Forum Block
Stacked With: Hogwarts; Spring Bingo; BAON; T3
Individual Challenges: In a Flash; Click Bait It; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux; Spring Rain
Representations: Sirius Black; Remus Lupin; Werewolf Remus
Bonus Challenges: Nontraditional
Tertiary Bonus Challenges: Terse; Terrarium
Prompts: Remus Lupin/Sirius Black (auction); Filthy (365 words); "You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly." – Sam Keen (Insane Prompts); Bingo - 4D (Frog/Tadpole)
Word count: 660
Remus was enjoying a quiet cup of tea when Sirius came bursting through the door and almost slamming into Remus' chair as he skidded to a halt. The other man was breathing heavily as though he had run full-pelt for a few minutes. He beamed at Remus and started insistently pulling at his arm, not able to speak fully yet due to his breath only happening in short huffs.
"Rem…we gotta…go get the…things…"
Remus sighed and placed his cup down before allowing Sirius to pull him out of the house. Sirius didn't bother waiting any longer or trying to catch his breath. Instead, he took a firm grasp of Remus' wrist and started dragging him out and to wherever they would get 'the things'.
Knowing not to expect Sirius to explain while he was so hyped-up and out of breath, Remus went with him and was content to wait until they reached their destination to discover what, exactly, they were doing. Sirius dragged him to the small pond a few minutes away and gestured to it proudly.
"Frogspawn!" he declared.
"You dragged me out here so we could try and catch mini tadpoles/" Remus asked flatly.
Sirius nodded and gave a slight shrug, hand going up to rub at the back of heck. "Yeah. We always did it when we were kids and it was something that helped keep me sane while I was in Azkaban… I just thought…it would be fun to do again."
Remus felt his heart break. Even though he knew intellectually that Sirius had spent twelve years locked up with only the dementors and other inmates for company, he kept forgetting that it meant Sirius had lost twelve years of his life. Those twelve years had been full of regret, grief, and confusion for Remus.
He pulled Sirius in for a quick hug and smiled at him. "Let's catch some frogspawn," he said.
Sirius' answering smile was radiant and Remus couldn't help but return it with one of his own. As he balanced precariously on a log and peered into the pond, he looked up just in time to see Sirius lose his balance and fall into the water. There was a loud splash and then Sirius resurfaced with a rather startled expression that turned into one of triumph when he noticed the frogspawn right next to him.
He quickly gathered as much as he could in his shirt and started clambering out of the pond, clutching the material of his shirt closed so as not to lose the precious cargo. Remus burst out laughing at Sirius' bedraggled and filthy appearance as he quickly hopped off the log before Sirius could get retribution by making Remus fall in.
Sirius gave him a mock-hurt look and said, "No kisses for you tonight."
"Oh, I don't know," Remus said airily. "I can be very persuasive when I want to be."
"Go find a frog," Sirius returned.
"But what if it turns into Prince Charming?"
Sirius had to think about that. Eventually he sighed and held out the hand that wasn't clutching his shirt closed. "You've already got your Prince Charming," he said with a small chuckle.
"Indeed I do," Remus replied, taking the offered hand and then crying out in surprise when Sirius used it as leverage to push him into the pond.
Sirius was laughing heartily when he came back up and he joined in as he waded out of the water, completely soaked and covered in pond scum. He wrapped his arms around Sirius before whispering, "I claim first shower," and racing back to the house.
He could hear Sirius' shouts following him and knew the other man would be running as fast as he could without losing the tiny beings that would become frogs. He also knew that Sirius would ignore Remus' claim and join him in the shower, but at least he'd have a few moments of glorious hot, clean water all to himself.