Chapter 7: Out

"I'm starving," James moaned from the couch.

Remus had convinced Sirius that they should work on their charms homework, and the two were sitting at a table in the common room, parchment and quills and books spread everywhere. Sirius looked frazzled. His dark hair was just long enough that his fringe fell into his eyes carelessly, but Sirius kept pushing it back as he concentrated on his paper. His hands were covered in dark smudges of ink and his eyebrows knotted together as he read. Remus stared at him over the edge of his book, admiring how god-damn cute Sirius was when he was focused on something.

"I should go nick something from the kitchens," mused James.

"We've just come from dinner," said Lily, who was sitting next to James.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other. "We'll go," they said simultaneously.

James looked at them suspiciously over the rim of his glasses. "Will you bring me back some treacle tarts?"

"Sure," said Remus. "Whatever you want."

James still looked dubious. "Why are you two so keen to do me a favor? You won't poison it, will you?"

"In the name of Merlin, Prongs," Sirius said. "If you wanna walk down to the kitchens so badly, be our guest."

"Oh, right. No, that's fine, you can go."

Remus hid his smirk and exited the common room with Sirius.

The halls were empty with great, long windows stretched from ceiling to floor so that Remus could seen the moon waxing over the lake. It was hard to find time to talk to Sirius and even harder to talk to him alone. The two had taken to finding excuses to leave the crowed common room together at night, walking along the otherwise deserted corridors or sneaking off to the that funny disappearing room they'd found last year while perfecting the Map.

As he rounded the corner to the corridor that would lead them to the staircase, Sirius pushed Remus against the wall. Sirius crushed his lips against Remus's and took his face in his hands, kissing him heatedly. Remus grabbed the front of Sirius's robes, kissing back. He marveled at how soft and hot Sirius's mouth was, opened just so that his kiss landed perfectly on Remus's lips.

Sirius pulled away slightly. They were both breathing heavily. Sirius looked flushed. Remus could feel the heat of Sirius's body pressed against him, chest to chest. He locked his gaze on Sirius and he could see forever in his fathomless gray eyes. The fabric of his robes clutched in Remus's hand felt worn and soft and he couldn't let go. His heart was thudding against his ribcage. It felt like every second at Hogwarts, every smile he'd ever worn, culminated in that moment, right then. He thought of saying it out loud, though of telling Sirius that he loved him. He summoned every piece of Gryffindor courage he had, terrified that he'd be rejected, and said, "Siri--"

"We should tell James," Sirius said.

"Sirius," Remus groaned, sliding away from him. "Not this again."

"We've been sneaking out almost every night, Moony," said Sirius walking down the corridor a pace behind Remus. "I'm not saying we should tell everyone, but James is a smart guy. He already suspects we're up to something." He reached out and grabbed Lupin's arm.

"I know," Remus said, "but..."

"If he works it out for himself, he's going to be furious we didn't tell him. And you know he will figure it out."

"What if he hates it? What if he never wants to speak to you again?"

"Then sod the bloody git," Sirius said, grasping Remus's shoulders with his ink-smudged hands. "If he's my friend then he'll understand, but you're my boyfriend, whom I love, and I certainly don't care what Potter has to say against it."

Remus felt himself melting. He kissed Sirius's lips once, twice, and murmured, "Okay."

"Okay?"

"If you think this is the right thing to do," he said, "I trust you."

A huge, toothy grin lit Sirius's face. He grabbed Remus's hand and began pulling him down the hall. "R-right now?" stammered Remus.

"No better time than the present, eh?"

"Um, yes, there are better times. James will hurt us both if we go back to the common room without his stupid treacle tarts."

"Oh. Right."

*

"Nervous?" whispered Sirius once they'd returned to the seventh floor.

"I might pass out," Remus said. He felt like he had tried to swallow a large rock. It was becoming difficult to speak. "You do the talking."

"About time!" exclaimed James as they climbed through the portrait hole. "Why's there ink on your cheek, Moony?"

Remus felt his face get hot and rubbed his cheek frantically with his sleeve.

Sirius glanced around. "Dormitory," he said significantly, tossing desserts to James. James nodded, confused, and followed Remus and Sirius upstairs.

"What's going on?" said James at once. He flopped onto his bed and looked at them seriously. The effect was lost, though, because he had stuffed a whole treacle into his mouth so that his cheeks were large and lumpy and crumbs littered his chin.

"Right, well," Sirius began, standing next to Remus. "I reckon you're my best mate, and I didn't want to you find out any other way. I mean, I figured you'd be able to put two and two together pretty soon."

"Alright, then, spit it out," he said, spraying a few dry crumbs on the bedspread and floor.

Sirius slipped his hand into Remus's. There was a long moment of silence.

James chewed calmly, looking between Remus and Sirius. He looked down at their hands. A shocked, scandalized look flashed over his face and he swallowed hard, choking down his tart. "What?"

"Yeah," said Sirius tersely.

"You bloody gits!" James said loudly, looking exaggeratedly upset. He gasped. "How dare you! Treacherous snakes! Shame! Shame on you both!" He paused and his anger dissolved into a grin. He punched Sirius lightly on the arm. "Ah, I'm just yanking your wand, I knew the whole time."

Remus blinked. "What?" he said as Sirius and James started laughing. They laughed hard for several moments; Sirius grabbed a stitch in his side and James pounded his fist on the on the bed. "What?" Remus repeated, shocked.

"Oh, the look on your faces," James howled, rolling on the bed.

"James, you prat," said Sirius, "Lupin got me terrified that you'd hex me into oblivion if we told you, and you already knew."

"I knew the whole time," James laughed, wiping a tear from his eye and taking a bite of a treacle tart.

Sirius collapsed on the bed next to James, catching his breath. "How did you know, Potter?"

James bit his lip, fighting the urge to grin. He chewed the rest of his tart quickly, brushed his hands against his robes, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said quickly, "Moony saved all of your little loves letters, Sirius, didn't you know? You're both such girls. 'Oh, Remus, I wish I could've been with you this summer', 'I miss hearing your-"

Before he could finish reciting, Sirius had punched him hard in the shoulder and Remus shouted, "YOU STOLE MY LETTERS?"

"You stole my best friend, Lupin! 'Moony, everything just sucks so much when you're not here'-- HEY!" Remus and Sirius tackled James, both trying to make him shut up. James struggled against the other two, trying to wrench his arms out of their hands. "Get off of me, you sodding gits, gerroff!" He managed to loose his wrist, but Sirius grabbed it again and twisted it around his back. "Arg! No, stop, I don't want to make out with you!"

Sirius grabbed a pillow and hit James hard over the face with it. Remus and Sirius rolled off the bed, and left James laying on his back, moaning, "Ow, Padfoot, my glasses hurt my nose."

They were all panting from the short burst of energy, faces flushed red from roughhousing.

Remus took a deep breath. "So... you're okay with it?" he said quietly.

"Am I okay with you beating me up? No, I'm bloody not okay with it, Lupin. I'm telling Lily. I'm her delicate flower and you've seen her when she's angry."

Sirius smirked.

"Ah, I don't have a problem with it," said James. "I mean, you're my best mates. It's about time you told me, though. It'd be nice if you showed a little bit of faith in me, Pads."

Remus felt much lighter after that. Even Sirius's I-told-you-so glare couldn't bring him down.

"Have either of you seen Wormtail around?" James yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "He's been pretty scare lately."

"It's his silly club," Remus said. "He had another meeting tonight."

"That's nice," James muttered uninterestedly. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, boys."

"'Night," Sirius said brightly, and he pulled Remus out of the room.

*

"That was exhilarating," said Sirius as they sauntered down a hallway.

"No, that was terrifying," countered Remus. "When he was yelling at us, I thought he really was going to curse us into oblivion."

Sirius grabbed Remus around the waist from behind and kissed the crook of his neck.

"But he was kidding, and we told him, and I'm happy. Aren't you?" Sirius kissed him again, slowly, just below his ear.

"Oh, yes, happy," Remus breathed.

"It's going to make sneaking out much easier than it was," Sirius said against his skin.

Remus swiveled his body in Sirius's arms and kissed the raven-haired boy. Sirius bit Remus's bottom lip a little too hard and pulled away smirking devilishly. "Ouch," said Lupin, sucking his bottom lip.

Sirius backed up a little, his face glowing with a perfect lopsided smile. "What are you going to do about?" he said. He punched Remus's shoulder, and took off down the hall.

Remus ran, too, chasing Sirius down the corridor. He was laughing and he could feel a pang growing in his side. Sirius rounded the next corner, Remus trailed behind.

Remus took the turn at a full run. He would've zipped right past Sirius, who was leaning against the wall just past the corner, if Sirius had not reached out a hand and grasped Remus by the elbow. He pulled Remus roughly, and slung him smoothly over his shoulder.

"Ugh, trap," Remus shouted.

"Your ability to affirm the obvious is as acute as ever, I see."

"Bah, let me down," Remus groaned, struggling to maintain any kind of dignity. Sirius's shoulder dug into into his abdomen unpleasantly. Remus hit Sirius playfully in the middle of the back. As soon as he had, he regretted it, because Sirius returned the favor by slapping Remus's ass hard.

"I bite back, werewolf," said Sirius.

"Ouch, let me down!" Remus begged, squirming against Sirius's grasp.

"Um, no," Sirius said, hitching his boyfriend higher on his shoulder. One arm was wrapped around Remus's knees and the other was on the small of his back. "Jeeze, you're heavy, Remus."

"Then put me down!"

"Shut up, or Peeves will hear you and we'll get in trouble."

"I'm serious!"

"No, I'm Sirius."

"Oh, my wizard god," Remus gasped as Sirius's shoulder gave a particularly nasty jab into his stomach. "Mercy, mercy!"

"Fine," Sirius laughed, heaving Remus off his shoulder and dumping him unceremoniously on the floor.

Remus got to his feet, and saw Sirius was holding open a door for him. It was the Unplottable Room. Remus smiled and Sirius said, "After you."


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