Title: When Thee I Think Upon
Rating: R
Summary: A winter's evening in front of the fire at Grimmauld Place.
Author's notes: Written for the Bonus Fic Round of the 2010 RS Small Gifts Exchange on LJ, for woldy's prompt from 2009-mulled wine and a roaring fire.
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"She's just got the wrong end of the stick, being so affronted by "a man your age" behaving in such a manner."
Sprawled against one of the elaborately embroidered cushions that Sirius' mother would have hexed him skinless for tossing on the floor back in the day, Remus sniggered into his heavy goblet. He looked rather infernal as the steam from the mulled wine rose upward, making the hair at his temples curl up at the ends.
"As if you didn't swan about in black sulks half the time at Hogwarts and well beyond. Intrinsic to your nature is what it is. Nothing to do with age, so she'd best get used to it."
Sirius narrowed his eyes from his perch on the low settee that was angled toward the great, snapping logs in the study's imposing fireplace. He didn't want to hear any more about Molly Weasley and her overbearing disapproval, nor to watch Remus giggling into his drink at his expense like a tipsy Third Year.
"Shut it, Remus." His haughty tone only made Remus laugh harder, causing, to Sirius' satisfaction, him to snort the spicy drink through his nose. It didn't stop him for long, though. He leaned up, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes and giving Sirius a cheeky grin.
"Oh, it's Remus now, is it? Is High Lord Muckity Muck a bit put out? Will it be flogging in the village square at dawn for me?"
Trying to hang on to both his bad mood and the disdainful cast of his features, Sirius folded his arms across his chest. "I'm suddenly nostalgic for the days when you looked like a kitten about to be crushed beneath my boot heel when Prongs would send you to try and jolly me out of one of my moods."
Remus laughed heartily. "Why do you think they sent me? You fell for it every time."
"Taking advantage of my good nature, you were."
"Yes." Remus sat his goblet aside and shuffled on his knees over to the settee. "Hard man on the outside, marshmallow fluff in the center." He poked at Sirius' belly with one finger, startling a yelp and a ticklish squirm out of him.
"Remus," he growled in warning.
"Still Remus?"
"Yes, what ever happened to my skittish, soft-spoken Moony who followed me around with great calf-eyes?"
"I never did!"
"You did! Fifth Year, don't deny it." Sirius allowed a superior smile to curve his lips and he arched a challenging brow at Remus.
"But that-" Remus spluttered. "That was gratitude, you git. It was merely an expression of my...my..."
"Overwhelming fancy for my devastating good looks and charismatic personality?"
"Hardly."
Sirius noticed Remus didn't quite meet his eyes, though.
Feeling immensely more cheerful, he grinned and uncrossed his arms. "Remember how jealous you got when I invited that Ravenclaw bird to the first Hogsmeade weekend Sixth Year?"
"Was not." Remus' mouth turned down, and he slumped against the edge of the settee. "She was just a horrid little cow, and, what's more, she used to make fun of Worm..."
Their eyes met as Remus' words trailed off, and the moment hung unpleasantly until Sirius' cheek dimpled as he quirked the side of his mouth up again.
"Jealous," he crowed.
"You did it on purpose to make me jealous." Remus glowered up at him, making his eyes gleam fiercely in the firelight, reminding Sirius of hot-headed arguments in front of the Gryffindor fireplace on late nights when everyone else had gone to bed.
"Well, of course I did. Was your own fault. Shouldn't have written me all those letters over the summer going on and on about Colin and his brilliant motorbike."
"He was my cousin, you idiot. I told you that a thousand times. Oh, but I was young and innocent then and forgot that's a selling point in your family."
Sirius snorted, grabbing one of his own pillows to throw at Remus' head. "Innocent, my arse. As if you didn't know what you were about, what with all those references to powerful engines and throbbing machines between your legs."
"Oi! I never said it like that!" Remus' voice went up high in indignation. "Just because you were a great, dirty-"
"Did," Sirius said firmly. "You knew just what you were about, so you deserved me taking Ackerly to Hogsmeade."
He watched Remus gaze off into the fire, his eyes narrowing as he remembered the day. "Bloody cow," he muttered.
Sirius laughed delightedly. "Then do you remember what happened when I walked her back to Hogwarts and she snogged me in the entry hall, so that all her friends would be sure to see?"
"Yes." The clipped word really made Sirius' heart warm, and he sat up fully, crossing his legs and positively smirking at his adorably miffed Moony.
"I wouldn't have waited for Hogsmeade to ask her out if I knew what kind of reaction I'd get. Who'd've thought the buttoned-up little Prefect would be so-"
Sirius yelped as Remus fisted a hand in his robes and pulled him to the floor. He found himself flat on his back and his dressing gown pulled wide open, leaving him bare from the waist up.
"I could smell her on you all evening. All through dinner. And you didn't even have the decency to wipe away that horrid strawberry-scented lip gloss she got all over you." Remus straddled him as he spoke, sliding Sirius' arms up above his head and leaning down to inhale against the skin of his throat.
"Who swept off in a sulk that night, hm?" Sirius closed his eyes, arching up against the solid press of Remus' body.
"You were foolish enough to follow." The brush of his lips sent shivers through Sirius, and he spread his legs wider as Remus stretched his body out between them.
"Best night I ever had in the Shack." A slow smile spread over his face as he remembered the wild possessiveness that had taken over his reserved friend. "You called me a trollop and said that if I was handing out free samples, then I wouldn't mind giving you a go."
"Mm." Remus licked his way over Sirius' collarbone and down to the hollow of his throat. "You didn't protest much, as I recall."
"Didn't give me a chance, did you? Hard to protest when a bloke's got his tongue down your throat."
He could feel Remus grin, and then his lips slid lower. His fingers strummed over Sirius' ribs as he shifted down. "Weren't complaining when your mouth was free either."
The muscles in Sirius' belly went tight as his breath caught. Remus had pulled the waistband of his boxers away and flicked the tip of his tongue at the tiny slit that was already glistening wetly. "Moony," Sirius breathed.
"That's more like it," Remus murmured before he took Sirius' cock into his mouth with one long, slow glide. Sirius rocked up into it until Remus curled his hands around his hipbones and pressed him down against the ornate hearth rug. Another desecration of the Noble House, he thought with unmitigated delight, gasping as Remus sucked him hard enough to be almost painful.
The side of him lying near the roaring fire was uncomfortably hot, his other side chilled in the drafty room, but Sirius could only focus on the tight, silky friction on his cock as Remus sucked him to completion. He came deep in Remus' throat, shuddering out a great moan as Remus licked him clean.
"Don't ever forget that you're mine," Remus whispered, settling against Sirius and pressing a kiss to his slack mouth. Sirius could smell the spices from the wine, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg, as Remus breathed against his ear. "Grand sulks, devastating looks, charisma-I want it all."
Sirius rolled into the comfort of Remus' arms, his heart squeezing with the fullness of the moment. Remus was always the only one who could ever leave him tongue-tied, but he always understood what Sirius meant to say. They held each other, watching the fire burn down to glowing embers.