The Best Types of Medication

Remus was dreaming.

He was sure of it. It wouldn't be the first time he had a dream of a questionable nature about his roommate. It would even be the most detailed, or the most erotic, if he were honest. But this one certainly felt the most real.

Sirius was straddling him, almost sitting in his lap while Remus' back pressed against the headboard of the narrow hospital bed. Remus wasn't entirely sure how that had happened. There might have been talking, he thought, but he couldn't be certain because all there was now were lips in a much more enjoyable capacity.

It started out gentle, cautious. Experimental little brushes which had grown gradually into more firm touches. Sirius swiped the tip of his tongue across Remus bottom lip, and the fairer boy couldn't quite bite back his groan of appreciation. Sirius didn't waste the chance to delve further into Remus' mouth, exploring slowly.

It has to be a dream, Remus reminded himself. Any minute, someone would walk in and interrupt or Sirius would suddenly pull away and laugh cruelly while he declared 'jokes on you!', and then Remus would wake up in his bed back in Gryffindor tower, a little bit embarrassed and a little bit confused and a lot aroused.

But nobody came. Nobody burst through the curtains, cackling. And when Sirius finally pulled away from Remus' swollen, wet lips, it was only to take a breath before moving down to his neck.

Without thinking, Remus tilted his head to allow the darker boy's mouth better access, losing himself in the hot, damp sensation running down his throat. He was vaguely aware that his hands were clamped around Sirius' hips, his thumbs twisted in the belt loops of his trousers. He wasn't sure when that happened, either. Probably about the same time Sirius joined him on the bed, he mused.

This was all taking a bit longer than usual, he decided, and wherever had that interruption gotten to?

' Fuck - Remus - Moony - have you - any - idea how - long - wanted - to do - this,' Sirius mumbled between kisses, trailing his way back up Remus' jaw line.

Talking was new, Remus registered. There wasn't usually talking in his dreams.

But then Sirius moved again, pulled back enough that their noses brushed together but not their lips. He looked down at Remus with those grey eyes, alight with a ramble of emotions Remus couldn't hope to decipher and, at the same time, darkened with want, a lust that made Remus' breath catch in his throat. Maybe not a dream, then. Those eyes hovered there, practically glowing in the dim room.

' Okay, Rem?' Sirius breathed, voice a little rough. ' Still with me?'

Remus nodded before he thought about it, not being able to even summon the words to express his loathing for the abbreviation of his name, and then all conscious thought ended when Sirius closed the gap between them again.

It was more heated this time, tongue and teeth clashing in their urgency. Hands wandered more freely, Remus twisting his fingers tightly into Sirius' shirt. Sirius managed to tug Remus' own pyjama top up enough to push his hand beneath the flannel fabric. His hands were inexplicably hot against Remus' cool skin, burning a trail of warmth up his stomach.

The fingers edged ticklish along Remus' ribs, and he tried not to laugh as he backed away from them. Having already been pressed against the headboard, he was most unsuccessful in his endeavour and when Sirius noticed his writhing Remus felt him grin through the kiss.

Sirius repeated the motion, more vigorously this time, and Remus couldn't quite bite back his giggle, even as he jerked violently away from the touch. The sudden movement was enough to throw the startled animagus off the little bed.

He crashed rather unceremoniously to the ground, hitting the cold stone floor hard and crumbling into a heap of long limbs and striped pyjamas and a steady stream of fluent and creative curses.

' Shh!' Remus hissed as the other boy tried to disentangle himself, very noisily. ' Madam Pomfrey'll hear you, you pillock.'

' You shoved me down here, dickhead. I'll make as much noise as I please, and then I'll tell her it was all your fault.'

' She wouldn't believe you over me. She actually likes me. And you deserved it. You know I don't like being tickled.'

' I didn't even know you were ticklish, you twat. You been keeping secrets from us, again?'

' It isn't a secret, you just never asked. And I think you'll find the reason I didn't openly volunteer that information to yourself or Mr Potter and Mr Pettigrew is because I don't like being tickled.' Remus grinned sheepishly down at him, then added, ' You know now.'

' Hmm,' Sirius replied, an almost predatory gleam in his eyes. ' I'm learning a lot of new things about you tonight, Lupin.'

' Are they all so terrible we're only formally addressing one another now, Black?' Remus asked, smiling and hoping his sudden surge of doubt didn't sound too obvious in his voice. This could still all turn out to be a very unfortunate cruel joke.

Ignoring the comment, Sirius continued. ' I'm learning that you are even more devious than we thought you were.'

' What?'

' Still all these secrets. I mean, you must've had some practise before now because that was one hell of a kiss.'

He was half-grinning when he spoke, but then the bravado fell away and Remus realised Sirius was as worried about this as he was. Those grey eyes, almost girlishly beautiful in the barely candlelit room, were wide and vulnerable and possibly even a little fearful.

' Is that some sort of backhanded compliment?' he asked, trying to ease the sudden tension.

Sirius was apparently having none of it, and dropped his gaze when he asked quietly, ' Where does this leave us, Remus?'

' I don't know,' Remus answered as honestly as possible, while indulging his sudden compulsion to brush Sirius' fringe out of his face. ' But I'd like to find out, I think.'

The darker boys eyes shot back up to meet Remus', a genuine grin lighting up his face this time. It was infectious, and Remus couldn't help grinning back.

' I -'

But before either one could say anything further, movement could be heard from the Matrons office. Remus briefly wondered what she was doing up in the middle of the night, but when his gaze flicked to the window he could see the sky lightening above the mountains.

' Bloody Hell,' he mumbled to himself, surprised at how the day seemed to sneak up on him.

Sirius reacted much quicker, hurrying back down the hall in well practiced, near silent movements and clambering back into his bed. Moments later, the little nurse made her perfunctory early morning rounds.

Remus closed his eyes, in no mood to be prodded and poked so early, and pretended not to be awake. The combined effects of the sleepless night and his recent transformation left his body exhausted, though, and he must have fallen genuinely asleep because when he opened his eyes again, the hall was fully lit to it's usual blinding white.

' Alright, Moonykins?' Sirius chirped through the curtain.

' Yeah,' Remus replied, with a certainty he hadn't known was there. ' Yeah, I'm good. You?'

' Never better.'

Remus reached across to pull back the curtain and succeeded just in time to see Sirius smiling brightly at him before James came strolling down the ward.

' Morning, Prongsie-wongs.'

James made a face and regarded Sirius bemusedly. ' Merlin, you're disgustingly chipper today. And I thought I told you not to call me that. You haven't said it in a year, I thought you'd forgotten.'

' This old dog never forgets, I'm afraid, Bambi.'

' I'm going to kill my dad for letting you watch those Muggle tapes,' James muttered, glowering. ' Hung, drawn and quartered. Bambi, really?'

' It's still better than Moonykins,' Remus felt the need to point out.

' Well, I can go with Moony-woons if you like,' Sirius grinned, ' but it doesn't have the same ring to it.'

' I know you struggle with the concept, Pads,' James said, slowly enunciating each word. ' But we already have nicknames. We don't really need nicknames of our nicknames. It's sort of overkill, mate.'

' How would you like it if we started calling you Paddsy-wads?' Remus asked.

James snorted. ' I'd think you were talking about the feminine hygiene products Lily keeps in her drawers.'

' Ahh,' said Sirius, appreciatively. ' Good times. Is that when she -'

' Yeah,' James cut him off. ' With the hands and the -'

' - "It'll be something more important next time, Potter!" -'

' And then she -'

' Brilliant,' Sirius nodded. ' That colour suited you. So did the extra extremities. She's a genius, that girl, you know.'

' I know,' James sighed worshipfully. ' Never did tell me why she was so upset about it.'

They both adopted identical expressions of nostalgia and there was a moments silence before Remus put in, ' That you even have to ask that question is answer in itself, I think, Prongs.'

' Yeah, you're probably right,' he replied, shaking himself out of the memory. ' Anyway, glad to see you're okay, Moony. You too, I suppose,' he added, raising an eyebrow at Sirius.

' I know you love me really. I mean, who doesn't?'

Remus snorted with laughter before he could stop himself, covering his mouth with his hand.

' What did you say, Moony, 'An answer in itself'? I don't think he loves you, Pads,' James said, missing the significant glance between his canine friends.

' I don't even like him,' Remus deadpanned. Sirius threw his pillow at the werewolf, just as the Matron peered out of her office.

' I see you're feeling better, Mr Black,' she said only half-sternly as she shoed James out of the way at waved her wand vaguely at the boy in the bed. She nodded, satisfied. ' I'll check Remus over and then I think you can go. And I don't want to see any of you back again for a few days, if you please.'

She gave a warning look to James and Sirius, then an exasperated roll of her eyes to Remus when they first two only smirked and shrugged.

' Well,' James said, forty minutes and more than a few cautionary potions later, as they made their way out of the hospital. ' It's nice to see you two back in good spirits. I was beginning to feel like I was caught up in one of those angst-y women's love stories my Mum reads. Kissed and made up, have you?'

He didn't understand why both of his companions struggled to suppress giggles the rest of the way to breakfast, and Remus didn't feel the need to enlighten him.

Okay. As much as I appreciate favs and alerts and the like, for this chapter I am willing to beg - BEG - for reviews. Please. I have never, ever, written anything even remotely similar to this before, and I am getting very nervous and jittery about it. Any sort of feedback would really make me very happy, even if you just want to tell me it's shit. Really. Thanks.

On a similar note, I don't know how much of this type of thing you guys are expecting, but I intend to get back to the Marauders as a group a bit more, just so you know.

And, in case anyone was wondering, the title is referring to kisses and humour. The best medications for almost any problem, in my professional opinion. I think that's it, really. Thanks for reading!