Notes: These characters aren't mine, but I do love them so! Suing me would prove worthless, I'm afraid. All I have are more fic ideas. ::grin::



Crackers

"Moony, I got lunch ready! Come up here and eat with me," Sirius bellowed down the stairs to his roommate.

"I don't have a shirt on!" Remus shouted back.

"Like I care!" Sirius replied, closing the basement door.

Seconds later, he heard grumbling and the sound of feet climbing the creaky stairs. Then the door opened and Remus Lupin wandered into the kitchen, wearing a pair of blue jeans and nothing else.

Sirius thought idly that Remus must truly trust him to allow him to see him shirtless. Even over the summers when they had visited James and gone swimming Remus had worn a t-shirt over his trunks to hide his scars and the painfully thin way his ribs protruded.

Remus sat down and deftly opened the can of pop Sirius had set out. Then he turned his attention to the food. "This is lunch?"

"Well, we are bachelors," Sirius shrugged. Personally, he didn't see anything wrong with the crackers, pepperoni and cheese he had laid out for them. The hummus, however, would have embarrassed him had he been eating with anyone other than Moony.

When they had first moved in together, Remus had pulled out some bread to eat as a snack one day, and he had begun putting some sort of spread on it, explaining that his mother had gotten him hooked. When asked what it was, Remus had shown Sirius the container, daring him to laugh at him. Sirius, of course, had laughed and commented on Remus being one of those types of guys. This had earned him a bruise on his upper arm, and an addiction to hummus after Remus had force fed him some.

"No wonder James has been putting on weight, with Lily to make sure he eats well."

"Yeah," Sirius laughed. "But she also helps him to, um, 'work the weight off'."

"Don't remind me," Remus muttered, hiding his face in his hands. "Those two are disgusting. It never stops."

"Newlyweds," Sirius replied as if it explained everything, which, actually, it did.

"Hmmm." Remus then reached out for some crackers and began laying slices of pepperoni on them. An idea apparently occurred to him, and he spread some hummus on the pepperoni before putting the cheese on it. Then, he took a bite, Sirius watching him intently.

"Is it good?" he asked.

Remus half closed his eyes in appreciation. "Yes," he confirmed once he had finished.

"Cool."

Soon they were both reaching out across the table grabbing crackers, the knife, the hummus and everything else they were trying to poison their systems with.

"You know," Remus remarked out of the blue, "It's good we're young and not prone to heartburn."

Sirius laughed. "Young and single."

"Perpetually, more than likely."

Blue eyes narrowed. "Why do you say that, Remus? It had better not be because you're a.." He trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence and remind his friend.

"No. I'm single by choice. You're single because no one would want you!"

"Hey! And which one of us got dates at Hogwarts?"

Remus glared at him. "Bite me."

"When and where?"

His friend replied by cocking his head to the side, the motion effectively moving his lengthening hair away from his neck. He cast a meaningful look at Sirius, his eyes glinting with mischief.

The sunlight coming in the window shone on that brown hair, picking out the lighter highlights, and the amber specks in Remus' eyes. His pale skin shone with an almost other-worldly light.

"You look so beautiful, right now," Sirius said in a tone of near reverence.

"Huh?" Remus looked perplexed.

"I-.." The Animagi shook his head and sighed, then reached across the small distance dividing them and ran his fingers along the length of Remus' thin neck, then trailed them down his shoulder and over his chest, tracing each of his ribs.

He noticed that Remus didn't move away. In fact, his friends breathing seemed to have sped up slightly.

"Lily would kill me, you know," Sirius remarked in a conversational tone. "She'd think I was eating all the food myself and leaving you with none. You're too skinny, Moony."

"It's not like I don't eat, Padfoot."

"I know you do. In fact, when it comes right down to it, you may eat more than I do."

"It's possible."

A silence fell then, and Sirius found his hand stroking Remus' soft hair. Then he pulled back and the moment was over.

They turned their concentration to their food, leaving crumbs all over the table and floor.

Finally Remus stood up and began clearing things away.

"Hey! I can get it!" Sirius protested.

"You got it out, I can clean it up," Remus replied calmly, carrying the plates to the sink and rinsing them off.

"Suit yourself."

"Well, I wouldn't let you suit me, that's for sure."

"Loser."

"Moron."

"Book worm."

"Mutt."

"I'm glad we're living together, Moony."

Remus turned around and smiled at him. "So am I, Padfoot. Now, I have to go to work."

With that, Remus went downstairs, presumably to dress, and Sirius pulled out some reports from the Ministry.

As the door closed behind Remus, he smiled.

"It seems that things may get very interesting around here," he mused. "Very interesting." A huge grin plastered on his face, he got down to work.