Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns it all.
Setting: HBP
A/N: Characters' thoughts in italics.
"You know you love me."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Tonks!" Remus tried to sound annoyed, but failed. He secretly liked Tonks' childish antics.
"Yes, Professor?" Tonks asked innocently. She liked these "discussions" with Lupin. Remus had been coming over her house a lot, ever since Sirius died. They had originally met to give each other moral support but had quickly become good friends. Now, they were arguing in the kitchen, over dinner.
"Look, Tonks, even if I did have some…feelings for you, there's no fucking way that we could ever be together, so why don't you just - "
"Remus," Tonks interrupted, "I'm sick and tired of hearing that 'too old, too poor, too dangerous' bullshit…" Her spiky hair changed from bright pink to a greenish brown.
Remus stifled a laugh. Interrupting her in the middle of a rant would result in a major ass whooping…with him on the receiving end. However, he had to admit to himself that he loved when her hair changed without her noticing. He was so busy daydreaming that he wasn't even listening to her lecture anymore.
"…and stop being so fucking practical all the time." Tonks finished and took a deep breath.
Remus jumped at the opening. "Well it's true though - the too old, too poor, too dangerous part."
"I don't give a shit."
Remus sighed. But that doesn't mean that I don't.
"I mean, come on," Tonks continued, "I don't want us to just dance around our feelings for the rest of our lives, wondering what might have been. Look at Sirius, he spent 13 years in Azkaban, and now he's fucking dead as…well, dead. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that life is precious, Remus, you never know what might happen tomorrow." They were both silent for a minute, thinking about their dead friend.
"No," Remus blurted out, breaking the tension. "I will not sacrifice our friendship for some ill-fated romance, which is a bad idea on paper, and actually gets worse every time I think about it."
"Wait, you think about this often?"
Not a minute goes by without me thinking of you. "Uh…no…and even if I do, just in passing, nothing more." Oh, that was good. Great save, Moony.
"All right, whatever, you're gonna crack one of these days and just throw yourself at me. Then we'll see who's gloating," Tonks said confidently.
"Ha!" Remus scoffed at the notion that his resistance to being happy would ever break. He was very good at keeping his emotions in check. Anyways, he didn't need another person to fulfill his needs. His right hand had gotten quite good at that over the many years he'd spent all alone…
An owl with a note attached to its leg fluttered in through the kitchen window and landed on the table. Tonks grabbed the note and read it quickly.
She stood up. "This is a letter from the Ministry…official Auror business. I have to go."
He started to get up. "All right, I guess I better be leaving."
"No, no it's too late. Why don't you stay for the night?"
He looked doubtful for a second but then saw the owl still waiting on the table and sat back down. This may not be a bad night after all. "Thanks, Tonks."
"No problem. Help yourself to anything in the refrigerator. The guest room's upstairs, next to the bathroom, if you wanna crash. I might be gone for awhile."
"Ok, bye."
"Bye," she said as she left, her long pink hair swishing behind her.
Remus watched her back until the door closed. He sat back in his chair and sighed. "Well, it looks like it's just you and me, pal," he said amicably to the owl. "I'll name you…" With a squawk, the owl suddenly flapped its wings and flew back out through the window. Remus sighed sadly.
Well, what's one more lonely night…4 Hours Later
Tonks came back and found Remus Lupin in the same position at the kitchen table, although something about him was definitely…different.
"Remus?"
"Hey Tonksss," he slurred. "How's you been?"
"Are you drunk?" she asked incredulously.
"Nope," he said, waving the almost empty bottle of fire whiskey wildly in his hand, "Just had a little to drink is all…absolutely nothing I can't handle." He took another swig, emptying the bottle.
Tonks giggled. "Where did you get that?"
"Your cabinet. After you left, I had nothing to do, so I had to find something to take my mind off my troubles…you know, my last good friend getting murdered, Voldemort on the loose again, the whole werewolf situation that's keeping us apart…the usual. This bottle seems to have done the trick though. I don't even remember what I was worried about," he said, smiling.
Tonks got control of her laughter for a second. "Remus, you're in bad shape, we gotta get you to bed."
Remus perked up. "Bed? Can I share your bed?"
"Remus!" Tonks was shocked. I haven't seen this side of him before.
"Come on, Tonks, I know you like me, and I can't honestly say that I don't fancy you, either."
"You ...you…do…" Tonks said, suddenly feeling all warm inside.
"Sure. You're cute when you get mad you know?" he said, matter of factly.
Tonks wasn't listening though. Oh my God, he likes me. Yes! Tonks knew she had to deal with all these new feelings, but all she wanted to do now was to get him to bed, go to sleep, and think about it in the morning.
"All right, we're going to bed," she said finally.
She practically dragged him up the stairs and got him into the guest room.
"Sweet dreams."
"Ok, thanks for the liquor Nymphadora."
"Hey, even if you're drunk you can't call me that!" she said, indignant.
"Oops my bad, I must not be dreaming yet…in my dreams I do call you that."
"Uh…"
"Sometimes," he continued, "I call you Nymphadora, sometimes Nymphie…"
"WHAT!"
Remus laughed. "You ARE cute when you get mad! And you're hair's like bright red now, and it matches your face. I love it when you do that!"
Tonks glared. If I didn't love him so much, I would kill this motherfucker right now with my bare hands. "Um, what about these dreams?" she asked through gritted teeth. If it's anything like the dreams I have, it involves you being tied to a bed and me having my fucking way with you…
"Oh, nothing much," he mumbled sleepily. "Mostly just…sex."
Tonks blushed and looked down at the floor. Great minds think alike.
When she looked up, Remus had passed out on the bed, a stupid drunken grin on his face.
When Tonks woke up next morning, it was already too late for breakfast. Between her Auror duties and what had happened with Remus, she hadn't gone to sleep until very late. She heard a low groaning sound from down the hall. She smirked, knowing what that meant. She went to Remus' room to see how he was doing. Just as she had suspected, he was lying face down on his pillow and clutching his head.
"What's wrong?"
"My head hurts. I feel like total shit."
"Serves you right for drinking so much fire whiskey, especially when I'm not with you to share said drink."
"Do you have any aspirin or something?"
"No, when I'm hung over, I usually take some hangover potion. Works better than that muggle crap."
"Oh, well I usually don't have hangovers, so I wouldn't fucking know," Remus replied grumpily.
"Fine. I'll help you just this once, since you're being so fucking polite."
He drank the potion, then opened his eyes and smiled, relieved that the pain was gone. "Thanks, Tonks."
"No problem." She paused. "Want to explain yourself for last night?" She had been waiting eagerly for this moment.
Remus stiffened. The pain that had just left his head was coming back quickly. "Uh, yeah, I'm sorry about drinking all your whiskey, it's just that I was lonely, and you were gone for so long and there was nothing else to do - "
"Yeah, I gathered that much," she interrupted. "I'm talking about your behavior when I came back."
"Huh?"
"Do you remember what you said?" A smile tugged on the corner of her lips.
Realization dawned on his face as he slowly remembered the events of the previous night. "Nothing too ridiculous I hope." He laughed nervously, but his face looked guilty.
"Oh, but you did." Tonks smiled smugly.
Remus blanched. "Oh my God, Tonks, I am so sorry. I didn't mean anything I said. I was just drunk and I'm not used to the alcohol and…"
"Save the bullshit, Moony," Tonks said seriously. "I know you're a fucking alcoholic. You polish off 10 shots every time we go to that bar down the street. But that's not the point. Just tell me if what you said was true."
Nervously, Remus asked, "Uh, what things exactly?"
"What you said about being in love with me and about…" She leaned in and whispered in his ear, "…those dreams of yours."
If possible, Remus turned even paler.
Tonks continued, "Well, I guess it must be true. If your sheets are any indication, then you had one of those dreams last night," she said, pulling back the covers to reveal the semen-soaked sheets.
Remus grimaced. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at the floor, resigned to his fate. This was possibly the worst thing that could have happened to him. Not only would Tonks think he was a pervert and hate his guts forever, but now she would have to buy new bed sheets. He had visions of Tonks taking spectacular revenge on him right then and there…and he didn't even have his wand to defend himself.
Thinking quickly, he decided to come clean. Just buy some time until you can make your escape. He glanced at the open window across the room. Dammit, it seems so far away. He screwed his voice up into a loud wail. "Oh my God, Tonks, I am so sorry about this. You were right, you were always right, I love you, just don't fucking kill me! I'll get a job and pay for a new set of bed sheets! Um…and I promise not to have any more inappropriate dreams involving you and me fucking each other senseless or anything like that. Don't hurt me, please!"
He looked up. Tonks was giving him a strange look.
Well, that's odd. She hasn't hexed me yet. This is my opening.
Remus started to spring for the window when Tonks jumped up and crushed her lips against his. Oh no, this is even worse than I thought. Must…resist…temptation. Oh fuck it. He finally started to kiss her back. They pulled away after a few minutes.
Tonks smiled warmly at him. "I have been waiting so long to here you say that."
"Uh, what?"
"That you love me."
"Oh, that."
Tonks pulled him in for another passionate kiss. Remus moved to sit down on the bed, and Tonks straddled him, finally breaking away to tug at his shirt.
"So, does…does this mean you l-like me?" he stuttered.
"Yes, I've been saying that all along, you wanker!"
"Damn," he said, as if the thought had never occurred to him before. "And you don't care about…these," he said, motioning to the ruined sheets.
Tonks shook her head.
"Well then, by all means let's continue." His mouth went to her neck and he started sucking at her pulse point while his hands moved under her shirt.
Tonks gasped. "That's…mmm…fine by me."
15 Minutes Later
Remus lay in bed, a content expression plastered on his face. He hadn't been this happy in a long time. Well, I haven't gotten any action since sixth year. So if I do the math correctly, then…
"What are you thinking about?" Tonks interrupted his thoughts.
"Uh, I was just…I was just wondering why haven't we done that before…you know, since it was so good…"
She looked up. "Umm, well, it took you getting piss drunk and confessing everything before anything happened. Dumb shit."
"Oh right, sorry about that."
"You have a really bad memory."
"Yeah well, I'm a werewolf, not a fucking elephant."
They were quiet for a while.
"Remus, why do you like me?"
Remus thought for a second. Well jeez, let me think: you're so fucking cute even when you make a fool out of yourself, you actually feel comfortable talking to me, you're a really nice person …I could go on forever. But I will never admit any of that. "Not a clue. There's no good reason, is there? I mean, you're annoying, you talk way too much, you're a menace to everything you touch…"
"Alright, shut the fuck up already!" Tonks shouted, laughing and hitting Remus repeatedly with a pillow.
"Ok ok, just kidding," Remus said, laughing himself, throwing his hands up. Their laughter died down, and there was another short silence.
"So when did you realize that you had feelings for me?" Tonks asked, her tone serious.
Remus sighed. "I guess I knew ever since I first saw you," he finally admitted. "There…there's something about the way your face lights up every time we meet, as if you're actually happy to see me, that makes me glad to be alive."
The End
If you liked the story, please review. If you didn't, tell me anyways. Thanks.