Acceptable Behavior
(A/N: This is meant to take place somewhere between the end of book 4 and the beginning of book 5)
The first time they slept together after Azkaban, Remus woke up in the middle of the night with Sirius screaming in his ear.
Remus flailed, trying to simultaneously kick off the covers, grab his wand, and shove Sirius out of whatever danger they were in. What he actually succeeded in was pulling the covers askew, knocking his wand onto the floor, and waking Sirius up.
Sirius shot bolt upright, then became still, looking at Remus with a look of terrible confusion. "Where am I?"
It took Remus a few heartbeats to put everything together. Then he realized there were not, in fact, Death Eaters pouring through the door, and that Sirius had not, in fact, been reacting to anything that could hurt them in the here and now. "My place," Remus said, keeping his tone as calm and casual as he could. "With me," he added, when the blank, empty look on Sirius' face didn't go away. But it was no good; a stranger still looked out at him from Sirius' eyes. "You're not in Azkaban."
Only then did an expression of comprehension slide onto Sirius' face. It was a slow slide. Remus busied himself with fixing the blankets so they were aligned with the bed again. "Sorry," Sirius said, without much inflection. "Sometimes when I wake up I forget where I am."
"So I see." Remus lay back down. "Are you coming back to sleep?"
Sirius lay down, but he was looking at Remus with a furrowed brow. "I have the impression I woke you up shouting... and I also have the impression you don't mind."
"Honestly, I'm a bit relieved." Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Since you showed up here, you've acted almost exactly the same as you used to. At least, you seem that way to me. And I know that no one, not even you, can go through twelve years of Azkaban and come out unchanged. I've been starting to worry that there were problems you weren't showing me, or maybe problems you weren't even showing yourself. Now that I know you're just going to scream in my ear in the middle of the night, I feel better."
Sirius started to laugh. He pulled Remus into his arms and kissed his temple. "Not too shabby for a dozen years in Azkaban."
"Perfectly within the range of acceptable behaviors. I imagine I'll be sleeping through it in no time. Unless you wanted to talk about it."
"You learn to sleep through it," Sirius said firmly.
"I thought you would say that, but you know I did have to offer."
"Yes. Go to sleep." Sirius kissed his temple again, and neither of them spoke again. Remus didn't fall back asleep, however; it was pointless to even try with Sirius holding onto him so tightly that he couldn't move so much as half an inch. He just lay there, being quiet and being close, and when it was light Sirius was himself again and they went on with the new pattern of their lives.
