Flowers At The Door

NYC, 3

Two weeks and four of PB&J's shows later, Remus finally felt that Mark's attempts to woo him were sufficient. Sometimes when Mark got a big head about just how far he'd managed to progress his relationship with Remus, Remus wanted to knock him down a few pegs and remind him that they only ever went out together because Remus was obsessed with watching Sirius on stage. Though, given the at best, strained relationship between Mark and Sirius, Remus knew that he could only push that button if he was ready for nuclear war. Which he wasn't.

He was very glad, however, that Sirius had come around and decided to join them at the show they'd decided on. It was the other band Mark managed, Feminist Manifesto. Convincing Sirius to come along was made easier by the fact that he was really good friends with Lily Evans, the lead singer; the fact that he seemed to find great pleasure in glaring at Remus at all times; and that he liked to rub it in James' face that, try as he might, James could not convince Lily that he just wasn't interested.

The band was good, a little more punkish than PB&J and Lily certainly gave Sirius a run for his money in the 'I'm too cool for you' department.

Remus wasn't exactly sure how it all happened, but somewhere between the bassist, Marlene, taking over for one song and her sickly sweet voice singing girls by girl in red before very publicly making out with Dorcas, the band's drummer, and the seemingly endless flow of drinks provided by Mark, Remus was properly sloppy and shit-faced.

He didn't usually get like this, in fact he'd maybe only been this hammered twice before in his entire life. But there was something so intense about the way Sirius was watching him that Remus couldn't keep track of how many glasses Mark put in his hands and once he was holding a cup, he felt inclined to drink it, just because that's what you do when you're at a bar and someone's gaze is burning through you.

He'd hardly even spoken to Sirius; maybe 10 sentences total since they'd met, but Sirius was always somewhere close by, often eavesdropping on conversations. In fact, Remus was sure that Sirius had overheard him begging Regulus to not let him go home with Mark no matter how drunk he got and how adamant he got that going home with the other man was a good idea. If Sirius hadn't snorted a laugh and downed his drink immediately after Remus had said that, Remus would have thought Sirius' attention had been elsewhere.

To be completely fair, it wasn't Remus' fault that Feminist Manifesto played a lot of Taylor Swift covers, or that all of Taylor Swift's songs were absolute fucking bangers. Six songs into their set and Remus found himself unable to leave the little area in front of the stage where he was dancing and likely making a fool of himself. Each time Mark came over and brought him a refill, he got a little handsier, and Remus was almost certain that he'd be going home with the man, though he wouldn't remember anything in the morning.

It was nearing the end of the night and Remus couldn't tell up from down, but drunk as he was, Remus had enough were-with-all to try to shake Mark off when he began grinding up behind him and he attempted to give Remus a horrendous hickey. Remus likely could have withstood the grinding for long enough until he could escape to the bathroom, but the way Mark was marking his neck didn't feel like a love bite at all, it actually really hurt.

"Ouch," he elbowed Mark, "Mark stop it, that hurts."

Mark slung his head to Remus' other shoulder and rested his chin there, "then, let's get out of here."

"I shouldn't. Reg will help me home."

"Your friend left," Mark snaked his hands down around Remus's waist and held tightly to his hips. "Come on, let's go. I'm your ride home and you're in no state to manage yourself. Come back to mine."

Panic rushed over Remus instantly. Regulus had left him here. That didn't sound right. Remus tried to remember if Regulus had been drinking a lot too but as he tried to focus his thoughts, his head pounded and the room began to spin.