They were waiting for Sirius's cousin to open the door and Remus was close to petrified. He wasn't all too sure how he'd ended up agreeing to actually go to Sirius's cousin's house. How he could have let himself be convinced into that, he wasn't entirely sure. But there they were, rugged up, Sirius with presents in hand, waiting for Sirius's cousin to open the door.

There'd been a muffled yell of "Coming!" when they'd knocked, much to Remus' disappointment. He'd half hoped that she wouldn't be there. But she was, and apparently knew that they were coming. Her name was Andromeda. Andromeda.

Clearly, Sirius' family had some sort of an obsession with space. Sirius, Andromeda, Remus wouldn't be surprised if one of them was called Bellatrix. He'd had his own obsession with space when he was little, but now he'd know never to name his child after a constellation. If he ever had one, that was. It wasn't too likely, the whole asexual thing considered and all. But who knew? Certainly not him.

He was startled out of his thoughts by the door being opened by a bright eyed woman, who looked to be a few years older than him. Immediately she was ushering them in and wrapping her arms around Sirius, with a slightly admonishing "you said you'd be back yesterday evening!"

Sirius almost looked guilty at that, an emotion Remus had never thought attractive before, but as with everything, Sirius looked as beautiful as ever.

"Sorry, I think that was my fault. I didn't know he was expected back." Remus too, looked somewhat guilty, shifting from foot to foot nervously. He didn't really know what to expect of Andromeda, and he certainly didn't know her opinion on strange broke boys who her cousin invites over at less than two hours notice. But she didn't seem to be overly fazed, rather, she seemed quite pleased with it all.

"He didn't tell you? Well, that's certainly not your fault then," Andromeda replied, smiling kindly. It was a completely different smile to Sirius' many, but they resembled each other closely, Remus would have picked them as brother and sister before cousins. "I'm assuming you're Remus. It's good to finally meet the boy Sirius has continually been talking about for the p—"

Andromeda was cut off by a noise very similar to a screech coming from Sirius, who was — was he blushing? Remus couldn't be sure, but it looked as if the ever composed, extravagant, Freddie Mercury-like, king of suave, Sirius Black had screeched.

Remus had heard Sirius laugh, he'd heard him scream and yell, he'd heard him yelp in pain, he'd heard him angry, sad, happy, frustrated, sleepless but up until then, nothing even close to a screech had ever come out of Sirius' mouth.

"Are you quite alright, Sirius?" Andromeda asked, her eyes more than just bright now, they were glinting mischievously.

"Andy!" Sirius sputtered, yet another thing that Remus hadn't seen him do before. All in all, it was turning out to be an amusing Christmas.

"Yes, my dear cousin?"

"I would like to have a nice Christmas. Please?"

"If you let me continue, it will be a nice Christmas."

"How about no?"

Andromeda didn't get a chance to reply however, because at that moment, a girl who Remus figured must have been about six or seven came speeding out of the other room, clutching a guitar in one hand and a notebook in the other. Remus couldn't help but smile as she dropped the notebook and latched onto Sirius' hand, tugging and tugging as Sirius and Andromeda continued something close to a stare off, both of them desperately trying not to laugh.

"Uncle Sirius! I got a guitar for Christmas, will you teach me?"

"Hey, Explorer!" Sirius replied, breaking eye contact with Andromeda. "Of course I'll teach you, maybe not right now though. Okay?"

"Okay, sure."

"That's a pretty awesome guitar you've got there though. Good Christmas present?"
"Mhm, definitely."

"He's been talking about you for something close to three weeks now," Andromeda said quietly, walking over to Remus while Sirius was distracted with the girl and her guitar.

"Me? Are, are you sure?" Remus managed to choke out, not quite sure how to react. He'd been fine when it was just a joke, he'd been fine watching Sirius and Andromeda tease each other, he'd been fine watching Sirius interact with the girl, but this wasn't fine, not really. Why had Sirius been talking about him? Just him, not James and everyone?

"I'm very, very sure. I believe your middle name is John and you have millions of books. I've heard a little about your friends, but it's mostly been about you. I'm sure Dora — she's the kid, my daughter — knows a bunch about you too."

"Well, I hope whatever you've heard about me hasn't bored you half to death. And thank you for having me over on Christmas, it's really kind of you."

"I wasn't going to say no! Goodness, it's Christmas. I wanted to meet you anyway. But, let's move away from the front door and make sure that Sirius and Dora aren't already planning how to destroy the house."

"Hey! I heard that," Sirius said, standing up from the floor and glaring at Andromeda with his hands on his hips.

"Did you hear the rest?" Remus asked, somewhat nervously. How, how, and why had Sirius been talking about him so much?
"No, were you insulting me then too? I should have known not to bring you, the two of you combined are just too evil."

"I've heard a lot about Remus, but so far evil hasn't been a description."
"Okay, enough's enough. Let's do some actually Christmas stuff. Let me get the rest of the presents out of my room and you can all open them," Sirius said, rolling his eyes at his cousin, pulling his hand away from Dora's gently and motioning for Remus to follow him all at the same time.

Note to self: Sirius is very good at multitasking, Remus thought, shaking his head slightly before following Sirius up a set of stairs.

—

"So, good sir, what do you think of my cousin and her sprog?"

"I think that once I get to know her, Andromeda is a lot like you. Dora's a cute kid too."

"Are you one of those people that melts in front of any kid though?"
Remus rolled his eyes and sat himself down on Sirius' bed as the other boy went rummaging around for presents.

"So, that's a yes then?"

"To be quite honest, I don't spend enough time with kids to know."

Sirius turned back to face Remus at that, a look of shock on his face, "Really?"

"It'd be a strange thing to lie about, don't you think?"

The shocked expression certainly didn't leave Sirius' face after that, and Remus almost burst out laughing. But with the skilled control he had over his facial expressions, he managed to keep a straight face.

Not that anything about him was straight.

"Fine, Mr Sarcasm, let's go down and find out just how much good old Andy is like me."

"Wouldn't it be the other way 'round. Considering you're younger?"

"Oh shut up."

"Just stating the facts!" Remus called out as Sirius ran down the stairs. It took a moment for him to register the fact that he had actually yelled in someone else's house. Clearly it had surprised Sirius too, because as Remus walked to the doorway, he could see Sirius standing halfway down the staircase, eyes wide.

"Who the fuck are you and what have you done with my Remus?" Sirius asked, still frozen in place. Remus meanwhile, was shocked too, by both the fact that he had yelled in Andromeda's home, and by Sirus' My Remus.

"I honestly have no clue. I'm still the same person though, because I'm now filled with the overwhelming urge to apologise," Remus replied, tugging on the sleeve of his jumper nervously.

"Andy won't care, don't worry. Come on then, we're not spending Christmas on the staircase."

"What won't Andy care about? Have you broken something?" Andromeda asked, hands on hips, walking to the bottom of the staircase. Remus noted that they were now almost perfectly aligned, one of them at the top, one in the middle and then at the bottom. He pushed down the urge to ask Sirius to take a step to the right, just so they'd all be in line. "I was just about to come and get you, Christmas isn't for spending locked up in rooms. Every other day, sure, but not Christmas."

"We're coming down now, and no, nothing's broken. Remus yelled out to me and now we've both gone into shock because he would barely yell in his own home let alone someone else 's."

"Oh, well then you're right. I don't give a fuck— oh shit— no wait. No swearing. I'm so bad at this, good lord."

"If you ask some people, they'd count "good lord" as swearing too," Remus commented, having made his way silently halfway down the stairs so he was now standing next to Sirius.

Sirius turned to Remus, one hand running through his hair, the other resting against Remus' forehead, "Are you feeling sick, or is it just the Christmas mo—"

"Shut up," Remus brushed Sirius' hand off his head and made his way down the stairs, now standing next to Andromeda who had been looking on amused.

"Feisty, isn't he?" Sirius asked Andromeda, perching himself on the banister and attempting to slide down it.

"Ouch! Shit! Bad idea!" Sirius groaned as he fell off the banister, hitting his head on a step.

"I didn't know it was humanly possible to stand around a staircase talking for so long. Please, let's move into the living room. And Sirius, I know you're young and stupid, but you're only meant to do things like that when you're drunk," Andromeda said, amusement threading through her tone as she began to walk awy, not waiting for a response, just walking.

It was definitely a quality that Remus admired in the cousins. The nonchalance of it all. The ease in the way they walked. The entire way they presented themselves, Remus supposed. It certainly wasn't something learnt, it was definitely something the two of them were born with, he just knew it. But however unfair it was, it was definitely admirable. So he did his best to not act too awkward as he followed the both of them into the living room where Dora was happily drawing in a sketchbook.

"Hey," Remus had made his was to the little girl immediately, "Dora, right?" he asked. He may not melt in front of every child he met, but he found them fascinating in a way, though it was the same for everyone. They were less of a threat, Remus supposed, and they were intelligent. Hell, they were intelligent, so many of them were so much smarter than they were given credit for.

"Yep, I'm Dora. And you're Sirius' boyfriend."

Remus couldn't help but splutter a little at that, "Ah, er, no, no. Just his friend, just his friend," he managed to say, a blush rapidly spreading across his face, much to his annoyance.

It wasn't until he thought back over the day that night that he noticed Sirius flinched, ever so slightly at Remus' words.

"Oh, okay then. What's your name? Are you here for Christmas?" Dora asked, still not looking up from her drawing, not that Remus minded.

"I'm Remus. And yeah, I guess I am."

"What do you mean you guess?" Sirius asked from his spot in an armchair, "You're practically stuck here. I drove you after all."

"Are you threatening this lovely man?" Andromeda asked, a sparkle in her eyes, and now Remus could really see the similarities between her and Sirius.

All sharp edges and striking eyes, once you got close enough to notice them. Andromeda was softer than Sirius though, her hair brown rather than black. Her eyes a blue-grey and wide, rather than Sirius' steel. But the most noticeable similarity was the way that both their faces looked so completely smug when they had a "plan". Neither of them would be trusted by teachers, not with that look.

"Why is it you'll call him a man, and yet I'm "young and stupid"? I'm older than him anyway," Sirius asked, sitting upside down in the chair now.

"It's obvious Sirius, fy nghariad. I'm far more mature than you."

Andromeda laughed loudly before directing a comment at the rather disgruntled Sirius, "I like this one, you should definitely keep him."

It was to that, that Sirius finally laughed, though not as freely as Andromeda. Remus wondered if that was how Sirius would laugh if he was ever truly happy.

But other than Sirius' laugh, there was nothing special about the sentence, yet Remus still found himself blushing for the second time of many that day.

—

It was surprisingly relaxed at Andromeda's.

Andromeda, who Remus had taken to calling Andy at her insistence, was a lovely, brilliant women. He thought that she and Lily would get along well. Both of them strong-minded, funny and interested, and indeed invested in the most bizarre TV shows. Andromeda's husband, Ted came back at some time around 11:30 with enough food to last them several weeks. Apparently Ted himself cooked only the essentials, but helped a friend of his run some restaurants so was given plenty of food, free of charge as a Christmas present. Remus couldn't help but smile at the kindness of it all. They were certainly some of the kindest people he'd ever met.

All in all, it really was a lovely experience. Remus couldn't lie, he had spent at least an hour and a half just playing games with Dora, who he had begun calling "Enaid bach", after Ted had asked him where his accent was from and then Dora had asked what "Welsh sounded like anyway".

Ted himself was Portuguese, which explained him not knowing what a Welsh accent was. Remus didn't know much about Portugal, so the two had spoken about their respective countries for awhile. Ted was amazed by Remus' fluency in both languages, because he barely spoke the basics of Portuguese.

—

"So, are you boys staying the night?" Ted asked, halfway through dinner. Remus immediately turned to Sirius for an answer. He'd honestly not expected to stay so long in the first place. If someone had asked him at the beginning of the visit how long he'd assume they would be staying, the answer would have been more like "a couple of hours" than "oh, we'll stay the night". But to his surprise, he wasn't all that fussed with the idea of staying longer than expected. It was just strange. He'd thought that Andromeda and Ted would rather have them out, or really, Remus out.

"I mean, it would make sense. Seeing as we're already here," Sirius offered, meeting Remus' gaze before looking back to Andromeda and Ted.

"Well, it'd be good to know where you were for a night, Sirius. And Remus, it's been lovely to having you. You may as well stay. I hate to say this, because it'll just inflate his ego, but Sirius is right. You're already here," Andromeda replied, smiling slightly at both boys.

Remus nodded quickly, "Yeah, alright. Not too much trouble for you?"

"We won't even be doing anything," Andromeda said at the same time as Ted said, "No trouble, not at all."

The two shared a laugh together and while it was sweet and kind, it was so different to the type of love Remus had experienced. Second hand of course, he thought, somewhat bitterly. He couldn't help but wonder if Andromeda and Ted had ever been as sickeningly in love as James and Lily, as Marlene and Dorcas, and he supposed, as himself and Gilderoy, though that was another experience all together. Did that passionate, constant sweetness, the fieriness of it, did that fade? Or was theirs just a different love to begin with? Remus wasn't sure he wanted the answer. There was a chance that out of his options, it could be the former and Remus really did not want to think about that.

Sirius seemed to notice that Remus' thoughts had drifted to less than pleasant places. And in an instant, there was a hand on Remus' knee. It was comforting in the strangest sense of the word. It had Remus feeling odd. Thankful for whatever it was that he and Sirius had, but it also left him wanting more. More of what? He didn't know. He had absolutely no clue in the slightest. Nevertheless, he let his own hand come to rest on top of Sirius' and the rest of dinner was pleasant.

Even when Dora laughed so hard she choked on the water she was drinking.

After dinner, they all followed Dora back to the living room. This was where she paraded around with all her drawings, Sirius threw her up in the air, Ted cautioned them to be careful and Andromeda and Remus were left to laughing and talking amongst themselves. Andromeda was an incredibly interesting woman, Remus found out. They'd spoken about her education, they spoke briefly about her family — she had two sisters and Remus got the sense that she'd rather not talk about that subject. They spoke about her job, she was a social worker, working with children and teenagers in particular. It was fascinating, a job that Remus had considered, but then the bakery came along and that was that. Overall, she was particularly good at keeping a conversation going, a trait which Remus was incredibly relieved by.

Eventually, 7:30 came around and everyone said goodnight to Dora. Ted and Andromeda going up to tuck her in. Remus thought it was all wonderfully domestic, reminding him a little of his own childhood. It was a comforting process, for him as an adult, though he knew that he, like most kids had never been too fond of the whole bedtime thing. Surprisingly pleasant memories stopped as soon as he noticed that Sirius seemed to be having no such memories, quite the opposite actually, a darker look taking place on Sirius' face.

Remus was pleased that whatever the relationship that the two of them had created allowed them to comfort each other, usually non-verbally, because it meant that he could stand up from his place on the floor, stalk over to Sirius on his armchair, push him off, sit behind him and begin to braid his hair. It had been one evening when Sirius had come back to Remus' apartment when Remus had first tentatively reached out to run his hand through Sirius' hair and had been pleasantly surprised when Sirius turned around to grin at him, then asked if Remus knew how to braid. Years of being friends with Lily, Marlene and Dorcas had ensured that Remus knew how to braid and now it was something of a comfort for the both of them. Remus liked having something to do with his hands, and Sirius was completely obsessed with his hair.

Neither of them spoke about these moments, but both accepted them and both knew that the other was eternally grateful. It was just a pattern they'd slipped into. Remus didn't think more of it than putting it down to caring about the other person. Neither boy noticed the look that Andromeda and Ted shared as they walked back into the room. This time they came without Dora and with wine.

"Do try not to get drunk on the wine, Sirius," Andromeda began as she poured the glasses. "Remus, I trust you to know how to control yourself?" she asked, a grin spread across her face.

"Of course. Of course."

—

"Merry Christmas, Remus," Sirius said once it was just the two of them in Sirius' room. It was past 11:00 and everyone had just headed up to bed and for the first time, the thought that there was only one bed occurred to Remus. Sure, it was a big bed, certainly big enough for the two of them. But there was only one. One bed. For the two of them.

Normally, Remus wouldn't mind. He was all for abolishing toxic masculinity, which included the whole "men don't share beds thing", it annoyed him when it was more convenient to just share. The extent people went to, to not "act gay" was ridiculous. He'd shared beds with most of his friends, but this was Sirius. And he wasn't sure why it was different, but it was.

"Merry Christmas, Sirius," Remus replied, sitting cross legged on the edge of the bed, staring determinedly down at his hands as Sirius changed into pajamas. "Thank you for this, it means a lot."

"Idiotic wanker, you think I was going to let you starve on Christmas? Next you'll be breaking James' heart by saying that you don't want to celebrate on your birthday —"

"Well actually, that's a very valid p—."

"Now you're just being stupid. You're welcome for today, alright? It's been the best Christmas in a long time for me, so don't worry about it."

"I am not!"

"Yeah, you are. Come on, Rem, really?"

Remus wasn't exactly sure where the courage came from, but instead of a reply, he sent a pillow flying towards Sirius.

"Hey!"

"Yes?" Remus asked, crossed legs on the bed, smiling sweetly up at Sirius.

"Disrespecting me in my own home?"

A sly grin crossed over Remus' face, "Technically, it's Andromeda's home. You're just a guest. I'm certain she wouldn't mind."

"That's it!" Sirius announced, launching himself on top of Remus before the other boy had a chance to think.

This time it was Remus' turn to protest, though he was a lot more muffled than Sirius had been. "Get off! Sirius!"