Warning: This is slash. SLASH! Remus/Sirius pairing. If you don't like it, don't read it. It's that simple.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all related characters/names/places/events/etc. belong to JKR and Warner Bros. I'm just a poor little fangirl that likes to borrow them.
"I don't see it anywhere!" James slammed the heavy leather-bound volume closed and proceeded to glare at it.
The library was quite deserted at this time—well, deserted except for the couples that he and Lily kept finding in hidden away the corners doing all sorts of unmentionable things. James and Lily sat at a table near the window, mounds of books piled around them.
Lily sighed and shot him an impatient look over her book. "Well, it's really your fault for putting such a difficult hex on the parchments."
"I wasn't planning on not getting my snog," he said huffily. James regretted the comment as soon as it left his mouth.
Lily rounded on him. "So you're saying you would've snogged any airhead you got, and then gone right back to trying to woo me?"
"Uh…" He blushed, and muttered, "I was hoping to get your name."
"And then what? You thought I'd just let you cram your tongue down my throat just because you happened to get my name?"
"I'm sorry, okay?" he snapped.
"Okay," she said, her voice once again gentle. "I shouldn't have yelled. It's not your fault. Well, okay—it is your fault. But I forgive you." She gave him a tentative smile and went back to perusing the book in front of her.
James took a deep breath and pulled a new book from the pile. They worked in silence for what seemed like hours before Lily let out an exclamation of delight.
"I found it!" She beamed at him and scooted closer so that they could both look at the book she pushed under his nose. "It's not really a counter-curse, but it'll cancel out the effects of the hex just the same."
He let out the breath he had been holding and offered her a grin. "You amaze me, Lily," he said honestly.
James was surprised to see a faint blush color the girl's cheeks and her smile widen at the compliment.
Later they left the library side-by-side, talking. James couldn't believe his luck. He had managed to spend an entire afternoon with Lily without making a fool of himself or getting hexed into next week.
They clambered through the portrait hole to find most of the common room empty. Everyone seemed to be off trying to corner the objects of their affections. James hoped his two friends had managed to sort everything out. He even had an antidote now for Sirius should the boy fail to make any headway with Remus.
"James."
He spun around at the almost nervous quality of Lily's voice.
"Thanks for helping me, James." She looked up into his eyes, a sincere smile gracing her mouth. "You really aren't so bad. So if you want, well"—she offered him her hand, which he timidly took—"let's be friends."
Suddenly she pushed up with her tiptoes and pressed a small kiss to his lips. James watched, dumbfounded, as she pulled back and ran up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Slowly a smile creeped onto his face.
He had gotten his kiss after all.
x-x-x-x-x
"Because I'm in love with you."
Sirius swallowed audibly, and when he spoke, his voice shook.
"W—what? What did you just say?"
There was a brief flash of emotion in Remus's amber eyes, but it was gone before Sirius could identify it, leaving Remus looking older than any sixteen-year-old had any right to look.
"I love you, Sirius."
Sirius's heart swelled with joy until he thought it was trying to force itself out his mouth. He suddenly, inexplicably, felt like crying. All he wanted was to gather the other boy in his arms, but his body seemed to be frozen to the spot, blithely ignoring his orders. Finally, as the horrible silence stretched out before them, Sirius croaked out a response.
"Remus, I—I never…I was so…oh, fuck it! I love you, too."
The boy's head snapped up, his eyes wide with disbelief. "You—do?"
"I do," said Sirius, keeping his voice gentle and patient. "I don't really know how long I've felt this way, but I only realized it halfway through fourth year."
Remus narrowed his eyes, visibly stiffening. "Are you sure? Are you sure it isn't just…lust?"
"Lust?" Sirius asked blankly. "What do you mean?"
Remus looked at him pleadingly, his expression one of such distress that Sirius found his lungs constricting of their own accord.
"I could sense it, Sirius. I could smell lust."
"What?"
"It's mating season. The wolf is acutely in tune with certain…ah…urges at this time…and, by extension, so am I. I could smell lust on you the second you walked in."
"What else did you smell?" he asked gently.
Remus seemed startled by the question, as if it was the last thing he expected. "Well, I could smell fear…but the lust was blocking nearly everything else out."
"I suppose there's no denying that I felt that way, but what you didn't smell was the love overshadowing it all."
"L—love?"
Sirius reached a trembling hand toward Remus's cheek, and felt him stiffen—then gradually relax—at the contact.
"I love you, Remus."
"Are—are you sure? It's not because I'm convenient? I mean—I'm gay, I'm a friend, and I'm right here. Are you sure it's not because of that? Because I wouldn't say no?"
"Rem," Sirius said forcefully, leaning toward the boy so that they were mere inches apart. "I loved you before I even knew you were gay. I'd love you even if you weren't. Hell, I'd love you even if you were some fifty-year-old hag that smelled like a dumpster…well, okay—that's a bit much. The point is, I'd love you no matter what. You're my Moony."
The smile that Remus gave him melted his knees. There were tears spilling from those golden eyes, and Sirius wiped them away with his thumb. He bent forward and pressed a soft, chaste kiss onto Remus's lips.
Remus gasped, stunned, then responded timidly—not at all like the feral, passionate lover he'd been a few minutes ago.
This was the Remus he knew—not the untamed, hungry wolf, but the quiet, shy, nervous Remus Lupin.
Sirius had never been as happy in all his life as he was at that moment. This was definitely heaven.
He would have to thank James later. Right now, his entire world was contained in the supple lips of the boy he loved.
The End (?)
DEMONSBLADE: I'm soooooo sorry, everyone! Sorry it took so long.
SIRIUS: Hey! Where's the bum ravishing?
DEMONSBLADE: Uh…
SIRIUS: You made this an R story. So let's see the smut, woman!
DEMONSBLADE: Okay, okay. I've decided to write a smutty epilogue to make up for the sexually anti-climactic end.
SIRIUS: Yay! You know, you might not be such a brainless twit after all…
DEMONSBLADE: Aww, thanks!
SIRIUS: The reviewers demand sex! (mutters) Perverts…fantasizing about me and Rem…
REMUS: Sirius!
SIRIUS: What? They are! Why do you think they read this story?
REMUS: Maybe for the sweet fluff and friendly banter.
SIRIUS: Yeah, right.
REMUS: They like dominant me, though. Hehe…you got called a "shabby mutt."
SIRIUS: Shabby mutt! Why I oughta…
REMUS: Don't feel bad, Padfoot. I love you anyway.
DEMONSBLADE: Thanks for all the reviews, everyone. Oh, and a note to the anonymous flamer who claims to hate this story but keeps coming back to read it anyway: No, I have no plot. But did I ever claim to? This is just a fluff/smut fic written to keep myself and other SB/RL slashers happy. Sorry you don't like it. I just find it funny that you keep reading it even though you flame it. And as for the really really long flame that "frog" left me, I just say that someone had WAY too much time and a little too much fun with a thesaurus. It takes a lot to get under my skin. By all means, you can keep trying. But I feel I should give you a fair warning that my head's too swollen to allow me to feel offended by anything you might have to say.
SIRIUS: Swollen is right. And you say I'm arrogant.
DEMONSBLADE: Shut it, Sirius. Anyway, see you all in the epilogue! Ta!