Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Elvis Costello, though I envy the glasses they wear.

Title: Sneaky Feelings

Summary: Alice Longbottom wants to find the most suitable entertainment for the soon-to-be-married Lily Evans. Sirius Black, however, is not ready to cooperate. Slash RL/SB. Random Elvis Costello lyrics make their way into things.

A/N: Sorry this took a while. Midterms and all that nonsense. But FALL BREAK IS COMING AND FANFICTION WILL PREVAIL! Also—somewhere down the line, this became songficish (shut up, Microsoft Word. Songficish is totally a word). I've never used the concept of sonfic before, so let me know if this works for you or not.

Chapter Four: Mystery Dance

James and Sirius stood awkwardly against the wall on the opposite end of the room, eying the group of giggling witches warily. It had been much more difficult than James had previously thought—watching his fiancé getting all dolled up for her hen party. Technically, he shouldn't have been in the flat at the same time as the party, because part of it involved hairspray and he had always been horribly sickened by the smell. But there had been no escape, really. They'd come only a few short minutes after he'd arrived home, and he'd been too busy laughing at Sirius to hightail it out of there.

"What to you think they'll do tonight?" James asked Sirius quietly. Lily's dress seems pretty low cut. Do you think they're going to a club?"

"I hate your girlfriend," Sirius replied.

"Merlin forbid something happens to my Lilyflower…should I follow them?"

"I hate your girlfriend."

James furrowed his eyebrows and glared as Alice grabbed Lily's hand and led the giggling group to the front door. One of the other girls glanced quickly back at James and Sirius and whispered something into Lily's ear. Lily threw her head back and laughed…which reminded James that the girls had drunk some Firewhiskey a few minutes earlier, and were probably at high risk for Splinching. "Okay, I'm definitely going. You with me, mate?"

"Hmmm…" considered Sirius. "I…hate your girlfriend."

"Oh come off it!" he punched his friend in the arm. "Now, come with me."

Sirius shook his head. "I hate your girlfriend!"

James took that to mean "I'm staying here", so he grabbed his winter coat and snuck out the front door, locking it as he left. Sirius sighed and maneuvered his way over to the jade green couch in the middle of the room. Just as he was making himself comfortable, he noticed the bottle of Firewhiskey sitting enticingly on the coffee table just within his reach. Just as he made to grab it, however, Sirius suddenly remembered how the bottle had touched the lips of half of those rather unattractive witches who had just been in the room.

Yes, this was going to be one of those nights when he was too lazy to summon a goblet.

What the bloody hell was he going to do now? Should he just stay at Prongs' house until the screaming girls forced him to relocate? He couldn't go back to his place. He despised it there—no one cooked for him or cleaned those cute little messes than only Padfoot could make.

Sirius silently transformed and dug his snout into the cushion, not caring one bit about how angry Lily would be when she found dog hair and saliva all over her furniture. Padfoot was calm for a few moments, almost feeling the nostalgic James-like scent that would always be buried deep into the couch. As far as Padfoot knew, only he and Moony could share this type of experience—feeling the overpowering sensation of a scent as though it were part of their bodies. Padfoot fell into a very light, almost half-sleep.

Suddenly, though not unexpectedly enough for Padfoot to bother changing back, the front door swung open and a jolt of icy wind entered the room. Padfoot would have rolled his eyes, had he been human. James should've known better than to spy on his fiancé and her crazy friends. It was Hogwarts all over again; he was doomed to get caught straight from the beginning. The Animagus kept his eyes shut as he listened to James bat some snow off his coat before hanging it up.

"Well what do we have here?"

Padfoot's head shot up and his doggie eyes bugged out, causing the human in the room to burst out laughing.

"Haven't had enough rows with Lily yet to understand her dislike for dog hair?" asked Remus, who's eyes were glittering with amusement at the obviously flustered Padfoot. Sirius transformed instantly and quickly met Remus at the door.

"Wotcher, Moony," he said in a deep voice, trying hard not to look embarrassed or flustered.

Remus grinned. "There's a rather raucous muggle party going on in my building, so I was going to ask Prongs if I could spent the night on the couch."

Sirius matched his friend's grin. "Looks like you're gonna have to fight me for that position."

The other man rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Pads. There's nothing wrong with your flat. It's in a very nice neighborhood, and you don't have drunken teenaged muggles shagging against the other side of the wall."

"Then why don't you ever ask to spend the night with me instead of James?"

Remus looked as though he was thinking this question over carefully. "Well," he began. "James and Lily are actually a very quiet couple, contrary to what you might think." Sirius nodded. He knew very well that those two only put on the bickering act when they were in public. "And, I guess I had always assumed you'd be with a woman every night. Wouldn't want to barge in on anything not meant for my innocent werewolf eyes," he batted his eyelashes.

"Innocent my arse." Sirius followed Remus, and they both sat down on the cushy green couch in the very center of the flat. It directly faced the fireplace, which held a Muggle turntable on the mantle above. Sirius' heart tingles every time he thinks about James' turntable, not because he's a fan of music (although he most certainly is), but because of the memories.

The first time he danced with another man was while a record spun on that player. It had been the night of Lily and James' engagement…and Sirius had never felt so alone and unloved. Lily's upbeat Sinatra album made him feel dreadful, as he watched the newly engaged couple sway, spin, and swing around the room. Their love had looked so real and yet so far away. Just like a photograph, James and Lily were animated and happy in their movements…yet there was no way Sirius could ever touch them. He could never break the barrier of love that blocked them from him like the gloss on the photograph…

It had happened so quickly, Sirius didn't have time to register it—suddenly he was face-to-face with Remus. They were in the middle of the room, with their arms placed delicately around each other.

"W-What are you doing, Moony?" Sirius remembered asking. Millions of tiny sensations were prickling all over Sirius' skin. His hips were especially sensitive, where Remus' hands were gently resting.

"Well, I figured you didn't want to dance with Peter…"

Their movements fell into place, dreamily. Sirius can't remember the details of the dance half as well as he can remember the beating of his heart and the swimming of his mind. It was what he needed at that very moment, and it was such a Remus-like thing to do.

The memory of dancing with Remus always made Sirius blush. Remus noticed this now as he settled into the couch.

"Thinking about your boyfriend?" a smile curled on his lips.

Sirius shook his head to separate himself from his memories. "What was that?"

"You're face is all red. I just wondered if you were thinking about that bloke you fancy."

The other man's face lit up and he positioned himself closer to his friend. "I was thinking about him!" Sirius bounced up and down on the cushion, rocking the whole couch as he did so. Remus grabbed a hold of Sirius' shirt to steady both of them.

"I'm glad you're so excited, but please don't move around so much. I'm really knackered and I need this couch to be stable," said Remus.

"Want to listen to my Ziggy Stardust album?" Sirius asked, trying to keep the mood light.

Remus wrinkled his nose. "I tell you I'm knackered and you suggest Bowie?" They both laughed at Sirius' absurd request. "Glam is dead, mate. Aren't you over all that glitter and makeup yet?"

"Of course not! Glam is just…taking a rest, that's all. It's coming back, you wait and see, Moony."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "I'll wait, but I'd rather not see."

Sirius laughed. "You're just sore because I look better in tight silver pants than you do."

Remus yawned and his head sunk back into the couch cushion. He spoke in a tired, breathy voice, "I don't know, Padfoot. The only silver pants I ever tried on were yours, and we all know how much bigger your arse is than mine. It was hardly fair to have me wear such a thing."

"For the sake of our friendship, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear all that."

Sirius moved even closer to Remus on the couch, slipping his arm around his friend and lightly leaning into him. He watched and waited for any signs of discomfort from the werewolf, but none came. Instead, a small smile played across Remus' lips, and a sigh escaped him as he closed his eyes and leaned into the warmth of his friend's body. Remus' soft, brown hair tickled Sirius' cheek.

"Moony?" asked Sirius cautiously, trying to discern his friend's suddenly intimate closeness.

"Mmm?" he responded.

"…You…wanna go to the wedding…with me?"

Remus' brow furrowed, but his eyelids were too heavy to open. "Thought you were going to ask that bloke of yours to go. That was the whole point of you telling him so soon, was it not?"

"I didask him! Just now!" Sirius shifted in his seat, positioning himself so that he could look at Remus' face.

"Just now? If you're asking me to go, then I assume he turned you down?" his voice was laced with concern, sounding more awake than he had a moment ago.

If Remus had opened his eyes, he would have come face-to-face with an angry, panic-stricken Sirius. "I bloody well don't know if he turned me down! He isn't answering me!"

"Would you like me to talk to him?"

Sirius threw his arms up in the air, knocking Remus to the side. "By all means, Remus Lupin! Talk to him! Ask him why he's so fucking oblivious to me! Ask him why he's being such a goddamn pillock right now when he bloody well knows how hard it is for me to just come right out and tell him I lo—er, that I…you know what I'm talking about!"

"Merlin's balls…" Remus began, rubbing his head in the spot where Sirius had knocked him. "Keep your hair on! It's obvious you're crazy about this fellow…I've never seen you act like this before. You seriously…in love with him?" Remus' flushed face had a calming effect on Sirius' nerves.

"You could say that, yeah. So, er…" Sirius sounded quite flustered all of a sudden. "Would you…like me to…you know, er…stay on this couch with you for a while? We could listen to your Elvis Costello record if you'd like."

Remus snorted and couldn't hide his smirk. "Snuggling up to Elvis Costello sounds smashing…but you're running out of time, you know. Is your bloke still awake at this hour?"

Sirius' eyes widened. "Moony?" he asked.

"What?"

"You know that face you make…you know, the 'you can't possibly be that stupid' face? Can you show it to me?"

Remus looked confused, but obliged a few seconds later as his eyes bulged and his jaw dropped.

"Thanks mate, that's all I needed."

"You mind telling me why I had to show you that expression?"

Sirius looked him square in the eye. "Because I can't imitate that face very well, and Merlin knows somebody had to use it in this situation."

Remus chuckled. "Oh come now, mate. Surely you can insult me better than that."

Sirius shook his head and situated himself so that his arms were wrapped around his friend, who in turn curled up against him. Sirius waved his wand around a few times, summoning Elvis Costello's "My Aim Is True" album and levitating it onto the turntable. A few flicks of the wrist later, and music lightly filled their corner of the room.

In spite of the pop music, it didn't take Remus and Sirius very long to drift off into sleep. Sirius wished with all his might that he could stay awake long enough to drown in the feeling of the rise and fall of his best friend's chest…but sleeping close to someone has a certain tranquilizing magic.

A few songs came and went unheard by the slumbering duo. Outside, however, one inhabitant of the apartment was making her way up the staircase, followed by six or seven slightly tipsy young witches.

Once Lily got close enough, she grinned from ear to ear. "What's this? My favorite song's on! Alice, did you set something up?" her excited breath whitened the cold air around her face.

Alice had been noticeably down-in-the-dumps all evening, as she wasn't able to come up with anything extravagant for Lily's hen party. She leaned her head into the door and listened for the music. She vaguely heard the song "Alison" by Elvis Costello, and frowned. "Kind of a sad song to be your favorite, yeah?"

"It's not sad! The melody is very sweet and the lyrics are only half of the sound that makes music beautiful. Who do you think's in there playing the record, if you girls didn't set it up?" the others all shook their heads in confusion, but Lily smirked. She wasn't that oblivious. James must have given up his spying to come home early and surprise her with something romantic. "I think my fiancé is in there, so why don't we call it a night." Alice and the girls nodded their heads sleepily, giggling amongst themselves as they cast warming charms upon their coats.

Lily noticed the door was unlocked, and slowly cracked it open. The lights in the flat were all on, and she had to squint to see. Quietly, she stepped across the threshold and waited for her eyes to adjust. And once they did, she almost fainted.

Upon the couch in front of the crackling fire was Sirius and Remus, curled up with one another, asleep. Lily's breath hitched, and her face that had been cold a few seconds ago, burned. Her favorite song ended and the next began, much more upbeat than the previous.

"Now everybody's breakin' up somebody else's home,

before somebody else starts breaking up their own."

Lily had never listened to the lyrics of this song before, mainly because she preferred to play "Alison" over and over. But right now, Elvis Costello's words were flowing madly through her mind as her heart hammered. Sirius and Remus were in love. And they were in her home.

"I get you in my dreams.

You should hear the things you say."

As if on cue, Remus smiled in his sleep, sweetly and honestly. Lily covered her mouth and sunk to her knees. How could she be so fortunate as to have this scene play out in front of her?

"It's not that it's so much fun,

but it's safer that way."

Was this…could this be…"Two boys falling victim to each other's passions…" she whispered, which she immediately knew was the wrong thing to do. Pop music, of course, could not wake her friends, but somehow her whispering voice could. Sirius stirred, but Remus remained in place. The black-haired man blinked a few times and then noticed Lily on the other side of the room in front of the slightly ajar door. He grinned fully and youthfully at the girl who he'd previously been furious with. But what really stopped Lily's heart was the single finger Sirius lifted to his lips, before glancing down at the man still sleeping in his arms.

"Sneaky feeling, sneaky feelings,

you can't let those kind of feeling show."

Lily could have died happy right then and there. She thought back to her earlier conversation with Sirius, about how much he loved a certain someone to the point where it was difficult to speak. It was almost heart stopping for her to suddenly discover that a person she herself cared very much about was the object of Sirius' affection—Remus would never forgive Lily if he found out that she'd instigated a highly sexual conversation about him.

She tiptoed over to the sofa and knelt down next to Sirius. "I guess you did somewhat take my advice then," Lily whispered softly. Sirius' brow furrowed and he cocked his head to one side. She chuckled silently. "I mean, it looks to me like you got physical pretty quickly."

Sirius shot her a "this is purely platonic but I almost wish it weren't" look. Either that, or it meant his leg had fallen asleep and he had no way of removing Remus, whose body was cuddled up very closely to Sirius'. The black-haired man stared wistfully at his friend when he heard a tiny sigh escape those lips. Lily sighed as well.

"I'd like to get right through the way I feel for you,

but I've still got a long way to go."

"How could he not realize how much you love him?"

That was the question, wasn't it? Remus wasn't stupid. He could notice when they were planning a prank on Snape, even before James or Sirius would put it to words. Maybe his werewolf senses couldn't detect romantic feelings? That couldn't be right. He caught it immediately when Lily had a crush on him in fourth year.

When she noticed the sudden sadness in Sirius' gray eyes, she set her hand gently on his head and stroked his surprisingly silky hair…a comforting gesture she'd never actually done to her boyfriend's best mate before. But now that she knew what was aching him, now that she knew who was aching him…she swore to herself she'd never mess with his feelings again. "It'll be okay, you know," she whispered. Sirius nodded, took a long, hard look at the sleeping Remus, and grinned. Lily sent him a confused expression.

"Watch this," he mouthed. And then, without warning, he brushed his lips against a scar on Remus' cheek. Not even half a second later, the corner of the sleeping man's mouth curled slightly. Lily's face was brilliantly red.

"Why don't we call it a day, and we can both confess.

You can force me to use a little tenderness."

Suddenly, she felt like an intruder in her own apartment. "I think I'm going to bed. Do you know where James is?" A roll of Sirius' eyes told Lily everything she needed to know. She tiptoed back to the front door, shut and locked it with her wand, and then hung up her coat. Before stepping into the bedroom she shared with her fiancé, she snuck a quick glance at the tender scene in front of the fire.

Sirius' muscular arm was protectively draped over Remus' body, while the other flicked a wand at the record player, effectively silencing it. The crackling of the fire was all the two of them needed for tonight. The sound of it was music to Sirius' ears, and he imagined dancing with his arms around Remus like this. No talking would be necessary, because Remus would understand everything through the body language.

Tonight's spoken thoughts would have to wait until morning…or until James stumbled angrily through the doorway.

Please review my story! As I mentioned, I am NOT a veteran songfic author. Next chapter's the last one, btw...so stay tuned!