Sirius shifted, he was awake but didn't open his eyes. He was in Remus' room again. He'd watched over Moony all night and transformed back into human form a few seconds after Remus had. He'd not left, Remus hadn't let him in the night before he wasn't going to let his oldest friend shut him out. Not when he so obviously needed him. He wondered why he hadn't thought of draping a blanket over the two of them, it was the cold that had woken him so soon after falling asleep, though he could feel the warmth then meant Remus was still lying next to him. There was something Remus wasn't telling him, it was something to do with Moony and the one he'd chosen as his mate, he was sure of it. Remus shouldn't have to endure it alone, trying to prevent Moony from hurting the one he'd chosen, preventing him from breaking through the wolfsbane potion an Remus' defences, turning the one he'd chosen, taking him for his mate. He heard Remus shift behind him and let out a groan.
"Rough night, Moony?"
"I didn't know you were awake."
"Well I am." Sirius opened his eyes and turned to look at Remus. "Are you going to talk to me now?"
"Like this? Now?"
"Well you wouldn't talk yesterday, you wouldn't let me in. Why won't you talk to me Remus? You're my best friend I want to help you. I can help you protect Moony's mate. Tell me who he wants."
"I can't Sirius! Look I can deal with it. I've dealt with Moony for years, one more issue isn't a big deal."
"This isn't just another issue Remus, he's chosen his mate, some werewolves never mate. This is a big thing Remus! He won't give up!"
"You don't know that Sirius! I know how Moony works, I can get past this. We need to keep fixing this house up and if I keep occupied it's easier to ignore him, he'll tire."
"Why won't you tell me?" Sirius said quietly. He looked so sad, so alone. "Please Remus, just talk to me. We could always talk. If You tell me now we can get past it before everyone else comes, you can get it under control."
"It's fine Sirius, really I can handle it. Go and get dressed we need to work on the rooms." Sirius frowned and left the room. After he'd got dressed he started down stairs and almost tripped over Kreacher.
"Oh my poor mistress, your own son with the werewolf. Oh my poor mistress."
"Get off the stairs you miserable animal!"
"Oh yes Master Black, whatever you say sir. Oh my poor mistress, it would break your heart." Sirius rolled his eyes and left the elf to his muttering. He went down stairs to find Remus at the table drinking some tea.
"I made you one Padfoot." He said, gesturing to the counter without looking up.
"Thank you." Sirius drank his tea, watching Remus. It looked like he was having another internal argument with Moony. "Are you alright?"
"Mmmm."
"Remus look at me." Remus didn't move. "Remus look at me!" His friend stood and still didn't look up.
"Which room to you want to start on..." Sirius flew and Remus and grabbed his face in his hands forcing him to look.
"What's going on Moony? Please tell me. There's something about this that you're not telling me. I can't help you if you don't talk to me! Please Remus talk to me!"
"FILTHY HALF BREEDS! BLOOD TRAITORS! WEREWOLVES! GET OUT! OUT!" Sirius didn't move, waiting for Remus to answer. Remus pulled away and ran to close the curtains. Sirius sat at the table and put his head in his hands. What had he done? He must have done something to upset Remus if he was so unwilling to talk to him. He tried to think back over everything that had happened since Remus had come to stay with him. Bloody Snape had come to deliver the wolfsbane. They'd cleared rooms together then Remus had transformed and lost control for a while. Tonks and Moody had come to stay. Sirius' scratches had got infected. He'd recovered and it was after that Remus had started acting strangely. Had Sirius said something when he was ill that he couldn't remember now? Maybe Moony wasn't tormenting Remus because he'd chosen a mate, maybe that had been a cover to stop Sirius from asking about other things and that's why Remus wouldn't talk to him about it, it wasn't true. That didn't explain what the problem was though. Was Moony bothering Remus about something else? Or was Moony nothing to do with it at all? Whatever it was, they couldn't go on like this. If they were still off when people showed up someone would notice. He had to find out what was going n, but to do that, he had to get Remus to talk to him. Maybe if he kept off the Moony issue it would help. Even if that was what the real problem was, maybe if he stopped pestering Remus about it he'd tell him in his own time. They needed to go back to how they were. So Sirius came to a decision. He'd push the issue to one side for the moment and pretend it didn't exist. They could talk when Remus was ready, right now, he just wanted his friend back. He went to find Remus, who was on the second floor ripping yellow wallpaper off the wall, Sirius wordlessly stood at the other end of the room and began ripping. They worked in silence for a few minutes until they reached the middle and playfully fought over who'd get to rip the last bit of wallpaper down. They started trying to push each other away and grab the final piece.
"I started it let me finish it!"
"No way Remus, you got to do more than me I should get to do it!"
"It was my idea!"
"It's my house!" Sirius tackled Remus and they fell together laughing. Remus landed on top of Sirius and they looked at each other, they stopped laughing. Lupins deep pale blue eyes locked with Sirius haunted grey ones. They stared for a few moments. Sirius felt a strange feeling come over him as he tried to read Remus' eyes. There was some deep emotion there, and Moony was looking out through those eyes as well as Remus. Some kind of heat was spreading through him, neither one moved, they just stared into each others eyes as though in a trance, then the spell was broken.