He made all the right sounds at exactly the right times. He performed all the right actions at the moments when they were most expected. His body responded perfectly to each and every one of his lover's touches. And yet his mind could not be persuaded to stray from its current line of thinking towards concentrating on the activity he was currently engaged in.

His relationship with his soon-to-be-ex-husband and his current lover was indeed a strange one, although not completely inconceivable. He had betrayed Sirius with one of the pureblood's worst enemies, but they were still able to agree that they could remain friends. On the same night wherein they came to that agreement, he had betrayed his current lover by sleeping with his husband. Then afterwards, he could no longer forget the events of that evening, and he all but admitted that he could no longer think of his husband as just a friend.

A lesser mind would have gone crazy. Remus simply chose to remain in denial about the feelings for Sirius that had resurfaced upon their encounter a few nights before.

He let out a long, low moan as Severus slowly traced his fingers down his neck, his breastbone and his stomach, while the spy's lips remained attached to his neck, suckling at the sensitive flesh found there. The fingers continued their path down the line of hair that started just below his navel and towards the tawny tuft between his legs before finally settling on his alert erection.

"If it weren't so characteristic of you, I would probably have scolded you for thinking too much" Severus murmured softly, bringing his face up to look into Remus's eyes. The werewolf murmured an even softer apology before drawing Severus in to grace his lips with a soft kiss that gradually grew deeper as the seconds passed. Severus grasped the back of Remus's neck with one hand and delved between his cleft of his buttocks with the other, earning him a heated moan from the over-stimulated werewolf. "Tell me what you want" he whispered, prodding the entrance he found there. Remus moaned loudly and arched up against his lover, pressing their bodies together. In return, Severus ground his hips against Remus. As one of his probing fingers slipped into his lover, the werewolf gasped audibly and cried:

"Oh, Merlin! Fuck me, Sirius!"

Both gyrating bodies froze as the name escaped Remus's lips. Amber eyes widened dramatically as Remus realized his error, but the lack of movement from his lover kept him from making his own move. Merely seconds passed before Severus eventually did. It could have been hours and they wouldn't have known the difference.

Severus snatched his hands away and grabbed his wand. As he stood up, he magically dressed himself and stalked out of the door. He made sure to slam it hard enough to splinter the wood before apparating away. He glanced not even once at Remus's way. If he had done so, he would have seen his lover slam his head back against the pillow and throw one arm over his eyes, cursing himself with every expletive in every language he knew.

*****

The two men were as different as the moon and the stars and yet both Sirius and Remus felt equally apprehensive and eager for the second official Order of the Phoenix meeting as they mentally and physically prepared themselves for it. They had the exact same reason for feeling the way they did, which was confronting their soon-to-be-former lovers, and they had spent the night before in identical ways, namely getting utterly and completely sloshed. As such, they woke up with equally horrendous appearances and equally splitting headaches.

Needless to say, they were not at their peak selves when Sirius had all but stumbled down the stairs and Remus had nearly splinched himself apparating to Grimmauld Place.

"Dear God, man, pull yourself together!" came the sharp, albeit joking, reprimand of one brazen redhead by the name of Charlie Weasley. Not that Sirius would have known, seeing as they had never met before. He simply sneered at the 'intruder' in his home and staggered to the kitchen for a cup of black coffee and lemon, a hangover remedy he knew far and well.

"Remus!" was the greeting he heard from Tonks as, he assumed, Remus arrived at the doorstep. Sinking deeper into the chair, he very nearly buried his nose into his coffee while he hoped that Remus decided to stay upstairs. He slowly and surely consumed his drink, feeling his vision settling down, before he got up out of his seat and braced himself to face his ex-lover, hoping on the star that was his namesake that he looked presentable enough. He may have decided not take any actions to get back together with the werewolf, but he'd be damned before he took any actions to further push said werewolf away.

To his surprise, Remus himself looked less presentable than he usually was. His normally impeccable attire was casually, if not haphazardly thrown on. His hair was mussed enough to let Sirius know that he had just rolled out of bed and did not bother to run a brush through it. There were bags under his eyes that were only found on him after a full moon, and the slur in his voice told Sirius that barely a night had passed after he had gone drinking. He rushed right over and grabbed his comrade around the shoulders.

"Moony" he frowned, concern blending into his voice. Remus blinked owlishly at him.

"Oh, hullo, Siri" he greeted, "Let me intro -hic- duce you to Charles and William Weasley. Molly and -hic- Arthur's two oldest sons." Extending out his arm, he gestured toward the two redheads standing in the center of the parlor. Sirius nodded politely in their general direction, but he was more concerned with getting his friend into the kitchen to splash some water on his face and give him a mug of coffee and lemon.

"You're drunk, Moony" the ex-convict needlessly pointed out, as he handed the drunk man a steaming mug. Remus giggled softly. He giggled! Clearly, Sirius had just spoken an understatement.

"You just might be right, Si -hic- Siri. Fancy that." To that Sirius playfully shoved him.

"You're dead drunk and you still manage to take the mickey out of me? Well, that just won't do would it?" he half-heartedly attempted to pull Remus's drink away but the werewolf gracelessly held it out of reach.

"Oh no you don't! Mine!" he shot back, childishly shoving Sirius away. The animagus smiled fondly and took a seat at the chair opposite his slowly-sobering ex-lover, resting his chin on top of his folded arms on the table. They spent the next few minutes that way. Remus regaining his angst-ridden senses while Sirius watching him do so. Amber eyes shut as their owner sipped the coffee, grateful that his brain could properly focus and that his tongue was no longer about ten sizes larger. When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself drawn to the calm gray orbs of his best friend. "Hello, Sirius" he greeted with a grateful smile, much more gentlemanly this time.

"Hey, Moons" Sirius greeted right back, though his lips were devoid of a similar stretch. He straightened up to watch Remus fidget slightly. The werewolf volunteered nothing, but waited for the question which came soon enough. "You're drunk." Well, it was more of a statement.

"Were" he correctly, carefully sidestepping the question. He knew, however, he wouldn't be able to avoid it totally.

"Are, were, same difference. That doesn't answer my question, though. Why were you drunk?"

"Ah, much better" Remus tried again, lacing his words with a half-hearted teasing tone, "Proper questions deserve proper answers."

"May I assume it has something to do with the cretin who sullies your bed?" Sirius frowned.

"Why Sirius, I didn't know Azkaban teaches vocabulary lessons" the werewolf made a last attempt at humor and sipped the final remnants of his hangover cure. Sirius stood up sharply, knocking over his chair, and slammed his fist on the table hard.

"Dammit, Remus!" he growled, "Why won't you just tell me what the fuck's wrong instead of getting all prissy?!" The werewolf simply shut his eyes and breathed in deeply while Sirius continued his tirade. "I know you like the back of my hand and no matter how shitty you feel, you'd never drown yourself in alcohol, especially if you knew something important would be coming up."

"That is where you're wrong, Sirius" Remus finally murmured, "You knew me like the back of your hand. You, however, no longer do." Sirius frowned. "I'll only go so far as to say that, yes, Severus is involved in this. However, he is not at fault whatsoever." To that, the animagus muttered something unintelligible. "This is our problem and we will deal with it ourselves as mature adults do. You have no right and no business interfering with us."

"At least tell me. Let me help you figure something out" the ex-convict replied, "That's what friends do don't they?"

"I'm afraid that you can be of no help in this, Sirius, neither as a friend and most especially as an ex-lover" Remus held up his hand to signal the end of the conversation before Sirius was able to get in a word edgewise. Instead, he silently fumed. "Now, we best get upstairs, I believe the others have all arrived." As they started their way toward the stairs, a cold voice resonated downwards and a dark figure filled the doorway.

"How utterly darling. Our two favorite puppies enjoying a beautiful breakfast together."