Time for Some Sirius Talk

They sat in the drawing-room parlour on the first floor, taking a sip from their Firewhiskey every other minute. Sirius was waiting for Remus to speak up. After all he had called this drinking session. And from his experience Remus only did that when something troubled him.

Remus cleared his throat, "We kissed. The other day. In London."

Sirius grinned, "Blimey Remus. Was it so awful that you've been avoiding her ever since?" Sirius was referring to them walking on eggshells around each other ever since. It had been a nightmare. Every time she entered the room, Remus made an excuse and left.

Remus rolled his eye at his friend. "The kiss was fine. More than fine actually" a blush crept on his cheeks and he used the moment to take another sip of his drink.

Although they had just eaten burgers, she had tasted like coffee. Coffee that he knew she drank religiously every day. And although Remus wasn't a coffee drinker, he quite liked the idea that he wouldn't mind just this lingering taste so much.

"Then did you call me here to throw yourself another pity party?" Sirius had a feeling about where this was about to go.

"She is too good for me Sirius. Honestly, I am half convinced that perhaps I imagined it. And anyways, I found out that she knows," Remus started.

"Exactly. She knows. And she still wants you. OH fucking hell Moony! You can't be that blind to not see how she is around you"

"But she deserves bett-"

"I am this close to hexing off your family jewels Moony. She actually wants you. And now you've gone and made her think otherwise. Let me guess. You probably went the self-loathing route about your furry little problem, didn't you? Could you BE any more difficult to deal with?!" Sirius started raising his voice.

Why couldn't Remus see that everyone just wanted him to be happy?

"It was Moony. I was afraid of losing control. I was scared that I wouldn't stop what we had started with that kiss. Sirius, it was SO close to the full moon. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her," Remus tried to explain.

Remus thought back to their kiss. Months of fleeting moments, innocent smiles, playful teasing, and conversations about what they both wanted from the world. It had all lead up to that.

As soon as they had kissed, he knew this was what he wanted. Feeling her pressed up against him like that again. Good lord he wanted that again.

He liked the cute way she messed up when he would adjust her duelling posture from behind during combat practice. The way she looked at him the one time he wiped ketchup off her face in the park, the way she said had moaned into their kiss two weeks ago.

But he still hesitated.

"What am I going to do now," Remus groaned and threw himself back against the couch. "She'll probably bolt at the first sign of me. After how I've ignored her for days," he ran his hand through his hair looking at Sirius hopelessly.

"If you need help approaching her, just let me know. I'll go flirt with her. Maybe getting jealous will help you make a move," Sirius said and got up from the couch to go refill his drink.

Remus, thinking that he was about to head upstairs and go to her room, immediately got up and blocked Sirius from taking another step further.

"Well not now," Sirius chuckled.

"Not ever" Remus said looking him dead in the eye.

"Don't worry Moony." Sirius patted Remus on the arm. "There is only one person she has eyes for. And it isn't this tattooed hunk" Sirius stepped around him and went to fill his glass.

"You know," Sirius trailed off. "There is the small Christmas gathering we're having on the 22nd. And it's nowhere near a full moon. Moony won't come out to play," Sirius said. He heard Remus mumble something about "It not just being Moony." He was about to say something when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Are you still up Sirius? I can hear you being a loud drunk from my bedroom. Who is this fit bird you'll be flirting with on the 22nd?" Emma's voice sounded as she came into view in the doorway. Narrowing her eyes as she saw Remus she said, "Well, never mind that. I'll actually be heading back upstairs. Wouldn't want my presence to make anyone uncomfortable," and with that she walked off.

"Emma wait," Remus called after her and got up to follow her. Maybe this was his chance.

"What?" her voice spit the word in an angry whisper. He tried to say something, but she cut in, "Decided to talk to me, have you? Lucky me," As he went to grab her wrist to stop her, she swatted away his hand.

"Don't. Even," she said and walked back upstairs without looking. Remus stood there watching her walk up without so much as a glance back at him. Suddenly he heard Sirius tsk-ing from behind.

With a grimace Remus turned back, "Got any better ideas?"

Sirius put his hand on Remus' shoulder and took a large swig of his second drink, finishing it.

"On second thought. I don't think I would want to be the one crossing her path," he led Remus back to the couch. As the night progressed their conversations turned to drunken reminiscing about dealing with women, to come up with ideas on how Remus could approach her without being Levicorpus-ed.

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A/N: I promise it's about to get steamy-ish soon!