Disclaimer: Not mine. I know I said I wouldn't do this again, but what the heck.
A/N: Read, dang it!
A little shout out to those lovely people who review: Thank you so much! It makes me happy to open my inbox and find reviews.
And to my beta who is so wonderful: Hope you feel better!
Becoming Moony: Laying Low
Remus blew out the white cathedral candle and braced himself for the wave of depression that would hit him. It came and went with startling clarity and briefness. It was not unlike the many other spirits Remus had "released". The large woman standing just outside the altar circle started babbling incoherently about how thankful she was. He brushed off her declarations of eternal gratitude with a wan smile. He didn't really do all that much; he just persuaded "unruly" spirits to bugger off. Not that big a deal really. Of course, the poor landlady didn't quite view it like that.
Remus walked away from the Pig's Feet Pub & Inn feeling much better than when he had first arrived there. Maybe it was because he had helped someone or maybe it was knowing that he was one hundred galleons richer. Either way, Remus had a bounce in his step that hadn't been seen for quite a while.
He opened the door to the cottage, so lovingly named The Dog's Den, weary from the long distance apparation. He knew better than to go such a long distance in one jump, especially with how he had been lately. He dumped his cloak and his bag on the entrance hallway's floor, the half-burned cathedral candles rolling out of it like a waxy rainbow.
A sudden noise from the bathroom brought Remus's weariness to an abrupt and rather jarring halt. What the hell? Remus crept towards the room, stalking whatever was in his house. He pulled his wand from the holder on his thigh, holding it tightly. He moved forward faster and faster, before coming just outside the door, straightening, preparing for a final stand, flinging the door open…and encountering a dripping wet and very naked Sirius Black.
/page break/
Remus put his head in his hands and groaned miserably. He couldn't believe himself. He had just stood there, staring his eyeballs out. His jaw hanging unattractively, wand dangling from the tips of his fingers, it was not a pretty sight. And, of course, Sirius just had to go and give a sarcastic "See anything you like, Moony?" That man was so infuriating! Remus had managed to stutter something unintelligible and scoot away from the door.
Footfalls on the stairs alerted to the hormonal nemesis coming towards him. Sirius popped his head into the kitchen and moved into the room slowly. Remus couldn't even bring himself to look up; only the footsteps moving closer told him that Sirius was on the move.
"Sorry if I startled you, Remmie." Remus snorted and shook his head.
"S'okay. Shouldn't have snuck up like that anyways. Too damn paranoid these days."
"I don't blame you. You can't be too careful these days." Sirius placed his still emaciated hands on Remus's tense shoulders. He rubbed carefully and Remus slowly relaxed.
"I didn't expect you to be here for another three weeks. Did something happen?"
"Eh, Hephzibah Coils didn't take so well to seeing me, had the Ministry called before I could get in a word edgewise. Had to beat it quick. You were my last stop."
"Gee, nice to know how I rate in the scheme of things. Let's leave the werewolf out of the loop for as long as possible! Don't want him to go blabbing." Remus said, aware of how pathetic he sounded. Sirius squeezed the shoulders beneath his hands hard. Remus let out a squeak.
"Don't you talk about yourself like that! I didn't tolerate it when we were younger and I sure as hell won't now! No one talks about my Remmie like that." Sirius stated, hugging Remus by the shoulders. Remus laughed a sad laugh, putting his hands on top of Sirius'.
"Okay, I won't. I'll try anyways."
"Good. I'm hungry."
"I'm glad I went to the store yesterday. What do you want?"
"Anything but rats. And fish, I don't want fish."
"Oh, Sirius…" Remus turned in Sirius's arms, eyes wetting. Sirius smiled at him and pressed a kiss to Remus's forehead.
"Don't worry about me, Remus. I'm okay aren't I?" Sirius didn't even sound sure and it made Remus's heart crack.
"How about chicken? We don't want your stomach rejecting anything. Something light for now and we'll build up. How's that sound?"
"I like chicken." Remus grinned and stood. Sirius sat in the chair Remus had vacated. "Harry's a sweet kid."
"Random change of subject, but, yes, he is." Remus said, pulling things out of the antique fridge and cabinet.
"He, Ron, and Hermione brought me some stuff when he came to see me. He was all concerned and stuff. It's funny. With the way he looks, you'd think he was more like James, but he's all Lily's. All Lily's…" Sirius put his head on the table, shoulders quivering with a thousand tiny quakes. Remus stopped moving around to stare at the broken man in front of him. He wondered how long Sirius had been carrying that around with him.
"It's going to be all right, Paddy. It's going to be all right."
" Yeah. I guess so."
/page break/
Remus shot straight up in bed as the piercing wail got louder and more desperate. At first he thought it was the wards reacting to something. Then he realized with dawning horror that it wasn't the wards, it was Sirius. Remus jumped from his bed, nearly tripped over the continental quilt on the floor, and stumbled to the closet of a guest room.
Sirius was staring straight up at the ceiling, screams ending only to start again. It was really no wonder Sirius had started to have nightmares, the room was frigid and his covers were all over the floor. Remus climbed onto the bed and shook Sirius's shoulders lightly, not wanting to hurt the poor man.
"Sirius. Wake up! It's okay; it's just a dream. Wake up…" Remus patted Sirius's cheek until the unseeing eyes focused onto Remus's face and the screams faded off. Sirius was breathing heavily and his eyes darted around and around the room. Remus brushed a few stray hairs out of Sirius's eyes and sighed.
"Remmie. Wha…what happened?"
"You had a nightmare, Paddy. But you're okay now. There isn't anything to worry about. No Dementors."
"No Dementors?"
"No, Paddy. No Dementors." Remus sighed once more and moved to pile Sirius's covers back onto the bed correctly. Sirius watched him move around the room, his face still covered with cold sweat.
"Remus?"
"Yes?"
"Stay with me?" Remus froze, that was breaching a contract he had with himself, but did he really want to leave a terrified Sirius by himself? No, no he didn't.
"Okay, but you owe me," said Remus, climbing into bed. He pulled the covers up around his neck and tried to go back to sleep. Sirius obviously was not having the same problems he was, as the sawing of Redwoods, commenced almost immediately. Remus huffed and turned to face the man who had haunted his dreams for almost twenty years.
He looked different, but underneath it all he was the same. Remus just hoped that Sirius's nightmares wouldn't continue for very long. It was the most horrible thing Remus had ever heard, and that was saying quite a bit.
Remus had no idea what time he had finally fallen asleep but he was awoken by bright sunlight, birds chirping merrily, and Sirius's lower anatomy pressing up against him. Right, thought Remus, how to deal with this? Pretend I didn't notice? No. Shove him away? Double no. Scream EW and jump up and down? Definitely not.
Remus was saved the problem of dealing with said dilemma as Sirius rolled the opposite way and landed, painfully, on the floor. The small cottage was soon filled with Sirius's rumbling curses and Remus's shrieks of laughter.
Remus ran down the hall, trying to escape the mad convict. He slammed into the couch and flipped over it, rolling to the floor. Sirius jumped after him, landing two feet from the intended space. Remus got to his feet and dashed into the kitchen. He grabbed a random knife from the drawer, brandishing it at his attacker.
"A butter knife?" At Sirius's skeptical look, Remus glanced at the knife in his hand. It was indeed a butter knife. How stupid. What was a butter knife going to do to anyone?
"It is merely a symbol of intense strength and sound mentalities."
"Uh-huh."
"It is!"
"And Buckbeak is a chicken."
"I didn't know he was a chicken," said Remus, trying to suppress a grin. Sirius snorted and moved towards Remus once more. Remus moved until he hit a worrisome object…a counter. A counter that just so happened to be in a corner. Well shit, thought Remus just before Sirius attacked.
Remus banged his head slightly as he went down, doing a very unmanly impression of a mating banshee as he did so. Sirius tickled him until he couldn't breath and was blue in the face. Remus managed to gain the upper hand after ten minutes of "Tickle Wars". He grabbed one of Sirius's bony wrists and dragged it upwards, the rest of the body following.
/page break/
Remus flipped the pages of his book slowly, not really reading anything. Things were far too odd these days to get much done. Sirius now had regained his old habit of crawling into bed with Remus and it made for a rather uncomfortable situation. Remus had promised himself to let Sirius recover fully before attempting to rekindle a relationship. He didn't even know if Sirius still felt that way about him, Azkaban did things to people's minds.
"Remmie…. whatcha doin'?" asked Sirius, plopping his head down in Remus's lap. Remus ran a hand through the still tangled mess.
"Nothing. You know what? We should fix your hair."
"It is rather sad, isn't it? Not like it used to be."
"It is, it's just more tangled."
Sirius looked up at him and smiled. "Come on, let's go fix this mess of a nest."
Remus sent Sirius on to the bathroom to get settled as he grabbed his wand and a pair of kitchen shears. He hoped he didn't have to use them, but you never knew about these things.
"What are you going to do with those?" asked Sirius as he caught sight of the intimidating shears.
"Hopefully nothing. Just in case."
Remus settled in for a long haul, Sirius's hair was so long and matted it looked more like a rat's nest than anything else. He cut one snarl out and rolled his eyes at Sirius's whimper.
"Oh, stop it, Sirius. It's just the snarls. I have to get the ones too large to do anything with first. Then I'll detangle the rest and start snipping. All right?"
"Yeah," came the little voiced answer.
Remus set to work, putting all of his concentration into getting Sirius's hair the way he used to have it. He worked for three straight hours before he managed to get any actual cutting done. There were so many tangles and snarls in the long hair that half of it had to be removed.
Sirius looked at himself in the mirror, absolutely enamored with his new reflection. His hair had been teased and tweaked until it was almost back to its original luster. It still came to his shoulders but actually had bounce! There was bloody bounce! Remus had done a very good job and he felt very accomplished. He knew he had a few talents, but hadn't thought that hair styling was one of them.
"Are you quite satisfied?" asked Remus, to a still ogling Sirius. He got a wide grin and a shake of the head in reply. Remus watched as Sirius shifted into Padfoot, standing on his hind legs to get a look in the mirror. Remus had to admit, even Padfoot looked better than he had.
"When you're finished playing Narcissus, I'll be in the kitchen with lunch." Remus turned and walked away, a happy "Lunch?" following him. He wondered if Sirius would ever stop thinking with his stomach. Then again, Sirius hadn't gained near enough weight yet; he was still far too thin. Especially for Remus's tastes, he liked his men with a little meat on them. Although, Sirius would always be the only one for him.
Remus and Sirius ate a calm lunch, or at least Remus tried to have a calm lunch. Sirius decided halfway through that flinging the mashed potatoes at Remus was far better than eating them. This, of course, ensued in an epic food battle. Remus won.
A messy Sirius flung himself at Remus instead of admitting defeat as per usual. They ended up in a food-covered pile in the middle of the floor, too busy laughing their arses off to realize how close they were to the other. Remus noticed first and immediately flushed maroon. How embarrassing.
"Hey, Moony, you've got a…a…" Sirius started, reaching forward into Remus's hair.
"A what?"
"A dreaded maraschino bug!" yelled Sirius, flinging the maraschino cherry away from them. Remus laughed along, wondering how this could last.
"Moony?"
"Hmm?"
"You're pretty when you're covered in potato."
"I…well...um…thank you, I think." Remus replied, not sure if Sirius was still joking.
Neither remembered who initiated the kiss, but it was good. It was like coming home after a long journey with no wand. It was heaven. And it was all theirs.
A/N: There it is! I do realize that this one is slightly shorter than the norm, but I didn't want to do too much with it. Oh well, we're getting closer to the end! How sad is that? I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.
I am currently in the process of writing two new stories; both deal with Remus. One is a Titanic type story and the other has chocolate galore! How great is that. I don't know when these will be done so please bear with me.