This might not be my favorite chapter so far, but i think it will be important for upcoming chapters. Just so you know.
He woke up, stuck in Remus's tangled arms and actually enjoyed how their sweaty body's were pressed together. With his head still tucked in in the crook of his boyfriend's neck, he took a deep breath and kissed the pale skin.
Remus was still sleeping, breathing heavily and once and a while, he made a clicking sound with his throat. He crawled a little closer and his hand found a way down in those pyjamas pants, he caressed his bum and kissed his collarbone with soft lips.
"Remus?" he almost sang and nibbled at his skin.
"Sirius?" Remus sang back and grinned. "What?"
"I just wanted to see if you were awake."
"I am." he sighed and rubbed his eye. "Did you sleep well? It might take some time to get used to my bed." There had been no problem, it was more comfortable than his bed at home.
"I slept very well." he answered and kissed his neck. "I had a weird dream thou."
"Really? What?" He thought about the dream and realised it was slowly fading away, but the small parts he remembered was worth telling.
"There was a treehouse, really big, and there was a hole in the floor with a squid in it."
"A squid!?" Remus grinned and yawned. "What the hell are you dreaming about?" Sirius laughed and pulled back to look at him.
"Don't laugh, it was pretty scary. And the water was flowing over the floor and it tried to grab me."
"And the you woke up, captured in my arms!" Remus shouted and smothering him a playful hug. Sirius laughed and landed on top of him.
"It was really scary! I'm serious." Remus took his chance and kissed his cheeks.
"Of course you are. Who else would you be?" Sirius smirked and put his arms around his neck, watched the boy underneath him as he smiled happily. The soft blade of Remus's fingers stoked his cheek and he blinked with his blue eyes. "What?"
"I've never noticed how cute you look in the morning." Sirius answered and kissed his lips, he would't exchange this moment for anything in the world.
"I love you." Remus confessed and could see how his boyfriends face lit up of those few words.
"I love you too." he said and kissed him again with a slightly open mouth, Remus slipped his tongue inside and massaged the wet cavern, tangled his fingers into the ebony hair.
"I don't really want to..." he started after he had pulled back from the kiss. ".. but we should get up. We have a lot of things to do today." Sirius nodded, he'd looked forward to this day for a long time now. Making christmas treats, decorating the tree and most important of all, doing all of this with Remus. He couldn't help himself but hiding his face into his boyfriends neck, sniffing his scent. "Don't go back to sleep!"
"I'm not." he sighed and lifted his head again. "Was it today your relatives were coming?"
"No, tomorrow." he answered and groaned loudly as he pushed Sirius of him. "You want to take a shower or a bath or something?" Sirius squirmed under the cover as he stretched his limbs and moaned.
"You promised to show me around." The stretching almost made him fall over the bedside, but Remus managed to grab him before that happened, but apparently it was a part of Sirius plan. He slid over the edge and landed on his knees on the floor and Remus released his arm. To his delight, Sirius had been sleeping naked and he got a good look of his naked body as he walked over to the trunk.
"You don't need to get dressed, you can just walk around naked all day." he said ironically and Sirius bursted into laughter.
"You would love that, wouldn't you?" he grinned and stepped into a pair of clean boxers, and Remus groaned in disappointment.
"I would." he said and crawled over the bed to get up. The pyjama bottom fell to the floor and a naked Remus hurried over to the closet that was a part of the big bookcase.
"Take these!" Sirius shouted and Remus caught the jeans flying through the air. "You would look good in them." It was a pair of dirty grey jeans, very slim and to tight for Remus's usual liking.
"Okay." he grinned and tossed them over the closet door; he stepped into a couple of boxers while Sirius checked his bookcase.
He stumbled over a folder of old comic books and pulled out one of the magazines. On the front page there was a man dressed as a dark shadow with mask and cape, the word Batman was printed in yellow letters. He'd never seen anything like it, the pictures didn't even move when he opened it.
"Be careful with that!" Remus shouted suddenly and Sirius almost dropped the comic. "It's an original. It's worth more than my dad's car." Sirius choked and carefully placed the comic in Remus's hands.
"How in the world did you get your fingers on that if it's worth so much?"
"It was my dads." he answered and put it back in the folder. "He gave it to me on my fifteen birthday. I've always liked Batman. Have you heard of it?" He shook his head and Remus pulled out a thick comic from the shelf.
"Here, you can borrow this if you want to. It's a collection of the first comics ever made." It was quite heavy in his hands, the pictures on every page was incredibly detailed and he flicked it through.
"What's it about?" Remus grinned and pulled a t-shirt over his head.
"I'm not telling you. You're lucky not to know, now you can get the best experience from it." That was probably for the best, it had been a long time since he'd had good reading because James always had a way of spoiling every book he'd ever started. This time it would be impossible for him.
"Okay, thank you. Is it cool?" Remus looked like he could crawl out of his clothes when he heard the question.
"Oh yeah." he grinned. "It's really good." He flicked his finger over all the comics stacked in his bookcase. "Feel free to browse through any time, but now, let me show you around. What do you think by the way?" He took a few steppes back and signed to his legs. The sight sent butterflies to Sirius's stomach, Remus looked really good in those jeans.
"You can have those pants." The words just slipped out of him and he couldn't help but laugh. "Seriously, keep them." The other boy blushed and pulled a t-shirt over his head.
"please." he sighed and took the book out of his hand, threw it on the bed before he pulled him out of the room. "Morning mom!" he shouted through the house.
"Morning!" Dorea shouted back. "Come on down! I made you boys some tee and toasts!"
"We be down in a second!" He pulled Sirius through the corridor and the walls widened into a large t.v room. Two big leather couches in red was placed in an angle in front of the big t.v, Sirius had never seen one of those before.
"So that's what they look like." he said and stepped closer to it, he tapped his finger on the glass screen. "How does it work." The sudden blinking on the screen made him back up and the picture showed up.
"We got three channels." Remus explained and zapped between them. "They shows are on between five in the morning and three at the night mostly. You really never seen one before?" Sirius shook his head and didn't look to interested in the t.v anymore.
"No. Shall we continue."
He showed him every room upstairs, his parents bedroom, the big bathroom with the bathtub and shower, the laundry room, the interior design really had a base which mrs Lupin seemed to have created. Almost every wallpaper was covered in flowers, or another big pattern, the colours were earth warm with sometimes a splash of colours on the drapes or a painting, and in every corner there was something that reminded him of that Remus actually had been to almost every place in the world. Statues, paintings, furnitures, it was a great mix of different cultures. It truly was a beautiful home.
"What does your mother do?" Sirius finally had to ask as they walked down the stairs, past the many photos.
"She's a journalist." Remus answered and took him through the living room. "For a magazine that reports about travelling and sightseeing. That's why we've been like everywhere." He opened the door to the dining room and Sirius was astonished by the beautifully decorated room. Even the chandelier was covered in angels and glitters, red curtains framed the frosty windows and on the table was a withe cloth which someone had sprinkled small silvery snowflakes in the middle.
The table was set for breakfast, a plate full of bacon, sausages and scrambled eggs with toast on the side. A kettle of hot tea was standing beside the candlestick, which candles was shining softly.
"God morning boys." Dorea chirped and stepped through the swing door with a basked of blueberry muffins. She was still in nightgown and a silk bathrobe, but still she looked as fashionable as yesterday."Good you woke up so early, it would be a shame to miss the small hours we have of daylight." She put the basket on the table. "Please sit. Does anyone want hot chocolate?"
"No, tea's fine." Sirius breathed, amazed of the breakfast and tried to understand how mrs Lupin managed to make such a big breakfast without a single ounce of magic.
"I hope you like this tea." she said and sat down at the table. "We got it in India, it's made of red pepper and... what's it called... some red flower... ehm"
"Sita Ashok." Remus said and sat down in the long side of the table, his mother smiled big at him.
"I can't believe you remember that." He shrugged and she poured them tea. "Be careful, it can be a bit spicy but it's perfect in this cold weather." She looked at the animagus who was still standing behind the chair, staring at the chandelier. "Sirius, please, sit." He woke up from like a dream and pulled out the chair to sit down, facing mrs Lupin. "Do you take with sugar?" Usually, he did, but this was a kind of tea he'd never tasted before.
"What works best with it?" he asked and she smiled wider.
"This." she said and cut a lemon i half and pressed it over his drink. "Help yourself, eat as much as you can. I hope you like a classic english breakfast."
"Why wouldn't I?" he asked and Remus scoped up the eggs and placed it on his plate. He lifted the cup and smelled the tea, it smelled sweet but yet strong, a sip later his mouth enjoyed the fiery sweetness of the pepper, flower and lemon.
"That's really good." he sighed and cleared his throat. "Really good."
"You should see moms secret cabinet." Remus grinned and stuffed himself full with bacon. "She has spices and groceries from all over the world." Mrs Lupin burst into laughter and took her glasses off, rubbing her eye.
"Our whole house is filled with souvenirs from all over the world." she giggled. "You just need to take one look around to see a part of every world. This kettle for example is from Beijing." It truly was a beautiful kettle, it had the ocean painted in it and a golden dragon circling it with diamonds in it's skin. "The lamps in the windows are from Spain, the carpet under us we got in Iraq."
"That is so cool." Sirius almost shouted. "Is there anywhere you haven't been?"
"Of course." she laughed and drank of her tea. "There are many places left to see, and some places we need to see again." Sirius had never been more interested, he wanted to know everything about mrs Lupins job.
"What's your favourite place?" he asked and grabbed a toast.
"Oh, defiantly Korea. Everything there was just... their spice pallet, the people, the restaurant. Do you remember Remus?"
"Not so much." he sighed. "How old was I? Seven?"
"Something like that." she answered and nodded.
"What about you?" Sirius asked and looked at his boyfriend. Remus swallowed the tea and smiled.
"India." he said. "We were there last summer. You wouldn't believe what kind of magic they have specialised in there, they almost only use it for meditation or for helping the muggles. But they don't call them that, they call them Jadu Nahim."
"And their markets!" mrs Lupin shouted and looked really intrigued to speak about this, it was easy to tell that she loved her job.
"Yeah, the markets were so cool." Remus answered and mrs Lupin clapped her hands together when she laughed of the memories. "Next time we're going there, you really should come with us."
It took some time for Sirius to realise that he now was a part of the discussion and he nodded slightly.
"Yes, I should." he said, he wanted to see the world. "That would be fun."
Mrs Lupin fell back in the chair and pulled bite size pieces of her muffin. She glanced between the two boys.
"How long have you been together then?" Remus cheeks turned red quicker then his fork hit the floor. Sirius was kind enough to pick it up for him.
"Well..." he started and scratched his head.
"Since the day before yesterday." Sirius answered. "But I think we both known for some time now that this would happen eventually." Remus pierced his eyes on him and a happy smile started to appear in his face.
"Precisely." he answered and reached his hand under the table to hold his hand that was terribly warm from holding the tea cup.
"Does your parents know about you two?" The grip tightened around Remus's hand and he cleared his throat again. He hadn't even thought about telling his parents about this. They would probably kill him, shut him out of the family.
"No." he answered and drank of his strong tea. "Not yet."
"We should wait to tell them." Remus said calmly. "Until you've moved out." Sirius nodded and stroked his thumb back and forth over his hand.
"If you think your parents wont take it well, you should probably wait." mrs Lupin said and sighed. "Sadly, some people aren't acceptable to other peoples ways of living. But you will alway be accepted in this house. Remember that."
"At lest until granddad shows up." Remus grinned and mrs Lupin smiled.
"Yes, at lest until the fool Timothy shows up." she giggled. "You should keep this quiet in front of him, it's "bad" enough you're a Black. Don't take that offensive." Sirius shook his head.
"No, even I hate most Black's."
"And remember not to mention the wizard world tomorrow when my side of the relatives comes over, and be a little quiet about you two as well. I don't know how my mother and brother would take the news that you two are in a relationship, but is anyone asks, just tell them the truth, don't lie to them. If they react like idiots, send them to me." Sirius smiled wide. He'd met this woman twice before, and both those times had been at the train station for maybe three short minutes. All this time he'd had the impression that she was a very dull but happy lady, he'd never been so wrong.
"You're really cool mrs Lupin." he confessed and the woman bursted into laughter again.
"Please Sirius." she grinned. "Call me Dorea." She stretched he arms over her head and yawned big. "What you wanna do first? Make candies or the tree?" With brown eyes, she looked between the both boys but Remus had his eyes focused on the animagus.
"You decide Sirius." he said and took one of the muffins. Sirius couldn't do anything else but shrug.
"Pick candy." Mrs Lupin whispered loudly and looked like she'd getting twenty years younger in seconds and Sirius laughed.
"I pick candy." he answered and Mrs Lupin gave that little applaud and giggled.
"Good."
Even if hours passed, Sirius felt like just ten minutes had gone by when the toffies, truffles, nougats, caramels, cookies, fudges and bars been made. They had sugar everywhere, clothes were dirty from cocoa, chocolate and food colouring, but who cared at this moment. The kitchen was overrun with boxes filled with all the sweets when Mrs Lupin turned to the stove and heated some spiced wine while the boys sat down in the living room. The laid with the feet on the table, looked as lazy as a person could; Sirius biting his short nails and Remus flicking through one of the magazines, in which his mother had many articles in.
"When's your dad coming home?" he asked and scratched his arm.
"At six." Remus answered and tossed the magazine on the table and leaned closer to him. Sirius fell with his head to his shoulder and took his hand.
"Can I really come with you next time?" he asked and almost felt his heart skip a beat of the thought of going on vacation with the Lupins.
"Of course. If you want to."
"What do you think?" he grinned and kissed his hand. In that moment, stroking of hands and sighing of happiness, Remus wounded both his arms around him and gave him a sloppy kiss. "Can I ask you something?" Remus nodded and played with the curls behind his ear. "How have you been able to travel in your condition, have you ever turned while being away?" Remus shook his head.
"We're only travelling between full moons. I've never turned outside the country." A cold hand was placed in Sirius's thigh and he felt the butterflies again, they kissed passionately.
"I love you." Sirius said and caressed his waist. "I really do."
"I do too." Remus sighed and kissed his forehead before he pulled him into a hug and whispered in his ear. "Mom and dad is going out tonight, we're going to be alone all evening. What do you think we should do?" Like the butterflies wasn't wild enough.
"I have an idea. But I'm thinking I should keep it a secret for a while." The door cracked open and interrupted their little tender moment and they pulled away from each other to see mrs Lupin enter the room with a plate, filled with sweets and a glass kettle with the spiced wine. She had changed into a pair of yellow harem pants and a black top, a grey cardigan, not so different from Sirius's kept her warm.
"I know you boys shouldn't, but could you just... wave your wands and light the candles in here?"
"Sure." Remus smiled and grabbed his wand that was hidden in his pocket. With a quick wave every candle in the room was on fire, giving the room an extremely cosy factor. Mrs Lupin turned to the record player on the shelf behind her and placed the LP on the turner table.
"Let's play some holiday songs." she said and soon the room was filled of the voice from a singing woman. "Do you like spiced wine, Sirius?" He had no idea, but he nodded and watched how she poured the red drink into a glass cup. "There is some alcohol in this, but since you both will be of age next year, I wont tell anyone."
They enjoyed the heated wine, ate the sweets with so much passion it was hard to believe that they'd made them their self. At one moment, mrs Lupin's favourite song came on and she flew up from the floor, where she'd been sitting and pulled Remus out on the carpet. More forced then asked, he danced with his mother with a wide smile on his lips, they both took tune in the song, Remus more ironically and seemed like he tried to make the whole thing into a joke. Sirius laughed as he sat alone in the sofa and licked the chocolate of his fingers.
"Come on Sirius!" mrs Lupin shouted. "You must dance to Slade!" He jumped up and danced out on the carpet, joined the two crazy person who sang.
"So here it is, merry christmas. Everybody's having fun. Look to the future now, it's only just begun!"
If someone would see them through one of the windows right now, nobody would say that any of them was a good dancer. But none of them cared, they were to caught up in the christmas feelings and possibly a bit tipsy from the spiced wine.
Sirius had no idea that Remus and his family were so free spirited; actually when he thought about it, Remus hadn't been telling him anything about his family. Then he remembered that Remus never really wanted close friends, he'd always been a loner. Sirius couldn't help but wonder what kind of person Remus would have been if he didn't need to be scared of himself all the time.
Then they heard the door slam open and soon enough they heard another male voice tune in with the singing. Soon, mr Lupin danced into the room with the arms over his head, tossed his briefcase on the armchair, placing his arms around his wife and danced away.
"Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall? Are you hoping that the snow will start to fall? Do you ride on down the hillside in a buggy you have made?" Sirius had already learnt the chorus and now they all were signing and dancing. Remus took Sirius's hands and swayed them around, spun around.
"What the hell have you've been drinking?" mr Lupin yelled over the music. "It's been a long time since I saw you all so happy!"
"We had some wine and things went crazy." mrs Lupin laughed. "Happy birthday honey!" Remus suddenly released Sirius's hand and ran out in the hall way Sirius had never felt so awkward, he stood alone in the living room with two grownups he hardley knew, he couldn't just keep dancing; he fell back on the sofa. Before he even had time to reach over for another toffee, Remus came rushing back with a small package in his hand.
"Dad! I got this for you!"
"Oh, thank you!" The music was turned down and the family gathered around the table again, mr Lupin still in his outdoor coat that reached all the way down to his knees. "What is it?" he asked and shook the little box beside his ear, it rattled. Remus fell down beside Sirius and placed his arm around him.
"You'll never guess." he grinned and a second portion was served of the wine. Mr Lupin saw all the sweets and lit up.
"Look at that. You've been working you fingers to the bone today, haven't you." he asked and snatched one of the toffee. The paper was torn off his gift while he chewed and he opened the black little box. He's face lit up and he picked up the keychain.
"It's a remeberall." Remus said. "So you wont forget your gloves and case in the mornings.
"That's great!" he almost shouted. "Just what I need. Thank you!"
"Happy birthday mr Lupin." Sirius said with a big smile. "If I knew it was your birthday I've would have got you something."
"Oh please." mr Lupin grinned. "There's no need. And call me John, okay?"
I used google translate for the hindi (?) words, I don't speak hindu, so don't patronize me if I'm totally wrong.
How ever, please review and tell me what you think, I'm already working in the next chapter, and I know I have given the impression of that there will be family problems, it's coming...
Thank you for your time! :)
