meeting the godson

[thebloodtraitor]

In all honesty, Sirius can't remember a time he's been so nervous.

Perhaps the day of Harry's birth when he'd spent the entirety of Lily's labour wandering about the garden trying to expel restless energy. He likely hadn't been any more nervous than James that day, but at least James had something to do, something to focus on. Sirius only had his own mind to get lost in, a dangerous thing given its propensity for dramatics.

He finds today, this evening, doesn't feel much better.

Sirius checks the noodles once again, though they've been ready for minutes now and are only warming under the lid. The sauce is nearly done as well, but Sirius stirs it for at least the hundredth time as he quells the impulse to pour himself a fresh glass of wine. He's already operating on one as it is, likely not a great idea to be too sloshed by the time Harry arrives.

And that should be any minute really.

Sirius's fingers twitch at his sides and he glances over when he hears Kieren enter the kitchen. "Should I have gotten one of those cheesecake things, do you think?" he asks, forcing himself to remove his hand from the wooden spoon. "I've three pints of ice cream in the freezer, but what if he's not in the mood for ice cream. What if he'd rather have a cake?"

None of this is really about the food, Sirius knows. But it's much easier to focus on that, then the real reason Harry's joining them for dinner tonight.

Comments

[roartonrisen]

Kieren's lingering lazily by the kitchen as he watches Sirius wander around, fretting over something that he'd been pushing for, for so long. He's glad that it's finally happening, but he feels a bit bad that Sirius is in such a tizzy about it. "Sirius, he'll like whatever it is you put out," he promises, grinning as he leans over Sirius' shoulder to dip his finger in the sauce, indulging in the thrill of getting to actually taste it.

"S'good," he praises. "I think I'll keep you."

[who_lived]

Harry curses under his breath when he realizes he's running late. Above him in his room in The Nook, Hedwig hoots, shaking her head at him. Even his owl is judging him.

He doesn't know what exactly to where; his goddfather invited him over to dinner with Kieren, and Harry can't decide if that entails formal wear or not. Likely not, considering his goddfather, but Harry doesn't want to be rude.

He eventually settles on a dressy shirt and a nice pair of navy trousers. He runs out the door with his wand in his mouth, knowing, somewhere, Ron must be laughing at him.

He stops at the store before Apparating to Sirius' apartment. He knocks on the door with the bottle of whiskey and the store-bought pie in his hands.

"Hello?" He calls out as he knocks.

[thebloodtraitor]

"Watch it, you'll burn yourself," Sirius says worriedly as he watches Kieren dip his finger into the warm saucepan. Even now, after weeks of getting used to it, there's still something strangely thrilling about having to worry about such a thing at all.

It helps that Kieren doesn't so much as yelp at the touch, his face instead calm and even fond.

Sirius lets out a breath, though it immediately catches short when there's a knock on the door and Harry's unmistakable voice.

"Merlin, he's here," Sirius breathes then, his heart just about turning over in his chest as he gives the oven and the saucepans and the plates all one last fevered look, trying to catalogue what he might be missing. And possibly also delaying answering the door. Just a bit. "Right, coming!" he finally says, hurrying out of the kitchen and into the main room, pasting on a wide smile as he opens the door.

Immediately, his gaze drops to the bottle in Harry's hand and a great wave of relief washes over him. "You've brought whiskey, you incredible, beautiful boy."

[roartonrisen]

Kieren lingers in the background with an amused smile on his face, stirring the sauce while Sirius goes to accept the whiskey and greet Harry. He's nervous, too, and now that he's properly human again, he feels like it's hitting him three times as hard as it might before. He still keeps in the background, not wanting to rush anything because this is Sirius' show and it's his news to tell.

"Heya, Harry," he greets with a little awkward wave of his hand. He keeps back from Sirius because he knows if he gets too close, he'll want to press a hand to his back to offer support, but that might just end up speeding up the conversation.

[who_lived]

"Hello, glad to see you too," Harry jokes, smiling at Sirius' reaction as he moves to hug him in greeting. He thinks it will never get old, getting to hug his godfather again.

"I also brought pie, whiskey's neglected second cousin, apparently," he continues, in a very good sort of spirit. "And hello Kieren! Nice to see you again. Thank you, again, for the birthday drinks. I appreciate it."

He moves inside, letting the warmth of cooking food wash right over him.

"Right. Where should I put this then?"

[thebloodtraitor]

Harry's teasing pulls a laugh from Sirius though it's still tinged with nerves. "We were just talking about the dessert," Sirius says, keeping one arm draped over Harry's shoulder as he turns to Kieren. "You're steps ahead as always, Harry."

It's the whiskey he reaches for though when he goes to give Harry a hand with carrying it all in, giving the back of Harry's neck a quick, comforting squeeze before he heads for the kitchen one more, immediately pulling out three short glasses.

"Does the pie need to be chilled?" he asks, glancing over his shoulder as he begins pouring the whiskey.

[roartonrisen]

Kieren keeps a steady eye on the whiskey not because he doesn't want it, but because he's sort of worried about the amount that Sirius will be pouring into those glasses. The last thing he wants is for this night to get suddenly very boozy just because Sirius wanted to take an edge off. "I can take the pie," he offers.

He's also not sure if he ought to be present for when this conversation happens or if he ought to vacate and give them a little privacy, only returning when Harry knows everything.

[who_lived]

Harry grins, chuckling himself as he walks with Sirius into his apartment, leaning in to the shoulder draped across his arm. "Well, I like to think I inherited something from my mum besides her eyes," Harry jokes, feeling at ease with his godfather so giddy beside him. Times such as these were so few and far between in the time that Harry knew Sirius back in England.

"Oh, thank you, Kieren," Harry says, handing the pie to him. "And no, it doesn't need to be chilled," he says, turning to watch Sirius pour out the whiskey.

"Can I help set up anything?"

[thebloodtraitor]

"I'd say you inherited a great deal," Sirius says as he carefully pours each glass about half full one by one. "She's always been the more sensible of the two."

It occurs to him only as he's capping off the bottle of whiskey that he's used the wrong tense again, but he doesn't bother correcting himself, only forcing a smile as he grabs two of the glasses and turns, handing one off to Harry and one to Kieren. There's a hint of worry in Kieren's eyes when Sirius meets them and he tries to force himself to take a breath before taking his own glass.

"Everything's all set, really," he says then, taking a quick sip and relishing the burn as he waves a hand toward the stove. "Just take a seat and I'll serve us up. Unless you'd rather do the honours, of course."

[roartonrisen]

Kieren still lingers behind the both of them because he doesn't want to interfere in what Sirius might want to do. He knows that it'd be awkward to dive right into the actual topic, but he also doesn't know if Sirius wants to ease him in with anything. So instead, Kieren just heads to the table and pries out the chair in order to get comfortable.

When the time comes (if the time comes), he'll pipe up. Right now, he's happy to be a supporting player.

[who_lived]

"I don't know that my professors would agree that I inherited my mother's sensibility," Harry says with a small smile and a shrug. "But I appreciate that, Sirius."

For all of his lack of observational skills, Harry also notices the way Sirius uses the wrong tense, speaking as though Lily were still alive. He notices, too, that he doesn't correct himself. Harry doesn't correct him, either, as he takes the glass his godfather offers him.

He follows Sirius' example and takes a sip of his drink, relishing in the warmth as it moves down his throat.

"I'll let you do the honors, mate," Harry says, following Kieren to the table and taking a seat.

"How have you been Kieren?" He asks. "You seem rather quiet tonight."

[thebloodtraitor]

Luckily, Harry makes no remark upon Sirius's slip, but only takes a sip of his whiskey as well. It's a funny thing, Sirius thinks, to watch this boy who, only months ago Sirius only knew as a toddler, sipping at a glass of whiskey. Perfectly legally even.

"I've a feeling we shared some of the same professors," Sirius points out as he sets his glass aside to grab Harry's plate instead to start dishing up the pasta, "and I can say with great conviction that half of them wouldn't know a sensible thing if it charmed them right in the bollocks."

He glances back at them as Harry smiles at Kieren, feels his face go warm with nerves all over again as he starts loading up Harry's plate.

[roartonrisen]

Kieren doesn't miss the reaction on Sirius' face and he ducks his head down, amused and fond. "I'm well," he promises, taking a seat at the table to try and make sure Harry doesn't think he's being rude and ignoring him. He just doesn't really want to suddenly cause issues. "Human, again," he says, as if they're just talking about the weather and not Kieren's dead or undead state.

"So," he dryly notes, "that's a perk."

[who_lived]

"I'd really love to see you try saying that to McGonagall," Harry says, biting back laughter and failing. "Particularly just to see what she would Transfigure you into." He wonders who else they might have shared for professors; Professor Binns, likely, and Professor Flitwick as well, he guesses.

He also tries not to drool when Sirius loads up his plate, but he rather fails at that, too.

"Oh, really?" Harry says, eyes widening when Kieren mentions that he's human again. In all his life, he's never heard of such a thing. Even with all he knows of magic, Harry has always thought coming back from the dead to be impossible.

"I would imagine so," he replies. "How is the whole being human thing working out for you then?"

Whatever look passes between Kieren and Sirius flies over Harry's head like one of the birds Hermione once cast at Ron in a rage.

[thebloodtraitor]

"Oh, lovely Minerva is a whole different animal," Sirius replies, feeling something in him start to relax a bit as he pours on a bit of sauce and then turns to set the plate before Harry and taking Kieren's next. "Literally, even. Can't get anything by her, I'm afraid, though James and I did try."

And they'd succeeded sometimes too, he thinks rather smugly. In fact, they'd succeeded rather significantly in at least two important areas.

He goes quiet upon hearing Harry's question to Kieren, wondering just exactly how much detail Kieren is likely to go into and if maybe this should be where he says something. Or maybe not. Kieren's condition clearing away is certainly much more important a thing, after all. It deserves attention. So instead he takes another sip of his whiskey and serves up Kieren's plate.

[roartonrisen]

Kieren feels like he has to bite his tongue to prevent himself from saying something really awful and terrible and crude. Being human has yielded him plenty of opportunities and a lot of them happen to be physical and experienced with Sirius who's right beside him. "I mean, it's a big adjustment," he admits, seeing as he's got to get used to eating and drinking all over again. There's so much more to enjoy, though, and he can't talk about that.

Well, and he wouldn't. There's some bounds of decency that you don't walk over.

[who_lived]

"Well of course," Harry replies. "She taught us about the whole Animagus thing to begin with. Did she catch you and my dad out often then?" He's heard stories and rumors about his dad's time at Hogwarts; so much so that the stories have grown into their own kind of mythology. And, of course, what he's seen in Professor Snape's past.

"Yeah? I have to admit, I didn't think it was possible, becoming human again," Harry says, earnest. "But I'm glad to hear it seems to be working out for you."

He takes a sip of his drink before digging into his food. "Has Sirius been helping you with it?"

[thebloodtraitor]

"Never in our Animagus forms, I'm pleased to say," Sirius replies with a proud little smirk. "Plenty of times when we were two-legged, however. The human form does make getting away things much more difficult, I've found."

He's just placing Kieren's plate before him when Harry turns his attention back to Kieren. The question is entirely innocent, of course, but Sirius feels a prickle at the back of his throat all the same. To say Sirius has helped him is... well, one way of putting it. Though he is quite positive it's not the help Harry's intended.

Which is what this whole even is about, though Sirius isn't certain this is the best way to cop up to it.

Then again.

He clears his throat roughly before quickly turning back to the stove to finally dish up his own plate, directing his words to the pan as he says, "I believe you could say that."

[roartonrisen]

Kieren is really pleased that he's not drinking anything when Harry asks what he does, because he has the feeling that if he were, it'd have been completely spat up with incredulity at how very on the nose that question is. He gives Sirius a long look and mentally throws daggers when he cowardly decides to tend to the stove instead.

"He's been very helpful, yeah," Kieren agrees, a look of sheer disbelief on his face. "I think maybe I'm gonna go to the loo, still getting used to things," he says, pushing out of his chair and standing beside Sirius long enough to hiss, "What are you doing?" before heading off, just to give them a few minutes of privacy.

[who_lived]

"Well, that is an accomplishment," Harry says, impressed as he takes a sip of whiskey. "Although, escaping McGonagall on two legs would take nothing short of a miracle, I would think." He cuts into his meal, thoroughly enjoying the meal with his godfather and his friend.

He doesn't notice the tension in the atmosphere until Sirius clears his throat. Harry glances up from his plate, turning to look first at Sirius, who is decidedly speaking to the pan in front of him. Even Harry, oblivious as he can be, doesn't miss that something is going on.

He nods as Kieren leaves to use the loo, still watching Sirius with concern.

"Sirius, is everything alright?"

[thebloodtraitor]

Kieren excuses himself from the table and steps in closer to Sirius long enough to hiss in his ear. He watches him dart away then as he finishes serving up his own dish and his smile is a bit strained when he turns back around.

"Perfectly alright," he promises though he knows it's not really true at all.

He sets his plate down on the table then before taking his own seat where he downs another sip of whiskey. He pauses then, pulling in a breath, ostensibly to wait for Kieren. The pause seems a bit awkward in a way it never is when he's with Harry. This is something he needs to do, he knows, essentially the whole point of the dinner. Kieren will have his head if he doesn't step up soon.

And Harry deserves to know.

"Harry, there's something I need to tell you," he manages finally, fingers of one hand nervously toying with his fork. "About... about me and Kieren."

[roartonrisen]

Kieren is back from the loo, but he stays just a little out of the way, leaning against the kitchen door where Harry can't see him, but Sirius can. He's just there to offer him an encouraging, soft smile and a nod, a promise that he really can do this. Kieren wants to be with Sirius, he really does, but more, he wants Sirius to not be ashamed that they're together.

It means a lot to him, especially after both Rick and Simon.