Pairing: Remus/Sirius, one-sided Severus/Remus

Rating: PG-13 for mild sexuality and language.

Warnings: Homosexuality.

Full Summary: To be young and in love is a wonderful thing, but life has never treated Remus Lupin and Sirius Black graciously. As Sirius struggles to find his own identity among his confusion, Remus doubts and fears abandonment. Immersed in hiding their feelings, responding to society, Sirius' debate over leaving Clarissa, and Remus feeling left behind, what will it take to make the two boys see that this love is all they need?

Author's Notes: One reviewer requested a sequel to 'You And Your Beautiful Soul'. This may not merit any association with its counterpart, but I was inspired to attempt a companion to YAYBS. This is slightly longer than its predecessor, and will contain a more complicated plotline. Enjoy, I hope!

Other notes: Many thanks to all the reviewers of 'You And Your Beautiful Soul'.! I have never received so many reviews (save for in response to my first story, which was utter sewage), and it certainly brought me great joy to know that my writing has summoned smiles to other's faces! And special thanks to Sofi, in regard to the additionally sweet nature of her reviews!

Pretty Things

Chapter 1: I'd Promise You Forever

And I'd give up forever to touch you

Cause I know that you feel me somehow

You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be

And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment

And all I can breathe is your life

'Cause sooner or later it's over

I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me

Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming

Or the moment of truth in your lies

When everything feels like the movies

And you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me

Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

-from 'Iris', Goo Goo Dolls

"Ouch, Padfoot, that hurts." I gasped.

Sirius grunted in reply, seemingly concentrated on his task rather than my complaints. I inhaled sharply despite his gentle ministrations, swallowing a moan of pain.

"Do you want me to stop?" Sirius asked gently, raising his eyes to meet mine.

I bit my lower lip and shook my head in negative answer.

"It won't hurt for long." He soothed.

"I'm used to pain." I responded wryly, relaxing as he stroked my wrist with his right-hand fingers.

Sirius frowned at this, and continued with what he was doing. I concentrated on the soft humming noises that he unconsciously made at times like these, staring up at the ceiling and ignoring the discomfort.

"There. Now, tell me I'm as good as Madame Pomfrey." My love announced, smirking.

I glanced at the bandage tied securely about my hand, keeping the palm straight while the deep gash down the center (which the nurse had healed somewhat, otherwise my left hand would have never moved properly again) healed.

"You're wonderful." I replied truthfully, placing a shy kiss on his mouth.

I was greeted with the familiar glow of warm adoration in his pale eyes, which was solely for those moments when we were alone and allowed to be in love.

Past weeks had gone on in a strange sort of haze, a mist-shrouded passage of equal bliss and melancholy. The wild uncontrolled joy of two people in love and the blanket of sadness that sprung from this exhilaration being kept secret. If I could have, I would have stood on the Astronomy Tower and screamed all my secrets to the world, chucking every one of my lies over the edge to dash against the far-off lawn. But alas, I could not afford such frivolities. Not for myself, or for Sirius. His own happiness was at stake by my imagined revelations, and though we both tired of concealing truth we continued to adhere to the need of secrecy.

When we were forced to sit on opposite sides of the couch, to look at one another in a friendly way devoid of anything but platonic affection, to refuse to touch even more than before for fear of forgetting our facade of brotherhood, the world was horrible. When we lay together in my bed late at night with our Silencing Charm hiding any quiet conversation and gazed at nothing at all, the world was beyond beatitude. A strange paradox, unbroken by the constancy of a love that never was quelled no matter our current emotions.

We had done nothing, true. I suppose that our beginnings in truly devoted friendship had given us a strange sort of advantage. Though we craved touch, to be as close to one another as possible without simply melding irrevocably into one another, we felt no need of sex. Sometimes, Sirius would lie over me and kiss me over and over until I was quite dizzy and nonsensical, hot and confused and loving every moment. Sometimes, I would rest my cheek on his chest as we lay in the grass of a secret spot near the Forest, and he would look at me in this certain way that made my heart beat fast and my eyes fill with fire. And then he would touch my lips gently with fingertips that trembled with barely suppressed desire, and I would smile as the fires smothered in favor of a sort of unspoken agreement. It could not be said that we had left the safe plain of deep slow kisses and hesitant touches. For what reason this was, we did not know, other than we did not feel that we must.

"Moony?" Sirius asked presently, an oddly purposeful tone to his voice.

"Yes?" I answered, watching him intently as I absently fiddled with my bandage.

He reached to still my hand on instinct, and I allowed him to do so.

"Do you love me?"

I stared wordlessly into his face for a moment, searching for the reason that he asked me this question with such uncertainty.

"Of course I do. I have loved you for years, haven't I?"

"Like I love you? So much that I'd so anything at all just to make you smile? Do you care more about me than anything else in the world?"

"Yes." I said softly, earnestly.

Sirius gnawed his lower lip, and I suppressed the sudden desire to capture his mouth and kiss the imprints of his teeth until they had been reabsorbed into the original fullness. I waited patiently for his mind to produce whatever it was he wished to say.

"If I asked you to, would you marry me?"

I frowned slightly, though the implications of his query held nothing other than a pleasant opportunity. Would I have? Would the consequences of such a thing be worth the reward? Yes. Yes I would have married him, if he had asked. Homosexual matrimony was not unheard of in the wizarding world, though it was frowned upon by many (particularly Purebloods, whom had an obsession with carrying on their family bloodlines).

And I didn't care at all, just then.

"Of course." I replied, smiling tenderly at him. "That would make me very happy. Though I am, of course, very happy now."

He smiled in return, and released the hand that he had been grasping all this time.

"I don't remember being happier, ever." This round-about endearment touched my fragile joy, and I wanted to kiss him desperately. But I held myself in check as he continued. "I'll ask again, in a few years. When we are of age. Until then, remember that you have that to look forward to."

I felt the proverbial bottom drop out of the floor, and I forced myself to swallow past the thickening knot in my throat. Sirius actually planned to marry me? I was completely surprised, but not unhappily so. No one had ever loved me this way before, and it seemed almost surreal that after only a month and a half he could care enough to want to bind himself to me. Wizarding marriages are rather finite in comparison to Muggle ones. They mean more, and are not easily broken. We had not been together so long, and already there was future talk of marriage.

'He has been your best friend for five years, even if he did not love you all of that time.' I reminded myself. 'It isn't as if you've only just met.'

"I haven't upset you, have I?" Sirius asked, anxiously searching my eyes for signs of discomfort.

I felt an adoring smile spread over my features, and in a moment of insuppressible happiness threw my arms about his neck and hugged him tight. I felt him jerk in surprise, but then it was gone and he was embracing me just as tightly as I held him.

"I love you." I whispered contently against his shoulder.

"And I love you." Sirius answered lovingly, his fingers making small circles between my shoulder blades.

I placed a soft kiss on his neck, just below his jawline. I had discovered that I found this area irresistible, and Sirius certainly didn't seem to mind my particular like of it. He abandoned his minute ministrations on my back and raised a hand to cup my cheek, turning my face toward him. We gazed at one another for five beats of our enraptured hearts, with equally loving eyes. Then his lips gently met with mine, soon dissolving into a slowly conducted series of soft kisses.

Without pausing in his worship of my mouth, Sirius waved a hand at the curtains of my bed. They slid closed, creating a safe haven where we would remain undisturbed by an expected visit from James or our other dorm-mates. Everyone knew well not to bother Remus Lupin when his curtains were closed, for that meant he wanted to be alone or was not feeling well. I found it ironic that at the moment I was the complete opposite of both these things.

I sighed softly in contentment as Sirius lips traveled away from my lips and lower. They made their way down my neck, placing gentle wet caresses all along the skin. This was a bit of a milestone, as Sirius had not yet done this sort of thing to me. It was not bothersome, of course. Just new. Sliding his fingers beneath the neckline of my robes, he gently peeled the fabric away to expose my thin shoulder. He never paused in his path of kisses, even as they traveled to my shoulder and became slightly more sensual. My eyes were closed by this time, my head resting against his shoulder and my arms loosely about his waist as I became drunk on the sensation of kisses and the warmth of being loved.

"Where d'you think Padfoot's gotten to?"

My eyes fluttered open drowsily, a rush of noise coming back to me as I woke from a sound sleep.

"I dunno. Probably off snogging Clarissa or something." James answered Peter's question.

I heard them moving about, never suspecting that Sirius was actually a mere pace away, lying fast asleep with me in his arms.

I wondered about the time. It had been just before dinner when Sirius and I begun our secret activities, and if Prongs and Wormtail had returned it must be late.

"Moony asleep?" I heard James question.

"I think so. He hasn't poked his head out or anything, and the curtains are closed. You know, it's near to that time o' the month."

"Poor Moony. I wish we could help him more. The Animagus transformations are all well and good, but he still has it bloody awful."

I smiled affectionately to myself, touched by the concern in James' voice.

Aside from Sirius, James Potter was most certainly the person that I loved most, even when he acted the fool. Peter, too, was dear to me, though less so due to his slightly leech-like behavior.

It sounded as if they were moving toward the door now, shuffling and making jokes.

"James?" I heard Peter ask, and there was a contemplative tone to his voice. "D'you think maybe Remus is in love with Sirius?"

My heart skipped several beats, and I unconsciously tightened my arms around Sirius' waist. Had I been that obvious? Did I fail to hide my feelings? Oh God, no! This could not be, not so soon! Not them.

"Why would you suppose that?" James replied guardedly.

"I guess... well, he doesn't like Clarissa, for one thing. And he seems a lot more sad since she came around. And... I guess it's the way he treats Sirius. The way he looks at him. I may be wrong, though. What d'you think?"

"I don't think that Moony is in love with Padfoot." James answered, and I breathed once more. A slight pause. "I know he is."

My eyes widened, the breath I had collected leaving in a whoosh, and I wanted to leap up and fiercely deny it. Another lie to protect me.

"Oh." Said Peter, and the door closed.

Silence descended upon the room, broken only by the loud beating of my heart.

"It's alright, Moony." Sirius said softly, and I realized that he was awake beside me. "James has known for a long time, I believe. Before I found Clarissa, he used to hint at your feelings, and amazingly in retrospect I think he didn't mind so much. He does not hate you, so be still and don't worry about it."

I nodded, recognizing the truth in this. I had many a time gotten a sense of James being aware of my yearning. While disapproving, he did not fault me for it. But would he hate me if he knew that his best friend since nappies had fallen in love with me in turn?

"Calm down, moonchild. Go back to sleep. You look peaky." Sirius said lovingly, tucking a lock of my wayward tawny hair behind my ear.

Resolving to obey, though I was now far from tired and rather restless, I laid beside him once more. He pulled me close, his arms sheltering me in their strong embrace. I imagined that the world was quiet here, safe. I did not have to be strong in this one small place. No masks, no barriers. Just sun in October and smiles that were sincere. The faint smell of wet dogs and fragrant raspberries and a hint of the forest assaulted my senses, but it was a comforting smell. Sirius' smell, which both the wolf inside me and the boy that housed it associated with comfort. Comfort was a difficult thing to come by, for a werewolf. For a werewolf, and a homosexual one at that.

Lovely. One more thing to set me apart. But then again... if Sirius was with me, could I perhaps learn to care less about the world? I would never be lonely, always loved by someone, and have a person to soothe my worries and the wounds of rejection. I supposed I could weather it.

I closed my eyes, my left hand automatically sliding into his shaggy dark hair. He pressed a chaste kiss to the top of my head, and I felt myself drifting toward a stressful state of dreaming, filled with angry faces and raucous laughter, parents that would not meet my eyes and sneers over any oddity that I possessed. Dusty houses in need of repair, where I walked alone and was encouraged never to touch anything by an often-absent family. A pregnant moon casting a mocking light, shedding her pale glow over a blood-stained hilltop while a wolf howled nearby.

As my dreams progressed, I felt something call to me.

A hand taking mine, and leading me blindly through the dark landscape. Toward a pinpoint of light that seemed to radiate warmth. I halted, afraid.

'What if I can't go in?' I asked. 'Bad things cannot go inside.'

But my companion without a face or name or even a definitive form laughed merrily and shook his head, tugging me onward.

'You will enter, for I love you.'

As we walked, the evils continued to frighten me and reach threateningly to tear at my flesh. I cried out, trying to run. But the formless one who led me held fast to my hand.

'Be not afraid. They cannot touch you. They have power only because you believe in them. Because you care what they think.'

'They'll hurt me!' I said, trembling.

The vaguely man-shaped being paused, and then raised his 'hands' to my face. I drew in a sharp breath as he pressed his fingers over my eyes gently, covering my vision.

'Trust me.' He whispered, and I nodded my surrender.

Now that I could not see the darkness and its inhabitants, I was not so afraid. We walked, my companion with his hands pressed over my eyes and his chest a firm presence at my back I was blind, but he protected me from stumbling as he said he would.

And I was able to leave the darkness. I was.