Disclaimer;;

I do not own Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, or any other character that might show up in the resulting story. They all belong to the lovely J.K. Rowling.

Author's Note;;

Umm. I bet you guys saw this one coming. ^^; That's all I have to say.

The full moon was slipping below the horizon and one Sirius Black had yet to sleep. Other than sleep, he had homework to do along with a million other things he supposed. But he was restless; James and Peter hadn't returned to the dorm yet which meant Moony was still out there. He sighed, running hand through his hair and pressed his head against the window, hardly seeing the landscape in front of him. The previous night had utterly confused him.

He loved Remus.

(He could say it to himself freely now. It was such a heartwarming feeling.)

(Sirius was sounding kinda girly nowadays.)

Moony desired a mate.

Remus was sorry.

Sirius clung to this for some reason, some sick twisted part of him wanted to believe that Moony had picked Padfoot and therefore Remus must choose Sirius.

He hoped that Remus would willingly do such a thing. Sirius did not want Remus to love him just because Moony said so. That would be worse than…not telling Remus ever. Sirius pulled away from the window and curled up on the bed, wondering if he could possibly fall asleep. He tugged the quilt over his head, burying himself in the warmth of the blankets. His mind spun though and he could practically feel Remus pressed against his chest, curled up in his arms. Once again, Remus Lupin would not permit Sirius to sleep.

Sirius focused on his breathing, clearing his mind. In, out, in, out. It was a slight comfort to the confusion that swirled in him. Confusion, lust, love, need, protection. In, out, in, out. Slowly, Sirius began to fade into a light sleep and eventually fell further. He didn't hear James and Peter came back. He didn't hear them whisper to each other their suspicions about Moony and Remus. He didn't see them glance at him several times, whispering his and Remus' names.

What he did feel were a pair of callused hands encircling him, the quilt having disappeared at some point. What he did realize was that Remus was pressing his warm body against his back. What he did hear was his name being whispered by Remus, soft and sweet like melted honey.

"Rem?'

Sirius blinked his eyes furiously, rolling over to find that nothing occupied the bed except him and the quilt. The dorm room was brilliant with light and a quick glance at a timepiece revealed it to be about noon. He groaned, tugging the quilt back over his head and curled back up. Sirius didn't want to sleep; the dream had been a terrible tease. Eventually, he got up, till clutching the blanket to him like a cloak and stumbled to the bathroom barely noticing that James and Peter weren't in their respective beds. Sleep eventually left him enough for him to notice the note that had been scribbled on a bit of parchment and taped to the bathroom mirror.

Padfoot,

Remus is in the Hospital Wing. Something happened last night. Wormtail & I are with him. Will tell more when I see you.

Prongs

Sirius read the note several times over before bolting from the bathroom and, quilt flapping and all, fled from the dorm room and out of the Common Room, through the halls. His bare feet echoed hollowly on the smooth stone floor in the fairly empty halls. He passed a few Ravenclaws and surely would've earned a few snickers for running about in disheveled clothes and a quilt if they hadn't recognized who he was. Lucky for them, he had left his wand in the Dorm Room.

"Well, well Mr. Black. Pretending to be a Muggle superhero?" Dumbledore asked, leaving the Hospital Wing just as Sirius arrived.

"No, sir," he panted, a small stitch in his side, "Is Remus still here?" He hoped that Moony had gone and done something foolish: broken a leg, snapped a rib, eaten someone.

"Ah, yes. Mr. Lupin is just fine. He's just managed to get himself a little scratched up, that's all," Professor Dumbledore said, nodding, "I believe Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew are with him."

"Thank you," Sirius said, nodding, having caught his breath by now and Dumbledore left him, a small smile on his face and a bit of a knowing look in his eye. Sirius slipped into the wing silently and quickly found the werewolf and the two Anamagi by his side. Peter was curled up on a vacant bed, asleep, and James was sitting in a chair, ankles crossed, and arms folded over his chest and just nodding off to sleep. It was quite an amusing sight.

"Hey," Sirius said, touching James' shoulder lightly, startling the boy. James looked up and laughed at Sirius.

"Nice pajamas," he smirked, stretching.

"Sod off. I got your message. He okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Moony scampered off from me last night and I lost him for a good hour. By the time Wormtail and I had found him again, he had lost his wolf shape and was crying something terrible," James said, glancing at Remus. Sirius looked at the werewolf and sighed. Remus was sleeping somewhat fitfully, the crisp white sheet making him look even paler than he was. A few cuts lined his face, still scarlet. Bright white bandages were wrapped about his arms, stained crimson in a few places.

"More than the usual cuts," Sirius said, reaching out to touch a soft bandage. Remus moaned in his sleep and curled onto his side, protecting his arms.

"Definitely. And…some of them look like tooth and claw wounds. I think he might have done some of it to himself," James said a note of concern in his voice. Sirius wanted to cry. None of Remus' behavior made sense, even if Moony was looking for a mate. Self-injury, seemingly random bouts of crying. Now, Remus wasn't the toughest boy in the bunch but he didn't cry. Something was seriously wrong and Sirius hated it. Was it his fault? He hoped not. James and Peter eventually stumbled off to Gryffindor, Peter half-asleep and leaning heavily on James. Sirius took a chair next to Remus' bed, quilt still wrapped about his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Remus. I don't know what's going on with you. I don't know what the problem is and I'm so sorry for that. I've been avoiding you and…I'm sorry," Sirius muttered, simply for the need of noise. It was lovely to watch Remus sleep, he was almost like a scarred angel, but Sirius couldn't stand the utter silence.

"I hate that I've bee doing this to you, to me…" he sighed, reaching out to touch Remus' face but pulled his fingers back, "I hate that I've managed to fall for you so hard that I can't even tell you. I hate all of this Rem. I wish we could back to being just friends and that Moony didn't make you sick and…Merlin. I'm just sorry." He dropped his head into his hands, trying very very hard to not cry.

Remus stirred, a gentle smirk gracing his cracked lips, "You're a fool. A bleeding fool." Sirius looked up, surprised to see the werewolf awake. Remus rolled his eyes and coughed, wincing at the slightly.

"You've hurt yourself bad, Remus," Sirius said, wondering desperately if Remus had heard every word he had just said.

"Fool. F-o-o-l," Remus whispered studying Sirius so intensely, the starving dog thought he would get lost in the hungry wolf's eyes. Remus reached out slowly and took Sirius' hand, the stained bandage cutting into his skin slightly it was so tightly bound.

"Rem?"

"Fool," Remus repeated, weaving his fingers through Sirius', "Why do you think I sent you away last night?"

Sirius shook his head, "I don't know."

"Because I knew that Moony had chosen. I knew that Moony didn't desire another werewolf, just a canine. I had figured it out a while ago. Moony wants Padfoot."