Disclaimer: Can't be mine, I'm not as amazing as J.K. Rowling, even though I wish I was.
A/N: So I'm in the process of writing chapter 16, thought I'd throw chapter 6 up for you all. Remember it's either a chapter a day or several if I get 3 reviews a day. This is one of my favorite chapters, I hope you all enjoy it as well.
Chapter 6
December 1976
That first night of Christmas break I laid in my bed, alone for the first time in months. It was weird to lay in a large bed, not nearly as big as the one Sirius had made for us, but still bigger than a bed at Hogwarts, and be the only one in it. It was also cold, I noticed even as I pulled a fourth blanket up to my chin. I had pulled a pillow into my arms as well, trying to at least pretend it was Remus' body pressed against mine. It hadn't tricked my mind into falling asleep, and I just laid there for hours my mind never shutting off.
Every time I closed my eyes I'd see them. Kissing me, kissing each other. Rubbing me, letting me rub them, rubbing each other. Sucking me, letting me suck them, sucking each other. Being over Sirius, being under Remus. I couldn't get those pictures that had turned into my favorites out of my mind. I groaned and just stared up at the ceiling watching the fan spin round, round, round.
"Mister James" I heard a squeaky voice call as my door opened. I looked up and saw my family's house-elf standing in the small crack of the door frame, haloed by the small light coming from the hall. "Are you awake sir?"
"Yeah, what's up Inky?" I asked propping myself up on my elbows. As soon as I answered in the positive the door opened more and two shapes hurried from the hall and jumped onto my bed, piling on me and pressing kisses over my face and down my neck. I laughed at the enthusiastic greeting from my pups, and pushed them away. "What are you two doing?"
"We couldn't sleep," Sirius answered, licking my hand like a happy puppy.
"Something was missing," Remus said as he nuzzled his nose into my neck. "You," he finished as he licked my neck.
"Excuse me sirs," We heard the little elf squeak. "But should Inky keeps this a secrets?"
"Yes," I said seriously, before Sirius brushed his hand over a particularly ticklish spot causing me to laugh. "Please Inky, no one else should know about this. You can keep this secret right?"
"Of course sir, Inky is most pleased to keep the secret for Mister James." She said ecstatically before shutting the door and walking back to her duties. Once we were where we belonged, in each others arms, we were able to fall asleep easily.
The next morning I woke up with soft kisses on both sides of my neck. I tried to lay still, enjoying the feel of their lips on my skin, with my eyes closed so they thought I was asleep. When they both sucked for a moment on my pulse points, I sighed, and they knew I was awake. They stopped, I whimpered, and they laughed, before taking turns of giving me and their selves good morning kisses. It was actually one of the sweetest mornings we had ever shared. Most mornings we woke with someone's hands on us as we got pumped into full awareness. That morning we just kissed each other, and nuzzled each others necks, enjoying the laziness we were able to feel over the holiday.
It could have been minutes or hours, time always had this thing about standing still and yet speeding up when we were together, when the door started to open again. We all looked at each other, the door, and back at each other. While the door was opening, Sirius rolled off of the bed, and disappeared underneath it, Remus jumped up and hurried into the closet on his side of the bed. My mum walked into my room, and smiled brightly at me.
"Hello sleepy head," She greeted.
"Ello mum, how was your night?" I asked as I sat up. She sat next to me, and I thanked the heavens that she was healthy and skinny. I heard a sigh when the bed dipped and knew that Sirius had also thanked that it wasn't my father that had sat on the bed. Mum's brow twitched, but I covered the sound with a slight cough.
"My night was fine," Mum finally answered. "Are you getting a cold?" She asked in that way mothers do at the simplest of sneezes from their children. She put the back of her hand on my forehead, and looked at me quizzically. "You aren't hot, but your forehead is soaked." She said pulling her hand back and wiping it on one of my blankets. That is when she noticed the four of them, even though three hand been turned down once my boys had me in their arms. It had been the first time I had slept in the middle, and Remus was right, it felt nice. "You slept with four blankets, are you sure you're not getting sick? I could send an owl, and use one of my sick days."
"No, no, mum you don't need to do that. You should use your sick days on you, not me. I'm a big boy, I can stay home by myself." I assured her. If she stayed home I couldn't be with my boys, and I didn't want that.
"Are you sure?" She asked, "I was planning on taking a few days off, we don't get to see you nearly enough during the year."
"No mum, you need to go to work. We have the nights, and Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. We'll see each other so much that you'll be ready for me to go back to school when the break ends." I said hoping that would be enough for her.
"Alright, if you're sure." I nodded that I was. "Well Inky has breakfast nearly ready, come down in a few to join your father and I okay?" I nodded my agreement, and after kissing me on the forehead, she walked away.
"Oh, thank God that wasn't your dad," Sirius said as he rolled out from under the bed. "I've hid under a bed that a dad, large guy, makes your dad look skinny, sat on. I think I nearly died that day." We both laughed as I slid off of the bed. We looked at the door of my closet, waiting for a moment for Remus to come back out. When he didn't, we walked to the door and opened it. We stopped not knowing if we should laugh or not. He was looking intently at the shelves in the walk-in closet with a box in his hands.
"Baby, what are you doing?" I asked with a grin. He looked away from the shelves, looked at the box, looked at me, looked back at the box, and looked back at the shelves.
"Whatever it is, it is not organizing your closet." He said with a deer caught in the headlights look as he turned back to me. "And remember, even though I am a geek, I am your geek." Sirius and I burst into laughs at this, and I walked to Remus pulling him into a soft kiss.
"That you are." I laughed before Sirius took him away from me.
"You shouldn't have even gotten that apartment, you spent a half a day at it." I said a few days later. It hadn't even been half a day. The train had gotten in around five the Friday before Christmas, and Remus and Sirius had spent the evening at the apartment. They had Chinese take out, for Sirius' first time, and then went to bed around ten. My mum sent me to bed at ten as well, saying that I needed to turn in early after the long day of travel. Around one was when my guys had joined me. Ever since then they had been sneaking around the house. They had only gone back to the apartment long enough to get their bags, and bring them to my room. They hid them in my closet, that was more organized in the first week of Remus hiding in my house then it had been in the last seven years. Inky, being the only other one that knew of my two guests, always had food sent up to them in the morning and at dinner-time. My boys came out of my room only when my parents were either at work or asleep.
That first Saturday of holiday I was sitting at the dining room table eating pancakes with my parents when I heard the door bell ring. I looked up at my parents, who were looking at me, wondering who had invited visitors. Inky had opened the door, and invited our guests into the dining room. My mum, who was quiet fond of Sirius, beamed at her second son. My father, a large man that liked to eat, was fond of Remus, he thought he kept Sirius and I's head on straight. He stood up and shook Remus' hand in greeting. The three of us shared a look that looked innocent enough, but with the three of us was anything but.
"Would Mister Black and Mister Lupin like to eat pancakes with the Masters Potters?" Inky asked, knowing the answer. She magicked two more setting places, and Sirius and Remus took the seats across and beside me. Instinctively our feet met in a three-way game of footsie. My parents asked Sirius about his new apartment, Remus how he enjoyed his duties as a prefect, and all of us how we were enjoying the school year. We shared looks, and smiles that my parents couldn't decipher.
"I've been thinking," Mum said as Inky cleaned up the table. "What would you boys say to spending a day in Diagon Alley, I'm sure you all did your shopping at the last Hogsmeade weekend, but what would you think of some window shopping?"
"That sound great Mum," Sirius answered excitedly. We both knew it was because he had a thing about keeping my mum happy. Still we both shot him a look that said we really didn't like the sound of that, yet we consented. Anyways, I don't think any of us had bought a present for each other.
We had spent a few hours together walking around the shops that mum dragged us into, but eventually Remus and I complained about needing a break and Sirius and Mum went to a shop by their selves.
"I've been thinking again," I said as Remus and I sat in Florean Fortescues's Ice Cream Parlor sipping on hot chocolates.
"Oh crap, not again," Remus said concerned. He glanced around, saw no one was watching us, and put his hand over mine. "Baby, haven't you learned yet? That is so dangerous." He laughed, and I ripped my hand away from his.
"Ha ha, you're so funny." I shot him a dirty look, that only made him laugh more. "Anyways, like I was saying, I was thinking. I haven't gotten Sirius a present yet, or you," I added softly looking away from him. Remus laughed again, and squeezed my hand. The look he sent me told me he wished he could lean over the table and kiss me, but as it were...
"That's not all, I know you, you have a plan." Remus said, and I nodded. "Well? Are you going to leave me in suspense, or are you going to tell me this plan?"
"I want to get us something, something that will be a show of what we are to each other, but that most people won't notice too much." I said, trying to piece together my thoughts. I had no idea what we could get each other that wouldn't look suspicious, but I knew that if I let Remus into my thought process he could help me figure it out.
"You're thinking a bracelet of some sort, or a ring for that matter, would be to obvious." Remus said, and I nodded my agreement. "What about a necklace?" He asked as he pulled a quill out of his pocket and pulled a napkin near him.
"That would work, we could keep them under our shirts, but even a glimpse of the chain would be the reminder we needed." I agreed as he sketched something on the napkin. He smiled, nodding at my assumption, and passed me the napkin. I couldn't draw stick figures, Sirius wouldn't even try, but Remus was a king. I figured it was a side-effect of being locked up in his room from the time he was six to the time he was allowed to go to Hogwarts, and every summer since. On the napkin he had drawn a full moon with an etching into the center of a dog and wolf howling, and a stag standing guard as they worshiped the silver orb.
"That could hang off of it, if the jeweler can do it. It would have to be white gold, that way it looks silver but won't, you know..." He suggested.
"Doesn't burn you?" I offered to finish his sentence. He nodded, looking away from me when the topic of his condition was brought up. I looked around, and seeing that still no one was paying us any attention, I pulled his face back up. "When will you get it?" I asked softly, cupping his face with my hand.
"Get what?" He asked, kissing my palm after his eyes did a quick scan of the cafe.
"That we love you because of what you are, not in spite of it. It has made you into the person you are, the person we love." I answered, and not giving a shit if someone saw or not, leaned over and kissed him quickly. Once I pulled back, my hand dropped away from him, and I heard him sigh at the loss of contact. How I wished we could always throw caution to the wind, and act like three people in love in the open. We couldn't though, and it wasn't just because of Remus asking us not to, it was because no one would ever understand, which is why he asked us not to.
"I know, it doesn't make me not ashamed of what I am though," Remus said, "it just makes me love you more." I smiled softly, and he returned it. After finishing our cocoa, we went to the jewelers.
"We need three necklaces with this icon hanging on them," Remus said when the jeweler asked us what we needed. He passed the napkin to the older man. "If you need me to draw it on a piece of paper I can redraw it for you."
"Yes, in order to copy it, I'll need it neater." The man said as he pulled a piece of paper out from under the counter and gave Remus a special quill. Remus had just done a quick sketch on the napkin, he took his time with the piece of paper adding more details to the icon.
"Three necklaces?" The jeweler asked with a raised brow.
"Yes sir," I answered as I watched Remus draw a small "JSR" into one of the paws of the image of Padfoot.
"Friendship necklaces?" The jeweler asked, his brow still raised.
"In a way sir," I answered as Remus drew a "MPP" into a paw of the image of Moony.
"In a way?" The jeweler asked, his brow arching higher. I just smiled gently in answer, wondering what Remus was going to draw in the image of Prongs. "It"s was etched into the hoof that was raised in a half stomp. "Love" was etched into the front hoof that was down. "Too" was etched into the back hoof. "Right then," the jeweler said as Remus finished his drawing. He took the paper, "what kind of chain?"
"Something thin." I answered.
"White gold," Remus said on the tail of my suggestion. The jeweler nodded, and pulled out a collection of chains in the style we had said. He took three out of the collection. Using his wand he copied Remus' picture two times, and changed the papers into small, white gold icons that he attached to the chains.
"Twenty galleons," he said as he placed them in small black jewelry boxes. Remus' eyes widened, on our way over we had agreed to split the price. We knew that, even though we were horrible boyfriends that had waited for the last minute to get our gifts, Sirius had gotten them the Hogsmeade trips right after we had said those three words. I looked at him, shook my head, and paid the full price for them. He looked at me like I shouldn't have, didn't need to do that.
"You drew them, that is half the work, I just paid for them." I said as we walked out of the jewelry shop. He smiled softly, I felt like I was stuck in a bad love story, but at the same time I was enjoying that look of worship in his eyes. I tugged him into an alley, and pinning him against the wall drawing him into a hungry kiss. This got rid of that love sick feeling, but also increased my want, need for him.
To say Sirius was pleasantly surprised with our gifts three days later was a bit of an understatement. To say he was happy was an even bigger one. We had waited for a moment where we were alone by the tree, I'm a hopeless romantic, and Remus is no better. It took a while to get a moment alone by the tree, my parents had invited everyone in the wizarding community to Christmas, or at least it seemed. Eventually we did get a moment, in the late evening. My parents always had a large Christmas party that lasted from early in the afternoon until the beginning of what was technically Boxing Day.
Sirius looked at us questioningly as Remus and I pulled out the three boxes from under the tree. Remus carefully unwrapped his box, Sirius and I ripped the paper off of our boxes. When Sirius saw that the small packages were black jewelry boxes he looked back at us with an even bigger questioning look. We pushed him to open his box first, as he did so, we opened ours and turned them so he could see the same thing was in each of our boxes. He looked at it carefully. Remus had drawn the picture in a large scale so that each of the details were easier for him to draw. When the jeweler had shrunk the drawing the details became something only a trained eye, or one that stared at the icon for a while saw. Sirius looked back up when he had examined the icon thoroughly, his eyes were filled with tears he was not going to let drop. Instead he pulled us both into long kisses.
"Have I told you that I love you today?" Sirius asked as he walked around Remus, took the necklace in his hand and locked it around his neck. When the chain was connected, he kissed Remus' neck just before he let his hair drop down, and moved behind me. He pulled the necklace out of the box in my hands, and did the same to me as he did Remus.
"You did," I answered as we turned him around. Remus took the necklace out of his box and put it around Sirius' neck.
"It's always good to hear though." Remus said just before he kissed the back of Sirius' neck. Keeping our boy's hair raised, he let me kiss the same spot, before dropping his long hair down again.
A/N: Ah aren't they just the sweetest little love-birds one ever did see? No, probably not, but still sweet. What do you guys think? Good? Bad? That was way too sweet for the Marauders? Where's the sex? I love to hear your thoughts, and if I get three soon I'll put up another chapter.