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Remus Lupin was not a spontaneous person by nature.
He may have been a Gryffindor once upon a time, and he may have exhibited some reckless behaviour in the past, but when it came down to it, he was quite a detail-oriented planner; careful and precise and meticulous, especially when it came to things that mattered dearly to him. Which is why, when he decided that he wanted to spend the rest of his days with his best friend and long-term boyfriend, Sirius Black, in an official sense, he planned his proposal in depth...
Six months ago, during a moment of slow dancing in their kitchen at midnight, he decided to ask Sirius to spend the foreseeable with him.
Five months ago, he asked his friends if they thought it was a good idea, to which James emphatically explained that yes, it was a good (great, brilliant, bloody fantastic!) idea, and Peter agreed just as enthusiastically.
Four months ago, he began searching for the perfect engagement rings.
Three months ago, he found them in a little shop just outside of Birmingham, and he cleverly hid them in his ukulele case where he knew Sirius never went.
Two months ago, he went to see Euphemia and Fleamont Potter to ask for their permission to marry their son, even though he thought it was a ridiculous thing to do because Sirius was his own person and could make his own choices, but Lily had insisted he ask, so he did, and the Potters happily gave their permission.
One month ago, he began planning the actual event:
First, he was going to do it on their ten-year anniversary: 5th November 1989. They were going to go to The Hippogriff's Neck where they had their first, second, third and fourth dates. He had booked the place so that it would be empty of patrons, except for friends and family who would be dotted around in disguise, ready to jump out and celebrate the (hopefully) joyous moment with them if Sirius accepted his proposal. There would be romantic shit everywhere – flowers, faerie lights, candles, different kinds of ambience setters. Once they had been seated in their usual booth, he was going to give Sirius ten sunflowers (his favourite of the flowers) before they ordered some food that had been lovingly prepared by the landlady. And then, once they had finished their grub, he was going to pop the question.
It had all been planned, arranged, set up.
But things don't always go according to plan. A fact which Remus found out one windy Friday evening, a fortnight before their anniversary, when he found himself in his kitchen with his arms linked around Sirius and Sirius's arms wrapped around him as they swayed to some slow instrumental tune on the record player. It was a similar scene to the one six months ago, when he decided that he wanted to be with Sirius forever and a day by law.
It was not unusual to find them dancing in the kitchen. They could often be found swaying around the flat together and it didn't matter the time or place – in the kitchen at 1AM, in the bathroom at 8AM, in the living room at 4PM, in the bedroom at 11PM... It was just something that they did.
Remus was not a natural and could usually be found avoiding anything even remotely resembling a dancefloor, but Sirius brought something out in him: a romantic that had long been hidden away. The fact of it was that Sirius loved dancing, and he loved Sirius, so he didn't really mind dancing so long as it was Sirius he was dancing with.
It was as they were swaying back and forth, Sirius humming along to the classical tune coming through the speakers, looking handsome with his messy hair and bright eyes and unkempt stubble, at one o'clock in the morning, that he decided it was time.
He had planned the perfect proposal. It was going to be something that would be talked about for years. He just knew it. But at that moment, it didn't seem to matter anymore. He couldn't help but think that it wouldn't feel right; that it would feel forced, unnatural. There was no perfect time, he supposed, but as he stood there with Sirius in his arms, it certainly felt right, and he couldn't think of anything but asking the other man to marry him. So, he did.
"Marry me," he said, just like that. Simple. Clean. Unmistakable in his intentions.
They stopped swaying. The wind howled against the windows outside; the music continued quietly inside. Sirius stared at him with a small frown, as if he was trying to understand the first words that had been spoken in as many minutes.
"What?" he asked, after a long moment.
Remus began to feel nerves claw at him, but he fought to keep his composure and he reiterated, "Will you marry me, Sirius?"
Sirius pulled back slightly to stare at him properly, though he did not move from the embrace. "You... Hold on, you want to marry me? Like, actual marriage? Like, lawfully?"
Remus nodded, "Yes. Very much so."
Sirius's frown did not abate. Remus couldn't really blame him for his confusion. He had, after all, been stating for years that marriage was archaic and pointless and dumb and a modern version of slavery.
"I don't understand," Sirius said, his hands moving to Remus's chest to push him back slightly. Remus's arms dropped to hang limply at his sides. "You said you'd never get married."
Remus nodded in agreement, because he had said that. Once, or twice.
"You said that marriage was ridiculous," Sirius continued. "That it was nothing but a social norm. You said that it was an institutionalised form of oppression. That it was a fucking piece of paper that meant nothing in the end."
"I know," Remus said, feeling a bit out of his depth. "I know what I said."
"So, what happened?" Sirius asked, which was a fair question. "What changed your mind?"
"You did," Remus replied, honest, earnest, hoping to convey his sincerity. He took Sirius's hands in his own and tried to explain, "Listen, I know I've been pretty vocal about my opinions on the subject before, but it doesn't matter now."
Sirius stared at him, daring him to go on.
"Look, I... I stand by some of what I said," he added carefully. "It is ridiculous. It is institutionalised. It is a piece of paper. But it's a piece of paper that I want because, with you, it'll be more than that. It'll be something that binds us together; something official that shows everyone how we feel about each other."
"Remus..."
"What I'm trying to say is that it'll be more than a piece of paper with you, and I want it – if you want it."
Sirius still looked so very confused. "But why?" he asked. "You were so opposed. You stated so many times that it was dumb and I... I accepted that. I accepted that we would never have what James and Lily had. I accepted that this is it; you and me in this flat, just us knowing that we'd be together forever. I just don't understand what changed recently. We haven't discussed marriage in years."
"I know," he said. "I know it seems sudden, but it's not."
Sirius gave him a sceptical look.
Remus knew that he was fucking it up, that he was rambling, getting stuck in a loop, but he also knew that he needed to explain himself. So, he started at the beginning:
"Sirius, I love you," he stated, firmly and without room for argument. "I love you more than words can even begin to describe, and all I want is for you to be happy. That is all I have ever wanted, ever since we were eleven years old. Everything I have done since then has been to make your life good, to make you smile. I know you better than I know myself. I know what you want, what you don't want, and I know that marriage is in the 'want' category. And, sure, I didn't really care about being official to the Ministry in the past, but I want to do everything I can to make you happy. I will do anything for you. And if that means marriage, then sign me up."
Sirius bit his lip and stared at him for a long moment, as if assessing his words. "Do you really want this, though?" he asked. "I don't need marriage, Remus. I have you. I don't want you to do this if you don't really want to. Are you sure that you really want this with me?"
"I want everything with you," Remus replied firmly. "I already know that I am going to spend the rest of my life with you. I knew it on our first date. I knew it when we moved in together. I knew it when we got that awful fucking statue of Padfoot and Moony. I have known it every day I've been allowed to kiss you. So if you want marriage, let's do it. You want kids? I'm in. You want to run off to the woods and live in a cave like hermits? Fine. As long as I'm with you."
Sirius stared at him for a long moment. Unreasonably long. After what seemed like forever but was most likely only a few minutes or so, he answered: "Okay."
"Okay?"
Sirius grinned and said, "Okay. Yes, if you really want this, I'll marry you. Of course I'll marry you."
Remus was so taken aback that it took him a moment to realise that Sirius had said yes to his proposal. Sirius Black had said yes to him. Sirius Black had agreed to spend their futures together. Sirius Black, who had been his best friend for nearly two decades and the love of his life for more than half that, who had seen him at his worst and at his best and at everything in between, who had made him laugh more than anyone and who made him feel special and like the man he was meant to be. That Sirius Black had said YES to him!
"Yes?"
Sirius laughed and nodded, "Yes."
"Yes!"
Remus couldn't control himself. He threw his arms around Sirius, picked him up and spun them around in his excitement. Sirius laughed and wrapped his arms around Remus in response. After a few dizzying spins, he set Sirius down and planted so many kisses on the other man, on his cheeks and jaw and forehead – anywhere he could reach. Sirius laughed and accepted the peppered kisses before he grabbed Remus's face and pressed their lips together.
When they broke apart, Remus took a second to stare at his fiancé (HIS FIANCÉ!) and he found himself thinking the same thing he always thought when he looked at Sirius: I am so fucking lucky.
Sirius was so very handsome, with intelligent grey eyes and a perfect jawline and lovely pink lips, and he was so nice and so sweet and so funny and so bloody perfect – even his flaws, his mood swings, his lack of verbal filter, were wonderful.
"I love you," Remus muttered, pressing his face into Sirius's neck. "So fucking much."
"I love you, too," Sirius replied with a grin. "So fucking much."
It occurred to him suddenly that all of his careful planning had been for naught. He couldn't very well ask Sirius to marry him again, could he? But he couldn't call it off. He had put a deposit down on the pub. He had prepared an outfit for the occasion. Everyone was going to be there: his parents, Sirius's parents, their friends. James and Peter and Lily had been waiting for months for this. Marlene and Dorcas were coming up from Leeds. Frank and Alice were delaying their holiday. Regulus was even flying in from the States! He couldn't just cancel it.
"Remus?"
Remus snapped back to reality to find Sirius looking at him.
"You okay?" he asked.
Remus nodded, "Yeah, sorry. I was just... I should probably tell you that everyone expects us to do this – get engaged, I mean – in two weeks."
Sirius blinked, "What?"
"I, uh... I planned a thing," he admitted, a bit sheepish. "I asked Mia and Monty a few months ago if I could marry you and I was going to ask you in November – on our anniversary. I figured it would be a good time to ask. But then you asked me to dance just now and I... It just felt right, y'know?"
"You've been thinking about this?" Sirius asked, though Remus couldn't fathom why. He was a planner – everyone, most of all Sirius, knew this. "This isn't a spur of the moment thing? You've actually been thinking about us getting married for a while?"
Remus nodded, "Yeah. Well, technically, this here is a spur of the moment thing, but I've been thinking about asking you to marry me for ages. I had everything set up as well. It was going to be romantic as shit. I was going to take you to The Neck, we were going to have some food, then I was going to propose on the veranda out back. Everyone was going to be there."
Sirius looked at him, as if seeing him in a different light. After a moment, he muttered, "Oh."
Remus offered a shy grin.
"Well, I suppose it could be an Engagement Party?" Sirius suggested.
Remus thought about it. Changing the event from Proposal Day to an engagement party would mean that all of his hard work wasn't going to waste, and it saved them from having to plan some sort of celebration later because they already had something sorted. Plus there would be drinks and food and everyone would be together in one place, something that likely wouldn't happen again for a while since everyone lived in odd places.
"Yeah, that might work," he murmured, looking at his fiancé. "You're so brilliant."
Sirius laughed and replied, "Thank you. I've been telling you all this for years."
Remus smiled and kissed his fiancé again. After a second, Sirius pulled back.
"Did you say you'd asked my parents if you could marry me?" Sirius asked with an amused smile. "That's awfully old-fashioned, Remus."
"I know it's ridiculous," he huffed. "But I figured if I was going to do it, then I might as well follow tradition. Even if it is dumb and rude, because you're not cattle being sold off."
Sirius chuckled and leaned in to kiss him again. "If you were going to ask in two weeks... does that mean you have rings?" he asked, pulling back.
"Yeah, they're... Two seconds."
Remus pulled away and jogged to the bedroom where he had hidden the rings in the ukulele case right next to his smartest pair of shoes – the shoes that he had been planning to wear on Proposal Day. He flicked the royal red box open to check that the rings were still inside, which they were, then he closed the lid and made his way back to the kitchen where Sirius was patiently waiting.
Deciding to go the whole hog, Remus got down on one knee and opened the box. "Sirius Black, love of my life, my guiding light in my darkest nights, will you marry me?" he asked.
Sirius grinned. "Of course I'll marry you, Remus Lupin," he replied, pulling Remus up and kissing him once again briefly. "Like I would ever say no."
Remus grinned and took one of the rings out of the box before he took Sirius's hand and slipped it on. Sirius took the box and did the same, removing the remaining ring and placing it on Remus's hand, before they embraced tightly.
It was weird, looking at his hand with an engagement ring on it. It would likely be years before he and Sirius ever got married due to the current laws for same-sex couples, both inside and outside of the wizarding world, but didn't matter because he knew that this was a step forward. He knew that they were going to be together forever. He didn't need a ring to show that, nor did he need an official document, but he was going to do it all anyway. For Sirius, and now for himself.