They had been stuck in close quarters as long as they could remember- the dormitory at Hogwarts, Remus's run-down flat, and now Sirius's childhood home- if you could call it that- number 12 Grimmauld Place. After living in a cramped dormitory with the Marauders for seven years, living with Sirius should have been a breeze. There was only one bed in the room, as opposed to five, and only one Marauder to deal with at a time, although he missed having all four of them together, so it shouldn't have been as hard as it was. Of course, the past just made it harder- memories of James, Peter, and that horrible incident in sixth year.
Another day meant another row meant another evening spent tiptoeing through the empty rooms, trying not to disturb the fragile silence. Remus didn't even know where Sirius had managed to hide himself that night, and he decided that he didn't care. The dark, sullen house must have had hundreds of secret rooms and hideaways, so the probability of running into each other was slim. He jabbed at the tired old radio he had found hidden in a closet and muttered darkly about moody bastards before finding a kettle and brewing his favorite tea. As he looked for something to do, he resigned himself to settling in and taking care of some work for the Order that he knows Sirius would never get to.
Remus worked, completely focused, until Sirius whispered woefully from behind him, "They played this song at James and Lily's wedding."
Remus jumped, obviously startled, spilled tea on his parchment, and responded, "I'm sorry, what?"
Sirius laughed at him- the old laugh, the one Remus hadn't heard since before… well, since before. He could feel the familiar grin tugging at his lips in response. Sirius came closer, the silently stepping around the creaky floorboards and splashes of tea.
"I said," He rested one hand on Remus's shoulder, stopping his futile attempts at cleaning up the spill while turning him around so they could look each other in the eye. The other hand wrapped around Remus's waist automatically, a reflex from a happier time. "They played this," Sirius leaned over him, brushed his lips against Remus's ear. "At Prongs's wedding."
It all came back to him, so vivid he almost thought he had traveled back in time.
He had walked Lily down the aisle at her request, the lace of her hem rustling against his dress pants and new shoes. He laughed with Peter as Prongs said the cheesy vows he wrote himself, and wolf-whistled when James decided 'kiss the bride' really meant 'snog the bride senseless.' (Sirius had started cracking up, Lily had blushed, and James had smirked.) He had listened to all the toasts, and complimented Lily on the wonderful wedding she had planned all on her own, and half-heartedly tried to keep Sirius sober, (but nothing could have spoiled Remus's mood that day.) He'd been holding Sirius's hand below the table. A beautiful song came on, filling the room with an inexplicable joy.
"Remus, may I have this dance?"
"Sirius, you know I can't dance."
"So? It's a wedding, practically everyone's drunk... No one is sober enough to care, and if they were, they probably wouldn't even notice."
"Are you sure? It's not exactly a secret, but we've never been this public about it."
"That's the problem! I want to show you off to the world, who cares what they think?!"
Remus blushed and responded, "So many people look down on me already, I don't want to give them another reason. Go flirt with James's cousin or something."
"I don't want to flirt with James's cousin, I want to flirt with you!" With that, Sirius pulled out the puppy-dog eyes, which he knew Remus couldn't refuse.
"Fine." Remus quickly found that he didn't care about the strange looks they were getting. There weren't even that many.
Remus leaned back into him, wishing he could turn back time and fix everything. "I remember," he says with a smile. "You made those sad puppy-dog eyes at me until I let you drag me on to the dance floor." He tilted his head further back to confirm that- of course- Sirius was pouting at him. Just as it always had, Sirius's sad face was enough to melt any ice Remus had left. "Oh, alright then," he murmurs, and let Sirius lead him by the arm into the middle of the room.