Remus woke groggily to comforting darkness and the deafening hush of the empty hospital wing.
He blinked, adjusting to the faint glow of moonlight tumbling from the windows; as he peered at his surroundings, shapes of furniture slowly emerged from the gloom. Remus squinted blearily as he tried to let his vision adjust and went to rub his sleep filled eyes, but was stopped by a warm pressure weighing down his right arm.
A deeper shade of darkness to the rest of the room was slumped against his side. Something soft was ticking his upper arm just below his sleeve and cool long fingers were wound between his own.
A warm flutter curled in his stomach.
He knew those hands.
Slender, bony hands which slotted snugly against his own broader, roughened palms. He could almost visualise the shiny black hair strewn across his shoulder and the strong angular features of the face whose nose was pressed against his elbow.
The physical presence of the other boy at his side seemed to sooth the frayed nerves and jittering restlessness that had plagued him over the last month. Sirius had been the cause of Moony's distress and yet, now, he seemed to be the cure.
He went to brush some of the ticklish hair from his arm when Sirius' grip tensed and the other boy shuddered violently; face pressing harder against the crook of Remus' elbow. Concern flitted across Moony's face.
He reached the back of his hand across to gently brush Sirius' arm.
Cold.
The room was still too dark to see anything more than vague outlines, but Remus could feel the prickle of goose bumps and the clammy chill of his friend's skin.
You idiot Padfoot. He scolded silently.
It may have been almost a week since Sirius' fall, and Madame Pomfrey had outdone herself in his healing… but Sirius was still recovering.
Before Remus had left, he and the other Marauders had only been allowed to visit as long as Sirius adhered to his strict bed rest; where, Madame Pomfrey had reminded them, there was to be absolutely NO excitement or funny business. Remus was positive that Padfoot's little adventure across the hospital wing would have been difficult, painful and definitely not approved of by the severe matron.
Nevertheless…
Under the ripple of worry and disapproval, a contented, humming warmth curled in Remus' chest at the slow puff of breath against his arm and the solid weight pressed to his side.
Sirius shuddered again.
"Right" Remus muttered to himself, "enough of that."
He shifted his unclaimed arm over again and patted it uncertainly in the air for a few moments before he felt soft cotton and cold skin against his palm. He shook gently.
"Sirius… Sirius"
"mmmfffff….." the lump groaned and increased its grip painfully on his arm.
"Sirius!"
"Trynasleep…" A shudder wracked the other boy's body. "t-tsleep Moony…"
Remus couldn't help his lips twitching and a slight crinkle at his eye at Sirius' protests.
"No, Sirius. You're cold, you need to move."
The head by his shoulder shifted and Remus caught the glint of dark blue eyes, heavily lidded with sleep, glaring balefully up at him.
"M'not leaving"
"I didn't say leave" the other replied dryly; a brow lifting slightly in amusement. Forehead furrowing, Sirius tilted his head in a look that demanded an explanation.
Remus tsked fondly and gingerly shifted to the side; patting the space between them.
"In. Now."
The sharp, amber gaze held no room for argument and Sirius reluctantly uncurled himself from Remus' warmth. An involuntary shudder on his part brought another noise of disapproval from the werewolf; now shuffled up to a point where he was almost in danger of tipping off the narrow hospital bed.
Dragging his fingertips across the layers of covers and blankets, Remus peeled them back and felt Sirius' weight sink onto the other side of the bed.
Shifting awkwardly, Remus rolled onto his side so that he was facing Sirius, now rather closer in proximity, through the darkness. Sirius was still shuffling clumsily, pulling the covers over himself before settling to face Remus; squinting to locate his friend's eyes in the dark.
"Rem?"
"Yeah?"
"Th-thanks"
Remus frowned at the still present shivering of his bedfellow. Fumbling slightly, he reached out and grasped a limb in the darkness.
"Oww Moony!"
"Shhh, your still cold Padfoot."
"I'm fi-"
"No you're not" Remus huffed. "Here"
Oh so carefully; hyper aware of both of their rather broken states, Remus turned again, sheets rustling loudly in the echoing room; until he was facing out into the gloom once more.
"What are you-?"
"Here" Remus murmured, gently reaching the other boy's arm and pulling in around them both. He shifted a bit, closer, but still leaving a gap. Always leaving a gap.
He could feel Sirius' gaze on him for a moment. Another arm came to rest in the space between his head and shoulders and the pillow. Sirius swallowed dryly.
"Warmer?"
"Hmmm" Breath tickled the back of Moony's neck with the other's exhaled reply of contentment.
"…Rem?"
"Yes Sirius?"
"I…"
Remus felt the minute change in the arms wrapped around him. Tense, wary.
"Hmm?"
"M'sorry"
Remus huffed. A sort of resigned chuckle somewhere between amusement and melancholy. He brought his warmer hand to wind between Sirius' pale, cold fingers and gave the faintest squeeze.
"So am I"
He felt the tension seep from Sirius' form as the taught muscles relaxed and the other boy shuffled slightly.
"C'mere Rem, you'll fall off the bed" Sirius chided.
With the prompting of Sirius' persuasive tugs, Remus moved away from where he had, admittedly, been balanced rather precariously on the edge of the bed.
The sudden immediate presence of Sirius; chest pressed to his back, arms tightening around his waist, was a more than welcome counterpoint to the continuing ache of his healing bruises.
He felt as the sharp angles of a face nudged against the back of his neck and a warm exhale tickled his hair.
Everything seemed to be in the sharpest of clarity and yet still strangely blurred with the surreal. He had promised himself that he would forget it, he should discard this impossibility, and yet…
Thoughts swam in his head, then slowed; as gentle fingers carded through honeyed hair, and Remus drifted off into warm, comforting sleep.
When he woke again, Sirius found a solid body of warmth pressed snugly against him, and the pale weak tea of dawn light blanketing the hospital wing in a muted haze. A deeply satisfied hum reverberated in his throat; making his whole upper body rumble with his contentment.
Remus fidgeted slightly in his sleep, curling back into the heat of Sirius' body behind him. The other boy's shoulders pressed into Sirius' own, but more noticeably, the backside that Sirius had so come to admire on that day in the dormitory bathroom long ago, was suddenly arching deliciously against his own hips.
This was very foreign territory with Remus. In fact with almost any other boy. I mean, there was that one time with Tristram Finnigan… But both boys had been drunk and in questionable control of their actions, whereas this, this, with Moony. It was the same and yet so, so different because it was him and it was Moony and there was so much more at stake. So much more he could screw up; Dangerous waters as Remus would say.
But Sirius was still addled with sleep and so tired of hesitance and denial.
So to hell with it.
Remus' hips shifted again and Sirius stifled a groan as he was ground into in just the right place.
His chin hooked over Moony's shoulder; dark long hair tickling the other's neck as he buried his face against the tanned skin and the brush of dark sandy locks.
Gently, he flexed his slightly dead arm that had been resting under Remus' head and used the other, which was wrapped around his companion, to draw the other's body tightly against him. He revelled in the unbelievable warmth that Remus seemed to produce and the amazing feeling of the hard muscular back and contrasting curve of buttock plastered against his own body.
Remus mumbled slightly in his sleep and Sirius pressed his face into the crook of his neck with a contented sigh; his nose was being tickled by the curls of golden hair and he found himself pressing his mouth to a warm patch of skin in a dry, open kiss. He heard his friend murmur something unintelligible again. Why was everything Remus did so damn endearing?
Sirius tightened his hold around Remus' body; his hand curling in between the other boy's waist and the mattress and Remus stirred drowsily.
"Sirius?" Moony murmured, caramel eyes still lidded as he revelled in the solid muscular frame curled against his back.
"Mhhmm" breath tickled Remus' neck.
Moony sunk back into his friend's body with a contented sigh.
"'Missed you"
Sirius felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach and squeezed his arms instinctively around Remus; his lips dragged against the exposed nape of his neck.
It's not like he'll remember, right?
"Missed you too Moons"
Remus exhaled softly and then gently extracted his friend's hand from under his torso and wound their fingers together; scarred bronze against smooth alabaster. "Missed you too".