A/N: Sorry for the long wait for the update, I wasn't very inspired and then I was away in France for a while. Thank you for all the reviews and thanks to Moony who beta read this story.

……….

Remus lay tangled in the bed sheets of his bare, north London, flat. He was staring at the ceiling and wondering why he wasn't in the bathroom with the man in the shower who was singing off-key.

He knew the answer was that he didn't want to wash away the feeling of hands caressing him or the smell of sex from his skin. What he wanted to do was lie in the sheets that still smelt strongly of musk and sex, and ignore the fact that when he remembered, the man lying with him in the bed had black hair, a mischievous smile and called himself Sirius.

It wasn't that Remus didn't like Edric, the man currently occupying his shower. He did, a lot.

It was just that everything between them had been tarnished, before they'd even begun, by the memory of Sirius. Remus had met Edric at St. Mungo's the morning after the fight with Sirius. He'd checked himself out of the hotel and booked an appointment at St. Mungo's to make sure that Sirius hadn't left him with any parting gifts. He'd been clean, luckily. Even more luckily, he'd bumped into Edric on the way out. Edric had invited him for coffee and that had been that.

Only now they'd slept together and Remus couldn't stop thinking about Sirius, about how he'd kissed differently, all tongue and teeth, and how Sirius had wanted to try all those different positions. Edric was a strictly missionary position, once-a-night-only kind of guy, and Remus liked that.

It was predictable, it was safe and he really liked it.

The doorbell rang and Remus leapt out of bed, grabbing his dressing gown. Throwing it on and grateful for the distraction, he opened the front door and regretted it instantly.

"Remus!" Sirius slurred, throwing his arms wide, enveloping Remus in a tight hug and a sloppy kiss. Remus weakly registered that Sirius reeked of alcohol and tasted foul, as if he hadn't cleaned his teeth in weeks, as Sirius's tongue forced its way inside his mouth intent on plunder.

Remus pressed his hands against Sirius's chest and pushed him away just as he heard footsteps sound behind him.

"Who's at the door, love?"

Sirius stopped trying to kiss Remus and stepped back immediately, scowling and Remus heard himself starting to apologise. Only not to Edric but to Sirius.

"I'm sorry," he was saying. "Sirius, this is Edric, my…um…my…"

"His boyfriend." Edric said coldly. He offered a hand for Sirius to shake but Sirius pretended not to see it, instead fixing Remus with a look that made him go weak at the knees.

"Having fun without me then, Moony?" he said, giving Edric a quick, utterly disgusted look.

"Look Sirius, this really isn't a good time."

"Yes, I can see that." Sirius gave Edric another appraising look, taking in his dripping wet state with only a towel hung round his hips. "Rather fat isn't he?"

"Go away, Sirius."

"I'm going, wouldn't want to interrupt your fun. After all, you don't get that much of it." And with that he disapparated.

"Who was that?" Edric asked, looking at the space Sirius where had been moments before.

"It doesn't matter," Remus said quietly. "Just some nutter."

He could still taste Sirius' kiss, burning into him like a tattoo, as if Sirius had been trying to mark him. The thought was at once arousing and utterly disgusting. Remus grabbed Edric's hand.

"Come on," he said, eyes gleaming. "Let's go back to bed."

……

Sirius went to James'. It was the only place he could go. Peter was away on special business and Arthur would be at the ministry - somehow he didn't think Molly would lend him a kind ear to him and his troubles with a bloke.

He apparated in the middle of the living room, right in front of Lily, who was in the middle of her morning aerobics. She screamed and Sirius covered his ears, wincing.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked, blushing bright red and crossing her arms over her chest. Sirius thought he might be blinded forever by the sight of her in purple Lycra and a head-band.

"I need to talk to James."

"He's gone to work."

"Oh." Sirius suddenly felt very foolish and rather ill.

"Did you know Remus had a boyfriend?" he blurted out, studying the floor which seemed to be swimming before his eyes. Lily nodded.

"Of course, we flooed each other a few times when we were on our honeymoon."

"Well, who is this guy? I don't like the look of him!"

"You've met Edric?"

Sirius nodded emphatically, hearing a name given to the person Remus was with was almost physically painful. Without a name that guy could have been some alcohol induced figment of his imagination or a simple one night stand, with a name he was a real person.

"I've met him," Sirius growled. "He was near naked when I went round and Remus wasn't much better. So what does he do then? Does he even have a job?"

"He's a healer."

A healer. It just got better and better didn't it! Remus had found some nice guy with a good job, someone who could probably be trusted meet his mother, unlike Sirius who wasn't allowed within three feet of her ever again.

"I don't like him," Sirius said again, feeling like a whiney child who couldn't let go of an idea.

Lily cocked her head to one side and regarded him for a moment, hands on hips.

"Sirius," she said at last. "You're an idiot."

"I know, but why?"

"Because you're completely mad about Remus and you've gone and messed it all up!"

Sirius shook his head. He knew that this would be Lily's reaction. She read too many muggle romance novels with titles like 'The Eternal Fling' and 'Wedded to a Pirate" and thought all romances worked out like those.

"I couldn't care less about Remus, I just don't like the guy he's with."

Lily gave him a look that said she didn't believe him and Sirius ignored her.

"Are you going to put the tea on, then?" he asked, picking up one of the little ornaments on the mantelpiece and turning it over to see where it had been made. "I'm gasping for a cup."

….

Lily brewed the tea. Sirius had drunk two cups and was starting his third, when she told him about how Remus had met Edric, not forgetting to reprimand him for breaking Remus's heart before buggering off to god knows where.

"I got drunk for a month," Sirius supplied, sipping his tea. "I didn't want to admit I liked being a poof. I just thought Remus would want to pick up were we left off, I didn't think he'd start shagging someone else."

Lily pulled a face at the word poof and ladled more sugar into her tea, stirring it thoughtfully.

"Well, I don't know what to do. I think he's over you. He and Edric seem happy together - they go to the theatre sometimes and out to eat - things that you don't do," Lily said.

Sirius stared down at her hands interestedly. She had started playing with the gold wedding band on her finger, pulling it off, pushing it on and rolling it around.

"I don't think so." He said slowly. "I kissed him, and he kissed me back."

"Oh Sirius! How could you?"

"I didn't know he was with someone!" Sirius defended. "I just saw him and I had to."

"Git," Lily muttered. "But Remus loves you, so whatever plan you concoct in your weasel brain, I'll help you with."
Sirius's face lit up and he hugged her quickly.

"Thanks Lily."

"I'm only doing this for Remus mind, you hunt him again and I'll curse you so hard." She waved her fist at him threateningly but she was smiling and her cheeks where stained with a soft pink blush.