Chapter 3: Waking To Him
The warmth of the rising sun on his face woke Remus the next morning. He kept his eyes closed and lay quite still as memories of last night cleared away the fog of sleep. Sirius had surprised him by being shy about his body. He disliked the way Azkaban had emaciated it, self-conscious of the fact that his hair was now too long for Remus to ruffle like he had when they were young. Remus had laughed, pointing out that his own form was no more fit. His own insecurity had arisen when he realized how many new scars he had that marred his skin. Somehow, they had let all of it go with warm lips and soft hands.
Remus rolled onto his back, his right hand connecting with Sirius' on top of the sheet. Sirius' hand flipped, grasping Remus' tightly. Startled, Remus turned his head and finally opened his eyes to Sirius' smiling face.
"Morning, Moony," Sirius murmured. "Sleep well?"
Remus' only response was a passionate kiss. A simple "yes" would have been enough to describe the night before, but Remus struggled to find words that could convey his wonder at finally waking up with Sirius by his side. Words would fail to tell how it felt to have Sirius' face be the first thing he saw in the morning. He focused on their contact, letting his lips give the feeling in a better way than speech. He could feel the smile in Sirius' kiss and knew he understood.
They emerged some time later, fully clothed and awake. Sirius stretched with a loud yawn, then froze. Remus watched his lover's face split into an amused smile and followed his stare to the coffee table, where their meal of the night before sat half-finished.
Sirius began to laugh, the sound bringing life to the silent morning. Before Remus could ask, Sirius reached into the pocket of his trousers and handed him a slip of parchment. Remus read the message, recognized the thin handwriting, then stared back at the food.
"Dumbledore?" he said, raising his eyebrows at Sirius.
He nodded, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.
"Well, the meal — what we ate of it, anyway — was enjoyed," said Remus, beginning to smile himself.
"And I certainly got rewarded," Sirius concluded, beginning to pile the remnants back onto the tray. With a chuckle, Remus grabbed his wand from the mantelpiece and vanished the whole thing to the kitchen. Then, he stepped forward and wrapped Sirius in his arms once more.
As they brought their romance out into the hot June sun, an unspoken agreement existed between the two men that they didn't regret any of it. They both knew that the years of emptiness only served to strengthen their love now. And though the two acknowledged that there were difficult nights to come (nights blemished with Voldemort's threat, with Remus' howls, with Sirius' restlessness), they were unconcerned, confident that it would all be worth it to wake to each other in the morning. ... Finally.
Author Note: Hope you enjoyed it. Please review!