Written for SableUnstable

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Remus could hear footsteps crunching along the nearly-there path to where he way lying prone on the grass. He ignored them, instead paying attention to the breeze coming off the lake, cooling him just enough to counter the warmth from the sun, giving his whole body and mind a warm fuzzy feeling.

In this little spot the lake lapped gently against the shore and the trees of the forest blocked out any view of the castle. They had found it while they were back in school. Sirius had claimed he'd followed a bunny to the spot – or something equally ridiculous. Some long-forgotten joke about a familiar and things with furry tails teased the edge of Remus' mind but in his relaxed state he couldn't quite catch on to the memory.

Remus took a deep breath and immediately realized he had forgotten someone had been walking towards his secluded spot. Sirius. Not for the first time, Remus wondered if his Wolf somehow interacted with people's magics to give them permanent identifying sent. Sirius always smelled the same and he could always pick him out in a crowd - or battle. In varying degrees Sirius always smelled a little like petrol, cut grass and spices Remus could never quite pinpoint.

There was an almost mulled spiced sent like cloves in the air as Sirius sat down next to Remus. Something sweet too. Remus cautiously opened one eye to see Sirius Black sitting next to him on the grass (well, sitting on his cloak he'd set down on the grass), wearing a loose-fitting deep plum shirt that was coming quite undone in the front, long black hair blowing in the breeze and eating a nectarine as if it were the last piece of fruit he would ever have in his life.

Remus realized he'd been staring at his best friend's mouth when Sirius' lips slowly turned up and there was no more fruit in sight. Confirmation that he'd been caught was clear when Remus met Sirius' eyes and the small smile turned into a full smirk. Remus couldn't believe that he'd actually be blushing like a third year when he was now a fully grown man, but he turned his face back into his arms just to be safe, attempting to surreptitiously adjust his position at the same time.

He heard rustling next to him but had resolutely decided to ignore Sirius and anything else he did. Any talk of exams or the end of the school year could wait. He'd hated having to miss the last couple days due to the moon and owed Sirius for covering for him by proctoring a few exams and lecturing the other students on who knows what. Dueling, probably. Sirius had always been a good dueler - talented at doubling up spells; able to keep his shield up while still throwing hexes. A few mental images of Sirius deuling in that half-undone shirt had him cursing himself and adjusting once again.

Spiced oranges suddenly filled his senses and Remus groaned.

"Now, now, Professor. None of that," Sirius said. Remus could feel the other man getting closer and refused to budge. He kept his head resting on his arms, face directly towards the ground, and eyes shut. "I just gave your sixth years a lecture about tending to themselves, staying healthy as well as fit otherwise they're no good to anyone in a crisis or a duel."

"I'm not in a crisis or a duel," Remus mumbled.

"What kind of examples would either of us be if I let you go without getting well and you became permanantly wounded," Sirius continued, completely ignoring Remus's interjection.

"M'not a bloody patient."

"Good, because I'm not putting on a nurse's outfit."

Remus snorted at that and then became keenly aware of how his chuckle had lifted the edge of his shirt, exposing a strip of his back when he felt Sirius' cool fingers sliding along the small strip of skin. His heart was beginning to quicken it's pace and he thanked whomever was listening that Sirius wouldn't be able to tell.

"C'mon, Moony. This isn't the first, nor's it going to be the last," he said quietly.

No, it wasn't the first time Sirius had helped Remus heal after a moon. Not even the first time in the last few years. But between the end of the war, the rebuilding - both literal and metaphorical - and Remus coming back to Hogwarts to teach again… This was the first time in a long time that the process had even the potential to become, well, intimate.

Remus felt Sirius' broad hand slip under his shirt and up his back, slowly, softly. He wanted so badly to let himself sink into this sensation, to let go, act for one moment if even in his mind that perhaps the last twenty years hadn't happened. He couldn't tell if he was actually rolling his back ever so slightly to help Sirius push off his shirt or if he was just imagining it. The touch was real though. Sirius was there, rubbing the spiced orange Soothquick into his aching muscles, the scent blending the present with the memories of countless times this had happened in their past.

He didn't think he imagined Sirius moving in closer. Was his shirt completely gone? When had that happened? Remus began to tilt his head to the side, lost in his own mind between trying to keep what little composure he had left and simply wanting Sirius.

The breath on his neck made Remus pause, and the whisper in his ear shattered any doubt that this wasn't real.

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