Remus likes the halls of Hogwarts best at Christmas time. The decorations warm a spot inside of him that he finds, ironically, is only warm in this cold, nippy weather. He loves the smiles, the food, the cheer in the air, the garland, the trees, even the mistletoe, as devious as it always was.
Remus doesn't have much to worry about, though. He has had decent luck with the mistletoe in the past. He manages to stay on his toes and maps out with in the first day or so of their first appearance where the danger lurks. He steers clear quite easily, but that is not to say he has not been caught once or twice. Remus remembers the run in with that Mackenzie girl from Hufflepuff three years ago. It was the first time he'd kissed a girl and it was horrible, not just because he was a rubbish kisser due to inexperience, but because he was thirteen and awkward and intimidated and she was, too, and he hadn't realized that seventeen is a few times too many to lick one's lips before going in for the kill.
He shudders remembering how awkwardly horrible he felt the rest of that night while keeping an eye out for the cunning plants he'd finished charting a few nights prior. He isn't too worried though, not many people are out this late since it is Christmas Eve and most people went home for the holiday or are already in bed in their dorms, wanting an understandably early start on the impending day.
Remus rounds the corner and stands back from the painting guarding the entrance to the Gryffindor dormitories as he says the password, knowing that a bundle of mistletoe has set up it's home right at the top of the portrait hole. As the portrait opens, Remus backs up a little, 'Three of four meters should do nicely,' he tells himself.
"Oi, Remus!" his friend waves, looking as though he was just about to leave through the portrait hole.
"Sirius." Remus' face softens and smiles lightly, making his way forward to enter the common room.
"Boys!" a voice calls happily from above. Remus winces as if he has just stubbed his toe on the leg of a particularly heavy table.
'Bugger!' He has forgotten all about the pesky plant now hovering above his sandy head and Sirius' long black locks.
"'Ow are we this evenin'? Lovely night for a nice smooch, eh? 'At reminds me, Christmas Eve, i'n't it?"
They both look up and nod at the damning plant.
"I wish the little buggers didn't talk." Sirius whispers to Remus in a way that can't be heard by the mistletoe. Remus chuckles breathily as he rubs the back of his neck nervously.
"Where are you headed to?" Remus asks; stalling an on looker would say.
"Me? Uh, oh, I was going to go and coax some pudding out of the house elves in the kitchen. Thought we could share a bowl later," Sirius smiles. "The four of us." he adds after a pause. "Where are you coming from?" he asks, seeing the small stack of books under his friend's arms, knowing the obvious answer.
"Just getting in some studying so I don't have to worry about it later," Remus replies.
"Good… good idea. Always on the ball--er, on top of things--I mean," a red tint makes its way onto Sirius' cheeks. "You've very smart. To be getting in some quiet study time."
Sirius stares at his friend intently as his blush fades. Butterflies multiply in Remus' stomach with each passing second that Sirius fails to blink.
"Get on with it, then! It's only a kiss. You're not askin' for 'is 'and in marriage. Really, kids are so nervous 'ese days," the mistletoe urges.
"Err, I guess we should…" Sirius begins.
"Yeah." Remus agrees, beginning to close the gap between them.
"I'm kind of afraid of what will happen if we put it off much longer…" Sirius tries to continue. Both are unsure if he is talking about the consequences the mistletoe will bring, or perhaps something else. Something bigger than the mistletoe. Something bigger than books and pudding. Something bigger than themselves. Sirius steps forward.
"Yeah." Remus agrees again, being rendered monosyllabic by the situation he is unable to contribute much more than that.
Remus licks his lips quickly, once this time, and closes his eyes now that he can feel Sirius' breath mingling with his own. It feels like days before any contact occurs between the two, until--
"Oh, ouch." Remus rubs the tip of his nose.
"Merlin, I'm--I'm sorry," Sirius says while holding his hand up to his own nose and staring with worried eyes at Remus.
'This boy,' Remus thinks, 'never, ever blinks.'
"No, no, it… it's not your fault. It's nn--" Remus begins nervously but is cut off when he feels Sirius' lips firmly on his own. He breathes in deeply, inhaling the scent of his best friend, a scent he knows all too well. He slips out of reality courtesy of the smell of the night's feast, his own chocolate, elegance, defiance, and, most prominently, dog, not noticing Sirius adjust his footing to close what is left of the gap between them. Remus feels something grip the bottom of his loose tie. In response he unknowingly parts his lips just enough to allow Sirius to nibble and suck gently on his bottom lip. He feels the other boy bring one of his hands up to his face, the warm thumb of Sirius rubbing lightly at a scar on his cheek, and the long, elegant fingers tickling around his earlobe and neck. It makes Remus' arm drop the books it once held to help his hands find their way around Sirius' waist, or maybe between his shoulder blades, or perhaps tangled in Sirius' hair.
Remus comes back down to earth when he realizes the dizziness he's feeling is being caused by a lack of oxygen. He pulls away, exhaling deeply through his nose. Their eyes meet, staring for what seems to be the hundredth time. Faint smiles rest on both their lips.
"Jolly good, boys! 'At wa'n't so bad now was it? Enjoy your evenin', then!" the mistletoe laughs and scopes out his next victims.
"I, uh, gotta go, and uh," Remus points vaguely in the direction of their dorm, and then to his arm where his books are supposed to be. "Yeah."
Both boys lean down and pick up Remus' fallen texts. Arms fumbling nervously. Hands bumping and pulling away. Hands bumping and lingering.
"Yeah! And I, yeah, I'm just gonna go," Trying to control quite a stupid grin, Sirius points in a direction he hopes leads to the kitchens. "Pudding," he adds while exhaling a forgotten breath.
"Right!" Remus moves into the common room, as Sirius starts down the corridor.
"Right."
Later in the night, after the Marauder's Annual Christmas Eve Celebration, Remus draws open his bed curtains and looks to Sirius' bed. His bed curtains are still drawn open. Having passed out sprawled on his bed, Sirius was unable to draw them closed himself. Sirius had stirred earlier while Remus was trying to swing his legs fully onto his bed. Not wanting to risk waking up his slumbering comrade, he left the curtains open.
Remus stands and starts to walk, to no where in particular he thinks, but his feet take him to the edge of Sirius' bed. There is a great empty void in the bed that looks quite lonely to the half-asleep werewolf. After risking to draw the curtains closed with no ill effects, he gently lifts up the sheets of Sirius' bed and climbs in, all the while staring down at the boy in front of him.
"Ahem," something behind his head clears it's throat.
Remus nearly forgets about the piece of mistletoe that Sirius always hangs on his headboard. He would joke and wink quite dramatically when he said a little mistletoe never hurt anyone, "if you know what I mean," he'd say.
There is a chocolatey smudge on the side of Sirius' mouth. Remus smiles to himself and leans down to meet his friend's face. He gives Sirius a half kiss. Half tasting his lips and the fire whiskey still heavy on his slumbering breath, and half tasting the pudding that decided to set up camp next to his lips.
Sirius wiggles and scratches his stomach before promptly letting out a snore that sounds a bit like a growl.
"Happy Christmas," Remus whispers and soon joins his friend in sleep.
Remus sleeps there until just before dawn when Sirius, always first to wake up on Christmas morning, regardless of how much fire whiskey his body ingested the night before, pounces on him with an excited, "Happy Christmas to you, too, Remus!"
To be coninuted...
A/N: Lol, sorry to get all long on you all of a sudden. I really didn't mean to.