Disclaimer: These aren't my puppets, I just snuck in to play.
A/N: So my computer and/or internet has been acting like a butt, so hopefully now this will finally work.
Tonks stood in front of the double doors leading to the front room. Well, actually she was pacing…rather quickly back and forth in front of them. She shook her head several times, as if trying to shake out the excess thoughts that were distracting her from her main goal of walking in and asking him.
"Psst! Dora!" a voice hissed from the darkness of the hall behind her. Tonks turned around so quickly in surprise that she lost her balance and would have fallen over completely if Sirius hadn't caught her. She moved away quickly and huffed.
"You know, I wouldn't fall over like that if you didn't keep sneaking up on me." she said, her voice full of irritation.
He smirked. "But aren't you an Auror? Aren't you trained in how to listen for any enemies sneaking up on you?" Noticing the exasperated death glare he was getting from her, he decided to quit while he was ahead. It was time to move on to the important topic at hand anyway.
"So have you asked him yet?" She glared at him again.
"Does it look like it?"
Sirius shrugged. "Well, for all I know he's in there thinking and you're out here waiting to here the answer. I'm getting tired of waiting. Get in there." With his last words, in one deft movement he had the door open and had shoved Tonks inside.
Remus looked up from his book as he heard the door open. He peaked over the back of the couch when a loud thud followed by a painful moan issued from behind it.
"Tonks? Are you all right?" He leapt from the couch and crouched down next to her as she rubbed her temple.
"I'm ok. Bloody dog." she muttered as she accepted his hand and he hoisted her up. She stood for a minute, swaying slightly as she attempted to regain her balance. For a fleeting moment, she realized that he was still holding onto her arm tightly, and she was afraid she might lose her balance again. She blushed and quickly hid her face from his view in order that he didn't notice and ask any probing questions.
They sat on the couch and Remus picked up the book he had discarded on the floor. He neatly folded the corner of the page he was on and placed the book on the arm of the couch.
"Are you sure you're ok? I could get you some ice for your head." At this point, Tonks' head was swimming, partly from the fall and partly from the close proximity between them. Without really realizing it, she nodded and the next thing she knew, he was gone.
She frowned. Tonks hadn't really noticed him leave, he had just gone. But after a few minutes, he returned. He carried a small cloth and as he held it to her face, she realized it was ice.
She smiled and took the cloth from him, hiding the blush of another contact between them behind it. Remus smiled back at her before returning to his book.
They sat like that for a few minutes before Tonks remembered why she was in the front room with Remus in the first place. Her stomach began to flutter with nervousness at the thought of asking him. But she'd come this far…
"Um, Remus?" she asked tentatively to get his attention. He placed a finger in between the pages where he had stopped and turned to look at her. Until they were locked on her so intently, she had not realized what a fierce and intense blue his eyes were. She broke herself out of the realization and cleared her throat.
"I was wondering if you could do something for me," she said lamely as she stared very hard at the carpet. She was not used to being quite so flustered and it was a bit off putting for her.
"I suppose it depends on what the task is," Remus replied, smiling.
"Its just a little favor, I mean, I don't think it's a big deal or anything and you can always say no if you don't want to do it or something and-"
"Tonks, you haven't even told me what it is you want me to do. How about you tell me that first and then you can start defending it." His blue eyes shone with a hint of amusement. She nodded and took a deep breath.
"Will you um, go to the Auror Ball with me next weekend?" she asked quickly.
She closed her eyes and started speaking very quickly again. She didn't want to see the contemplation or reaction on his face as she asked. She didn't want to see his delicate lips form the word "No" before she even had a chance to justify why she had asked him. Unknowingly, her voice was getting higher as she continued to give her reasoning for why she had asked Remus to go with her and no one else. Of course, she didn't tell him the whole reason she was so nervous about asking him. She didn't say anything about the feelings that had been fluttering around inside her for the past few weeks. And what if he actually did say yes? How was she to proceed?
To say the least, she was terrified of his answer either way.
"Tonks. Tonks! Nymphadora!" Remus finally had to resort to using her dreaded first name before she realized he was trying to speak to her. Tonks turned to look at him. He noticed that she looked as if he was about to bite her. She looked…terrified.
Remus found it a bit strange that Tonks was acting so oddly. She was definitely not the kind of girl to be flustered easily, but this seemingly simple thing had her sweating bullets. He found it cute to see her cheeks blush red with embarrassment.
Tonks buried her face in her hands. "Oh Merlin, you're going to say no aren't you?"
To her surprise, Remus chuckled. "Now why would I do something like that?" he asked, pulling her hands away from her face. She made an almost inaudible squeak as she felt his soft fingertips brush the back of her hand. Tonks looked up at him.
"So-so you'll go with me?"
"Sure, what are friends for?" Before she even had time to dwell on his words, she had wrapped her arms around his neck.
"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Thank you!"
"Tonks! Oxygen! I need it!" As Remus started to splutter for breath, Tonks released him, turning red as he smiled down at her.
"Thank you so much Remus! You're not going to regret this. You like chocolate, yes? I'm going to go out and buy you the biggest chocolate bar known to man. Oh Remus, thank you!" She stood and waved her arms about wildly, and Remus had to laugh quietly to himself again at her ecstatic mood.
She stopped for a second. Before either of them really registered what she was about to do, she had leaned over and given him a kiss on the cheek. Tonks' face turned as red as Ginny's hair and she opened her mouth to say something along the lines of an apology. But no words would come out. She just stood there looking like a dying fish, with her mouth opening and closing and no sound emitting from it.
Remus looked down at the floor, trying to detract his attention from her so she wouldn't feel even more embarrassed, but also to hide the redness that had mysteriously appeared on his cheeks.
Tonks bit her lip to stop herself from opening her mouth again. She turned on her heel and left the room. As she closed the door to the front room (probably a bit louder than was necessary), she slid down to the floor. She felt mortified and for the first time since he'd said it, she realized what those four little words implied. "What are friends for?"
"Tonks? Dora, are you all right?" Sirius' voice was laced with concern as he knelt down in front of her. She lifted her head and looked at him. He noticed the tears that were just starting to form in her eyes. His expression hardened some.
"He didn't say no did he?"
Before Sirius could ask her again, she had taken off for refuge upstairs. He thought about going after her, but instead decided to stick with the turf that was more familiar to him. He opened the doors to the front room, intending to get all the details from Remus.
Remus put a hand to his cheek where she had kissed him. He felt the blush creep back into his face and he shook his head. Why was he acting like a fifteen year old kid again? And towards Tonks no less? And she had kissed him? What was that about? He knew deep down that he didn't mind at all that she had done it. But shouldn't he feel like a pervy old man for thinking such things?
"She's not that much younger than you," said a little voice in his head. It sounded a lot like Sirius (anything to do with bending rules or conventions in his head always sounded like Sirius).
He shook his head again. "Oh," said the little voice, "As if that's going to help. Shaking your head isn't going to get her out of your thoughts, mate." Remus cursed under his breath, knowing that whatever part of him was speaking was absolutely right.
"Moony! What did you say to Tonks?" Remus snapped back to attention as he realized that the real Sirius was now speaking to him. He turned as Sirius sat down next to him on the couch.
"Oh, hello Sirius." Remus said softly. Sirius looked at him, trying to choose his words carefully. He didn't want to have to hurt Remus, but he was torn between friend and family (well, the only one he really liked).
"Did you say No to Tonks?" he asked, deciding it was better to just get it out in the open straight off.
Remus looked at him surprised. "What! No!"
Sirius crossed his arms. "Well, what did you say to her?"
"She just asked me if I would go to this ball with her and I said yes," he paused for a moment, debating whether or not to tell Sirius that she had kissed him. He didn't know how well that would go over with him.
"So why exactly would that put her on the verge of tears?" Sirius asked suspiciously. Remus shrugged.
"She seemed quite happy actually. So happy in fact…she gave me a kiss on the cheek." he said quickly. Sirius' face showed signs of unreleased laughter as he nodded at Remus' statement.
"And you seem somewhat surprised by this?" Sirius asked slowly. Remus raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Well, its never happened before. I just-it just seemed…odd. I mean, we're just friends." Sirius sighed.
"You mean, after all this time you still haven't fig-Well never mind."
"What?" Remus asked, his curiosity peaking again.
"Never mind. So she kissed you?" he said, quick to change the subject. If Remus hadn't figured out that Tonks liked him by now, well, Sirius sure wasn't going to be the one to tell him. He didn't know how either of them would react to Remus hearing the news and he, for one, rather favored his life now that he had one again. If you could call life at Grimmauld Place a life at all.
"Should I go talk to her?" Remus asked, his face paling at the thought of trying to uncover the mystery that was-the woman.
Sirius shook his head. "No, I'll go. I know what she's on about. You're a good man to go with her Moony. Now you just have to figure out what you are going to wear. Because that," and Sirius gestured at Remus' current emsemble, "just will not do." He left the room, leaving Remus to his thoughts.
Remus looked down at what he was wearing. He fingered the edge of the fraying sweater and eyeballed the fading tan slacks. He thought about the wardrobe upstairs and how most of the things in it resembled what he was wearing at the moment. 'Shit.'