Remus Lupin smiled at his laptop screen. There were few things that gave him as much pleasure as posting an update to his Stucky fic, Reliquary of Blood. Nothing else he had written had really got the same response, even though there were a few other things he had written that he personally thought were better.

It was an AU set in a slightly steampunkish version of Victorian London with Bucky Barnes as vampire and Steve Rogers as a vampire hunter who is still in love with his blood drinking best friend. There was also lots of kinky bondage…. Not that Remus knew much about that on a personal level, but when you had Google at your fingertips there wasn't much you couldn't find out about in vivid detail. Plus Lily was more than happy to answer questions based on her own experiences.

When Certified Hottie, Sirius Black, displayed some curiosity about reading some of Remus's fanfic Remus hadn't been thinking of RoB. Lily hadn't even read RoB! She had read everything else Remus had written but not that one. It was over one-hundred thousand words now and Stucky was of limited interest to her though she had been promising to read it. Lily's primary fandom these days seemed to be Attack on Titan, though there were an assortment of other anime she was obsessed with.

Remus looked out his window. School had started back up. A few miles north James and Sirius were attending the local community college. Remus didn't really understand why a couple of guys like them would choose here of all places for college but he was too grateful to have Sirius living in the same house as him to complain.

This weekend they were supposed to watch more Marvel films, including the Winter Soldier. Once that happened Sirius would almost certainly ask for Remus's AO3 username and Remus would have to give it over or seem like an asshole for having recently asked to see Sirius's DeviantArt filled with his old photography. Of course, Remus had gone beyond just seeing Sirius's old photography, he had offered himself as a subject and now appeared on Sirius's DeviantArt as the most recent photograph, a picture of his face with the ocean's waves in the background.

Remus didn't normally make treks that far away from home. He liked the comfort of having four walls around him. The world was harsh and unforgiving. Home was safe, though lately home was also feeling a little crowded, even in a two-story home. James and Sirius's friend, Peter, had recently moved into the basement and seemed to have his girlfriend over a lot. They were mostly pretty quiet but a few nights before Remus had ventured into the kitchen for a late night snack only to hear some sounds emanating from the basement that made him blush and scurry out.

It was funny. Remus wasn't sure why people having sex embarrassed him. He could write about sex without shame. He didn't think anything was wrong with sex and he thought that maybe in the right situation and the right mood he might even enjoy it himself. He wondered if his embarrassment over sex was something inherent in himself or something that culture had taught him.

There was a knock at his door.

"Come in," Remus said, turning around to see the door open and his best friend's grinning face peering inside then entering.

"Hey. Saw you updated Reliquary of Blood!" Lily said, clutching her hands in front of her and bouncing in excitement.

"Yeah. I crossed one-hundred thousand words," Remus said with a smile.

"Congrats!" Lily said then came and sat down on his bed right next to his desk.

"Thanks," Remus said.

"Any idea how long it might be?" Lily asked.

Remus shrugged.

"I don't really have an ending in mind. I have plenty of ideas. I should introduce more characters, though. It needs more women. I mean there's Peggy but that's not really enough," Remus said with a sigh.

"I really should read it," Lily said.

"You keep saying that!" Remus said then laughed.

"I will really do it this time. I promise. Cross my heart," Lily said, making an X with a hand over her chest.

"I won't hold you to that but it would be cool if you did. I would love your thoughts… especially before Sirius reads it," Remus said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Is Sirius going to read it?" Lily asked, laying back on Remus's bed.

"I don't know. I can't eliminate the possibility. I mean… I want him to read my work but… Reliquary of Blood is…"

"Sexy?" Lily offered.

"To say the least. Raunchy. Bloody. Sort of scandalous," Remus cringed.

"Dude, I've read some pretty scandalous shit. I've read fanfic that I needed brain bleach for," Lily said, her green eyes wide, as if she were seeing all manner of horrors in her mind causing Remus to laugh.

"I mean for me it's pretty scandalous. I mean two years ago I wouldn't even write smut but now…"

"You're a smut peddler!" Lily said with a playful grin.

"A virgin smut peddler," Remus pointed out.

"Hey, you know how I feel about the concept of virginity," Lily said, frowning at Remus.

"Sorry. You know what I mean. I don't have any experience with… any of that."

"I mean, I haven't done everything I've written about. Especially anything involving two characters with dicks. But I'll grant that what experiences I do have still helps. But I mean… you write about vampires and vampires aren't even real," Lily said, rolling over to face Remus.

"Yeah, but no one can read my fic and say 'Oh, you didn't portray vampires correctly!'" Remus said, crossing his arms in defiance.

Lily sighed.

"I tell you what… I'll read over the fic like immediately. I'll send you notes if I think there's anything you got wrong. But frankly, when it comes to dicks, I… kinda assume you know more than me, dude," Lily said.

Remus blushed and laughed in embarrassment.

"From a certain perspective," Remus admitted.

"OK. I'm gonna go read it. Right now. Maybe not all of it today but I bet I can cram it in in a few days," Lily said.

"I'm watching the Winter Soldier with Sirius this weekend. I'm pretty sure he'll ask for my AO3 info then," Remus said.

"OK. I'm on it!" Lily said, then slid out of bed and came over and gave Remus a hug.

OMG, this fic is SO good :D

Thanks. How far are you?

Chapter 3. Kinda surprised there's no sexy times yet :(

Guess you'll have to be patient :P

Remus smiled at his phone. The smut didn't happen until chapter six. He'd had to coax himself into it. But it wasn't until he added the smut that the fic really started to get hits. He really had no idea the difference giving a fic an E rating made. Although, it also had a strange side effect of the rate of kudos he was receiving dropping, which he didn't really understand.

Remus's stomach grumbled. James and Sirius had gotten home a couple of hours ago. They were both probably in their rooms studying. Remus could probably safely go down to the kitchen and get food without risk of having to interact with anyone.

Quietly, he exited the attic and went downstairs only to enter the kitchen finding Sirius reaching up to a shelf too high for Remus to reach, pulling down a plate.

"Remus!" Sirius said with excitement.

"Hi," Remus replied, feeling that strange sensation he always felt when he both wanted to run away and stay and talk.

"We still on for Sunday night?" Sirius said, clutching his plate in his hands, seeming distracted from whatever he had been doing.

"Yeah."

Sirius grinned and said, "That's great."

Sirius Black was a ridiculously good looking guy. He was tall and thin with dark hair that fell upon his shoulders with a casual elegance that almost made Remus angry. He wore a white button-up shirt with generous lapels and black slacks that fit him just right. How dare you, Remus thought.

"H-have you thought about any more photography?" Remus asked, remembering it was important to continue to seem interested, especially since he was.

"Not really. I mean… I have, but I can hardly spare a moment," Sirius said with frown.

Remus stared at the curious curve of Sirius's thin, pink lips. How dare you, he thought again.

"Well, I'll leave you to whatever you were doing," Remus said, starting to leave.

"Wait. Didn't you come here for a reason?" Sirius said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh. Yeah. Uhh. I can come back," Remus said, feeling his anxiety rising and hoping Sirius wouldn't take it personally.

"Oh. OK. Well, um… see you later, I guess," Sirius said, with a small smile.

Remus gave Sirius a smile then quickly shuffled back up to the attic, feeling embarrassed.

Remus check your email. I sent you some notes on RoB ;)

Gotcha.

Remus yawned and slipped out of bed then popped out of the attic to the bathroom before coming back and opening his laptop. He went straight to Gmail. Lily had sent him scattered notes through to the end of chapter ten of the fic, mostly about the smut. Remus felt a little embarrassed but was also sort of excited, especially since Lily seemed to be enjoying the fic.

Dude, for someone who has never had sex you write some hot smut. You know your shit.

Remus laughed. He supposed he should feel proud. He wasn't sure what value being good at writing smut held but he would take it. He gleefully typed a reply to Lily saying that he would look over the fic and make edits at places she had suggested.

Remus got so absorbed in working on Reliquary of Blood that he didn't notice when it got dark. He flipped on his lamp and closed the blinds that hung over the single window in the attic. He tried to remember if he had heard James and Sirius get home. He got so focused when he was working on fic. His edits had become more extensive that he expected at first. He was going to have to work hard to be done in time for Sunday.

Not that Sirius was going to run and immediately read the fic as soon as they were done with the Winter Soldier. He had school the next morning. Remus tried not to imagine Sirius in class, reading Reliquary of Blood while a professor lectured about some topic that didn't interest him. No, no that didn't sound anything like Sirius.

Sirius had admitted that he'd had a few problems with school growing up, at least partially inspired by James Potter during their teen years but he currently took academic pursuits very seriously. Remus was still a bit confused what Sirius's major was but he supposed it wasn't any of his business… but he still wanted to know. He wanted to know everything about Sirius and catalogue it piece by piece in his internal database of important information.

Remus checked his phone. Lily had read a few more chapters and had sent several texts in all caps in shock at some of Remus's plot twists. He chuckled and texted back a few playful mocking words.

He also had a text from Sirius:

Saw a girl wearing a Captain America shirt today and thought of you.

Remus melted a little inside and fell back on his bed as he texted back.

Cool.

He never knew what to say. He was terrified of making a fool of himself or being too overbearing but even more afraid of seeming uninterested. He stared at his phone, desperately trying to think of something interesting he could say but nothing came to mind. He groaned and set his phone down. Better to get back to work on RoB than fret over things he couldn't control.

The rest of the week passed in a blur of words. By Thursday night Lily had finished through the current chapter and Remus spent all of Friday putting the finishing touches on his edits. He knew someday when he had finished the entire fic he would have to go back and do a final edit but for now the first twenty-eight chapters had some clear improvements, especially with the smut.

Saturday was spent working on a new chapter. After watching the first three episodes of Agent Carter, Remus felt inspired to insert Peggy's waitress friend, Angie, into the story, fulfilling his desire for more female characters in RoB.

Sunday morning he posted chapter twenty-nine, feeling proud for having posted two chapters in the same week for the first time since he started the fic half a year ago.

Another chapter? Holy shit!

Right? I'm on fire! :D

Don't burn up before your movie date with Sirius ;)

It's not a date!

Smh

Remus rolled his eyes. He really didn't get the whole dating thing. Sure, there was no denying that he was attracted to Sirius Black and it really seemed like Sirius might be attracted to him, as much as Remus found that hard to believe. But they had only known each other a month! As a fine purveyor of the friends-to-lovers trope, Remus felt it was important not to skip the first part of the trope.

Of course, it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy to sit next to Sirius and see the way he smiled and hear the way he laughed. It wasn't easy to see him talk about his past and feel moved by his pain and his joy. It wasn't easy to simply watch the way he moved his mouth and imagine how those lips felt.

Remus checked the time. Only a half hour until movie time. He sighed and got up from his desk. He supposed he should get ready.

'That was so fucking good!" Sirius shouted as the credits rolled on the Winter Soldier.

"Right?" Remus said.

"That was obviously a love story. I mean… they are in love!" Sirius said, rubbing his chin with excitement.

"I certainly think so. They're definitely my OTP," Remus said with a grin.

"I've never really had an OTP before but God! I might be convinced!" Sirius said.

"I mean I already shipped them before but this film destroyed me. I'm a sucker for friends-to-lovers," Remus said.

"Me too," Sirius said, his grey eyes turning to Remus, almost looking like he had realized something important.

"So yeah. I immediately had to write some fic," Remus said, feeling his heart begin to pound.

Remus didn't want to ask Sirius to read his fic. Instead, he wanted Sirius to be the one to ask to read his fic.

"I definitely need to read some," Sirius said, grinning at Remus.

Dammit, Remus thought.

"Actually, I just posted a chapter this morning for one of my fics," Remus said.

Please ask, Remus thought. Don't make me do it.

"Oh yeah?" Sirius said, fully turning his body, getting on his knees and laying his head over an arm on the top of the couch, looking adorably cute.

"Yeah," Remus said, unsure of what to say and feeling nervous.

"What's it about?" Sirius asked.

"Oh. Um. It's… Well… It's about… Bucky is a vampire and Steve is a vampire hunter. But they're still best friends. I know it's kinda cliche…" Remus apologized.

"No, it sounds cool. Tell me more," Sirius said, wiggling his head in an excited way.

"Oh. Well… it's kinda steampunk? V-Victorian London. It's over one-hundred thousand words now," Remus said.

"Cool. Would you read some of it to me?" Sirius asked.

Fuck, Remus thought. He hadn't expected that. OK, it wasn't like there was any smut in the first chapter.

"Uh… I can but I should warn you I'm not very good at reading aloud," Remus said.

"That's OK. I like listening to you talk. You have a nice voice," Sirius said.

Remus felt flushed and compliments like that didn't help him feel anymore relaxed no matter how much he appreciated them. Remus loaded the fic onto his phone. The first chapter was only four thousand words. He licked his lips then began to read.

Sirius sat in silence, watching Remus read with a perpetual grin. Remus tried to remember to glance over at Sirius from time to time but it made it hard to focus. Just under half an hour later, Remus had completed it and Sirius sat up and clapped.

"Bravo! That was great. You'll have to text me the link to the rest," Sirius said.

Remus gulped but smiled and nodded, quickly doing as Sirius requested. Sirius bit his lip as he got the text and clicked the link.

"Reliquary of Blood by Shy_WolfboyNH. Wow. That's a hell of a title. Also: Wolfboy?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows.

"M-My name. Remus Lupin. It kinda means Wolfy McWolf. Basically. I guess my parents thought it was funny. Of course, they named my sister Natalie. I don't know why she got the normal name," Remus said with a frown.

"I think it's cool," Sirius said.

"Thanks," Remus said, feeling nervous as Sirius looked at the screen of his phone, no doubt seeing the various scandalous things it was tagged with.

"Yeah. Sounds cool. I'll have to read this between classes or before bed or something. Speaking of which, I think it's my bedtime," Sirius said, then stretched and yawned.

"Fair enough," Remus said and stood up.

There was an odd moment as they stood in front of each other. Remus felt compelled to hug Sirius or shake his hand and for a moment he thought Sirius might do one of those but instead he only gave Remus a shy smile, said, "Goodnight," and went to bed.

Remus quickly texted Lily:

Are you awake? Can I come talk to you?

Yeah. You can just come in.

Remus rushed upstairs and went inside Lily's room. Lily was sitting cross legged on the center of her bed, laptop in front of her. The smell of marijuana permeated the room but she wasn't currently smoking. Lily's dark-red hair was out of its ponytail and lying over her shoulders. She was wearing one of her favourite large t-shirts that had an anime character he never could remember the name of on the front.

"What's up, chicken butt?" Lily said.

"Sirius is going to read Reliquary of Blood!" Remus said, gritting his teeth in a smile.

"Ha!" Lily said, clasping her hands to her cheeks.

"I'm so nervous. Oh my god, I read him the first chapter," Remus said, coming over and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"You did?" Lily said, her mouth hung open in gleeful surprise.

"Yeah. He asked and I… couldn't say no. Not when he was looking so… cute," Remus said, feeling himself blush.

"That's so cool. Dude, I'm so excited for you! Anyhow… I'm actually on Skype with Dorcas and Mary," Lily said, with an embarrassed smile.

"Oh. Well, tell them I said hi," Remus said.

"Remus says hi," Lily said then laughed.

"Anyhow. I guess I'll leave you to… that," Remus said, knowing that Skype dates with Lily's girlfriends were Lily's only source of intimacy these days.

Remus went back into his attic room and fell back onto the bed. He had a text from Sirius.

Read chapter two. This is so good!

Remus smiled. He filed this experience under things he didn't know he had needed until he received them. Thank you, Sirius Black, he thought and turned out the light.