"Sometimes I only have to look at you to get a headache."
Sirius choked out a laugh. He looked like he had come straight out of one of those fairytale stories. With his aristocratic, haughty features and charming demeanor, he certainly looked the part.
"Love you too, Remus," he quipped sarcastically.
Remus sighed, tilting his head up so he could see the canopy of stars. "We've come so far, I don't think 'love you' is going to cut it."
Sirius didn't crack a joke this time; he sighed too. "We have." His eyes wandered from Remus to the stars too.
They were sitting on one of the Eiffel Tower's railings, dangling hundreds of feet in the air, but Remus found that he didn't care. After everything they'd been through, scaling the Eiffel Tower with just a grappling hook didn't phase him whatsoever. Of course, they'd gotten a few curious looks from the onlookers, but that didn't matter.
"Do you remember the first time we met?" Remus touched the moon-shaped charm on his necklace and it glowed a faint blue. "We crashed through Minerva's window and she sure as hell wasn't pleased."
"Who the hell are you?"
Remus's moon charm was emitting radiant blue light, while the other boy's sun charm was bright yellow. In front of them stood a woman in a tartan dressing gown and her hair pinned back in an impeccable bun.
"Where am I? I was just in my tent and —" The other boy seemed disoriented and grabbed onto Remus's shoulder for support.
"I'm afraid you're not in your bedroom anymore," Remus said solemnly, looking at the irate woman. "I'm terribly sorry, ma'am, we're new to this whole time-traveling thing —"
"Oh, I do remember." Sirius smiled, lost in thought. "I wonder how my family is doing."
Sirius had come from the Seven Years' War era, battered and bedraggled and demons crawling under his skin. He'd been about to die, a musket pressed into his throat, but time had taken pity on him and sucked him into its endless void.
"I should go back soon," Sirius said quietly, drawing Remus's attention once more. "I wonder if my little brother survived the bloodshed. There are so many things I left behind."
Remus hadn't left behind anything — his family was dead. Time had taken pity on him too and let him into its shapeless embrace.
"I know it's something that you must do," he said. "I will accompany you if you will allow it."
Sirius turned his head so they were looking at each other and tension sang in the air, but not the negative kind. Remus's hand inched towards Sirius's and then —
— and then he withdrew his hand because he was a coward. A hopeless coward.
"I think this is something I need to do alone." A breeze ruffled his long black hair. "They won't take kindly to me appearing out of thin air, and they'll like it even less when you appear next to me. If I want to return to them permanently, you can't come with me."
"I understand." Deep in his heart, Remus had known this all along, that Sirius had to walk this path alone.
Again his hand gravitated toward Sirius's but he drew back again. There was no time for these feelings of love, however strong they were, and he knew he had to let Sirius go.
"I'm going to miss you," Remus murmured, all of their adventures flashing before their eyes. Sirius stuffing his face with profiteroles. A woman chasing them with a parasol. Dressing as girls to sneak into a ball.
All beacons of happiness, all rays of fleeting, golden sunlight — and it was dying, fading before his eyes.
His eyes were stinging, but he gazed at Sirius, into his eyes, trying to convey in that single moment how much he loved him. I love you. Please don't go. I love you so much it hurts to let you go.
He loved Sirius more than anyone else in this world, but he was going to have to let him go, no matter how much it hurt.
In the distance, a bonfire rose high in the sky as the people of France celebrated Bastille Day, unaware of a heart breaking in the city of love.
718 words
Sci-Fi September Day 12 - "You're from the past, and you joined me in my time-travel adventures. I know history says you go back, so I'm trying not to get close, but I'm falling in love with you." AU
Founder Says - Rowena - 3. "Sometimes I only have to look at you to get a headache."
Build a Better Breakfast - 26. Avocados - (character) Minerva McGonagall
Pick a Wick - 29. Smoke Out - (object) fire
1000 - 656. "Your Eyes" - Rent
365 - 3. Accompany
