Sirius found Remus in a corner booth of a muggle bar the Marauders often visited due to its convenient location near his flat. The werewolf had a closed look on his face though he tried to hide it behind a polite smile as a waitress leaned to talk to him, a tad too close. She jumped and laughed nervously when the animagus cleared his throat behind her, and he slid to sit across from his friend as the woman hurried back to the bar.
"She has been flirting with you forever", Sirius said with a wonky smile. "Just give her your number and take a night off the war."
Remus' amber-and-brown eyes narrowed a bit at the last word and the black-haired man felt magic ripple around them, making the surrounding sounds muffled. Always impressed with his friend's wandless abilities, Sirius grinned.
"Not my type", the pale man said and pushed some of his light-brown hair behind his ear.
They both turned glance at the waitress, who had been looking. Remus ducked his head but Sirius grinned wider and winked, earning a giggle. He then held up two fingers. The lighter man dropped the silencing charm until they had their beers, and they sipped without talking for a while. The amber-hued eyes stared mostly at the table top.
"Also, it's hard to give a number when you don't have one", he suddenly continued the earlier conversation, his voice tired.
"No phone where you're staying?"
"Not exactly."
Sirius had been about to take a drink but put his beer down, frowning. His friend had been acting weird lately, and suddenly, he had an awful, heavy feeling in his chest.
"You are staying somewhere, aren't you? Moony?" he asked slowly.
The werewolf shrugged and downed about half of his beer in one go. Sirius felt cold inside.
"You should've told us", he said, his voice accusatory. "How long?"
"Since last full", Remus said calmly and wiped off some foam from the the corner of his mouth.
"That's almost a month, Remus."
"Yeah", the werewolf acknowledged and dropped his gaze again. He was uncomfortably aware of the waitress staring at him, waiting to catch his eye again. "But it's not so bad, the mission I had offered a place to sleep, so I'm pretty rested now."
"Not so bad", Sirius snorted and drank, just to have something to do. "So if that's not the demon you're trying to drown, what is? I went to the headquarters when I heard you were back. Dumbledore wouldn't say more than that you had given a brief report and left. That you were upset."
When he got no reaction, he leaned over the table and stayed like that until the somber eyes finally met his.
"What'a wrong, Moony?" he asked, pleading, scared and tired of lies and secrets.
"I cast a full Patronus", the pale man said quietly.
"That's amazing, Rem!" the animagus gasped, confused when the other looked so sullen.
"Well I won't be doing it again", Remus said bitterly. "It was a wolf, of course it had to be a bloody wolf because that's what my whole being boils down to!"
His face was twisted by anger, but his friend could see the hurt behind it even before he heard the deep breaths that told him Remus was trying not to cry. In school, he had never cried, but lately, the tears always seemed close to the surface.
"Moony..." the long-haired animagus said softly and reached to touch the other's hand.
Remus allowed the touch, and his breathing calmed. He turned his hand over and let Sirius trace the lines of his palm for a moment before pulling away.
"That waitress will think you're a total nance if we keep doing things like that", the black-haired man chuckled after an awkward pause.
"I told you, she's not my type", the werewolf said with a wry smile. He tilted his head and closed his eyes as he let the last of his beer slide down his throat.
Sirius stared as his friend's Adam's apple moved under the pale skin. Padfoot recognized the bared throat as a sign of trust, and he felt a familiar feeling stir inside himself, one that always made an appearance when it was just the two of them. It had scared him in school so much he'd sent Snape down the tunnel when the git had hinted about it. It scared him now, and he downed his beer, angry at himself for thinking about Moony in that way. The poor man had enough problems.
"What is your type, then?" he asked after he'd put his empty pint down.
He went to hold up two fingers again, catching the waitress' hopeful eyes before a cool hand stopped him, closing over his. Sirius stared at the hands for a moment, his own, slightly tan skin standing in contrast against the almost transluscent pale of Remus'. The amber eyes were looking at their hands, too, when he turned his face towards his friend's.
"I thought it was Padfoot, at first", the werewolf said softly. "I was so tired, so cold and scared, and when I needed the Patronus, I thought about..."
He let his voice trail off, and a faint blush stained his cheeks, making Sirius cock his head.
"About what?" he asked with a confused chuckle.
"You probably don't remember, but you kissed me once. It was after Lily and James went on their first date, and you threw a party, which meant that you got really drunk", Remus said, a nervous tick tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Sirius was silent for a long moment, and Remus drew his hand back. As the animagus saw the blush drain from the face, leaving it white, and the eyes slowly widen in panic, he shook himself mentally.
"I didn't think you remembered that", the animagus finally said, feeling light-headed as the amber eyes snapped to his. "You thought about me kissing you when you..."
"Needed a happy memory", Remus completed the sentence quietly, hanging his head so his hair fell to hide his eyes. "Sorry. I won't mention it again."
"It's a happy memory for me too, Moony", Sirius said and smiled when the werewolf looked up again, eyes impossibly wide. "I'm such an idiot, I never thought you'd feel the same. Come to think of it, you're an idiot too."
The honey-haired man stared at him, lips slightly parted, expression baffled, as his fellow Marauder stood and dug some muggle bills which he dropped on the table.
"Is that enough for the beers?" he asked Remus, still pretty clueless about muggle money.
"You might want to take the fifty back", the pale man said dumbly as his friend pulled him up and started hearding him out.
"Nah, let the waitress have a consolation prize", the animagus murmured. "Want to go to my place?"
Remus could only nod and laugh faintly as Sirius clasped his hand, he didn't even care when people on the street shot them ugly looks. He felt a whole pack of silvery wolves jumping around inside himself, waiting to be let out, but he didn't care.
As long as he had Padfoot by his side, he wouldn't need them.