This was written for the Quills and Parchment Under the Mistletoe challenge. the prompt was written by Jade Presley and was for a Remus/Sirius pairing. The prompt was "You can't give that to a child Sirius. It's not an appropriate gift!" "But he likes it!"
Disclaimer: The characters and storylines in this fanfiction belong to JK Rowling
Remus Lupin sat reading a newspaper in his favourite armchair and smoking the pipe which Sirius always teased him for, as one of the many affectations he put on to make himself seem more mature. It went perfectly with his many cardigans, his half-moon spectacles and the put-upon air he wore whenever Sirius and James got too rowdy.
Sirius, Remus sighed, seemed reluctant to give up on his youth, still wearing the same leather trousers and faded old muggle band t-shirts that he had worn as a teenager, even though they were becoming thin and soft with wear, their hems shrinking so that a sliver of pale skin, just an inch, could be seen above the waistband of his trousers.
Damn. He took off his glasses and adjusted himself in his seat, his trousers suddenly seeming too tight after thinking about that inch of skin. Where was his beloved idiot anyway? He gazed at the photo of them on the mantelpiece, arms thrown around each other, lips meeting triumphantly as Remus's striped scarf flapped wildly in the wind.
As if he had conjured him from thin air, the door rattled and Sirius stumbled into the room, laden with shopping bags. Chilly air swirled in with him, riffling the pages of the newspaper and sending creeping icy fingers to clutch at Remus's ankles.
"What have you been up to?" he asked in trepidation as he folded up the paper and tapped out his pipe.
"Christmas shopping," answered Sirius, looking decidedly shifty.
Lupin crossed the room in two loping strides to press the back of his hand to Sirius's brow, in mock concern. The warm scent of firewhisky mingled pleasantly with the wintry ozone that clung to Sirius's clothes.
"Who are you and what have you done with Sirius? You didn't start your Christmas shopping until 3pm on Christmas Eve last year! You had to give Lily a present we bought at that muggle novelty gift shop,"
"It was the only place still open! She wasn't nearly as impressed with a Magic Tree as I thought she might have been," Sirius mused, his brow wrinkling in confusion. Neither he nor Remus had been entirely sure of what magic the small green triangle was capable of and Lily had refused to show them, although she had assured them that it did do something absolutely fascinating and that not knowing would haunt them to their graves, "I thought I'd better send Harry's present early. You know how hard it is to send an owl somewhere when you can't say the name of where you want it to go to. They can get lost for ages."
"Go on then, what have you been buying?" He wasn't sure he wanted to know, not really. If he claimed ignorance and refused to sign the joint card, like he had done with the toy broom Sirius had bought Harry for his birthday, he couldn't be blamed if it all went wrong. Of course, that meant that Sirius had cemented his position as the cool uncle who bought amazing presents whereas Harry barely seemed to notice when he came in the room, but compared to the prospect of Lily's legendary wrath, that seemed a small price to pay.
He breathed a sigh of relief when Sirius pulled out a small replica motorcycle, looking ridiculously pleased with himself. Remus was just deciding that maybe it wasn't that bad, perhaps he would sign the card for this - it might have a few sharp edges but it wasn't entirely unsuitable, when Sirius waved his wand over it and it expanded outwards rapidly, until it was big enough for a child to sit on.
Sirius leaned down to rev the bike's engine, "It does up to fifteen miles an hour, on road or in the air," he announced proudly.
Remus could do little more than splutter for a few seconds, "You can't give that to a child Sirius! It's not an appropriate gift!"
"But he likes it!"
"Just because he likes sitting in the sidecar of your bike, doesn't mean –" Remus stopped the shrill outpouring of protest issuing from his mouth with a soft huff of laughter, "I know what you're doing and it won't work. You're trying to buy more and more inappropriate presents for Harry to see if you can make Lily shout at you."
Sirius shrugged, affecting a pose of aloof indifference, "That would be incredibly immature Moons,"
"James will crack before Lily does." Remus warned.
"Galleon on it?"
Remus laughed again and shook his partner's hand. This was the easiest galleon he was ever going to make. Lily would figure out what Sirius was doing and play along until he bought something like a cursed sword that shot fire out of it and James would panic and tell him to take it away while Lily just folded her arms and raised a single eyebrow at Sirius to let him know that he had been beaten. He could imagine it with almost perfect clarity.
"I got you a present too," Sirius winked and it made Remus's stomach flip over which really it shouldn't do because he had known him for over a decade and yet Sirius was grinning slyly, his dark eyes glinting, lazily cocky in the knowledge that he was Sirius fucking Black and if he winked at someone, they would be feeling it all the way down to their toes and it made Remus want to get him in a headlock for being fucking right.
Sirius bent down to rummage in one of the bags and when he stood up, he had the most absurd item on his head that Lupin had ever seen, and that really was saying something after the antlers he'd made them wear before James got married ("No honestly Moony, it's genius. Because it's his stag do, and he's a stag!")
Sirius grinned, a wide mouthed smile that showed his white teeth and pink tongue in a way that was almost more canine than man, and held his arms open to Remus. The movement made the mistletoe suspended over his head on a garish green headband jiggle obscenely
"Where on earth did you get that from?" Remus crossed his arms over his chest, trying his hardest and almost, almost succeeding, not to smile.
"Some stall selling them in Diagon Alley – the Black Dog Mistletoe Co. It seemed churlish not to. Go on then, pucker up."
"You think that headband makes you irresistible?" he laughed, even though his fingertips were twitching towards Sirius's magnetic pull.
"It does when I do this," and he reached up to touch a small button on the head band.
"Oh sweet Merlin!" was the only words that Remus was capable of muttering as Sirius's clothes vanished clean away.
Sirius turned in a slow circle, gesturing to himself like a magician's assistant and glancing coyly over his shoulder to make sure that Remus was checking him out.
For a moment Remus was confused what the low rumbling sound was that he could hear above the whooshing pulse of blood in his ears as it travelled south with alarming speed. Then he realised he was actually growling in appreciation.
"And er," he had to clear his throat, "Does it do anything else?" he asked huskily.
"Come and give me a snog and you'll find out,"
Remus closed the space between them on his in breath, sliding his hands up to the pale skin of Sirius's shoulders, digging his nails in hard and causing him to hiss through his teeth. They continued kissing frantically, a mess of teeth and tongues, biting and licking, as Sirius's hands roamed and Remus tried to scramble out of his clothes
Sirius chuckled at his impatience although it died on his lips the moment Remus looked at him, breathing deeply, with lust-darkened eyes and unnaturally flushed cheeks. The sight of Remus looking so feral shot bolts of desire through his body into his groin. He pressed a button on the other side of his head and Remus was naked too.
Remus's arms snaked around Sirius's slim waist and down, his hands cupping his buttocks. Sirius trailed hot wet kisses down Remus's neck, his hands splayed across his chest, before sucking sucked hard on his earlobe, causing him to shudder as pain and pleasure flowed through equally. Remus's hard on throbbed painfully and, desperate for relief, he leaned in to Sirius and rubbed his aching cock against his stomach, making them both groan in unison at the feel of it. Sirius pulled Remus tight and apparated them the few short feet upstairs to the bed, smirking at Remus's disapproving look at the ostentatious use of magic.
As they hit the mattress, Sirius's eyes rolled back in his head and his nostrils flared, gasping and moaning into Remus's mouth and thrusting up into his palm, as he pumped his hand harder and faster around his cock. It was now slick with pre-cum, and with every stroke of it; every drawn out drag of his hand from base to tip, every frantic pump back down again, Remus almost felt like he was touching himself. Every movement he made, he could imagine the ghost of his own hand on his own swollen cock; every moan of pleasure that slipped out from between Sirius's clenched teeth, made him impossibly harder.
Feeling as though he was going to pass out if he didn't get some relief, he moved his lips to Sirius's ear,
"I want to be inside you," he whispered, moving back to see Sirius's teeth flash in a grin.
"I thought you'd never ask!"
Remus fumbled for the little tube of lubricant in their bedside drawers, then nudged Sirius's knees apart and worked the gel around and into his arsehole. He nearly cried out when Sirius's eyelids flickered with pleasure as he pushed his index finger slightly inside him to prepare him. Wiping the remainder of the lube out of the bottle, he smeared it thickly up and down his cock, nearly losing control like a teenager at the touch of his own hand.
Remus flipped Sirius over onto his knees, feeling dizzy with pleasure at the view of his arse that afforded him. Sirius shot a look over his shoulder with a smirk,
"Doggy style?"
"That isn't as sexy or as amusing as you think it is," Remus chided as he cuffed Sirius at the back of the neck with his hand, lining up his cock and gently rocking back and forth until he was inside, the motion making them both groan loudly.
Moving a centimetre one way, an inch the other, Remus saw stars flash in front of his eyes as the inexorable push and pull threatened to take over his senses entirely. This wasn't going to last long. Reaching round and grabbing Sirius's cock with his lube slicked hand, he pumped roughly. Their breathing became laboured and louder until, with a grunt, Sirius thrust forward into Remus's fist and came, thin jets of semen painting the sheet. Remus felt the waves of his orgasm causing his muscles to contract almost painfully around him. His lips brushed against the skin where Sirius's met his neck, where his heat had made it damp and fragrant with the scent of leather jacket and muggle cigarettes and peppermint. His jaws ached with wanting. He wanted to mark, and claim, and own. And own. And fucking own. After a couple of hard, sharp thrusts - before Sirius had even finished riding out his own orgasm - the string that had been stretched tightly, holding his mind and body together snapped and he fell into the abyss. Remus slumped down onto Sirius's back as they both panted raggedly in the silence. As the agonising ecstasy subsided and Lupin began to feel more human than wolf again, his eyes darted to his lover's shoulder. Still unmarked. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was madness to do this so close to the full moon when the beast was so much stronger. Sirius said he didn't care if he marked him but he was terrified of doing it. These were dangerous times to live in and marking Sirius, singling him out as something other was a risk he wasn't prepared to take.
"After that, I'm almost scared to ask what's in the other bags," Remus chuckled, and summoned them to them.
"Just a few things for James and Lily too," but the way he said it - too casual, his gaze slithering across the room made a tiny chill of uncertainty run through Remus' body before he looked into the bags.
At first he was confused as he pulled out the costumes from that muggle film Star Wars that James and Sirius had been mad over, fingering the cheap polyester as the cogs of his mind turned. Suddenly, realisation hit him like a slap round the face and a punch in the gut all at the same time. He glared at Sirius and one look at his defensive expression confirmed that his inkling was correct.
"You've bought Harry a muggle fancy dress costume and you're sending it today of all days?" he asked accusingly, waiting for him to say something, but Sirius just watched him dumbly.
"Hall-o-ween." Remus enunciated every syllable of the word, "I know the way yours and James's minds work. You know Dumbledore's onto the pair of you – James sneaking out under the invisibility cloak to meet you – that's why he took the cloak off him, I'm sure of it."
"Don't know what you mean Moony," but his smirk faltered. It was only for a second, you wouldn't have seen it if you weren't looking for it, if you hadn't seen it a thousand times before during late night poker games, or accompanied by grandiose statements about fancying Mary McKinnon and thinking that she might even be the one so all the gay jibes can stop now James thank you very much.
Remus took his hand, "I miss him too Pads, but getting them to dress up as trick or treaters and sneak out to meet you? Really? Not one of your best plans if I'm honest."
Sirius sat bolt upright, carding his fingers through his hair, "He's going mad in there, Lily says. He's started talking about going out of hiding and confronting Voldemort. I just thought, if he could –"
"You will not endanger your godson's life." Remus felt the hackles on the back of his neck stand up and his words had just the tiniest purring whisper of a growl running through them. His recent display of dominance had left the normally docile Alpha wolf in him alert and prowling and it lent its authority to the words.
They looked at each other for a moment, a sliding, twisting look that made them both hate themselves. Dumbledore had told them both, separately of course, that there was a spy, to trust no one, that it could be the person that they least expected. At the time, both had argued vehemently that it could not be the other but even the tiniest drop of poison, if administered correctly and allowed to spread can kill, and there had been more and more of these sidelong looks recently.
Eventually, Sirius relaxed, lounging back against the pillow with his hand up at his forehead, "You're right, you're right. Besides, an owl wouldn't get to Godric's Hollow until mo –" he stopped dead, touched his hands to his lips absently, his expression puzzled.
"Godric's Hollow…." Remus echoed him stupidly, his face an echo of Sirius's, "the fidelius?
Sirius was on his feet, throwing his clothes on before Remus's brain had even processed the thought and halfway out the door before he had his trousers on.
"Wait for me!" he shouted urgently, running down the stairs two at a time after Sirius's retreating form.
"Stay here. I need to go and check on Peter," growled Sirius.
"Peter? Is he in danger too? What the hell is going on Sirius? Answer me! Do not – do not walk away from me! I'm coming with you,"
"It's too dangerous. I need to keep you safe," Sirius was at the back door now, his motorbike rumbling and ready to go just outside, "I can't – I can't risk you," his voice cracked and he held his hands out in supplication.
"Try and fucking stop me. We need to go to James now! Bugger Peter, we'll check on him later. Dammit Sirius, I thought you were their secret keeper! What the hell have you done?"
"No wait. Just wait a minute! There's something you need to know. I've done something stupid – I need to tell -" Sirius dragged a deep sigh from the tips of his boots although his fingers were clenching and unclenching in impatience. Remus looked at him expectantly, half a step away from the sidecar of the bike.
Sirius beckoned Remus closer and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder, taking great heaving breaths. Remus looked into his eyes and saw worlds turning to fire and brimstone and chaos and heartbreak in them and he was more afraid to hear what Sirius was going to tell him than even the thought of Voldemort facing the Potters with green light and fury in his heart. But this was Sirius, his Sirius, whom he loved, so even though his hands were trembling and his knees felt like they were going to give way, he approached until their faces were almost touching.
"Obliviate," Sirius whispered into his ear.
Inside the house, Sirius melted out of the photos of the two of them kissing, and his clothes vanished from the wardrobe. He was on the bike and into the air before Remus's limp body even hit the ground.
Sorry! Also I did say that this was finished but there might be an epilogue to follow...