chapter title: "play the game" by queen

"Merlin James, eat something, please."

"I'm not hungry."

"James Potter if we don't win this match cause you're too busy thinking about jam on toast rather than throwing that quaffle through the hoops cause you were too nervous to eat anything at breakfast I am going to kill you."

It was the morning of the first quidditch match of the season and the Marauders were seated at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall trying to get James to eat something. Remus had no idea what was up with him. Not even extreme nerves would stop him from eating breakfast in the morning, but he supposed they all did things differently.

Sirius reached out for a bit of toast and spread some jam on it before putting it on James' plate. 

"Eat." He said.

Remus' head felt a little fuzzy for reasons other than the excitement of the quickly approaching match, simply because Sirius had tied his hair up in a loose bun, a few loose strands framing his face, and it was doing things to Remus. Both Sirius and James were both wearing their bright scarlet quidditch robes and Remus was trying very hard not to notice the way the fabric stretched across Sirius' chest. He had seen his friends in their quidditch robes plenty of times  before, but there was something about the way Sirius wore it on the day of a match, freshly cleaned, his hair tied away from his face and he had repainted his fucking fingernails in a deep crimson in honour of house pride. He seemed to have done a better job at it this time after the advice Remus had given him on his birthday.

James had reluctantly decided to eat the piece of toast Sirius had given him and Sirius stretched his arms above his head, now clearly satisfied.

"Alright boys, we'll see you on the pitch!" James said as he finished his toast, seeming to regain his usual strength and enthusiasm as he hauled Sirius to his feet.

"Right then," said Peter as they watched Sirius and James make their way down to the grounds. "Wanna go find the girls?" 

Remus nodded as they too got up and searched the long table for Lily's bright red hair that would give away their location.

"There." Remus pointed to where the girls were sat at the end of the table.

"You guys ready?" Peter asked as they reached their spot.

"Shit." Marlene quickly stood up, dusting her hands on her robes before taking a quick swing of tea from her mug. She too was in her bright scarlet robes, and she quickly grabbed her last bite of toast as she ran towards the double doors.

"I'll see you guys there!" She called out behind her as she ran.

"Good luck!" Mary shouted back as Marlene threw her a wink.

"Come on then." Lily said as she and Mary got up from their seats as well, and the four of them made their way slowly down to the quidditch pitch to find their seats in the stands.

"What are our odds like?" Mary asked curiously as Peter launched into a descriptive explanation on Gryffindor's odds against Hufflepuff.

They sat themselves down in Gryffindor's stands, Remus between Lily and Peter, and waited for the match to start.

"Hey Remus."

"Absolutely not."

"Hey! Come onn!"

Remus gave Lily a pointed glare as she looked up at Remus, innocently. She had spent the last week and a half trying to figure out who it was that Remus had a crush on and Remus honestly felt like he was beginning to lose his sanity. She was relentless.

"What's up?" Mary leaned over to ask.

"Remus has got a crush on someone and he won't tell me who it is."

"Lily!" Remus gasped at the betrayal.

"Sorry, Rem."

"Ooh, come on Remus, spill!" Mary said excitedly as Remus groaned, exasperated. "Is it Katie Rivers? I heard she's got a thing for you."

Remus shook his head, helplessly. Soon however, Mary and Lily's questioning was put on hold as the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs came streaming onto the pitch in a cascade of scarlet and yellow, and the match soon began.

Remus would have liked to be able to say that it was a tense game with lots of near misses and close calls. He would have liked to be able to say exactly how many times James managed to expertly get the quaffle through the silver hoops at the end of the pitch and which team's seeker it was that saw the snitch first, but he couldn't because he had spent the entire game looking at Sirius Black's arse.

Well maybe not just his arse. Also the way he streaked across the pitch, the wind caught in his hair, his robes billowing out behind him. The wide grin on his face as he successfully hit the bludgers at the opposing team, the way he tucked the loose strands of hair behind his ear... But mainly his arse.

He probably wouldn't have even noticed forty five minutes later that the match had ended if it wasn't for the commentator's voice ringing out across the pitch shouting: "GRYFFINDOR WIN!" and the stands erupting into a roar of applause around him.

He had felt guilty the first time he had barely paid attention to the match, but after a few years of watching endless quidditch matches, Remus had stopped feeling bad for not watching anything that wasn't Sirius.

As soon as the players had all landed back on the pitch, the players were swarmed by the students spilling out from the stands to congratulate them.

Remus, Peter, Mary and Lily quickly tried to push their way through the crowds to get to their friends.

They soon spotted James, sirius and Marlene and hurried over to them.

"That was great, guys!" Mary gushed as she flung her arms around Marlene who blushed sheepishly and patted her on the back.

"Prongs that goal was awesome!" Peter said to James, quickly discussing a particularly spectacular goal James had apparently scored that Remus had definitely noticed and payed attention to.

"Alright, Moons?"

Remus turned to see Sirius, a wide grin on his face and his hair damp from sweat.

Remus grinned back, trying to hold down the blush in his cheeks as he patted Sirius on the back. 

"You guys were great out there."

"Thanks." Sirius smiled. "Did you see that bludger I hit at Oscar Robins?!"

Remus nodded. He had, actually. "It was a good shot."

"Pure talent, my friend." Sirius said as he threw an arm around Remus.

"Of course."

The seven of them trudged back to the castle, discussing the game in great depth, Remus trying not to move too much when he walked in case Sirius removed his arm from around him.

"We definitely need to have a celebration tonight." James said excitedly. "Play some of those songs we've been working on."

Remus nodded. They had indeed been practising new songs that were probably polished enough to play in front of an audience, and the success of Gryffindor's win would be a perfect opportunity.

"It's only a shame Rodgers caught the snitch so quickly, if he could have just held off for a few hours we wouldn't have had to go back to lessons." James was saying as they reached the entrance hall.

"You'd almost think that Potter doesn't know we have OWLs in a few months." Lily muttered as she pulled Remus away from Sirius and towards the stairs up to the astronomy tower for their lesson, waving goodbye to their friends

"Bye Moony!" Sirius called out after him as Remus waved back with a happy smile.

As soon as they were out of earshot from their friends, however, Lily turned on him.

"Really, Remus?"

"What?" Remus asked, confused as to why they had stopped in an empty corridor.

"You are unbelievable."

"What!"

"Sirius, Remus?! You fancy Sirius Black."

Remus felt his blood run cold. "W-whaat! No I don't I-"

"Rem, don't lie to me. It's so fucking obvious I can't believe I didn't notice it before. You barely watched the game at all, you just spent the entire time staring at Sirius!" She argued. "And the way you blush the second he touches you- honestly Remus, really?!"

Remus bowed his head, embarrassed suddenly at the confrontation.

"Look, Lils, I know, okay. It's ridiculous. I know Sirius doesn't care about dating anyone, and I mean.. come on I know he's not even gay and we're just friends and I've seen the amount of hearts he's broken, but I didn't choose to like Sirius, okay?"

Lily's face softened and she pulled Remus in for a hug. "I'm sorry, Rem, I know. I just don't want you to get hurt, you know?"

Remus nodded, reaching to pat Lily on the back as she pulled away to look at him.

"But seriously Remus, SIRIUS?!"

"I KNOW! Lily I need help!" Remus pleaded with her. Because at this point it really was starting to become an issue. He had let himself fall for Sirius for too long, and one day Sirius was actually going to find someone he liked enough to want to actually date, and then Remus wouldn't know what to do with himself. But now that Lily had discovered his two biggest secrets, it felt strangely good to have it out in the open.