AN: Well, it's been a long time. Sorry about that, but life was really hectic. I had finals and graduation and my grandfather is ill. The past few weeks have just flown by. Unfortunately for you all I'll try to update once more before I leave on vacation, which will be on Friday. Then, I won't have Internet access for 3 weeks. I know, it is a tragedy. So anywho, onwards and upwards.

Ophel: If you read my author's notes, then you would know that I changed the timeline. Since it's already AU, I decided to make it so HIV/AIDS is discovered in 1961 and named in 1963. So that's why it works. You really should read my author's notes, because they do contain relevant information. Thanks for pointing it out anyways.

Remus had always loved the winter. The plants seemed dead, like they could never be resurrected. But they were really just sleeping. Waiting for the sun to warm them and wake them up once more. Remus supposed the reason he liked winter so much was because it reminded him of his life.

He had been so depressed before he had met Sirius. He wasn't normal and he was well aware of that. He couldn't play with the other boys who were discovering the joys of football and wrestling for fear of getting an open cut. He couldn't be near others with diseases, even the commonest cold. When other children had colds they merely sniffled or at the worst stayed home. Remus had to go to the hospital to be checked upon. Now, to be honest all these precautions were smart, but not completely necessary. But it didn't matter, because Remus was different no matter what. He lived in fear that someone would find out and he would be exposed to everyone and be discriminated against. Consequently, he had no friends.

When he was eleven he transferred to a new school. All the students there knew each other, and Remus was alone again. That was, until the Blacks forced their eldest son into the school. Sirius was a troublemaker and had been expelled from every school that he had attended before. St. Judith's was the last resort for him. Well that, and then he would be forced into military academy in the States.

The Blacks were rich and they made sure that everyone knew it. They were a proud family; they had standards and high ones too. Ones that Sirius had never met. At the new school Sirius was an outcast a lot like Remus. Everyone thought that he was this snotty rich kid who was spoiled rotten and they had all stayed away from him. Sirius hadn't really minded, until he saw Remus.

At first he thought that Remus would be like all the other students, but he soon found that young loner was very much like himself. Sirius decided to befriend the young boy, but he found it to be much harder than he had previously expected. However, the black-haired boy was not deterred. Blacks always get what they want.

Sirius and Remus began a tentative friendship that turned into much more. Sirius noticed Remus's odd illness and he researched it. However, when he found out he didn't leave Remus, as the ill boy had believed he would. Instead, he became much more protective of the boy, and they became much closer.

Their relationship didn't progress like others did. The only normal thing about it was that they were friends first, though many relationships don't even have that foundation. Many people kiss and sometimes even have sex before love is even mentioned. However, Sirius proclaimed his love to Remus at the tender age of 13. Many people would believe that it was said jokingly, or it was just childish love that meant nothing. Or even a spur of the moment thing. But it was none of those things.

Remus could vividly remember the first time Sirius had told him he loved him. Remus had made friends with another boy in their year. His name was Severus Snape, and Sirius despised him. Looking back it was probably jealousy, but at the time it seemed more like downright complete and utter loathing. Anyways, one day he discovered what Remus's illness was and completely flipped out. He was much less than understanding and regarded Remus as complete and utter filth. He brought the sandy-haired teen to tears.

So Sirius found Remus crying in a corner of the library. He crouched next to the broken boy and gently wrapped his arms around him. Sirius comforted the ill boy the best he could, but it was difficult. Remus insisted that Severus was right, and that no one could ever care about him, no one could ever want him. Sirius told him that he was wrong and that he loved him no matter what. And Remus found that he reciprocated.

Despite the fact that they were 13 and thus had raging hormones everything was so innocent. When they told the other that they loved them it was never connected to hungry kisses and stolen nights. It was connected to the comfort of some one who cared so deeply for you that they would die for you. Of someone to hold you when the nightmares got too bad. And someone who was forever.

They never even kissed until they were 14 and even then the kisses were chaste and merely for comfort's sake. It was at this time that they entered Hogwarts Academy. They were a curiosity to many of their classmates. It was no wonder though. They all wanted to understand how the quiet, shy, and intelligent boy ended up being inseparable from the loud, rambunctious, Goth-like boy. Of course there were rumors about the nature of their relationship, though the pair was never aware of it. Other students generally stayed away from them, especially after the incident in which Sirius had beat up a boy for mocking Remus for his sickly nature. Everyone quickly began to learn to stay away from the odd pair, and the two were content.

It was at age fifteen that Sirius ran away from home. He had never agreed with his family's values, and one night they went too far. They found out about his relationship, if it could really be called one, with Remus and had beaten him before disowning him. It was a scared and broken Sirius Black that turned up on the Lupins' doorstep that late October night. Thankfully, the Lupins had been more than willing to take in the boy who had made their son smile again. To them he could've been a murderer, and they wouldn't have cared. They knew he made their son happy and that he would never hurt him and that was enough.

So Sirius and Remus got a kind of relationship that was built to last. It wasn't based on sex, obviously because there was none. It was purely a mental bond merely enhanced by hugs and soft kisses. Remus knew that he could never have what most people had, but he was actually thankful. Sirius was amazing and he didn't think he would have the same connection with him if he were able to have sex. Yes, Remus Lupin was lucky in a way. He was lucky to have Sirius as a reminder that there is a spring to every winter.

AN: Sorry about the whole Snape thing. I had to have someone find out and treat him badly, and Snape was the only person who really worked besides a OC. I personally love Sev and have a major thing for him. I know, right now you're all saying ewww, but I can't help but love him. So remember boys may come and go, but a reviewer is forever!