Remus and Sirius, as they did every Friday, went down to the pub for drinks with James, Lily, and Peter at The Rabbit Hole, a pub not too far from Godric's Hollow. They laughed and talked while drinking stouts, or whiskey in Remus' case. James and Sirius were planning their next prank on the Auror office and Peter listened to Lily and Remus talking about the most recent novel they had read and arguing about charms amid the smoke and candle light.
"Think we ought to go home," Lily said after a couple hours, gently poking her husband's ribs. "Got to see Mad Eye in the morning, yeah?"
"Oh god," James groaned. "I do."
After a bit of stalling, Lily finally dragged poor James off into the night and Peter begged off, saying that his boss would kill him if he was late the next morning ("That what you get for working at Honeydukes! Got to work weekends!"). After bidding James, Lily, and Peter good bye, a slightly buzzed Remus got up to go use the loo.
A pleasant piss later, he ambled back into the smoke and laughter of the hall. Looking around for Sirius, he saw him swaggering over to a pretty dark-haired girl with a drink in hand. He felt his happy buzz disappear and his heart drop as Sirius sat down on the chair beside her and put an arm around the girl's shoulders.
Sirius' eyes met his for a moment across the pub and they stared at each other. Sirius looked worried, but Remus, throwing him a scorching glare, fled, trying not to feel the jagged shards of trust jangling around in his chest.
Remus, feeling both shattered and listless, dropped into a chair in their kitchen. He dropped his head into his upturned palms and rested his elbows on his knees. He rubbed his face and sniffed.
Moments later, the door slammed open, bouncing off the wall, and Sirius Black skidded to a stop in the kitchen, staring at Remus. "That wasn't what you think."
"Oh yeah?" sneered Remus, looking up, "Then what was it? Because it sure as hell looked like you were making a move on that girl."
"No, Remus, she's my cousin's wife! Even if I wasn't with you, she'd be off limits." Sirius paused and shook his head, "I would never throw you over for any girl, much less Fredrick's wife." He looked at Remus, "You do know that, right?"
Remus chose not to respond, shooting a glare at him instead.
Sirius rubbed his face, walked to Remus' chair, and knelt on the linoleum in front of his boyfriend, wrapping his hands lightly around Remus' biceps. "Never, ever, ever would I trade you for anyone else."
Remus looked down into the steel gray eyes in front of him, assessing Sirius. He looked honestly afraid and very earnest.
"Never?" He felt silly and knew he sounded like an insecure girl.
"Never. I love you ten ways 'till Sunday, you daft man!"
Feeling that Sirius was being honest, he smiled a little. "Show me."
A warm smile was Sirius' return.
The first day, Remus came home from the library where he worked to find a bottle of chocolate on the kitchen table. Not the kind for chocolate milk or body painting, but sinfully rich melted chocolate meant for drinking. There were two hot mugs of it sitting next to Sirius.
Sirius being Sirius, had mixed brandy with his mug of chocolate and was soon grinning like a loon. "Love you, Mooney!" he crowed as they moved to the couch.
"Yes dear, I love you, too," Remus smiled as he sipped his own (liquor free) hot chocolate. With another smile, he put down his mug, convinced Sirius to part with his, and kissed away the other man's chocolate mustache.
--
On the second day, there was a small potted lemon geranium on the sunlit counter top by their kitchen sink. The pleasantly sharp citrus smell filled the kitchen and drifted out into their sitting room, tiny pale pink flowers leaning into the afternoon sunlight next to the mint and thyme plants.
There was also a copy of Candide that Remus had been eying the last time they went antiquing in muggle London several months ago. It was the very same one he had pined over for a few minutes—the self-same faded gold leafing on the title and the same black copperplate print on the inside cover that declared it had belonged to Issac Merryweather in 1897.
--
The third day, on the coffee table Remus found an original copy of the Superman comic book Sirius had ruined third year. They had been fighting at breakfast over something stupid (possibly which quidditch team was better but he wasn't sure) and Sirius (who had been reading the comic) threw it into the treacle tart in the heat of the moment.
Poor Superman had never quite recovered from his brush with goo, despite Sirius' endless apologies.
There was also a wonderful steak for the two of them. Sirius—as long as there weren't too many ingredients involved—was an excellent cook. Remus knew of no one else who could make a steak like Sirius could, not even his mum.
--
The fourth day, both men stayed home as it was bank holiday and therefore they didn't have to be anywhere. They didn't get too many of these days, so they cherished each one. Remus intended to spend most of the day cleaning and paying the bills before spending the evening as naked as possible with Sirius.
Around four in the afternoon, when trying to wade through their finances made Remus want to scream, he felt warm hands massage his shoulders. He put down the pen and hummed with pleasure as strong thumbs kneaded muscles, pulling the stress out of his back and shoulders. For a long moment, Sirius focused on the base of Remus' neck, knowing that was where all his stress collected before moving up his neck and then as far down his back as Sirius could reach. With a contented sigh, Remus leaned forward to allow better access, and then, as it became necessary, he tilted his head to the side to allow Sirius better access for kisses.
He stood up and wrapped his arms around Sirius' neck and kissed him thoroughly, gently encouraging him towards the couch.
--
The fifth day dawned warm and humid and Remus woke up on the couch, feeling sticky. Feeling rather revolted, he peeled himself off Sirius and their couch, making for the bathroom. After opening the window he took a cool shower, watching the walls glow with the the cold light of a false dawn, followed by the the tangerine and apricot of a summer's day sunrise.
Smiling, he sauntered out of their bathroom to the kitchen, intent on making some espresso for Sirius and a cup of tea for himself. Half way though pouring the appropriate amount of espresso grounds into the machine, Remus stilled.
Looking over to the sitting room he saw that Sirius was staring at him over the back of the couch, a sweet, faint smile on his lips. Remus raised an eyebrow and Sirius rolled his eyes.
They exchanged expressions for the rest of breakfast, grinning and laughing at each other, depending on the look.
Crossing his eyes and puffing his cheeks out like a chipmunk, Sirius shook his head vigorously and then laughed at himself.
"It's eerily appropriate, Mr. Padfoot, to see you imitating a monkey."
"Mm, well, can't be helped. I live with one."
"You, Sirius my love, are more of a monkey than anyone I've seen outside a cage."
Sirius grinned at him, "Remus and the monkey sitting in a tree!" he chanted.
"More like Remus and Sirius fucking in a tree," smirked Remus. Sirius flushed a little, remembering the time McGonagall had almost caught them in a courtyard tree sixth year (Remus still had no idea how they ended up in that poor oak tree).
He found himself being watched again and Sirius was still wearing that faint smile.
"What?"
"Just feeling lucky, is all. I love you."
Remus smiled, "Love you, too."
-
That evening, he came home to find four new albums, three of which were his preferred variation of jazz, but the fourth was a mystery.
"Tango, darling, it's a tango album," Sirius informed him from the doorway. He paused to lean languorously against the door jamb, twirling a brightly colored rose between his fingers like a wand. "I think you'll like it."
"Cliché, Sirius. The rose is so cliché," Remus couldn't help but laugh.
"I'll give you that," agreed Sirius amicably. "But it goes so well."
Remus laughed again and moved to wrap his arms around the other man, "Mmm, well, all right. Put it on?"
Sirius nodded, and with a flick of his wand, the music came on. "Have I shown you my ten ways of loving you yet?" he asked as they began to dance.
Arms wrapped around Sirius, Remus paused, a smile flitting across his lips, "Yes. I'll never doubt you again."
A/N: Come on girls and boys, say it with me! Esssssspresso! Not expresso, espresso. You have no idea how much that annoys me.
All right, this idea's been cooking away and I'm bloody stuck on Empire's Workshop, so out it came.