[A/N: So so so sorry for the delay! I'm in med school and never see my sister so it's hard to have time to plan with her and then to write. We won't make you wait so long again. Love to Isabella Star, my one reviewer for chapter 11. I know more people are reading on my sister's account, but I would love it if anyone is reading here to review.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Aftermath

I was running in circles,
I hurt myself,
Just to find my purpose.

Everything was so worthless,
I didn't deserve this,
But to me you were perfect.

I'd give it all just to have, have your eternity.
Cause it's all that assures me.
It's worth all that hurts me.

Circles- Hollywood Undead

Sirius Black lounged in the most coveted chair in the common room. It was his right as an upper classman to sit in this chair, but now was one of the only times when it was actually filled by one. Younger students had the tendency to steal good seats whenever they could, but today, the common room was empty save for him.

So, he was savoring this mindless moment. As much as he loved being active, he was still extremely tired from the full moon two nights ago. His calm solitude was also due to the lovely ways of block schedules giving him hours off. This was, of course one of the only times he wasn't with the other marauders. He usually hated it, but today, he enjoyed this quiet.

"Sirius Black!" A female voice called from across the room. He looked up to see a smug looking Maia Regarne stalking across the room.

"I suppose alone time is over for today, then," Sirius muttered, smiling. He didn't really mind, seeing that if he'd spent about 10 more seconds alone he probably would've gotten reckless.

"I know about Remus," Maia stated plopping down on the large sofa across from the black haired boy.

"What? Remus isn't a werewolf! Why would you say that?!" Sirius blurted quickly in a panic.

"What? Of course Remus isn't…" Maia gave him an odd look, but shrugged it off. "Whatever. You are a strange boy, Sirius."

"Strange man!" He argued, sticking out his tongue.

"Okay. Man then. That's not important," Maia said quickly. Sirius started to protest that his manhood was very important but Maia cut him off.

"You and Remus: It's cool, I'm a fan. It's actually an idea I've adored privately forever. Glad to see you've seen the bright Remus-y light! I'm just confused; how do you keep it from James and Peter?" Maia asked. Without waiting for an answer she continued. "And how do you ever get time alone? Dorm situations are difficult like that. If you ever need it, I know a place."

"Uh…" Sirius gaped at the fast talking girl. She paid no attention and kept a stream of constant questions and suggesting going.

"How long have you been together? Is Remus gay? I know Allie was totally crushed about it all, and I was so confused because she wouldn't explain. But I got it; gaydar and all that, not to mention an uncanny ability to notice obvious sexual tension between my friends. Not that I'm all-knowing! Note how I did say obvious sexual tension."

"Maia…" Sirius was wincing and his eyes darted around the thankfully empty common room. Maia waved him away and kept talking.

"I sure hope that you weren't involved before Remus and Allie broke up. She is my best friend and I would have to slap you for stealing her boyfriend. I might have to throw in some insults too. I'm sure you understand."

"Maia!" Sirius practically shouted. "Stop talking!"

The girl was immediately hushed. There were a few moments of silenced before Sirius sighed.

"Me and Remus aren't together." Maia opened her mouth, but it was Sirius's turn to cut her off this time.

"At least, I don't think we are… Maybe we are… I don't know," Sirius pinched the bridge of his nose in a very Remus-like way. "I hope we are."

"Explain," Maia said, her face blank.

"Well… we've hooked up." Maia looked at him questioningly. "That's none of your business, Maia!" The girl bit her lip guiltily, silently telling Sirius to continue. He did. "I… care about him. So much. But he gives me mixed signals. It's so confusing."

"Did you ever just, you know, ask him about it?" Maia asked gently.

"Well… not in so many words. I don't want to rush him, or pressure him," Sirius looked at her for a moment and his eyes widened. "Do you think that would work?"

"Would what work?" Maia asked, confused.

"Asking him!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Oh, well, yes," Maia smiled, nodding happily. "I don't think it would hurt. You don't have to pressure him, you can just ask."

"I can?" Sirius bounced a little in his chair. He flipped back his well groomed hair gracefully and ran his fingers along the chair as he thought. Short hair flopped around as Maia nodded her head vigorously.

The two Gryffindors shared smiles and silence for a bit longer. It's strange, how when you add two usually talkative people together, how they can sometimes feel completely comfortable without saying a word. But, Sirius did have one last thing to say.

"I lied, Maia. I don't just really care about Remus. I'm pretty sure I'm in love with him."

***

"You're finally up, I see," a cold voice sounded from the opposite side of the empty common room as James came down the stairs on the first of November. Kristi stood up, arms folded across her chest, and faced her boyfriend with narrowed eyes.

"I've been up," James answered, eyebrows raised in mild shock at her cool demeanor. He crossed the common room to where his girlfriend was standing near the fireplace.

"You didn't come find me." Kristi's voice was accusing, "It's nearly dinner time and I haven't heard from you all day. You blew me off yesterday and you have been blowing me off all day today."

"I most certainly did not blow you off yesterday," James said, "I was spending the night with the Marauders."

"You didn't spend Halloween night with me," she pouted.

"I never said I was going to!" James exclaimed, "I told you weeks ago that Halloween was going to be a guy's night this year."

"So, you like your guy friends more than me?" Kristi questioned.

"What? No!" James ran his hand through his hair in frustration, "Where did you come up with that idea?"

"Your friend Maia got a date last night. With Kinsley Shacklebolt."

"So?"

"So? So?" Kristi's voice rose half an octave, "So? Why does she get a date and not me?"

"I told you," James said, struggling to keep his voice level, "I had plans with the boys last night. You've known about that for weeks."

"So, why didn't you come find me today?"

"I was sleeping," James answered, "I didn't get much sleep last night, so I slept in and then worked on homework."

"You're lying to me," Kristi said pointedly.

"What, in Merlin's name, would I be lying to you about?"

"You never do homework! And I know why you didn't get any sleep last night!" Kristi was practically yelling by now.

"Kristi," James said, eyes wide, as he reached out to put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" She shrieked, shrugging away from him. James pulled back his hand.

"What's going on?" Another voice sounded from the stairs leading up to the girls' dormitory. James turned to see Heather standing at the bottom of the stairs looking just as confused as he felt.

"James cheated on me!" Kristi yelled.

"What?" Heather asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she looked from Kristi to James. James turned back to Kristi, mouth agape.

"I did not!" James retorted, unable to keep his voice steady any longer. He turned again to Heather, "I did not cheat on her, Heather."

"Why do you think he cheated on you, Kristi?" Heather asked her friend.

"He didn't take me out last night! He said he didn't get much sleep! He was with the boys! I know he's lying to me!"

"I don't think he is," Heather said slowly, "Peter was with the boys last night as well."

"Then he's cheating on you as well!" Kristi screamed. People on their way down from their dormitories to dinner had begun to accumulate in the stairwells.

"Peter is not cheating on me, Kristi. And I highly doubt that James is cheating on you."

"I'm not!" James exclaimed again, "What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me the truth," Kristi said, her voice suddenly cool and quiet once again.

"I have," James answered, "I was with the guys last night. I was doing homework and sleeping today. I did not cheat on you. And Peter has never cheated on Heather."

"This isn't going to work," Kristi said, "If you can't be honest with me, this is never going to work."

"But I am being honest with you, Kristi!"

"James Potter, you make me sick. We're over." Kristi turned and stalked off towards the girls' staircase, pushing people aside as she marched up the staircase. People were staring in silence at the scene that had just unfolded.

"There is nothing to see here," another voice sounded through the hush as Sirius and Peter made their way through the crowd on the boys' staircase to where James stood, staring after Kristi, "Go on your merry ways to dinner or wherever you lot were going on this fine November evening." Peter and Sirius each took James by an arm and pulled him back to where they'd come from.

"You make me sick." Kristi's words rang through James' mind on repeat. But her voice mixed with another voice he'd heard say the exact same words, not six months ago.

***

The dorm was unusually quiet that night. Remus was attempting to read a book about dueling, but he could not stop glancing over at Sirius, who was lying sprawled on his bed licking and sucking a bright red lollipop. He would've been doing a lot more than staring, if only the room wasn't also occupied by James and Peter.

Peter was silently eating pumpkin pasties and writing some sort of letter and James was… well, it was hard for Remus to tell exactly what he was doing. It was extremely out of character and after much consideration, Remus concluded that he was brooding.

"James," he said, breaking the silence. 'Why are you brooding?"

"Kristie dumped me," James answered glaring out the dorm window.

"I thought you were getting sick of her anyways?" Peter asked through a mouthful of pumpkin pasties.

"Hardly the point, Wormtail!" James growled.

"Yeah, the point," Sirius said, twirling his lollipop around in his fingers. "Is that James was rejected. Again."

James groaned and banged his head against the windowsill. "Not to mention that now the entire female population of Hogwarts thinks I'm a cheating, lying asshole! I bet Lily heard and hates me even more."

"I'm not sure if that's possible, mate," Sirius chimed.

"Not helpful, Padfoot!" James moaned. Sirius chagrined and looked to his wolfy-friend for help. Remus always knew what to say in these sorts of situations, as Sirius knew from many a blow-up on his part.

"What I'm sure Sirius was trying to say is that Lily is too smart to believe that you would cheat on any girl," Remus mended quickly. Peter nodded reassuringly and threw in a "Yeah"!

James smiled half-heartedly at them and leaned his face back against the fogging window. Silence fell upon the room once more. Peter could hardly stand the tension, so he blurted out the first thing he could think of.

"We should prank Kristi!" The other three marauders looked at him silently. He continued nervously. "I mean, that'll get our spirits up, right? She deserves it, the drama queen, rumor-spreading, butt-face!"

"Butt-face? Really?" Remus raised an eyebrow, giving up on reading his book.

"I agree with Peter," Sirius said. "She's a real butt-face. I would go so far as to call her a poopie-butt."

"So…" Peter spoke as if he was talking to little kids. "We should prank her! Like the one we did to Snivilus that last time; that was bloody brilliant--"

"NO!" James stood up quickly, shaking in rage. He glared around at the rest of them in a way that made Sirius raise his eyebrows and Peter look like he was going to pee his pants. "That wasn't brilliant. It was completely immature and cruel. I can't believe you guys… Lily…"

James trailed off and stormed out of the room leaving his three completely bemused friends feeling slightly abashed.

"Should we go after him?" Peter asked in a timid and concerned voice.

"No… I don't think so," Sirius said slowly. "I think he needs to be alone right now."

"Okay, well," Peter stood up brushing crumbs off his lap. "I feel awkward now. I'm going to go find Heather. Bye, guys."

"Later, Wormtail," Remus nodded.

"Toodles," Sirius waved his lollipop in the air. "Have fun with little Miss Heather!"

Peter left and Sirius and Remus were alone.

Sirius rolled onto his side and watched Remus stare at the dormitory door. This was the time to ask him what was going on. This was the perfect time to follow Maia's advice and just talk. How many conversations had Sirius had with Remus? So many easy conversations, conversations about classes and pranks, confrontations about Remus being a werewolf, Sirius coming out as gay, talks about their families… Sirius had never thought so much about a conversation with Remus as he did now. It had always been straight forward and easy, but now, it was a whole different playing field. Sirius considered many different ways to open the discussion, but instead of actually saying any of these things, he just stared at Remus. He stared at Remus who was staring at nothing, and who now started to smirk slightly.

It was a very sexy smirk, Sirius decided. It was a smirk that he just wanted to envelope in his own lips and make melt away in a sigh of pleasure.

"Did you want something, Padfoot?" Remus inquired, not looking at the other boy who was nearly drooling.

"Uh…" Sirius' voice broke in a very embarrassing way. He coughed trying to cover it up and Remus turned to look right at him. Sirius continued to cough until his eyes watered while Remus bit back laughter.

"You alright, mate?" Remus asked, his laughter successfully muted.

"Yeah," Sirius said swallowing and wiping his teary eyes. "Just dandy."

"Good to hear it."

Silence.

"So, did you want something? You were staring."

Sirius resisted the urge to growl "You know exactly what I want, sexy" and instead blurted out.

"What are we doing?"

"Well… you were just coughing and now I'm asking you what—"

"No. I mean… what am I to you?"

"You're Sirius Black. One of my best mates." Remus also looked nervous now. He rolled up to face Sirius with his legs dangling off the edge of his bed.

"Is that all?" Sirius looked utterly crushed and guilt flooded through Remus.

"No. I'm sorry, Sirius. Of course that's not all…" Remus searched for words to express exactly what Sirius was to him but could find nothing.

"Well, um," Sirius looked down at his lap. "I'm kind of in love with you…"

Remus was silent as he stood up and crossed to Sirius' bed and sat down. Then he leaned close and whispered, "I… yeah." Sirius turned his face so that their noses were nearly touching and looked at him questioningly. Remus didn't give him a chance to say more and instead lured him into a gentle and passionate kiss.

Sirius pulled Remus back to lie on top of him. Remus responded by gently biting Sirius' lower lip and trailing kisses down Sirius' neck. A soft sigh escaped Sirius' lips and he gripped Remus' hair with his shaking fingers.

But before he lost himself completely, he pulled back realizing that everything still wasn't decided and clear cut.

"Wait… Remus," Sirius mumbled. Remus mumbled something incomprehensible as he started to suck on Sirius' earlobe.

"Remus!" Sirius gently pushed Remus away despite his protests. "What are we doing? Are we going out? Are you my boyfriend? Are you even gay? Or are you bi-? Why aren't you being all logical and Remusy?"

"Sirius, you make me feel good," Remus whispered looking directly into those deep grey eyes. "When I'm with you I don't have to think about anything but you. I love being with you and I only want to be with you. Isn't that good enough?"

Sirius responded by kissing him roughly. It was definitely good enough. For now.

[a/n: review! Sorry for the shortness of the chapter. Love!]