Life with Sirius after Hogwarts was easy. It was a welcome relief, too, seeing how that word could rarely be used to describe Remus's life. They had found a shabby, little flat on the outskirts of London. When they moved in, every wall was covered in peeling paint the color of a plum. A few of the small windows were broken and boarded up. The only part of the flat that led Remus to believe anyone had ever lived there, that it hadn't simply been abandoned since its construction, was an old, threadbare rug in the center of the sitting room. After giving it a closer look, however, they discovered that the floor below was no longer even floor – they could see right through to the room underneath.
When Sirius and Remus finished their walkthrough of the dilapidated place, their eyes met. Remus raised an eyebrow, Sirius grinned. "We'll take it!"
"You should've seen the look on that old Muggle's face, the one who sold us the place. Looked at us like we were mental for even stepping foot in there." Sirius laughed, taking another sip of his beer. "You just wait 'til we have it finished."
Remus rolled his eyes, then went up to the bar for another drink. They'd found the Muggle pub in their new neighborhood. Sirius had complained that it wouldn't have any drinks he was familiar with, but Remus was rather partial to some of the Muggle brews.
Their decision to go out for a quick celebratory drink had quickly turned into a full night at the pub. By the looks of his friends, Remus thought it might be better for them to sleep the night there. That was one good thing about being a werewolf, he supposed. A naturally higher tolerance for alcohol gave him the slight comfort that at least one of them would be able to get the others home safely.
"Sirius! Come on, if you want to do this 'the Muggle way,' you're going to have to help." Okay, he thought. Maybe "easy" isn't exactly true. Remus looked down at his hands, covered in paint. He moved to wipe them off on his shirt, but thought better of it. They hoped the color would help brighten up the place, a nice pale blue in place of the rich purple put up by the previous owner.
Remus looked over at his boyfriend in the next room. He was slumped onto a couch (one of the few items of furniture they currently had in the small home), looking every bit as tired as Remus felt, though Remus couldn't imagine why.
"Hey." Remus's voice was soft as he entered the room. He flashed a smile, then pulled his lower lip between his teeth, running it through them slowly as he moved to where Sirius sat. Sirius looked up, his eyes lovingly delving into Remus's own. He took another step closer, settling himself on the couch over Sirius, a knee on either side of him. Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius's neck, pulling him in close for a kiss.
Sirius returned the kiss with enthusiasm, holding Remus around the waist. After a heated moment, Sirius parted his lips. Remus pulled back, a sly smile on his face. "Padfoot," he murmured. "As much as I want to, we've got to get these rooms done. If only we were using magic, we'd be done by now." He heaved a dramatic sigh oddly reminiscent of Sirius's own performances. "But oh well…"
"Fine," came a breathy sigh in return. "You can use magic. But put the bed in first."
Remus stepped back with a smirk, wand already at work unpacking their things before Sirius had even finished speaking. Yes, he decided. This was easy, wasn't it.
.x.
A/N: I'm a bit rusty at writing lately, but I'm hoping to get back into it (ever so slowly, apparently). This was written for the Marathon Competition using the prompt "easy."