'Cause We Love Trouble: Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I highly doubt any of this was what JKR intended and I own none of it!
Warnings: Will contain an adult relationship between 3 consenting adults and more than occasional swearing.
Notes: Man, have I been busy! Glad I got through this one though. Sirius and Remus have some sexual tension time, which we've all wanted! Please leave a review if you like, that'd be awesome! My chapters always look so much longer in Word, it's a bit disappointing when I put them up here and find that four pages shrinks down to, like, next to nothing. Makes me appreciate just how much folks have to write to get substantial chapters in this format!
The oak planks under Remus' head were now as warm as he was; when he had lain his forehead there they had been pleasantly cool, but that little spot of comfort was rapidly fleeing. Had it only been three days since Dumbledore had created the link between the cellar and his private library? No, not library, Remus thought, libraries had finite amounts of books, even wizarding ones. No matter how far he and Sirius trekked back into the recesses of the library more books appeared. Three days of constant searching for something, anything that might help had left Remus in a remarkably foul mood and instead of taking it out on his companion-in-trials, he had retreated to a dark corner in private.
Sirius' eyes occasionally flicked over to where Remus sat, slumped over a desk in defeat. He had a huge ancient tome balancing on his knee which Sirius suspected might be bound in troll leather. It was grey-ish, lumpy, and exuded a rather nasty smell which was exactly why Sirius had picked it up. There was no way this book didn't contain dark spells, it was just too obvious. Unfortunately, his enthusiasm was waning, this being the hundredth stereotypically dark book he had perused with no result. If only Dumbledore had given them even a hint! Sirius was beginning to suspect that Dumbledore had simply felt bad for the pair of them, sequestered out in the country with nothing to do but Apparate into battle occasionally, and created a Sisyphean task to keep them busy for the remainder of the war. Either that or the old man held tea parties at the country cottage every afternoon and their presence there was cramping his style. Merlin only knew...
The once convict slammed the repulsive book closed and let it drop heavily to the floor. With a sigh he leaned back in his chair, tipping it back onto two legs as he had been want to do during particularly boring lessons at school. James had always tried to knock the remaining legs out from under him but until he got sufficiently proficient in wordless magic Sirius had always been able to preempt the friendly attacks. The first day he couldn't prevent it Professor McGonagal had blithely assigned James ten points to Gryffindor and then continued with her lesson plan as scheduled, Sirius nursing his sore head on the stone floor. There was no one to knock his chair out from under him now, Sirius thought mawkishly. James had been dead for years and Peter had been a traitor for as long...but there was Remus! Sirius tried to keep his face from showing his delight as he recalled his thoughts from a few days previous about how Remus' face would look if informed of Sirius' boyhood crush. They were good enough friends it shouldn't cause any serious tension, Sirius mused, and they weren't getting anywhere with this bullshit research, so who was to say he couldn't have a little fun that afternoon?
Decided, Sirius stood and sauntered over to where Remus lay prone. He pulled up a chair, leaned back in it, and put his feet up on the desk inches from Remus' head.
"What is it Padfoot?" Remus' voice was a bit muffled due to being pressed face first into the table.
"Oh nothing," said Sirius happily. "Just reminiscing."
"Reminiscing doesn't exactly seem your style, old friend," said the werewolf.
"Just now I was remembering that time McGonagal gave James points for knocking my chair out from under me," Sirius said, not replying to Remus' remark.
Remus didn't lift his head but he did laugh tiredly into the table top, which Sirius took as a good sign.
"I had completely forgotten about that," Remus said. "The look on your face..."
I bet it wasn't half as good as yours is going to be, Moony, Sirius thought mischievously.
"You know what else I've been remembering recently?" He asked.
"No," Remus sighed and finally sat up. "What have you been remembering? Just let me know first if it's depressing, I don't think I could handle it right now."
"Oh come on now, Moony, it's just a bit of research. Look at you getting all soft!"
"You are just as annoyed as me that Dumbledore left us without any direction, so stop that super-satisfied grinning, Padfoot."
"Super-satisfied?"
"Yes! I have never met anyone perpetually as self-satisfied as you, not even James!"
Sirius laughed loudly. Perhaps his ego was a little large. "Not that you mind though, huh? I bet you think it's totally endearing," he teased.
"Endearing?" repeated Remus, his voice an octave higher than usual. "I suppose, if you like over inflated egos it would be endearing."
"I'm glad you like it so much, Remus!" Sirius smiled widely. "Why in fact, with the way you continue to hang around me in spite of my admittedly enormous ego I'm beginning to suspect you like me just as much as I liked you in school!"
Remus stared blankly at Sirius for ten full seconds. The evil glint he knew so well was fully installed in Sirius' eyes but Remus didn't know which part of this set up had been the joke. It could not possibly be that Sirius was bringing up how he incessantly hit on the shy Remus during school just for memory's sake. He thinks I just never noticed, though Remus, did I really ignore him that well...?
"So, Padfoot," Remus broke the silence, "you honestly think I never noticed your pitiful attempts at hitting on me when we were in school?"
The grin melted off Sirius' face. How? What? I guess that's what I get for having best friends, he grumbled inwardly, they can read through my tricks in a second flat! But! The grin was reinstated, if Remus wanted to play mean, he would too!
"Well, Moony, I'm surprised! You never seemed to notice while we were at Hogwarts. That seems downright rude if you ask me!"
"Rude? No ruder than your repeated attempts to embarrass me in front of our friends."
"I never tried to embarrass you...well, not much. I truly did want you to notice me."
"Well, unfortunately for you, I'm not interested in people who are sure they piss the elixir of life and shit goblin gold, Padfoot," Remus was matching Sirius' grin now, his slightly longer than average canines exposed.
"Oh no?" Sirius stood up. He went round the table and hauled Remus to his feet by his collar. "What is a better way of gaining your affection then?"
"The usual," Remus replied lightly. "Sweet attentions, friendly joking, light touches...nothing someone as direct as you would understand!"
"So, if I threw you against the wall," Sirius said as he backed the werewolf up against the stone wall, one hand still on his collar and the other planted on the wall next to Remus' head, "that would be entirely the wrong move?"
Their noses were touching and Remus could feel Sirius' breath against his lips. His own breath was coming in ragged gulps, to say this charade had got out of hand would be an understatement. Merlin, Sirius smelled so good, it was something Remus was prone to notice first about people, being part beast, and it had always been one of Sirius' most attractive features to him. He took a deep breath through his nose unconsciously, the smell of sharp spices flooding and overpowering the synapses in his brain. Sirius' smell was one of his two favorites in the world, the other was dark and citrusy, like orange liquor...Tonks...TONKS!
Remus pushed Sirius away a little more forcefully than he intended, but his friend recovered himself without falling over. He leaned forward, hands on his slightly bent knees, and breathed shakily. How could he let himself get carried away like that?
Sirius, unawares, was mirroring Remus' thoughts. He hadn't meant for it to go that far. A little teasing, no touching, and definitely not nearly sucking face with his best friend. No wonder Remus had pushed him away. He had seemed into it though, even if just for a second...
'Sorry," panted Remus, still half-collapsed against the wall, "are you ok?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it," Sirius said immediately, hoping there wasn't too much damage, friendship wise.
"I...I..." Remus tried to start several times but stopped.
"Don't worry about it, mate," Sirius replied. "I was totally out of line, sorry."
"No really, I need to tell you this. I did notice the way you hit on me in school. It was pretty flattering and I liked you quite a bit, myself," Remus said, his hand raised to stop Sirius from interrupting. "But I'm with Tonks now. No matter how much I...I...well, I might enjoy horsing around with you like this, I can't betray her trust."
"Well you could always ask her to join in!" Sirius regretted it almost as soon as it left his lips. Man, why did his flippancy always get the better of him even in serious situations? Remus however, didn't seem to be too bothered, which was a relief.
"Let's go back home," he said instead. "it's almost six and Tonks will be back from work soon provided the Aurors don't keep her all night."
"Yeah, good idea," Sirius was altogether too glad to be avoiding the awkward situation for the time being.
The two headed back through the tiny door into the dark cellar hundreds of miles away. Light gleamed through the door at the top of the stairs and the sounds of Tonks fumbling around the kitchen and swearing quietly when things knocked over could be heard. Sirius started forward but Remus reached out and pulled him back.
"Let's keep this to ourselves, yeah?" He whispered.
Sirius couldn't see his friend's face but could hear the concern in his voice. "Don't worry, Moony. I was an ass today but I don't have any desire to fuck things up between you and Tonks, ok?" he said back quietly.
He felt more than saw Remus smile. "Thanks Padfoot. And don't you worry about it either, nothing happened, right?"
They set back off up the stairs, Remus feeling relieved but Sirius still concerned. He definitely had no intention of cocking up his best friend's life, but he had to admit that he had enjoyed the solar flares of sexual tension that had shot off of them earlier. But no, Tonks was too good of a friend now too, he wouldn't want to hurt her either. Was there a way they could work this all out between them?
Well that didn't go the way Sirius had planned! Not that he plans much, he definitely more of a fly by night sort of dude. Bit of a cliffy though, let's all cross our fingers and hope they sort it all out. Relationships take serious work, especially when they involve more than just two people. Sirius seems unconsciously interested, but is he ready to put the work in?
