Just a little one. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Y'all make me want to keep going. –N

Though Remus and Sirius sat in the same compartment on the way back to school at the start of their sixth year, they did nothing more than exchange polite hellos. Although James had been keeping Remus in the loop all summer, he didn't know if Sirius knew that he knew … In any case, Remus didn't know if he was ready to trust him again. For what it was worth, Sirius didn't try to talk to him either.

Even having been broken up all summer, it was strange, the first few days at Hogwarts without Sirius. Remus reminded himself that he'd spent most of his life alone, really, so what did it matter if he got up earlier than the other boys, sat with Lily in classes, took on extra Prefect rounds so the others would be asleep when he got back. But those thoughts only made him feel lonelier.

No Prefect duty after Astronomy Tuesday night, so Remus stayed after Lily and Dorcas had gone, the three of them being the only Gryffindors to take on an Astronomy NEWT. He must've dozed off under the stars because when he opened his eyes again, leaning against the wall of the tower, Sirius Black was standing in front of him.

"Hey," Remus said, blinking sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey." Sirius glanced at the ground. "Mind if I sit?"

Remus shook his head. Sirius sat.

"How are you?" Sirius asked.

Remus shrugged. "Okay. Classes are good." He glanced over at Sirius, whose eyes were underlined by dark bags. "You?"

Sirius laughed, but it was a hollow sound, not his usual bark. "I, uh, I miss you." Remus didn't say anything, so Sirius continued, "I know I shouldn't get to, because I pushed you away with, well, I used you, Re. To get back at Snape, and that was the shittiest thing I could do, because I know how you feel about, about being a werewolf. And even though it would have been my fault if anything had happened to dear old Snape, you would have blamed yourself. I didn't think about that. And I should have. It was my fault."

"Sirius –"

"I'm going to finish, because I don't think once I stop I'll be able to say what I have to say. I did a lot of thinking this summer, thinking about you. My mum and dad disowned me this summer. I told James not to worry you, but I'm sure he did. And I just kept thinking, that's the thing I hate the most about me, my parents. And what it would be like if somehow someone I trusted used that thing about me to hurt someone else. And how you've never cared, just like I've never cared that you're a werewolf, but that it would hurt so badly anyway. So honestly, tell me to fuck off if you want. I just needed you to know."

They sat in silence for another minute or so before Remus whispered, "I don't want you to fuck off."

Sirius looked up at Remus, his eyes filling with tears. "You don't?"

Remus shook his head. "It'll take a while to trust again, I think. Maybe I don't want to do full moons yet, but I … I still want to try. I, I love you, and I haven't been able to stop." Remus took a breath and said, "I tried to stop. I wanted to. But I can't. So, uh, if you'd like to try …"

Sirius' smile transformed his face, taking away the tired in his eyes and lighting his whole being. "Re, this is the best I could have hoped for."

Remus smiled, too, unable to stop himself. When Sirius moved to sit next to him, just to take his hand, he whispered to Remus, "And I love you, too."

True to his word, Sirius left Remus alone the next night in the Shrieking Shack, with just James and Peter. When Remus woke up in the Hospital Wing after Madam Pomfrey had to reset one of his ribs, however, Sirius was there, asleep in the chair beside him, holding his hand. Beside Sirius was his sketch pad, open to a page freshly smudged with charcoals and depicting Remus Lupin's eyes. Remus smiled to himself and decided to tell Sirius, when he woke up, how much he missed him the night before.