AAAAAHHHH! Thank you so, so much for the reviews! Keep them coming! You all make me so very happy, and you make writing stories worthwhile. Keep enjoying!

Chapter 17: Spectacular Views

A few days later, Sirius sat blindfolded in the passenger seat of Remus's car while Remus drove further and further north. It was dark out now, and after a romantic dinner at one of Remus's favorite restaurants—a Lebanese restaurant in Soho—he was now taking Sirius to the place that he had been dying to take him since a conversation they had had a few weeks ago. It was a few hours north of the city—well away from the lights and sounds of New York—and they were very nearly there.

As they curved around country roads, Remus thought of his life at the moment. It was very nearly the most perfect his life had ever been. If someone had told Remus just three weeks ago that in just a short while Sirius would have left Priscilla, they would soon be living together, and Remus would be taking Sirius to his favorite spot like it was any usual Saturday, Remus would have just have laughed in their face. More than once, Remus had thought about how his current life had to be too good to be true. The days passed by like lightening—as soon as you saw it, it was gone. Remus subconsciously begged for the days to slow down because he feared that if they didn't and all of this perfection ended, Remus wouldn't be able to remember anything. He wouldn't be able to cherish the memories.

Remus sighed and glanced at Sirius who was just sitting contentedly in the passenger seat with the very smallest of smiles on his face. He had absolutely no idea where Remus was taking him or why. For him, every day with Remus was like a dream, and every moment he feared that something or someone would come along to wake him up from that dream. For now, though, Sirius was living for this moment. A moment he never wanted to end.

"We're almost there," Remus said, breaking the comfortable silence after a few more minutes had passed. Sirius did not say anything, but his smile increased just a bit more. Remus turned up a winding road that had a sign at the entrance:

PRIVATE ROAD: ENTRANCE BY OWNER PERMISSION ONLY

Another few minutes passed and the car came to a stop. Remus killed the engine and leaned in close to Sirius.

"Wait here," he whispered in his ear. "And don't take that blindfold off." Sirius nodded. He wouldn't take the blindfold off even if he wanted to. He absolutely loved surprises, and he couldn't wait to see what Remus had in store for him.

While Remus went to do whatever he was doing, Sirius waited patiently. He was trying hard not to figure out where Remus was taking him—he didn't want to have any expectations one way or another. He wanted it to be a total surprise and an experience he wouldn't soon forget. Sirius shook his head. Who was he kidding? Every experience with Remus was one he wouldn't forget. Yes, Sirius knew that at some point he would have to face Priscilla, if for nothing more than to get the rest of his things from his house, but for now, he wouldn't think about that. No, he would think about that tomorrow. Tonight it was him and Remus.

A few minutes after Remus had left Sirius alone, he returned and opened Sirius's car door.

"Ready?" he asked Sirius.

"More than you know."

Remus took Sirius's hand and intertwined his fingers into Sirius's. Sirius's heart sped up at the touch. Rarely did they just walk together and hold hands. Sirius would definitely be able to get used to it. He squeezed Remus's hand.

A moment later, Remus stopped and Sirius did the same. Remus then walked behind Sirius and began to work on the blindfold that was tied behind his head. Sirius's stomach knotted at the anticipation. Finally, after his blindfold was removed, Sirius couldn't contain a gasp. He swept his dark hair out of his eyes as he looked up.

Never in his life had Sirius seen stars shining so bright. And never had he seen so many stars in the sky. Of course he had seen stars before. He and his family were fairly well traveled and he had been to places outside of New York that weren't polluted with light that blocked the stars from shining. The stars he'd seen before, however, felt like cheap imitations of the ones he was seeing right now. These stars were the real stars—they had to be the stars that only a few people had ever seen. They were too special to be seen by just anyone in Sirius's opinion. There were so many stars that there was hardly any space between them, and the stars were so bright that the sky seemed to be lit up like Time Square. It literally took Sirius's breath away.

"It's beautiful, Remus," Sirius whispered. Remus hummed in response. Suddenly, Sirius felt his eyes glistening with tears. The beauty of what he was seeing and the fact that Remus had decided to share this with him made Sirius's heart swell so much that he thought it would explode. He had never seen anything like this, and he was elated to be sharing it with Remus.

When Remus noticed Sirius's emotion, it moved him as well. He had known that Sirius would love this, but he didn't know just how much. Now he did. Remus, who had been standing slightly behind Sirius, took a step forward and wrapped his arms around Sirius's waist from behind. Sirius leaned back into the embrace and reached up to wipe a tear that had just begun to fall. They stood like that for a little while, looking up at the stars together. As they stood there, Remus began to quietly sing a few lines from one of his favorite songs. He sang slowly and with his mouth right next to Sirius's ear so that Sirius would hear every word.

"You can see the stars from where the birds make their homes staring back at us. Indifferent, but distanced perfectly, projected endlessly; it's so fucking beautiful."

Sirius sighed and shivered at the feeling of Remus's breath trailing across his ear and down his neck. "Those lyrics are right. It is so fucking beautiful."

After another short while passed, Remus pulled away from Sirius. "We should sit," Remus said.

Sirius stared at the sky for a few more seconds before he was able to tear his eyes away. It was then that he realized why Remus had made him wait in the car. The beauty of the stars had distracted him from seeing the picnic blanket that Remus had laid out on the grass. Off to the side, pillows and another blanket were laying there waiting to be used, and on the blanket there was a small picnic basket that had a bottle of wine, two glasses, napkins, plates, and a few various desserts.

Before he sat down, Sirius turned around to Remus, wrapped his arms around his waist, and pulled him into a soft, tender kiss. When Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius's waist in return, their lips formed to each other's perfectly, and Remus felt a shiver run from head to toe from the feeling of the kiss. There were so many things unspoken behind the kiss, but for now, the kiss would do the talking. When Sirius's tongue found the inside of Remus's mouth, Remus whimpered and pulled Sirius closer. His heart was thumping madly and he could feel himself already beginning to harden in his pants. They had kissed many times before, but somehow, each of them knew that this kiss was different, and their bodies responded in turn. When he felt himself becoming more and more excited, Remus finally pulled away. Without saying anything, he took Sirius's hand in his and guided him down to the blanket.

As Remus filled the two glasses with wine, Sirius stared at him with the most loving smile on his face. When Remus handed him his glass, Sirius took it, but still continued to stare at Remus with the same look in his eyes. Remus looked back at him. Sirius slid his hand across the blanket and began to gently brush his fingers against Remus's. Remus smiled. While they sipped their wine, their hands continued to brush against and hold the other as the two men simply stared at one another.

After they were about halfway through their glasses, Remus broke eye contact only to reach into the basket and pull out one of the desserts. He pulled out two covered bowls: a bowl of strawberries and a bowl of chocolate sauce. Sirius smiled as he watched Remus dip one of the strawberries into the chocolate and lift it up towards Sirius. Sirius opened his mouth, and when his tongue darted out to catch some of the chocolate that was about to drip off the strawberry, Remus's stomach did a flip.

A while later, they had finished two glasses of wine and fed each other a significant amount of chocolate covered strawberries when Remus took one of the pillows and reclined out on the blanket with the pillow under his head. Following suit, Sirius moved the picnic basket off the blanket, took the other pillow, and laid down next to Remus. It was a somewhat chilly summer night, so Sirius draped the other blanket over both of them. They each laid on their backs, holding hands, staring up at the stars. They rarely spoke. Even while they had laughed over feeding each other dessert and sipped wine together, few words were exchanged. It was as if this moment was simply too romantic—too overwhelming and too powerful—for words. Instead they stared at the stars and enjoyed the presence of the other.

Minutes passed on as they laid there together, but neither of them had any essence of the time. They could have laid like that for years and not even felt as if any time had passed at all. Eventually, Remus turned over and snuggled up closer to Sirius. Sirius put an arm around Remus and held him close as Remus placed a hand and his head on Sirius's chest but angled himself so that he could still see the sky. As each minute passed, Sirius could have sworn that the stars got brighter and brighter as the time went on. Here with Remus, Sirius didn't feel like he was laying on the ground staring up at the stars—he felt like he was floating among them, living the life with Remus that he had been fantasizing about since the two of them had first met. In this moment as he floated among the stars with Remus, nothing in the world mattered to Sirius except for this. Right now. Holding Remus in his arms, feeling Remus's chest rise and fall as he held him close, and knowing that this was a moment he would never forget, Sirius knew that he would never be happier. This was the moment. The moment that most people could scarcely only imagine. This was the moment when everything was right.

"I love you."

Remus's heart plummeted to his feet. His hands began to shake and his stomach was almost in pain from all the butterflies going mad inside of it. It was like that feeling you got when you were almost about to fall but then you suddenly caught yourself—that feeling when someone jumps out to scare you but you're too scared to even scream. Remus felt all of this because surely he hadn't heard right. No. It simply couldn't be.

"W-what?" Remus managed to breathe out as he sat up on the blanket and stared down at Sirius.

Sirius sat up as well and faced him. "I'm in love with you. I have been since the moment I laid eyes on you." Remus put a hand to his chest and struggled to take steady even breaths. Sirius continued. "I know I've got a lot of baggage, and I know everything's complicated, but more than that… I know that I am absolutely in love with you." Remus's eyes were sparkling with tears as he listened to Sirius. "That first conversation we had in my kitchen where we joked about the bill or whatever—I think I knew then. I could just see it in your eyes. The way you made me feel then, the way you make me feel now… It can't be anything other than love. My heart—I mean," Sirius took Remus's hand and pressed it against his chest. "Feel that? It just can't stop racing when I'm around you. My heart goes mad, my knees get weak, and my body is lighter than air when I'm with you. No one has ever made me feel this way, and if that's not love… Fuck, I don't know what is." When Sirius finished, he just stared at Remus, waiting for him to speak.

"I—" Remus's voice cracked before he could get another word out. When he spoke, his voice trembled with emotion. "I love you, too." Sirius face broke into a smile.

"You do?" Even though Sirius had heard Remus's confession a few nights ago, it felt so surreal to hear him actually say the words to him.

Remus nodded and smiled although tears graced his cheeks. "I love you so much I can't stand it. It scares me… how much I love you." After they looked at each for another few moments, Sirius moved and in a flash, he was on top of Remus, kissing him like he never had before. Sirius's tongue glided easily against Remus's and while the normal urgency and desire was in the kiss, there was also something more.

Love.

The next morning, Sirius stretched and yawned in the king size bed that he and Remus were eventually able to make it to. After they had made love on the blanket, Remus had told him all about the house sitting stoically behind them—another thing Sirius had had yet to notice. It had been his grandparents' house, and when his grandmother had passed away just a few years ago, she had left it to her oldest son, John. Remus had so many memories in this house, and he remembered that when he would spend a weekend with his grandparents as a boy, he never wanted to leave. Here, he felt free—free from the restraints and pressures of city life. Free from the scorn and disappointment that was so prevalent in his relationship with his father.

After Remus had told him about many of his childhood memories in the house and they held each other under the stars, they had moved inside to the room that the elder Lupins had given to Remus when he was young. They had spent the night making love on the large bed and only went to bed when their bodies were physically exhausted almost to the point of immobility. Sirius smiled fondly at the memory.

Sirius looked over to where Remus should have been sleeping and noticed that his lover was not there. It was only then that he smelled an aroma coming undoubtedly from the kitchen. Sirius shifted and sat on the edge of the bed. If he recalled correctly, his clothes were still outside where the two of them had left everything in the heat of passion. Sirius walked over to the dresser that was across from the bed and opened the top drawer. He was incredibly surprised to see that there were a few articles of clothing inside. These must be some of Remus's old clothes, he thought he ran his hands gently through the clothes. When he came across one shirt, he pulled it out and pressed it to his face, inhaling the scent. Yeah, definitely Remus's. He dug through until he found a pair of shorts—shorts that were much too short for him and a bit too tight—and slipped them on, knowing that his ass in them would drive Remus crazy. After putting everything in the drawer back in its proper place, Sirius then walked slowly through the house as he searched for the kitchen.

The house truly was beautiful. On paper, it sounded drab—beige walls, white carpets—but in reality, it was slightly breathtaking. Along the hallway outside Remus's bedroom there were portraits that looked to be family pictures. Sirius ran his fingers along the dark wooden frames of the portraits as he walked slowly through. There were posed family pictures and single portraits of family members; there were also more candid pictures of the family and individual family members at different places. There was a picture of an older woman gardening that looked straight out of history book. There were pictures of family members at the beach, around the house, and then…

Sirius tilted his head and stepped closer to the picture that had just caught his eye. It was of man in tight, light-colored denim jeans, shirtless, standing in front of a big chestnut horse. Sirius smiled. With the tint of the picture, the hair looked much darker than he was used to, but still, he had no idea that Remus was so rugged.

"There you are," Remus's voice broke through Sirius's trance. Remus walked up to him and wrapped his arms around Sirius's waist from behind, resting his chin on Sirius's shoulder. "Should I be jealous?" Remus asked as he looked at the picture in front of them that Sirius had been looking at. "You seem pretty into that picture of my dad."

Sirius laughed. "Oh, my god, I thought that was you." He caressed his hands across Remus's arms that were wrapped around him.

"Yeah, we look alike," Remus said with a chuckle.

"Well, you have no reason to be jealous," Sirius said, turning around in Remus's arms and wrapping his arms around Remus's neck. He brought his mouth close to Remus's and said, "It's you I love," and then he pressed his mouth against Remus's. Sirius hummed against Remus's mouth when Remus's tongue met his. In love, somehow kisses tasted so much sweeter.

"I'll never get tired of hearing you say that," Remus said into Sirius's mouth.

Sirius smiled. "Shhh," he said, wanting Remus's mouth occupied with nothing but kissing him. Sirius felt his heart clenching with joy and excitement while he let Remus take the lead in the kiss and trace his tongue around Sirius's lips and mouth. He loved Remus, and it felt so good to finally admit it to himself and to Remus.

Eventually, Remus pulled away, and Sirius let out a disappointed groan. Remus sighed. "I made breakfast," he said against Sirius's mouth.

"Will it taste as good as you?" Sirius asked right before he leaned back in and ran his tongue along Remus's neck. Remus moaned breathily and pressed himself against Sirius.

"No promises," Remus breathed.

Sirius smiled, kissed Remus's collarbone, and said, "I love you," before pulling away and walking down the hall. Remus nearly moaned again as he watched Sirius's ass walk away in Remus's own tight shorts.

"You tease," Remus called after Sirius. Sirius only smirked.

"Love you," Sirius called over his shoulder.

"Hello?"

"Is this Priscilla Black?"

"Yes, this is she,"

"Your husband is Sirius Black?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"Your husband is not being faithful to you."

"Who is this?"

"Your husband is currently living with a man that—"

"WHO IS THIS?"

"—he has been pursuing a romantic relationship with."

"WHO—?"

The line went dead.

Preview for next chapter:

"So make a choice, Sirius. Lose everything you've ever known, or get everything you've ever wanted."