Oh goodness. Look at how long it is! I never write anything this long, so you better appreciate it. Apt title, no?
EDIT I don't usually do this, but I was rereading it on here, and... shudders Can't believe I left that many mistakes. Stupid tags fixed, spelling mistakes remidied, and if you really need an explination of the title... too bad. ; Use your imaginations.
The Apocalypse by Redex
It was just like an ordinary day. Here he was, Remus John Lupin, lying in bed, half under the sheets, looking at the stone roof. The fact that he was awake this early in the morning on a Saturday could have been a nightmare, or a loud noise, or a not-so-loud noise...
But it wasn't. And he sighed, because he knew it wasn't.
They had been researching for The Map. Seeing as there was only one, it worked as a title pretty well, but Sirius, ever with the flair for the dramatic, insisted upon the official title of The Marauder's Map. It would pass them on down history, he said. That was, of course, if they got it finished.
And that was the reasoning Remus J. Lupin used to drag Sirius "once more into the breach!" (or library, whichever you prefer). He had to sign a contract saying he wouldn't let Sirius break anything that wasn't his or Remus' for Mme. Pince to let them in to the Restricted Section.
They sat and read and took notes and mused, all while James was at Quidditch practice and Peter at remidial Charms, and a little bit longer besides.
And then they had fallen asleep.
In the libarary.
On the books.
Remus would never forgive himself.
Especially when he woke up and Sirius was looking at him in the light of the moon shining through the thick curtains. It was such a pitiful expression, Remus wondered if he had been dreaming and made some noise... But then Sirius kissed him.
"You know I've liked you forever, Moony, I mean..."
"Don't start again, Padfoot," Remus interrupted tiredly, closing a few books and stacking them on the table. The kiss hadn't quite kicked in yet. This conversation had been coming for days, and Remus had been fleeing every time it ended up as just he and Sirius alone. It had been a few days now that Sirius hadn't made an attempt.
"Will you just listen to me?"
The anger in his voice was not the same cold fury he held towards all Slytherins and Severus in particular. But then he slumped, as if Remus had knocked all the fight out of him.
"James said I'd been rather obvious..." Sirius was actually looking sheepish. Remus just touched his fingers to his lips again and stared.
"Erm... well..."
Before the world reached the apocalypse, Remus felt he had to say something.
"You..."
Sirius had killed his mouth. He tried thinking of what he wanted to say and then with a supreme effort, forced it out through those deadened lips.
"I mean, I didn't realize... You Sirius Black? Like me? How does that even...?"
"What does James know anyways, eh?" Sirius laughed nerviously and scratched the back of his head. "So, um, should we go to bed now?"
"Sirius..."
His voice was almost in that Prefect Don't Lie To Me I Know You're Up To Something Voice.
When Sirius wouldn't meet his eyes, wouldn't lie to him, his voice broke.
"You actually..."
"Stop looking like it's the end of the world," Sirius growled and placed his hands on either side of Remus' head. "I won't mention it ever again if you don't want me to, but god Moony, tell me something."
"How do you know?"
He couldn't meet those earnest, dark eyes. Some part of him was still laughing, waiting for the joke, but a deep, niggling part of him was already coming to terms with this... confession.
"Eh?"
"How do you know, when you say you like me?"
"Well, erm... Nothing tastes good with out you. Even when I'm a dog, when you're not there, things aren't good enough. As good as they could be, or something. And I want to protect you, from everything, from yourself," he rushed, getting on a roll with no interruption from Remus, but then he quieted again.
"And I can't resist touching you."
Even though his hands had fallen from Remus' face, they caught one of his hands in his lap and pale fingers brushed against his skin.
"Do you believe me? Do you... Do you like me too? At all?"
"Of course," Remus said with a short, harsh laugh. Sirius felt his heart jump in his chest.
"Really? You do? Moony, you like me?"
"How could I not, you stupid mutt..."
Tears were filling his eyes at all the stupidity leading up to this evening, but he was shocked out of his tears when Sirius kissed him again. This time, he kissed back with an almost childish abandon that surprised Padfoot, but pleased him greatly.
And then Remus' hands were in his hair, and he regretted not washing it, and his mouth was worth curling up and dying in, and his eyes were just chocolate, to melt into.
He slipped off his chair and pressed towards Remus' body, that had awkwardly tried to stand up and only ended slipping sideways with his back to the table. Sirius decided the table would do just find and pushed him backwards, moaning softly into Remus' mouth as he clung to him.
Their bodies pressed together, Sirius felt there wasn't much more he could ask for just then. He whimpered when Remus made him stop for a moment, freezing to listen to something just out in the hall that he hadn't heard, but then he nuzzled around Remus' protesting hand and got his tounge back in the proper mouth it deserved. The noises they were making communicated to somewhere base inside them, making them reply in kind.
"God, Remus, you don't realize how beautiful you are..."
"Sirius..."
He melted under Remus' touch, did whatever he wanted him to do. He couldn't stand when Remus touched him like that, and they hadn't even gotten their shirts off yet. It was a long time before either of them were satisfied enough of each other to slow down. They had traded places at least once, and Sirius was finding that he didn't mind Remus being on top of him as much as he thought he would. They were practically fully onto the table anyways, so Sirius grabbed Remus by the hips and pulled him up a little farther, dragging himself on top.
Sirius nuzzled his mouth and nose into Remus' neck, feeling like a very good dog indeed.
"I think I might love you," Sirius admitted, sliding his hands down Remus' sides.
"Yeah," Remus surprised them both. "I probably do too."
It was too dark to see the unmanly blushes when they fell asleep.
The first thing Remus noticed when he woke up the next morning was that he felt satiated. He was warm, languid, and comfortable... And he had finally learnt the discription of "brused lips" that he was always reading in those trashy novels. They certainly felt brused, and he had had enough bruses to tell. Not that it was a bad thing, he mused, settling a still-sleeping Sirius a little more comfortably. Even though he couldn't quite feel his legs, he didn't want to wake him.
There seemed to be a glitter on everything that morning, as if god had decent from heaven. When Sirius first woke up, it was to the most stunning vision he had ever seen: the profile of Remus' face against the rising sun shining in through the window.
"Remus," he whispered, half to himself.
Remus looked away from the sun and smiled at Sirius, and maybe that even better than all the dawns in the world.
"So you're finally awake. You are rather heavy, you know," he said teasingly, as if commenting on unfinished homework.
Sirius immidiately rolled off him and onto the pointy edge of a book. He cursed quietly under his breath and pushed it out from under him so he could lie down on his side and look at Remus.
"How did this happen?" he said quietly. "It's... amazing."
"Yeah," Remus said softly, smiling as he looked out the window again. Sirius felt silent just looking at him, and then, unable to resist not touching him any longer, pulled him into a backwards hug, resting his chin on Remus' shoulder.
"We didn't really need to come here last night," Remus admitted, the fingers of one hand brushing over the cover of a book, and the other holding Sirius' in place on his stomach.
"What!" Sirius complained, nipping at Remus' ear in retribution, causing him to shiver pleasently in a way that sent shocks through Sirius' body. They fit together perfectly, like this.
"I just wanted to see what you would do," Remus breathed. "If I gave you another chance to bring it up. I already knew what you wanted to say, I just needed to think about it for a while, so I pretended to ignore you..."
"Evil, conniving werewolf," Sirius murmured into Remus' ear, sending more shivers of pleasure down his spine. "Demonic thing. Can't believe you put me through that. So... female of you."
"I'll have you know, I'm very much male," Remus snorted, insulted.
"Hmm, and proof?" Sirius said, voice silky, hands pressing a little downwards...
Remus swollowed. He had to admit he walked into that one.
"Later," he murmured, tilting his head in an attempt to see Sirius' head on his shoulder.
Sirius let him shift, if only so they could kiss again, softly against brused lips.
"Really?" he whispered in between motions.
"I'm all yours," Remus murmured back, now completely turned to face Sirius again, pulling Sirius' arm around him like a blanket.
Sirius whimpered and slid a little downwards so he was looking up at his friend. The pleading, utter vulnerability in his eyes made Remus desperately want to hold on to him and keep him safe. He couldn't open up this wound in Sirius and then let anything happen to him...
Eventually they slowed down again and the sun was up over the horizon.
Sirius tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach for as long as he couldn't but then he couldn't take it any more.
"Moony... I'm really hungry," he pleaded. "Can we stop in the kitchens on the way back to the common room?"
"No!" Remus said, steadfast. "You abuse those poor house-elves enough already. You can wait untill breakfast."
"Mooonyyyy..." he whined, lounging on the table, clutching at his stomach and making pitiful faces. "I need to eat..."
"No," Remus said in a final tone and straightened his robes and his hair, ignoring Sirius' puppy-eyed looks.
Finally Sirius gave up and got off the table, only to lean against it and watch Remus pick up the books they had knocked off the table during their... exersise. Remus really was too skinny, Sirius mused to himself.
And so, they had arrived back at the common room before anyone actually got up, and Remus went straight to bed, but once he arrived there, he couldn't fall back asleep. Too much was running around in his head, something 'too much' named Sirius Black.
He gave up eventually, and Sirius was down in the common room in front of the perpetual fire, eating a muffin with not one, but two mugs of what smelt like tea on the table beside him.
"You..." he hissed, eyes narrowing into Prefect Mode.
Sirius just grinned cheekily and handed him one of the mugs. Remus took it and blinked back into normalcy, or what passed for normalcy these days.
"How did you know I'd come back down?"
Sirius shrugged, suddenly awkward again. "You never go back to sleep when you wake up in the morning, no matter how hellishly early it is."
Remus let that warmth settle in his stomach before sipping at the hot tea, just the way he liked it. He couldn't keep the smile off his face, even when Sirius scooped him deviously into his lap, nearly scalding the both of them with hot liquid.
Just another ordinary day.
Critique? Please?