Chapter Twenty-Eight;

[December 24th, 1998]

Sirius awoke the next morning to find his arms empty and Severus' side of the bed cold. He frowned and lazily opened up his eyes, wiping the sleep from them and pushing himself to sit, stretching his limbs like a cat letting out a yawn. "Sev'rus?" he asked in a befuddled tone, wondering where he could be. His eyes gazed around the room – the now clean room, his left eye twitched in annoyance. "Whisper!" he shouted, jumping when the elf appeared on his bed with a loud crack.

"Yes sirs?"

"You cleaned my room!"

"Yes, I did."

"Why?"

"Master does not like to wake to such filth, sir!"

"I didn't give you permission to touch my things!"

"No, Master Prince did."

"He does not own my thin-"

"Yes he does."

"What? He does not!"

"Sirs, the Woman in the relationship owns everything."

"The wo-... what!"

"You heard me sirs. Sorry for being rudes."

"How do you figure he's the wo-"

"I saw it, sirs."

"Saw… it?"

"The bracelets, sirs."

Sirius widened his eyes and turned a bit pink. "Er… did Severu-"

"No sirs. Only I saw it sirs, I received the owl from the owlery as I was getting Master Prince's mail, and I could feel the magic coming from the bracelet, sirs. I knew what they were."

"Oh…"

"Yes, it is… customary for the Man to propose, right, sirs?"

"Well… I suppose…"

"Then you are the Mans! And Master Prince owns all your things."

"Well do I own his things?"

"You have a lot to learn about relationship, sirs" Whisper said before she disappeared with a crack.

Sirius huffed a sigh of annoyance, wiping his eyes out once more. 'Well, at least she didn't tell Severus…' he thought to himself, looking up at the bathroom door as he heard some rustling around. He morphed into a dog and walked over to the door, sniffing under it. 'Water and… he's using my body wash!' the dog thought, scratching at the bottom of the door.

"Mutt, stop scratching on the door! I promise to open you a bag of Kibbles 'N Bits when I finish" Severus yelled over the loud shower head.

Sirius growled and then grinned if a dog could. He morphed into a human and grabbed his wand from where it laid on a dresser. "Alohomora" he spoke in a whisper, hoping Severus wouldn't hear the 'click' as the door unlocked. He pushed it open slow and silently, stepping inside and closing the door back but leaving it a crack open as he didn't want to risk Severus hearing him close the door all the way.

Sirius crept silently towards the bathtub, poking his head just slightly inside where the nozzles were to see Severus was turned away and washing his hair. 'So he does wash it!' he thought to himself, grabbing the nozzle and turning the shower off and then pulling his head quickly out to not be seen.

"What the hell?" Severus said as he turned around to see the water had stopped. It was that moment when Sirius pulled the curtains back – much to the surprise of Severus who yelped and glared, watching wordlessly as Sirius held his wand up and pointed it at him.

"Aqua Eructo!" Sirius shouted, chuckling as a jet of water produced from his wand and began to shower Severus. Severus jumped and began covering himself, trying to get away from the water.

"Stop it you mutt! That's freezing!" Severus yelled over Sirius' laughs.

Sirius stopped the spell and grinned. "Oh did it? Sorry, I don't know how to control the temperature of the water in my wand!" Sirius said, trembling his lower lip. "I just wanted to help you shower!"

Severus pushed the curtains to cover the tube once again and turned the /hot/ shower back on. "Get out of here mutt, before I hex you into next week!"

Sirius smirked, pulling his boxers off and stepping into the shower. "But Severus, you have to bathe me! I'm a very filthy mutt – and your mutt, it's your responsibility."

Severus stiffened when he heard Sirius step into the shower. "Get out!" he bellowed, covering himself up and turning towards Sirius, glaring.

"No! I want my kibbles 'n bits!"

"What?"

"You promised me kibbles 'n bits. I demand them!"

"Sirius, seriously I'm in the shower!"

"So am I, what's your point?"

"Sirius…" Severus growled.

"You growl too? I thought only mutts could do that" Sirius said as he picked up a bottle and poured some of the shampoo into his hands to run through his hair.

"Sirius! You can wait your turn!"

"This is /my/ shower" Sirius said with a smirk, trying his best to imitate Severus when they were speaking of their bed.

Severus growled once again before turning away and continuing his shower, completely ignoring Sirius.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders and ignored Severus as well, finishing up with shampooing and conditioning his hair, then grabbing his body wash and putting some on his chest, staring at Severus' back and grinning; he poured some more of the body wash in his hands, rubbing them together then creeping his hands to Severus' side, causing him to jump. "Sirius! What're you doing?"

"Getting your back?" Sirius said in the form of a question, stepping closer to Severus and slowly sliding his hands to the lower part of Severus' back, stopping them when he heard Severus… giggle. His eyebrow quirked up and he drummed his fingers lightly, moving back to his sides which caused Severus to jump and giggle again. "You're ticklish!"

"Sirius!" Severus bellowed in a warning tone, but Sirius ignored him and pulled Severus to him, continuing to tickle his sides and grinning like a mad-man when Severus would respond with giggles he was failing epically at stifling.

Finally Sirius released his sides and grabbed onto both of Severus' hands, intertwining their fingers and smiling at Severus. Severus stood in silence, hiding his face behind his wet hair. Sirius squeezed his hands and leaned his forehead on the back of Severus' head. "So…" he said in a calm voice, as he was feeling very content at the moment.

"So… I'm new to this… I don't… really know what to do" Severus whispered, frowning.

Sirius quirked his eyebrows and wrapped his arms around Severus' waist. "What do you mean, Sev?"

Severus' body stiffened "I mean I don't know what to do next. Do I bend over…?"

Sirius blinked in confusion. 'Bend over…? What the hell?' he thought to himself, huffing a sigh. "Severus we're not going to have sex right now."

"…We're not?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I told you I want to set a mood."

"I thought this was setting…"

"No, this is not the mood I wanted to set; I was just having some fun…" Sirius said, releasing Severus' hands and turning him by grabbing onto his waist, grinning at Severus and placing a kiss to the side of his mouth.

Severus turned just slightly pink, looking away. "… I see. Then… can we get out of here? The water is turning cold…"

Sirius quirked his eyebrow, giving a nod of his head. "Of course. C'mon" Sirius said as he waved his hand and the nozzles turned to stop the water, hooking one of his arms around Severus' waist to pull their bodies together, pushing his lips to Severus'.

Severus stared at Sirius' closed eyes, a bit surprised at Sirius' actions. He closed his eyes and moved his lips in accordance with Sirius', lifting his arms to wrap around his neck. Sirius pulled their bodies together, moaning in Severus' mouth, Severus turning a very bright shade of red when he felt Sirius' prick pushing into his thigh. He pulled back a bit for a breath, looking down to see the head of Sirius' prick and then jolting his head up and staring at Sirius' face – which had a grin on it now. "Something wrong, love?"

"L- love?"

"Yes, love" Sirius affirmed, pressing a kiss to Severus' brow.

"No…"

"Ah"

"Ah…?"

"Yes, ah, as in I see" Sirius responded.

"I know what you meant…"

"I see."

"Now you're just trying to annoy me…"

"Possibly…" Sirius said, giving a chuckle and pulling away to step out of the shower and grabbing a towel then walking into his bedroom to get some clothes.

Severus stood in the shower, a bit lost in thoughts before he remembered he should probably begin getting ready for the day – as it was Christmas Eve and Albus loved hols and became very upset when he would hide away in his dungeons – especially during the Yule hols. He stepped out of the tub and grabbed the last towel, drying himself off a bit then reaching for his clothes – which were gone. He stared at the sink where he had carefully folded and placed his clothes, glaring at the door and walking out whilst wrapping the towel around his waist. "Where're my clothes?"

"Whisper took them, I reckon… mine are gone as well – well the ones I was wearing before bed last night" Sirius replied as he pulled a clean robe out from his dresser.

Severus was silent for a minute, trying to think of what to do. "Well…"

"Do you need some clothes?" Sirius asked, rolling his eyes.

"… Yes."

"Say please."

"… What?"

"I'm kidding" Sirius said with a smirk as he pulled out a pair of black jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt, tossing them onto the bed with a pair of black boxers. "There you go. All black, you'll feel right at home."

Severus stared at the clothing. "I refuse to wear that into the Great Hall!"

"Why? Its Yule break, no one cares if you wear-"

"I demand a robe"

"No. Wear those. My robes won't fit you."

"Your pants probably won-"

Severus was interrupted by Sirius tossing a belt atop the pile. "There you go. Now come on, we can catch lunch." Severus groaned as he put the clothes on relentlessly and tightened the belt three holes, glaring at Sirius who chuckled at how skinny he was. "You know those robes make you seem a lot bigger than you actually are… you're practically bones – worse than after I got out of Azkaban…" Sirius commented as he walked out of the room and glaring at his living room as he noticed all his presents he had purchased in Hogsmeade were neatly stacked in corners so he had walking room. He groaned and mentally noted to kill Whisper later for messing with his chambers, pushing open the main door and waiting for Severus.

Severus followed him out of the chambers, rushing to head to his chambers to change into a robe – as they came to the Great Hall, Sirius quickly grabbed onto his arm and pulled him into the Great Hall, Severus glaring at the back of his head as he followed, as it wouldn't look very good to students or anyone in the Great Hall if he walked in struggling to get out of Sirius' grip. Upon entering, all eyes fell on the two as they traveled from the students entrance to the staff table, Sirius leading with his arm following behind to hold Severus' wrist, Severus doing his best to hide behind his hair as he was dragged along, silently plotting how to kill Sirius.

As Sirius took a seat one away from Albus, he pulled Severus down in the chair between himself and Albus then began to dig in on his lunch, ignoring the stares he was receiving. Severus however sat in silence, continuing to hide behind his hair, silently praying that everyone would find something else to stare at – however they didn't, which irritated Severus more. He nearly jumped out of his seat when he felt Sirius slide his hand under his, intertwining their fingers under the table. Severus turned a bit pink, trying his best to will the blush away and not make a fool of himself once again in the Great Hall.

He willed away the swirling in his stomach, trying his best to get used to it – this is what couples did, they held hands in public, they even kissed in public – but he wasn't ready for /that/ but holding hands should be no problem. He held Sirius' hand and bit his bottom lip, taking a minute to calm himself down. Sirius watched from the corner of his eyes, frowning – he began to pull his hand away when he felt Severus grip it, which made him smile and with his other hand beginning to eat his food. Slowly everyone began to go back to their own conversations and food, even Severus began to eat slowly, mostly drinking his pumpkin juice, still hiding behind his hair.

"Ahem" Albus cleared his throat, looking over at Severus and Sirius. "Are you two coming to the Yule Ball?"

Sirius looked up from his food, quirking his eyebrow. "We're having a Yule dance?"

"Well, yes. Minerva brought it up – it will be only staff, really. Oh, and the students who have stayed behind. It won't be anything big as we won't have many participates, really just a small get together with music and food." Albus explained, smiling down at him.

"Oh, well of course we'll be there!" Sirius said.

Severus glared at him. "Who said I was going?"

"Well I need a date, don't I?" Sirius asked, a few people looking up from their plates to see Severus' response – which was to look straight back down at his lap and hide behind his hair. Sirius rolled his eyes and nodded at Albus. "We'll be there, Albus."

"Great." Albus said as he turned his attention back to his food.

Sirius grinned widely, finishing up his food and looking over at Severus who was merely pushing food around on his plate. "Ready to go, love?" He asked.

"Go where…?" Severus whispered harshly, not wanting to attract any attention.

"Shopping – I have no dress robes."

"I refuse to go shopping with you." Severus replied with a scowl.

"Oh, go shopping with him, Severus!" Minerva hissed at him from the other side of Albus, waving her hands to send them off.

"Yeah, go shopping with me!" Sirius repeated as he stood up and pulled on Severus' hand, Severus reluctantly standing up and following him out of the Great Hall.

"Whisper!" Sirius called out.

Whisper appeared with a crack, smiling when she saw Sirius and Severus holding hands. "Yes, sirs?"

"Can you go get our robes, we're walking to Hogsmeade."

"Of course, sirs!" Whisper said as she disappeared.

"…. Why didn't I think of calling Whisper for clothes this morning?" Severus asked aloud, huffing a sigh.

"Because you wanted to wear my clothes?" Sirius asked, smiling.

"Why would I want to do that…?"

"Because they smell like me, of course."

"Why on earth would I want to wear something because it smells like you…"

"Severus, it's a gesture… boyfriends and girlfriends do it all the time."

"I'm /not/ your bloody girlfriend!" Severus bellowed as he pulled his hand roughly away.

Sirius quirked his eyebrow, frowning. "Severus – I didn't mean it that way…" Sirius said as he slipped his hand back into Severus'.

Severus looked in the opposite direction, ignoring Sirius.

Whisper appeared back and handed two of Sirius' robes over, both of them putting one on then Sirius stepping forward, Severus following in step as they walked to Hogsmeade together hand in hand.