A/N: I just had to get this out of my bloody system! I think this might be one of the cutest things I've written all year.
SUMMARY: Sirius likes so many things about Remus, he just can't help starting to list them in his head.
WARNINGS: Incredibly fluffy!
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Never was.
"Likes & Dislikes or: The Thing Is"
Sirius Black likes a lot of things about Remus Lupin. In fact, he likes so many things about his friend, he feels he has to list them in his head from time to time, just to keep track.
He likes Remus's floppy fringe, for one. He likes the way that mop of hair bobs up and down when his friend is walking, and how the thick fringe sometimes gets in Remus's eyes. He likes to watch his friend struggle with it in class. He likes to watch Remus desperately trying to get his thick, golden fringe out of the way, letting his hand travel up to his forehead every so often to haplessly tuck the disobedient fringe behind his ears, as if it'd actually stay there for more than just a couple of seconds... And Sirius likes how it always seems to fall back into Remus's amber eyes every time.
Sirius cherishes Remus's hair. 'It's so thick,' he thinks, and he finds himself becoming slightly jealous. He knows that he himself has quite exquisite hair - it's long, wavy and silky - but in Sirius's eyes, it's nothing compared to the incredible thickness of his friend's golden mop... In fact, Sirius likes it so much, he often tries to smell it.
Sirius smells Remus's hair when he thinks no one will notice, like when they're stuck in a line up the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower, and his best mate is right in front of him - they're so bloody close, but not quite touching each other. Sirius thinks he might've gone mad had he been standing even closer to Remus. 'I'd probably die from the closeness,' he reasons melodramatically. Sirius tries to be inconspicuous as he leans forth and lets the tip of his nose make the slightest contact with Remus's hair. He inhales hard, but still has the wits about him to make sure he's not making a sound whilst doing it... But still, Remus notices.
'Damn you and your hearing,' Sirius thinks as Remus turns back to face his friend, a puzzled look on his face, as if to say "What the hell are you doing?"
And Sirius likes the way Remus wears that light smile when he does so - as if to say "I dunno what the hell you're doing - but please, don't stop."
Sirius likes Remus's funny eating habits, too.
For example, Remus has thing thing; he can't drink anything but Pumkin Juice when he eats salty food. He denounces all other liquids, especially milk. "No, uh-uh" he'll say, Sirius has noticed, "Milk and salty food doesn't mix. It's just wrong. It's unnatural!"
Sirius likes how Remus gets so ticked off whenever he gets asked about that, and how he says those exact words every time he tries to explain this to James and Peter. Always the same.
James and Peter laugh and shake their heads, telling Remus he's a funny bloke (to which Remus always says "What? Can't a guy have bloody preferences?!"). What Sirius does, however, is just to stare at his friend, smiling. Remus then proceeds to ask him what the hell he's smiling about, and says something along the lines of "You look like my mother when you smile like that."
'I look like your mother?' Sirius thinks. 'Well, then... I sure hope you have an Oedipus complex or something.'
Sirius likes how Remus sometimes escapes into his magic little world of books. He thinks it's adorable.
Sirius himself loathes books - he's accustomed to practical tasks, so he's not much of a student. He thinks technical litarature is most boring invention in the history of everything, and oftentimes fantasizes about collecting all school books on a remote island, and just blowing the whole thing up. That's how much he hates them. Also, Sirius has never read a single word of fiction, and nor does he intend to. But he likes how Remus likes them, these boring books.
He likes how Remus licks his lips as he plows through all the famous Muggle authors; Wilde, Kafka, Dostoevsky, Ibsen, Plath, Vonnegut, and even some Bukowski...
He even likes how Remus tries to force him to read them. Because even though he becomes exasperated beyond words, at least Remus has his attention focused on Sirius. And that's all that Sirius needs.
Sirius especially likes how Remus has a tendency of taking Sirius's hand in his own as they walk through Hogsmeade. He likes how Remus tugs and pulls at his arm, trying to make them both go faster so that he can get to the candy shop quicker. "The sooner we get there, the sooner I'll have my glorious chocolate!" Remus tends to say.
Sirius likes how Remus seemingly feels the need to constantly establish and explain his desperation to consume chocolate. "I know, Moony, you've been talking about it all week..." He doesn't say it in an annoyed way, like he's tired of listening to Remus and his chocolate rant, like he doesn't enjoy the sensation of Remus's hand in his own - it's always uttered in a loving way, often accompanied by a hearty laugh.
And Sirius lags behind on purpose, he walks as slowly as he can muster, squeezing Remus's hand along the way...
Sirius walks as slowly as he can because he knows that the minute they reach Honeydukes, Remus will let go of his hand, and he knows he'll be longing for the sensation of Remus's hand in his own for the rest of the day.
What Sirius doesn't like, however, is what Remus does to him; how Remus can make his heart skip a beat even with the most innocent of statements.
"I'm going to help Carver with his Charms essay," Remus says one day, and Sirius looks up from his comic.
"Where?" he asks his friend, and he says the word so swiftly it comes out sounding more prying than Sirius had intended.
"Uh, in the library..?" Remus answers, giving him a quizzical look. "Why do you care?"
"Fine, whatever," Sirius says, and the bitter spite is quite apparent in his tone. "Shove off, then. Go play with your new friend..."
And Sirius definitely doesn't like how Remus scowls at him before he leaves for the library. It's a scolding look, and though Sirius doesn't look up to see it, he knows it's there. He knows Remus is angry with him, and with good reason.
Sirius doesn't like how he gets so insanely jealous whenever Remus focuses his attention on someone other than him.
Sirius doesn't like how Remus looks at him sometimes. He's fully aware that Remus looks at him all funny like that because he himself is looking as Remus all funny.
He doesn't like how Remus, when they're alone in the dorm or the common room, has the guts to ask him about it. "Sometimes I think you're scared of me, Sirius," he'll say. "When you're giving me that look of yours... It's not the whole werewolf thing, is it?"
Always the same words.
What Sirius does like, though, is how Remus tends to give him that same pleading look every time he asks this, and how he tries to whisper the W-word as quietly as possible. It makes Sirius smile - not because he thinks it's stupid, but because he thinks it's sweet.
"Of course not," he tells his friend. Always the same. "I just - well, there's something else... But I can't bear to have you know what it is, Remus, I just can't."
Sirius doesn't like how Remus always turns sour at this, telling him that "We're supposed to be honest with each other, Padfoot!" before he proceeds to stomp up the stairs in anger.
But Sirius likes how, despite Remus being terribly angry, he still opts to call Sirius by his pet name... Because when Remus calls him Padfoot, Sirius knows it'll pass by the next morning.
One day, Sirius realises that he's becoming sick of just listing these silly little things in his head. 'What the fuck are you doing?' he asks himself.
For what is the point of listing things if you won't tell anybody about it?
"Moony, can I have a word alone with you?"
God, how he likes the way Remus looks when he peers up at him, finally giving Kafka a rest.
God, how he likes the way Remus's arse looks as he's walking in front of him, step by step up the stairs to the dorm.
Good fucking lord, how he likes the way Remus gives him that quizzical look of his as he sits on his bed.
"What's wrong, Pads?"
Sirius is so close to just grabbing the boy and ravaging him, but he composes himself. It is vital for the outcome of this chat that he doesn't start with the snogging, he knows that much... As much as it pains him to admit it, the snogging can wait.
"I er- I just think I'm ready to tell you about, er, well, you know, the, er... thing. You know."
Sirius curses himself for being such a nervous wreck. Why isn't he like this when chatting up birds? Why is it only Remus who is able to turn him into such a blabbering mess?
"The thing?" Remus all but laughs.
"You know," Sirius says, trying his best to speak coherently. "The thing... that you've always, you know, asked me about."
Remus nods, and Sirius knows that his friend understands, despite the crudeness of his own choice of words.
"The thing is, basically..." Sirius begins, and he starts blurting out all the things that he likes about Remus; the floppy fringe, the Pumpkin Juice issue, the books, and especially the spontaneous hand-holding.
It takes some time for Remus to process it all, what with Sirius's current lack of linguistic ability, but he gets it in the end. He nods in a way that makes Sirius think 'Shit shit shit, now he hates me and thinks I'm disgusting,' but then he gives Sirius one of his trademark Remus Lupin smiles - a profound, loving smile that seems to brighten up any room, no matter how dark. At least that's what it feels like for Sirius when his friend smiles.
More than anything else, Sirius likes that smile... In fact, he loves it.
"You know," Remus starts, "I have listed quite a few things that I like about you as well."
Sirius likes how Remus seems to read his mind, like he so often does, taking Sirius's hand in his.
The End!
A/N: Shit...that was fluffy.