The sun oppressively cast wave after wave of unbearable heat down upon the poor denizens of England, but number twelve, Grimmauld Place remained refreshingly cool and pleasant. Remus sighed with sweet relief as the cold wall of air hit him once Sirius finally opened the door for his old friend.

"Ha, ha! Come in, come in!" Sirius merrily opened the door the rest of the way and stood aside.

Remus gratefully complied. "How are things?"

Sirius shrugged and took the offering of beer from his friend's outstretched hand. "About the same as always. Any word on Harry?"

Remus shook his head. "You hear from him more than I do."

"I know. I was just hoping… well, how about we open up some o' these things, aye?" He held up the six-pack.

"That would be lovely."

"A nice cold beer sounds brilliant." He hurriedly ran to the kitchen, and returned with two frosty mugs to chill the tepid beer.

"Here, here." Once the beverages were poured, Remus held up his cup in cheers before taking his first cold swig. He let out a long satisfied breath of air as the cooling elixir slid down his dry throat, and rested the glass against his forehead.

Sirius only laughed at his old comrade. "Is it really that hot outside?"

"It's a sweaty pit out there."

"Ha ha! Well, I guess that's one thing in my favor." Being stuck in the house was slowly driving Black a bit madder than he already was, but at least it kept him safe from the pissed off weather.

"Yeah." Remus smiled lazily and looked over at his friend. He knew being cooped up here wasn't far from being cooped up in Azkaban, which is why he made sure to visit as much as possible. "Wanna watch a movie or something?"

Sirius smiled mischievously and pointed a finger at Remus' chest. "That… is an excellent idea."

Remus knew that look and immediately regretted the suggestion. "What just happened?"

After riffling through some videos lying in a heap on the floor at one end of the couch, Sirius held up his prize with pride. "Fletcher got me some porno's to help pass the time."

Remus sat up, the muscles in his back suddenly very tense. "What? We can't… I mean, not together. That just…"

"Oh come on, don't be such a wuss. Besides I haven't seen this one yet." He looked poutily down at the cover. "It looks really good too."

Years ago, Lupin would never have even considered consenting to this, but the guilt he felt for doubting the innocence of his bosom-mate when James and Lily died, for abandoning him to his many years in hell, was enough to make him yield to almost anything. Watching a dirty flick with another guy wasn't so weird, was it? As long as they kept their eyes on the screen… "All right. Go ahead and put it in."

Sirius whooted victoriously and took the VHS out of its case and popped it into the ancient looking VCR. "Arthur found me another tape player, so it shouldn't eat the tapes like the last one did."

All Remus could do was sit in his corner of the couch and hope they could watch a good comedy after this. Sirius, on the other hand, was all anticipation. He plopped down onto the couch closer to his buddy than Lupin would have liked and used the remote to start the film. The movie started innocently enough, an unhappy wife, her husband, and a random male friend to make three. Remus knew it would only be a few minutes of attempted plot before the hubby made his exit and the needy woman was 'comforted' by the random second man, but much to his surprise and dread, the wife suddenly disappeared from the film. All that was left was the unhappy husband and his dear friend, that is, until their close friendship dramatically shifted to something entirely different.

Shock. Absolute shock. Were they actually watching a stud film? Together? Alone? TOGETHER? Panic seized a hold on Lupin's senses. All he could do was look anywhere but the television. There was a pile of empty beer cans by the door, a mass of cobwebs in the corner of the ceiling, some magazines spread out over the coffee room table, but the increasing sounds of pleasure emanating from the TV was beginning to get to him, and not in the way these sorts of flicks were supposed to get to people. He was incredibly uncomfortable and tense. Why would Black put on a stud film for them to watch together? He hadn't even been positive that Sirius was into men until right now. Was Sirius trying to figure out if he felt the same way? Merlin, did Sirius fancy him?

Remus snuck a peek over at his couch companion, breaking the man safety barrier, but the imaginary shield had apparently already been broken. Instead of intently watching the film like he was supposed to be doing, Sirius Black was fixedly staring at nothing other than Remus Lupin. Remus almost jumped out of his seat in surprise. He quickly turned his attention back to the television set, only to quickly look away again.

"Something the matter?" Sirius' voice didn't sound normal. On the contrary, this voice was dripping with a sensuality Remus had never heard from his friend before.

Remus swallowed nervously. "No."

He knew he hadn't come off as horribly convincing, but what was he supposed to say? 'Please don't be so gay so close to me?' What kind of a friend would that make him, but then again, shouldn't Black see his discomfort and politely turn off the video? All Remus wanted to do right now was run out of the room screaming, but he wasn't going to do that. He wasn't homophobic or anything, he just didn't know what to do with two guys doing it on the TV and his best friend making eyes at him.

"Good."

Good? What the hell did that mean? Then, all at once, Lupin was very aware that Black was moving in. He involuntarily drew up his legs and curled up pathetically in his corner while his heart nearly pounded through his chest. He could feel the heat from the other man's breath on his neck before the sensation of soft lips caressed his skin. The beer that Remus had been holding was dropped onto the floor as he instinctively tried to pull himself away from his friend and off the couch, but Sirius wouldn't have it.

"Sirius, what are you doing?"

Sirius only smiled. "What does it look like I'm doing. Really Rems, how long has it been?" Black pulled him forcibly underneath him and pinned him down on the cushions of the dusty couch.

"Ah!" But that futile scream was all Remus managed to get out before lips were plastered over his own. Sirius fiercely worked his way between the other man's legs, and when the evidence of his surging libido pressed firmly against one of Lupin's thighs, Lupin was forced to react. Without even thinking, he pushed Sirius back with a monumental feat of strength, and hit him square in the jaw accompanied with a loud crack.

Both men froze in place, neither of them knowing how to react to Lupin's sudden show of violence. Very slowly, Sirius got up from off the couch, lightly touching his jaw with his fingertips.

"I'm sorry." His apology might have seemed a bit more meaningful and sincere if there weren't men screaming sweet obscenities in the background. Sirius could only roll his eyes at the stupidity of the situation he had placed himself in and flipped off the video tape with a thunk. "Sorry."

For a long moment, neither man said anything, until Remus finally broke the awkward silence.

"What the hell!"

"I know! I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it. What were you thinking?"

He ran a hand through his tangle of long hair and let out a haggard breath. "I wasn't thinking. I don't know, I was… hopeful."

"Hopeful for what?"

"I don't know, I, you seemed like a bloke who likes blokes and I-"

"I what?" Remus couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I do not. What would even make you, what… I do?"

Watching Lupin change from angry to suddenly concerned about appearing gay was enough for Sirius to relax a bit. "Well, I've never heard of you being with a girl, mate. And you are very tidy."

Remus folded his arms defensively. "Being clean does not make me gay."

Black only smirked. "And you wear those goofy sweaters."

"What? They're not goofy…" he looked down expecting to see an example, but then remembered that it was too bloody hot outside to wear anything over his light blue button up. "… or gay. Lots of blokes wear jumpers."

"Yeah, and lots of blokes are gay too."

"Oh shove off." He chucked a sofa pillow at Black's face, but smiled in spite of himself. "I'm not gay."

Sirius caught the pillow with ease and grinned right back at him despite the pain in his jaw. "All right, all right. It won't happen again. Promise."

There was some hesitation, but Lupin eventually gave in, like he usually did, and sat back down. "All right, but no more weirdness. Let's just watch a normal movie."

Sirius sat down on the other end of the couch giving his poor friend a little more space than usual. "Sure thing."