely different part of the hotel. Breakfast would be served soon, and he had a duty to James to not look like death warmed over after spending the previous evening drinking too much in good company. There would be pictures taken, and Remus knew he didn’t look that good compared to the other guests. There was no reason to add hungover and ready-to-puke to the list.
It would take a miracle for his one-night stand not to appear downstairs before Remus had managed to flee the post-wedding ceremony. James had way too many plans for other people to be present before leaving for his honeymoon. With Remus’ luck they would not be done before other guests would start arriving downstairs and he would be recognised.
He did not have the time nor energy to fend off James' and Sirius' teasing over his bad life decisions. They were always going on and on about him being lonely and sad and needing to go out and live a bit, though that still sounded better than them teasingly telling their friends he was having a mid-life crisis before hitting forty-five.
Just for your information, he was not having a midlife crisis. Having sex with a stranger during his best friend's wedding because he had no one to ask as his plus one, was not a crisis. He was simply a bit lonely, but that didn't mean anything at all, and it was certainly not as bad in his personal life as Sirius liked to pretend. He had his colleagues at the cafe where he worked as a barista, and the customer who would chat with him while waiting for his order. And his neighbour's cat who liked to break into his home to sleep on his bed.
Now he only had to convince himself of that, instead of returning to his one-bedroom apartment and wallowing in self pity for screwing up his one shot with the hot person he had managed to sleep with. Sneaking out before the other woke up was looking more and more like a bad decision with every passing minute not spent encased in the other's comfortable, warm arms.
Well, there was nothing to it anymore. Remus would never meet them again and he simply had to live with that.
That was what Remus thought while walking down the flight of stairs towards the dining room where breakfast would be served, only to be stopped in his tracks at the sight of the man sitting on James' bride's left hand.
He was so fucked.
Chapter Text
Remus had been sipping from his third glass of whiskey when the handsome man who had been Lily's witness appeared next to him. Remus had tried not to stare too much at the man, though he knew he had failed, thanks to Sirius whispering in his ear. Apparently he was incredibly obvious, even if one did know his type.
The man had introduced himself as Severus, thankfully, as Remus had not remembered his name from their earlier round of introductions, too busy staring at the pale expanses of skin that were revealed by Severus’ rolled-up shirt sleeves. They had chatted during the rest of the evening, steadily drinking a bit more than might have been sensible. Especially when taking into account that Remus was trying to impress the other man.
He must have done something right as he had been invited back to Severus' room. Sirius' thumbs-up from across the room was not enough incentive for Remus to feel ashamed of his besotted look, but he made sure that no one (read: Sirius) followed them. It was clear that Sirius had not gotten a good look at the specific person Remus would share the night with, otherwise he wouldn't have been as excited.
The night had been as mind-blowing as Remus had hoped, he had gotten ample opportunity to map out the planes of pale skin hidden beneath the skintight clothes Lily had bullied Severus into wearing. This might have actually been one of the best nights of his life. Especially when, after his own scars got uncovered, Severus didn't react badly at all. He had his own and wasn't bothered by Remus'.
Everything went amazing. Until Remus woke up and he, in all his hungover wisdom, decided that it must have been too good to be true. And was too cowardly to take a non-alcohol hazed look at his lover, but instead snuck out.
It was all coming back in a rush while Remus was struck dumb at the image Severus made. Remus had really done a number on the other man, it was also at that moment that Remus realised he hadn't even looked in the mirror before coming downstairs. There really wasn't going to be a way to hide what had happened.
Sirius was going to explode. Or ask for details.
Either way, Remus did not want to be present when it happened.
He had only just made up his mind that surely their friendship would survive Remus disappearing before the wedding breakfast, when obsidian black eyes locked with his. Remus was helpless to do anything but walk towards the table and take his place on James' right.
The awkward silence that had descended on the table was only broken by Lily's excited chatter with Severus. James' mouth had fallen open at Remus' entrance, and he must have looked as bad as he felt for James to forget to fawn over his wife. His mouth fell open and was catching flies, before he remembered himself and was ready to tease Remus.
"Mate, I know you were all over someone during last night's party. But Severus? Though, you know what, no. I am not surprised at all. He is your type and smart enough to talk shop with you about books."
Remus was more than happy to be done with the topic after James' encouraging words, but Sirius took that very moment to waltz into the breakfast room and zone into the hickeys that must’ve been displayed on Remus' neck. The glee on his face made Remus flinch into himself, anything to look smaller, and maybe Sirius wouldn't, for once, act like himself.
It was hopeless.
"Mate!" Sirius yelled, and the few other guests not part of the wedding party looked their way. Remus’ face had steadily reddened while listening to James' be supportive and Severus being too intelligent. "I knew you had it in you. Finally getting some! I am so proud."
Sirius was laying half-over Remus' lap in an attempt to be as annoying as humanly possible while at the same time stealing all the nice bits of food from Remus' plate. How did his life end up like this?
"And Snape, what do I see there? Did a vampire find you or something? I’m surprised, I thought vampires were only interested in humans."
Remus' head hung low in shame. It could have gone worse. Maybe.
"Black, if you must know, it was not a vampire. Though it did have something to do with the man in whose lap you're currently residing."
Yes, Remus was fucked.