Disclaimer: JKR planted the seed; she owns the plant. I just like to water it.
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The change was the most intimate thing he'd ever seen.
The sweat.
The strain.
Dark, wild emotions fighting for dominance on his normally gentle face.
Sometimes he would claw at the ground or at himself in frustration; dirt encrusted and bloodstained fingernails, lesions that would remain unseen because they would heal during the transformation.
Each invisible scar a secret only he could savor.
Some nights, when he was lying against soft nearly hairless skin he would run his tongue over them and imagine he tasted metal and salt. He would imagine that it was his tongue that healed them, not his curse.
And.
Sometimes he would imagine those claws on his own skin and the scars they would leave. And the pain it would cause them both.
James would always watch. He would watch until he heard the low howl of defeat and the familiar snarls of acceptance. He would continue to watch him as they ran together, the night air rushing past awash with music only the untamed could hear.
And when it was over, when fur turned smooth and fangs faded. He would erase the pain and the worry with whispers and deliberate strokes...until Remus found his release.
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The change was the most intimate thing he'd ever seen.
The sweat.
The strain.
Dark, wild emotions fighting for dominance on his normally gentle face.
Sometimes he would claw at the ground or at himself in frustration; dirt encrusted and bloodstained fingernails, lesions that would remain unseen because they would heal during the transformation.
Each invisible scar a secret only he could savor.
Some nights, when he was lying against soft nearly hairless skin he would run his tongue over them and imagine he tasted metal and salt. He would imagine that it was his tongue that healed them, not his curse.
And.
Sometimes he would imagine those claws on his own skin and the scars they would leave. And the pain it would cause them both.
James would always watch. He would watch until he heard the low howl of defeat and the familiar snarls of acceptance. He would continue to watch him as they ran together, the night air rushing past awash with music only the untamed could hear.
And when it was over, when fur turned smooth and fangs faded. He would erase the pain and the worry with whispers and deliberate strokes...until Remus found his release.