It was a fine spring day at Hogwarts and sixth years James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew were out on the grounds enjoying the recent change in the weather. The afternoon passed by as conversation drifted from one subject to another – potions, Snivellus, top ten pranks, how great Lily Evans would look in a swimsuit – before settling back on their missing friend. Remus Lupin was holed up in the Gryffindor dorm, resting after a particularly troublesome full moon. The remaining marauders were trying to think of ways to cheer him up. So far they'd considered butterbeer, girls, and chocolate, but they really fancied the idea of coming up with something new. The conversation fell into a lull as the boys stared out over the lake.
"Hey Sirius, you should kiss him," said James.
Sirius, who'd been out for a couple years now eagerly glanced around, trying to spot the bloke James had in mind. He was always up for a good snog.
"Who, McClaggen?"
"No, of course not you idiot. I meant Remus. You should kiss Remus. You know, for science."
"For science. Yes, I think that's a great idea," added Peter.
"Well… If it's for science then I suppose I have to, don't I?" Sirius smirked. He wasn't sure why he suddenly had this bubbly feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he didn't want his friends to catch on as they may get the wrong idea. He figured it was best to play it cool and hope the feeling went away soon.
"Splendid," James smiled. "Right then, off you go."
"Wait, what? You mean right now?"
"Well yeah, wouldn't want you to lose your nerve. Er, I mean, your scientific curiosity."
Peter tried to suppress a giggle while saying "Best hurry off then."
Sirius, unsure of what else to do, picked himself off, brushed a few blades of grass of the seat of his jeans, and headed for the castle.
Sirius found Remus sitting in his bed, propped up on a bunch of pillows. He'd kept his bed curtains open so he could enjoy the light breeze passing through the open window. The sunlight coming through the window highlighted the honey-colored highlights in Remus's hair, which had dropped into his face as he bent over what must have been a really good book. Not that Sirius noticed any of these things of course. Sirius was a man and men didn't notice honey highlights, or how their good friend's forehead wrinkled between his eyebrows when he really enjoyed what he was reading, or how good this particular friend smelled… Sirius shook his head and cleared his throat, causing Remus to look up for the first time since Sirius entered the room.
"Hello," said Remus with a small smile. He still looked warn out, but he was starting to look himself again. This made the bubbles in Sirius's stomach pop up at a faster pace.
"Erm, hi," he responded.
"What brings you…" Before Remus could finish his question, Sirius had strode quickly across the room and pecked Remus square on the lips.
"What was that for?"
"Science," explained Sirius. He then reached out to cup the other boy's cheek in his palm and leaned in ever so slowly to kiss him again. This kiss was more tender, exploratory, and real.
"And that?" Remus asked, smiling, when Sirius eventually pulled away.
"Because I wanted to." Sirius's face was lit with one of his trademark cocky grins, but Remus noticed a softness in his eyes that told him this kiss meant something.
"And might that be something you'd want to do again?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Because I'd like that too. Very much."
When James and Peter returned to the dorm an hour later they made sure to stomp up the stairs, giving their friends plenty of warning that they were coming. They found the two sitting together on Remus's bed with matching goofy grins on their faces. Remus later agreed that this surprise had been better than butterbeer, girls (who he didn't care much for anyway), and chocolate combined. Sirius added that he quite liked science.