Descend - Wolfstar + Marauders

The Competition

They were squeezed into a corner booth at the back of the dingy dive bar. Punk music blared over the speakers and a small mosh pit was forming on the dance floor.

Remus and Sirius had been filling up on discounted drinks. Remus had worked there for a short time and was still friendly with the bar staff, having frequented the venue regularly during his more active night life phases. Sirius and Peter had both been there a couple times, way back, but found it quite amusing how many people kept coming up to say hi to Remus over the first hour or two there. Especially when they would walk away and he would explain that he couldn't remember who the fuck they were.

Remus had gone an entire week without a drink, but that streak was spectacularly broken in a matter of hours. He and Sirius were both going hard and fast. Peter had been nursing his drinks, despite Sirius’ loud encouragements to the contrary. He was doing an uncharacteristically good job at resisting the peer pressure.

In a brief moment of clarity Remus thought it was probably good that one of them actually kept their heads about them, because he felt a very strong urge to do something thoroughly stupid before the end of the night and he was pretty certain that Sirius felt the same.

“I’m getting us another round!” Sirius announced, slamming his empty glass down just a little too hard as he pushed himself up.

In a flash he was up at the bar, shamelessly charming the young woman behind the counter with the brightly colored hair. Remus shook his head and laughed as she quickly devolved into flirty giggles and batting eyes. Sirius had never had much trouble getting free drinks.

“I don’t know how you do it,” Peter said. “When I was with Mary it drove me crazy when she would flirt with people, and I certainly wasn’t in love with her.”

Peter had dated Mary MacDonald for a while after they left school, though he later admitted it was largely a failed experiment. They stayed friends, but the feelings weren’t really there.

“It’s just Sirius. He’s always been like that,” said Remus with a chuckle.

“But don’t you ever worry? Doesn’t it bother you that he does it right in front of you?”

Remus gave Peter a strange look. He could be so traditional sometimes. He’d always been that way, but it still frequently caught Remus off guard. Maybe because he tended to keep his worrying to himself around James and Sirius, who were very likely to tease him for it.

“I think it would bother me more if he tried to hide it from me, not less. It's not like he’d ever do anything. I trust him. Besides, it’s funny and I like free drinks,” he said, nodding in Sirius’ direction as he gathered up a round of pints with a cheeky wink at the bartender.

A moment later he set them down at the table, liquid sloshing over the sides.

“Hey Padfoot, would it bother you if I flirted with other people?” Remus asked with a grin.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. “I don’t know, why don’t you give it a go and we’ll find out? I’m sure it’ll be good for a laugh,” he said, nudging Peter in the ribs, prompting an eyeroll that was undercut by a poorly suppressed smile.

“No, this is purely theoretical,” Remus said, but added, “I could if I wanted to, though.”

Sirius and Peter both laughed at that.

“What?” Remus said indignantly. “I can flirt. Worked with you, didn’t it,” he said to Sirius.

“Sure, after a year of pining. Also, I’d hardly call what you did flirting. What are you going to do, go up to someone at the bar and make them a mixtape?”